Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips DSR6000R DIRECTV Receiver with TiVo Service

For the record, let me just say that I have had a Tivo recorder since it was first made available to the public (mailorder only --- about a year and a half ago). This is a great machine and the software and services keep getting better and better!Now I have purchased the new DSR6000. From the other reviews you know about many of the great features and cool things you can do with Tivo.Now for a few things you may not know or should at least be aware of:1) This is not a Tivo Box. It is a DirecTV satellite receiver with Tivo. If you need cable or antenna inputs --- you can only view these sources --- NOT RECORD.2) With this unit you cannot set the recording quality ( the editorial above is in error ). The unit automatically varies the compression rate according to the type of material you are watching --- action movies require more space than a talk show. The picture quality is very good and it seems to be able to record more than my old tivo with a set compression rate.3) Guided setup is a breeze since all program guide information is downloaded from the satellite. Only the Network Showcases and Tivolution Magazine is retrieved via the phone line.4)WARNING: If you receive your local channels through DirecTV be aware that guide information of CBS and ABC are not being downloaded to the guide at this time. All you will see is "To Be Announced". DirecTV is aware of the problem (so they tell me) and are working to resolve it ASAP.5) There is "audio popping" that occurs at random. It usually seems to happen when moving from one menu screen to another.6) There are great new features such as Wishlists that let you find and autorecord programs based on keywords, directors, and actors.Also, the Season Pass just became alot smarter. Now you can tell it whether you want repeats or just first run and the maximum number of episodes you want to record in a week. There are many other additions/improvements -- to numeous to mention.IN CLOSING --- I just want to say this IS the next chapter in the Tivo revolution/evolution. This is a great machine with alot of new features. Remember this is new software for Tivo and there are still a few refinements that need to be made. If you can look beyond a few bugs (that will be corrected soon) --- come join the TIVOlution revolution!Thanks, I hope this helps.

I've had the DSR-6000 for a couple of weeks now, and I love it. As long as you think of it as not a Tivo, and more like the ultimate DirectTV receiver, you will be happy. It does everthing a standalone Tivo does, EXCEPT, you cannot record anything but DirectTV. No cable, no antenna, just the satellite. If you CAN get your local channels from DirectTV, you are set, run, don't walk, to get this receiver! If you get your locals from cable or an antenna, you are out of luck, you will still need a regular VCR to record ABC, NBC, FOX, WB, and CBS network programming. That said, your Tivo will work awesome on the hundreds of DirectTV channels. You can pause live TV, set it to record episodes of you favorite shows, movies with you favorite actors, movies with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, etc. It holds up to 35 hours of shows you have told it to record in perfect digital quality, PLUS shows it thinks you might like based on the type of shows you have told it to record, or by giving it Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down on shows in the channel guide. So that is your choice, awesome convenience with the DirectTV channels, but no local channel recording. For me, I think it is worth it.

I own three tivos: a standalone, a Hughes GXCEBOT DirecTivo and now a Philips DSR6000. I have been pleased with all three models and love how Tivo lets me watch TV on my own schedule, not the networks'. For those who are switching from a regular Directv receiver or are new to satellite service altogether, a few caveats:

1) All three DirecTivos (Hughes, Philips, Sony) perform the same. The only differences are external - the Hughes and Sony are silver and the Sony has a control link to control Sony VCRs. So buy the one that fits best with your home theater system.

2) The DTivos currently (as of 12/01) in stores have software ver. 2.01; to use the two tuner functionality, you need only force a daily call (or two) after you finish the guided setup - the installation manual explains this simple process - and wa - la!! Ver. 2.5 will download and a new message from Tivo will tell you how to activate the dual tuner functions. No sweat!!

3) The DirecTivo online guide is slower than those of the regular Directv receivers. Don't worry, you'll get used to it and as you begin to use the Tivo more and more, find that you surf less and less. Alot of your TV viewing will be recordings the Tivo or you have made.

4) The Philips DSR6000 runs hot!! (That's why I gave it four and not five stars). Don't stack it with another component and make sure you have adequate head and side room in any rack system you put it in. Otherwise, the fan will run continuously and might annoy you.

5) The DTivos, like the standalones (and unlike Ultimate TV) can be expanded to add additional hard disk storage. So, you can upgrade your 35 hour DTivo to 80 hours, 100 hours, 160 hours,... it's up to you. All you need is a little PC knowledge and some gall...

6)...you can only use the DTivos to record satellite TV; they won't work with cable or local broadcast TV (buy a standalone Tivo for that). But as of 12/27/01, nearly all your local channels are "must carry" for Directv. (Go to their website to see which locals you can get via the satellite).

A final piece of advice: if you're thinking about buying this product...read the FAQs and discussion threads - it may save you some frustration or disappointment if the product is not what you expected and will help you with any setup questions you may have, like "do I need a multiswitch and which one should I buy?" It's also a great way to pick up tips and tricks about how to make your Tivo viewing more pleasurable.

If you can't Tivo your life, then at least Tivo your television ;-) Good luck and enjoy!!

This is just a great product. I've had directv for a couple years, so I'm going to focus on what tivo added when I replaced my old receiver with this one:

(1) the ability to interrupt live programming without missing anything. Say you're watching a show, and you get a phone call. Just pause (it is always recording what you're watching), complete your call and then resume.

(2) No wrong tape/missing tape/wrong tape speed/over-record problems. A problem with VCR recording is making sure the tape is in and set up properly. It's a nuisance at best, and can cause the recording to mis-fire completely at worst.

(3) Leave town and record. If you need to leave town for a few days or a week, you can still record the shows you want without having to worry about tape capacity.

(4) Record by program rather than time/channel/code.

(5) Multiple search options for locating programs of interest. Title, description, cast names, category are all options. You can locate programs easily, two weeks in advance (no hunting through program grids).

(6) Season pass. Once you find a program of interest, if it is recurring, you can subscribe by "season-pass", which will record all the episodes of a show (and you can choose first-run only if you want) even if it changes time, day, or length.

(7) Watch-while-recording. If you are recording a show, you don't have to wait until it is over before you can start watching it. Suppose there is a show you want to watch that starts at 10:00. Just show up at 10:20, and you can start watching from the beginning, skip the commercials, and still finish at 11:00.

(8) Manage old recordings. If you've got a significant amount of back-logged recording, managing it with tape is a mess: which tapes have what on them, avoiding over-recording, finding the programs, etc. With this device, however, you have 35 hours available by title presented in a simple menu. To be sure, you can't permanently archive this way, but if you want to it will play to VCR for you - without your having to make sure you get clean, labeled tapes set up in real-time.

(9) Quality. Because you're capturing the over-the-air pre-compressed signal, the recorded version is as good as the live version. This is a significant advantage that this has over the standard tivo.

(10) Easy to set-up. I already had my dish set up, so this wasn't difficult - the only thing was that the regular directtv people don't know all the steps on transferring my account from my old receiver over to the tivo box, but they have dedicated support people who know what to do.

Overall, this is just a very wonderfully well thought-through product. There were quite a few times when I first got it when I thought of something that would be convenient if it would do for me, and each time there was a way to do it.

I was fortunate to get one of the first of these boxes. Compared to the stand alone TiVo, setup is a breeze. It takes about 20 minutes. The stand-alone takes 3-5 hours. Picture quality is perfect since the integrated receiver records the bitstream directly off the satellite instead of it being decoded by a separate receiver and re-encoded by TiVo. The DSR6000R also is the first TiVo to ship with the 2.0 software, which has many new features, such as Season Pass manager, . This unit also features two DirecTV tuners, which will allow you to watch 1 channel while recording another, when the feature is enabled. This unit also allows you to choose from the DirecTV guide or the TiVo guide, whichever you prefer.

If you've been waiting, now is the time to jump in. This is the best TiVo unit yet.