SAT-T60 is a must-buy!
Written: Jan 02 '02 (Updated Jan 03 '02)
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Pros: Easy to use, high quality DirecTV digital recorder!
Cons: Sluggish channel-changing, lacks ability to record non-DirecTV programming
The Bottom Line: If you buy only one $199 toy for your entertainment center, make it a SAT-T60. Your life will be much better if you do!
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| tgfisker's Full Review: Sony SAT-T60 DIRECTV Receiver with TiVo Service |
Okay, let me start by saying that neither I nor any family member is employed by Sony, DirecTV or TiVo. I'm just your average poor boy from the suburbs who likes watching TV.
I've been a DirecTV subscriber for a few years now. I also have basic cable service to get the few local channels I can't pick up on DirecTV.
A quick profile:
My wife and I like to watch a lot of shows. I would say we follow 17 regular series in addition to movies-of-the-week, HBO/Showtime series and the occasional specials. Then there are my kids who live off a steady diet of Nickelodeon. We are also involved in extracurricular activities (Scouts, Choir, Mary Kay, etc...) which often interferes with our ability to watch TV live. So, to accommodate our schedules, I do a LOT of taping to keep up with everything. I've two vcrs in the family room entertainment center and a vcr in the master bedroom. Also, as a sci-fi enthusiast, I like to tape shows live to edit out the commercials.
That being said, you can imagine how easy it is to get behind on the viewing. In fact, we recently caught up on the Halloween episodes of our favorite series...at the end of December!! It's also a not-so-rare occurrence where I accidentally tape over a non-viewed show thinking that portion of the videotape was available. I've got a stack of scratch tapes that I have no idea what's on and I find myself fast forwarding through them to identify what's been viewed. The image/audio quality of taping everything in EP mode to fit on the tape is inconsistent between different VCRS (no, really, I love watching "Video Calibration" flash on and off and on and off as I try watching a VCR1 EP-recorded tape on VCR2). The tape gets cruddy real quick with so many tapings and retapings. Oh, the humanity!
That's when Santa decided I had been a good boy this year and delivered a Sony SAT-T60 to our home. It's replacing an older Sony SAT-B2 unit, and since they're both by Sony, the rear connectors were nearly identical save for location -- it was a breeze just transferring all the cables from the old unit to the new one. However, the new SAT-T60 has one additional satellite connector (oooo....more on this later).
Anyhow, I powered up the unit after all the connections were made. There's a straightforward on-screen setup sequence that's easy to follow -- enter your zip code to determine satellite positioning, test signal strength, instructions to call DirecTV to get service up and running, then instructions to set up TiVo service (local area code, choosing local number to call).
After initial configuration, I was ready to jump into it. Since my unit was an "open-box," it lacked the TiVO user manual. Not to worry -- I was able to click through all the menus and quickly figure out how everything worked. And tonight while surfing the TiVo site, I discovered they had the TiVo user manual available in .PDF format (unfortunately, it's broken up into chapters, so you have to downloaded all 7 chapters separately. Those of us with DSL/Cable access would like a single downloadable file, please!)
For those of you not in the know, DirecTV and TiVo are two separate entities. DirecTV provides the satellite signals to your receiver and you get to watch those channels to which you subscribe (there are a variety of different packages). TiVo provides the software and hardware to allow you to apparently "pause" live tv, "rewind" whatever you've been watching on live tv for up to 30mins (depending on how long you've been on that channel), and TiVo lets you find and digitally record channels based on a many different categories. DirecTV packages start at $32/month and go up from there. TiVo costs $10/month OR you can buy a lifetime subscription for $250. If you choose the $10/month option, you have up to 30 days to change to the lifetime (and the $10 will be applied to the total cost).
The TiVo software is especially nice since it allows you to search for programs alphabetically as well as by category. Since I didn't know when the next Invader Zim would be on, I did a search for titles beginning with "Inv" -- each time you enter another letter on the screen (by selecting letters on the screen via remote), the list narrows down dramatically. I entered an "I" and all shows starting with "I" appeared. As soon as I entered "N" many more disappeared. I thought I would get it when I entered "V" -- bingo...there were a few other "Invasion this" and "Invader that," but there was my Invader Zim. Simply select the item you want, and you can then choose to record it, or even look for other dates and times it is showing.
Recording options are nice; after you decide 'what' you are going to record, you then have the option to choose how long it will stay on the hard disk (default=2 days) and the number of minutes before and after you want to record (I tend to notice satellite transmissions of broadcast tv tends to run a bit behind the scheduled broadcast time).
Whenever I record, I set the retention time to "Save until I delete" -- no accidental deletions anymore! Of course, if you set ALL your recordings to do this, it's possible your hard disk will fill up and then TiVo will not let you record anymore.
You can record whole seasons of your favorite episodes by creating "Season Passes" -- for example, I did this with Invader Zim. You can then choose to record only first-run episodes or also repeats.
You can also create a "Manual season pass." This is especially handy for me since I don't trust the episodes to start/stop on time. Remember when I said you can choose to record shows minutes before/after they air? This is good when your show is standalone, i.e., there's nothing you want to tape before or after it. But what about the NBC Thursday night lineup? If I create a Season Pass for each show, I would want them to to start early/stop later by a minute or two to make sure I capture the whole episode. This would create a conflict when the 8:00-8:30 show wants to end the recording at 8:31, but then my season pass for the 8:30-9:00 show wants to start recording at 8:29. (as an aside, I don't believe this is a major conflict unless there's another show I want to tape at the same time because of the dual tuners, but I have yet to check this out). So, what to do? I can create a "Manual Season Pass" to record from 7:59 to 11:01pm every Thursday night, rather than pick the shows individually. This feature would also be good to tape your Sunday football games. Rather than choose the late game on Sunday to record (a 3-hour program), you could set the SAT-T60 to record from 1:00-4:30 to catch late starts/overtime).
The SAT-T60 has an additional satellite cable connector input...the dual-tuner has got me really excited, but I haven't run the second cable from the satellite dish to the receiver yet. Since my dish originally came with only a single-LNB, I had to grab my brother's LNB which had the dual cable output (he's lazy and hasn't installed his receiver yet). The dual-tuner feature allows you to record TWO satellite programs at once, and as previous reviews have stated, you can watch anything you've already recorded while recording new shows!!!! Talk about flexible.
With both inputs enabled, I will be able to surplus one VCR for sure, the other will be used for archiving those special shows from the SAT-T60 to tape. I'm thinking I might relocate my existing SAT-B2 to another room (requiring more satellite cable and another LNB solution).
Two things I don't like about the unit:
As mentioned in other reviews, the menu system is not as fast as one would like. When changing channels, there's a slight delay since TiVo has to stop recording whatever channel you were watching and start recording the new channel (there's a 30-minute buffer). I'm used to the lickety-split display of the channel once I channel up/down. I think I'll get used to the new system after a while, but it was a bit disconcerting at first (I would think to myself "Is there something wrong? Did I lose the satellite signal?)
Secondly, I really really wish I could digitally record non-DirecTV signals to the hard disk. Since I still pay basic cable, the ability to record that would make this unit even better. I wouldn't even need the TiVo program guide or season pass option -- just let me manually select when to record and let me choose the source as "external cable connector."
*****
Given the fact that ALL hard disks will fail at some point in their lifetime (some earlier than others), it may be wise to purchase that 3yr extended warranty. Of course, should your TiVo hard disk give up the ghost, I'm sure one of the many home-grown TiVo techie sites will give you complete instructions on replacing the hard drive yourself (and maybe even put a larger capacity drive in it).
I can't think of enough good things to say about this unit. Quality is excellent (I believe the DirecTV satellite bit stream is directly encoded to the hard disk), menus are user-friendly, and the remote is as simple as they come (I've already programmed my learning universal remote with the few extra keys that the TiVo needs beyond what a standard satellite remote would have).
Go buy this now. Do it! You won't regret it! I mean, if it could inspire me to stay up so late past my bedtime last night to type this review, it must be good! (or else I'm a bit wacky...or both!) Sony is having a $200 rebate off of the $399 price until 1/31/02, so don't wait!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
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Epinions.com ID:
tgfisker
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Reviews written: 1
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