Customer Reviews

Philips DSR7000 Combination TiVo/DIRECTV Satellite Receiver

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is my first TiVo and first DirecTV. This thing is amazing. It's truly a whole new way to watch television. It's very easy to use and the quality is great. There are just a few things I wish they would add or change.

The dual tuners lets you do some incredible things. For example, say you're watching channel A live, then switch to channel B. You watch that for a few minutes, then decide you might have missed something on channel A. You can pause channel B, switch back to A, and rewind it to catch what you missed! Insane...

The integration is pretty smooth between the TiVo and DirecTV interfaces, although in combining the two, they stripped out some features from each. My biggest gripe is that the program guide is the regular TiVo one. The program guide on standalone DirecTV units is much faster and slicker. You also don't get the DirecTV feature that lets you browse channels by logo.

Also, even though this is a Series 2 TiVo, the USB ports seem to be disabled. Unlike other series 2 TiVos, you can't connect it to broadband - you're stuck with the phone line. And The Home Media option doesn't seem to be available. Hopefully a software update will enable these features.

Finally, it would be nice if it had component video output, but that's not a big deal for me.

It does have optical audio out and s-video out, so you still get pretty darn good quality. And of course, you don't lose any quality when recoprding like a standalone TiVo - which is by far the best feature of this thing.

I've had 6 Tivos but up until now, they have all been freestanding (TiVo1 and TiVo2) units. I switched to satellite about a year ago and was thrilled to find that DirecTV was offering Tivos.....Until I brought mine home. What they DON'T tell you is that DirecTV TiVo is designed and built for DirecTV only. It DOES NOT record cable or over the air broadcasts, it DOES NOT support networking (a fantastic feature for getting your schedule via Internet and sharing shows between multiple TiVos in a household) and, because it doesn't support networking, it also doesn't support the Home Media Option (which allows you to stream audio and images from your PC to your TiVo). It also doesn't support web based scheduling requests or the soon to be released TiVo-to-Go. These are all features that are central to the TiVo culture and I'm amazed that DirecTV has crippled their version of the TiVo service. I'd happily pay out the few bucks a month to add a DirecTV unit to my TiVo subscription, but DirecTV doesn't allow for it.

The long and short of it is that this is not a fully enabled TiVo and there isn't much you can do about it. If you just want a PVR with a nice interface, this is probably it. But if you want TiVO, as in ALL of TiVo, then skip these direcTV units, buy a regular TiVo and hook it up to you current satellite receiver. Not only can you record over-the-air or cable this way, but you get every one of the TiVo functions that the folks at TiVo have thoughtfully built into thier units.

I replaced my old Sony Directv received for this tivo/directv unit....

Reading the various articles on Tivo receivers, I understood that a combined tivo/directv receiver would cause no loss of image quality (a regular tivo unit would first convert the digital satallite signal into an analog signal)... so I expected both live and recorded pictures to be of the same quality that I was used to with my Sony receiver....

Well, the live picture quality is definitely less than what my old Sony directv receiver produced, which it is quite disappointing; one of the nice things of satellite tv are the crisp imagines (if you have a good tv set).

The recorded picture quality is similar to the live picture quality (so at least no further loss of quality is introduced during recording).

I am using the exact same cables (S-video) as with my old unit, so that can't be the issue.

Also I don't get the Dolby theater sound signal any longer, my Sony sat receiver delivered dolby flawless (yup, I did enable the Dolby setting on the Philips receiver using the onscreen setup). The system does pickup a broadcast is in dolby, but the audio output is simply not the 5 channel dolby surround (my audio receiver at least doesn't recognize as dolby any longer, whereas it did with my old Sony sat receiver).

The tivo stuff all works fine and is very user-friendly, but if you care about image quality or your dolby sound, you should think twice before you buy this unit !

The concept of integrating DirecTV twin tuners with digital recording capabilities is brilliant, and the user friendliness of these machines is quite good considering the sophisticated technology. But I've only been able to experience it for about six hours before the units fail. Hard drives malfunction, tuners go out; I'm waiting for my third unit. My father has had three bad Philips DSR 7000 before giving up & buying a Hughes unit that has functioned for some time now. The warranty is terrible; 90 days and you have to pay the shipping. Philips should not have put their name on these machines, which all appear identical (RCA, Hughes, Philips) from the same joynt mfr. in Mexico. Mine came from the Philips Employee Store & I'm loyal, but this is pathetic.

this box is awesome, but why is it $599 here. does it have somethign that the $99 one i just bought doesn't.

Well, at first this product was great. Dual receivers worked with my multi-switch and i was able to watch one show while recording another.

For some reason, one of the satellite lines in keeps dropping. The hookups are good and the signal strength continues to show all of the same strengths as the working tuner (they are shown on the screen side by side). However, on a daily basis - I have to reset the receiver (without adjusting any wires) or continue to try reacquiring the information on both inputs.

I really do like the other features of the unit having had a Sony TIVO unit that also had some common flaws. The comment about the slow screens and transitions is accurate. The response of the unit is a little slow and from what I understand, this feature is improved with more expensive units having faster (ie. more expensive) processors.

For the price, I think I paid $79 for the unit while signing a 12-month contract, (my DirecTV contract had already expired) this would be a great unit.

This is the fourth DirecTV receiver in the house (since it is dual - it is really the fourth and fifth receiver with the dual switch purchased from Radio Shack). If the second line didn't drop periodically and regularly - this would be five stars at the current price point.

I'm not sure what the other reviewer is complaining about when saying that the TiVo isn't picking up channels and is unreliable.
No problems here, I get everything.
Also, YOU CANT TELL WHEN ITS ON THE SECOND TUNER. The integration between the 2 tuners is seemless, you watch tv and record on seperate channels, thats all you know.
The quality is EXACTLY the same as you get on regular directv... no complaints there... ZERO loss of quality on recordings and live tv.
This thing is fantastic, you program in what channels you receive and dont' receive, and it won't suggest shows or anything on the channels you don't receive, wonderful. After a couple weeks of using this, you learn all the tricks to finding great things, when watching tv.. you rate the shows you are watching by pressing a thumbs up or thumbs down on your control, then when you want, you can simply go to TiVo Suggestions and it will suggest shows and like shows to either watch live or record for your convenience. I have tons of Season Passes that TiVo records for me whenever my shows come on, FANTASTIC!!!
Another trick, I always start football games 30 minutes after they start, that way you can fastforward commercials and halftime... then by the end of the game you skipped the commercials and halftime and are caught up to real-time to see the finish. FANTASTIC.
And guys, the system will auto-record whenever you are watching live tv (and only stores it temporarily until you change channels)... this is AWESOME, that means when you are just leisurely watching a show, and miss something, you can just rewind without having to have hit record earlier.
And the ability to control your own instant replays during football games makes this unit worth every cent in gold.. i pause and rewind all the time.
And folks, PLEASE don't waste your money on "the latest receivers" this one has all the options, for almost nothing, if you want more space, just search the internet, you can easily put a 120 gig hard drive in it like I did for $60 more and get 120 hours of recording.
And for the slow menu problems, thats answered on the system, if you press "page up" or "page down" on the remote, it makes it real quick and easy to browse the guide.
In conclusion, this is the BEST TiVo deal you can find, don't waste money on anything else, no problems at all with the unit. FANTASTIC!!!!

This machine is great. Installation was easy. I just unhooked my existing directv box and plugged this one in.

I got this because it was way cheaper than a regular tivo. The monthly service was cheaper as well.

If you're the kind of person who cannot program a vcr this unit is definetly for you. It is very simple to use and very fun as well.

I just got this unit as part of a Directv NFL Sunday Ticket special offer. It works great. I had a brief problem with Dolby signal but after trouble shooting realized I had an incorrect setting on my A/V receiver (analog input). Recorded picture is equivalent to live. Recording is a breeze. Season ticket, Wish list and other filtering features are very useful for auto recording programs. In my situation I have a dual LNB single dish that feeds into a multi-switch, works fine. I now have 3 DIRECTV receivers 2 RCA's and this PHILIPS unit. As far as I can tell they all have the same picture. TIVO is cool!