I've died and gone to heaven (updated 9-7-01)
Written: May 21 '01 (Updated Sep 07 '01)
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Pros: DUAL TUNERS ARE HERE!!! Record 2 shows at once! Never watch live TV again!
Cons: Expensive, but worth it.
The Bottom Line: Get this thing! This will change your TV habits forever. I can't imagine living without it. Never watch live TV or struggle through commercials again!
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| elucas's Full Review: Sony SAT-T60 DIRECTV Receiver with TiVo Service |
I've had Directv for at least 4 or 5 years. When I dropped cable and switched to satellite I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I got more channels, better picture and sound, and I got it all for less $. I didn't think it could get any better... that was until I saw the T60.
The first question you might ask is “What is this thing?” Well, it’s a Directv receiver with a Tivo digital video recorder built into it. We usually see them in separate boxes, but not anymore. My review will not cover in detail what Directv is and what Tivo is, but I’ll try to give you an overview.
If you're new to satellite TV, you've got to do your homework and determine which service you want to use; Directv or Dish. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses. I'm not going to get into that here. I picked Directv because it was best for me. If you choose Directv then read on. If you think you want Dish, read on anyway because the T60 might just make you change your mind. Dish equipment doesn’t really have anything close to this (their new DishPlayer 501 machine has digital recording, but not Tivo functionality.)
If you’re new to Tivo, let me tell you up front that it will change the way you watch TV. Tivo is like a VCR... but without the tapes and without the programming hassles. When you record with Tivo, everything is stored digitally on a hard disk. If you see a program on the onscreen guide that you want to record, just select it and it’ll be recorded. You can search for specific programs using names of actors, genre, or other keywords. You can also set up a Season Pass which will record your favorite shows whenever they’re on. You can also teach Tivo your likes and dislikes by using the Thumbs Up/Down keys on the remote. Based on how you’ve rated programs, Tivo will suggest other programs you might like. It’ll even record shows it thinks you’ll like automatically. You can view Tivo’s To Do List to see exactly what Tivo is going to record for you. You can also prioritize your Season Passes to always record your favorite show if it conflicts with another show. And don’t worry about running out of storage space because you can store up to 35 hours of programming. Tivo is so intelligent about recording shows that you’ll rarely watch live TV again. Probably the most impressive feature of Tivo for me is the ability to fast forward through commercials. I hate commercials! It’s for this reason that I almost never watch live TV. Often I’ll let a show record for about 15-20 minutes before I’ll start watching it just so I can skip the commercials. What’s also neat is the ability to watch a prerecorded show while recording another. This gives you a lot of flexibility. You can even have Tivo save your recorded programming automatically to your VCR (if you have specific Sony VCR’s.) If you don’t have a Sony VCR, you can still save to tape, but it’s more of a manual process.
The following paragraph contains outdated information. Direct/Tivo combo boxes are now being upgraded with software that will enable dual tuner functionality. See the end of this review for more info!
Now you may have heard about UltimateTV. UltimateTV lets you record two shows at once or lets you watch one live show while recording another. There’s a lot of misinformation out there regarding what the Sony T60 can and cannot do. Right now, it can’t record two shows at once. However, this summer we will get that ability through a software upgrade. This upgrade is free and will be automatically downloaded to your T60 when it’s ready. The only thing you’ll have to do is make sure you’ve connected both satellite inputs. So once this upgrade arrives, you’ll have the ability to record two shows at once, plus you’ll have the Tivo functionality that UltimateTV does not have (rating programs, learning watching habits, tracking programs, etc.)
What about the Directv part of the T60? Well, it’s not much different from a normal Directv receiver. You get an onscreen program guide that shows you current and future programs (up to 2 weeks ahead.) You can use it to browse channels, select programs to record, and purchase pay per view movies. Your guide can be shown in one of two modes: Directv mode and Tivo mode. These modes differ in how they display programming information and it really comes down to personal preference. The guides show you channel name and number, program names and times, and whether a program is a pay per view event, has Dolby Digital audio, or is a Letterbox presentation. It also gives you an overview of the program you have selected… it shows: Thumbs Up/Down rating, title, date, time, type of program, short description, and other info. You can customize this guide to show only the programs you receive or are interested in, or only the programs that fit certain constraints or filters that you define (like Movies, Cooking, Sports, Lifestyles, etc.) You can also set up parental controls to lock out certain programming. Just about everything about this box is customizable.
Now what about the cost? The Sony T60 is not cheap. You can get one for about $399 or maybe $379 if you’re lucky. As of 5-15-2001, they’re offering a $100 rebate that I think is good for several months. I highly recommend you buy an extended warranty with the T60. The reason is simple… you’ve got a hard drive inside that is doing a lot of work. If it dies, you’re dead in the water. I got a 4 year warranty from Best Buy for about $100. Once you have your T60, you’ll need a satellite dish. Check with your satellite retailer for the one that best suites your needs. You’ll also need to install it. You can get a professional install for $100-200 or you can install it yourself for less than $75 in equipment. Doing the install yourself is ok if you know what you’re doing. Sometimes Directv offers deals when you buy equipment, installation and programming. So once you get this thing home and installed, you’ll need to call a toll free number to set up your service. There are a variety of programming packages to choose from. Check www.directv.com for the latest into. You’ll also need to pay for the Tivo service. This can either be a monthly charge of $9.95, or a lifetime subscription for $249. I recommend the lifetime subscription. It’s important to note that the lifetime subscription is tied to the unit you purchased and not to the household. It can be transferred, but only if your unit gets replaced under warranty (hence the purchase of the extended warranty.) One important thing to remember is that you’ll need a phone jack somewhere near your T60. The T60 will call out everyday using a toll free number to acquire Tivo data, upgrades, and any other data it needs. If you don’t have a phone line nearby, RCA makes wireless phone jacks that run about $70.
I need to wrap this up soon, so I’ll just say that this machine has changed my life. It’s freed up more of my time by eliminating the need for me to sit through commercials and allowing me to watch programs when I want to watch them. It remembers to record my favorite programs without me there to tell it. It’s the most revolutionary piece of equipment in my house. Get one of these things and you will not be disappointed.
I’m missing a couple of topics that I’ll have to add later, but this should give you a good overview. Check back in the next week or so for updates.
Update-5/22/01
One important topic I didn't really cover has to do with Tivo's ability to handle shows you want to record. Let's say you've set up a Season Pass to record NYPD Blue for you whenever it's on. You have several ways to customize your Season Pass: you can have it only record First Run (new episodes) or both Repeats and First Run's. You can tell Tivo to save the show until you manually delete it or until Tivo needs the space to record something else. You can tell Tivo how many episodes to keep before it deletes the earliest recording of the show (default is 4 episodes.) And if you know that a particular show always starts early or ends late, you can add a buffer so that you'll be sure to get the whole episode. Now here's the cool part: let's say that NYPD Blue get's moved to another time or is 2 hours long instead of 1, Tivo will track it down and record the whole thing for you. Really cool!
Update-5/31/01
I've said a lot of positive things about the T60 and not too many negative things, so I thought I'd better cover some of the things I don't like. There aren't that many... we interupt this review to let you know that dual tuners have been turned on and the italicized info below can be disregarded... My number one issue is the lack of dual tuners. While there are two tuners in the T60, only one is active right now. This second tuner will be turned on this summer, but many people are buying UltimateTV because of its dual tuner support. If you're leaning toward UltimateTV because of the dual tuners, please get a demo of both UltimateTV and one of the Directv/Tivo boxes before making your decision. I think it's obvious that even without dual tuners, Directv/Tivo boxes are superior. Another problem that I have with the T60 is that scrolling through the program guide can be slow. It takes a while for the guide to fill in with all the program information. To compound that problem, if you hold down one of the scrolling buttons for more than a few seconds, the system will temporarily stop responding to the remote. It's not a major headache, but it can be annoying at times.
Update-6/9/01
Ok, let's try to wrap this review up... There are two other problems that some T60 users have experienced that relate to audio. One is audio dropout: the T60 has a digital input that when used with certain stereo receivers (Yamaha especially,) can cause the sound to drop out or stutter. If you do have this problem, just use standard audio connectors instead of the digital line. There is supposedly a fix available from Sony, but I don't know the details. The other audio issue that I've personally experienced occurs when you turn the T60 on and there is no sound. The solution to this is not to put your T60 into standby mode (it's never off unless you unplug it.) Keeping the unit on isn't a problem. If you do find yourself with this problem, just change channels or press rewind to fix it.
Other things you might want to know:
The T60 is pretty quiet even with the hard drive spinning. If your T60 is noisy, take it back and get another one. Some hard drives are louder than others, but then when drives go bad, they usually start squealing.
The remote on the T60 is pretty good. It's an infrared remote, not RF. You can program it to control your TV and audio receiver (very nice.) The buttons are layed out appropriately and are easy to get to.
If you have cable or an off the air antenna, you can pass the signal through the T60 box to your TV, but you will be unable to use any of the VCR like features with that signal. So no recording, no pausing or rewinding, etc.
Let me clear up a misconception that many people have about T60 like boxes from Philips and Hughes. The Philips DSR6000 and the Hughes GXCEB0T contain the SAME hardware that the T60 does. The only thing that's different is the case and the remote, otherwise they have the same guts. I think the only thing the T60 has that the others don't is the VCR control (which you probably won't use anyway.) You can pretty much buy any one of these boxes and get the same thing. Remotes are a big deal to some people, so get some hands-on time before you buy.
Well, that concludes my review. Sorry for the length, but for a purchase like this, I thinks it's best to know what you're getting into. I did months of research before I purchased, and I am not disappointed. If you take the plunge and buy, you will never watch TV the same way again. I think this is one of the most revolutionary products in recent history. Get one!
UPDATE (9-7-01) Today, version 2.5 of the Direct/Tivo software was released and will be uploaded to machines over the next couple of weeks.
What this means is that we'll get the long awaited dual tuner software. Simply put, we'll now be able to record two shows at once! That's right, record two shows at once even while you're watching a previously recorded show!!! This product was great before this upgrade, but now it's even more incredible. So how does it work?
Basically, it's transparent to the user. Let's say you have Tivo set to record NYPD Blue from 5-6 on Fox... it's almost 5 and you're scrolling through the guide and your kids see an episode of Barney that they haven't seen. Guess what, it also starts at 5... what do you do? Not to worry, just select Barney and hit the record button. Tivo does the rest. Both shows will start to record at 5. You can switch back and forth between the shows by hitting the down arrow on the remote or by hitting display and toggling between the two channels. If you do happen to try to record more than 2 shows at once, it'll prompt you as to how to resolve the conflict. Often, you'll be given the choice to record one of the shows at a different time. So while you're recording two shows, you can also watch a previously recorded program or browse through the guide looking for other programs to record. It's great. Now you'll definitely never watch live TV again.
Dual tuners isn't the only thing version 2.5 has in store for us. It fixed some bugs too. It also added some other functionality that I'll cover in the coming days.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 399
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Epinions.com ID:
elucas
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Location: N. California
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 6 members
About Me:
I'm an Industrial Design Engineer who loves technology and gadgets.
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