HNS Ships TiVo Combo IRD For DirecTV Services

Staff -- TWICE, 2/26/2001

GERMANTOWN, MD. -Hughes Network Systems announced it has started shipping its TiVo-enabled integrated receiver/descrambler (IRD) for DirecTV services.

The TiVo IRD incorporates a hard disk drive with capacity for 35 hours of programming at one time. The combination of the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) with the digital video delivery system enables signals to be recorded in bitstream form, just as they are received from the satellite.

The IRD decodes the stored signal upon playback, just as it would a real-time video channel. The benefit is more hours of storage time at full resolution.

In contrast, stand-alone TiVo recorders must encode analog feeds to digital form before storing it to the hard drive. Users must trade off resolution for storage capacity when instructing the unit to cache multiple programs to disk at various compression settings.

No such decisions are required with the integrated TiVo/IRD. Hughes said the unit carries a $399.99 suggested retail price.