Philips DSR6000 Digital Satellite Receiver/Recorder
 Everybody lies about how much TV they
watch. That's why the networks screamed bloody murder when the Nielsen ratings switched
over to an electronic reporting device from its old consumer-recorded logs -- the
discrepancies were significant. It seemed a certain number of Neilsen families were
actually recording what they felt they should have been watching rather than what
they really watched.
Most home-theater reviewers are like that, too. To read
'em, you'd think that all they use those TVs for is watching Orson Welles marathons and
grooving to Video Essentials. But most of us do watch TV -- and while we may not be
particularly proud of it, we might as well make the most of it.
That's why I'm so hyped on my Phillips DSR6000 DirecTV
receiver with TiVo. It completes the revolution that the VCR began by totally freeing me
from the tyranny of what's on. The biggest problem with TV is not the poor quality of most
of the programming. I'm in no position to criticize: After a hard day at the computer, I
love to space-out watching house porn on HGTV, shows like Changing Rooms on BBC
America and Curb Appeal. I'm not proud of it, but I'll confess to it. Nothing
relaxes me like watching someone else work -- especially with heavy machinery.
As we all know, the big problem with TV is that we have
"500 channels and nothing's on." Which is to say that, no matter when you turn
on the TV, what you want to watch isn't on then. If you're organized and conscientious,
you can program your VCR and time shift everything you want to watch, but most of us
aren't that organized, much less conscientious. Besides, even if you are, high-rez
monitors and giant TVs simply show us how bad videocassette looks and sounds.
Hard-disk recorders (called Personal Video Recorders or
PVRs), such as TiVo, are easier to work with and have better picture and sound. The big
drawback is you must receive your programming from DirecTV, not that that's such a
drawback. My experience with cable is minimal -- I lived in Brooklyn from 1981 until 1995
and, thanks to all the backroom maneuvering and all the hands held out, cable didn't make
it to my neighborhood until my last six months there. I was disappointed with how poor the
picture quality was, and I never did figure out how to use my VCR with the cable box.
Upon moving to Santa Fe, I was happy to try DirecTV and was
impressed by how good the picture was once the service upgraded its MPEG processing. Never
did figure out that VCR interface though. I kept meaning to invite a 12-year-old over to
explain it to me, but it just didn't work out.
That's what's so great about the DSR6000. It combines the
set-top box for DirecTV reception with a PVR -- there's no interface!
An oasis in his air of lost connections
While the DSR6000 sports a list price of $399, that price
includes a dual-line satellite dish, and DirecTV almost always has a free installation
deal going if you commit to a certain term of service. Furthermore, if you shop the
Internet, you can find it for as little as $99 -- including installation -- as long as you
sign up for a year's DirecTV/TiVo service.
Note that sneaky little TiVo service reference. In order to
utilize TiVo, you need to subscribe to TiVo's online service. You essentially pay $9.95
per month or $295 for a "lifetime contract" (according to the fine print, that
"lifetime" is the lifetime of the DSR6000, not yours). What this gets you is
access to a program guide which is updated daily via a telephone line (you incur no phone
charges for this). This guide allows you to program any TiVo functions you might wish to
take advantage of. We'll get into those in a minute.
The DSR6000 comes with an elliptical satellite dish with
two Low Noise Block converters (LNBs), which receive signals from DirecTV satellites at
101 degrees West and 119 degrees. In other words, since it can simultaneously receive
signals from two satellites, you can record two shows at the same time, or record one show
and watch another -- at least, you can if you run two cables from the dish to the
receiver.
The DSR6000 is "designed to offer you a gateway to the
digitally networked home." This means it not only receives digital sound, but outputs
it as well, which allows you to process the 6000's digital signal externally, as well as
to receive Dolby Digital soundtracks on pay-per-view films and other sources. Its 32-bit
microprocessor delivers superb picture and sound quality -- within the limits of MPEG-2.
Both are better than I ever got with cable.
The unit outputs video in either composite (RCA) or S-video
formats. It also features a spare set of A/V outputs so you can connect it to a VCR to
permanently archive shows you record. As previously alluded to, the unit also features a
landline (telephone) connection, which needs to be hooked into your regular phone lines.
The daily phone line upload is scheduled for late nights -- and will never activate if the
line is in use. It's about as transparent as these things get. The only time I was ever
aware of it, in fact, was when I shattered our living room phone jack moving an awkwardly
placed subwoofer, leaving the DSR6000 unconnected for about a month. When I accessed the
TiVo menu three weeks into this spell, the unit warned me with a text message that it had
been 21 days since its last upgrade and that service might be interrupted if I didn't
reconnect the unit before the 30-day mark. I took the hint and repaired the phone jack.
 Depending upon which
source you believe, the DSR6000 has either 30- or 35-hour recording capacity.
The DR6000's remote is a thing of beauty. It fits the hand
nicely and all of the different functions have different-sized or -shaped or -textured
buttons, so it can be used intuitively, even in the dark. It also allows you to program in
your TV's on/off code and your preamp's volume control, so it’s the only
remote you need for watching TV. I wish more manufacturers would take a page from Philips
on this -- its industrial design at its best.
Angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo
So what does the DSR6000 offer that makes it worth adding
ten bucks a month to your cable bill? To start with, it offers amazing flexibility in
regards to recording broadcast television. With dual lines to a dual LNB dish, you can not
only record two concurrent or overlapping shows, you can record and view different shows
simultaneously. You can program it to record a single episode of a show or set up a
"season ticket," which records every episode. Or you can set your season ticket
to record only new programs.
Running late? If you press record up to 30 minutes into a
show, the DSR6000 will record the show from the beginning, which means you can start
watching from the beginning and fast-forward through the commercials until you catch up.
Actually, I recommend arranging things so you don't catch up, because once you get
used to skipping commercials, you'll really resent having to sit through them.
TiVo is menu-driven and mastering its menu system is quite
intuitive. You can choose shows to record by title or you can scan the upcoming program
guides and simply check off shows you're interested in watching. You can even set up wish
lists and it'll search for your favorite actors or shows or sports team or even genre. The
remote also has two buttons (thumbs up and thumbs down), which allow you to
rate programs you watch with one to three thumbs. When searching for programs to record,
the DSR6000 will remember your ratings and record all the episodes of M*A*S*H the
Fox network broadcasts (at least up to its 30-hour capacity), while ignoring The
Weakest Link.
The more shows you record and evaluate, the more accurate
the DSR6000's guesses will become. And that's something you need to be warned about -- the
DSR6000 loves to guess what you might want recorded. I don't know why, but mine
likes to record daytime trash shows like Jerry Springer and Rikki Lake. Yeesh!
Programming like that is the best incentive for working in the daytime I know of.
But when it gets it right, it's so cool! Like when I called
up the Now Playing menu and discovered that it recorded the one Michael J. Fox Spin
City episode I missed from his last season. Out of the ten episodes UPN broadcast that
week, how did the DSR6000 know?
Of course, you can manipulate the signal, watching in slow
motion, endlessly replaying a tricky play, or even freezing the image. Since the recording
is in the digital domain, the video and sound quality remain high -- at least as good as
the DirecTV feed.
There's another nifty feature. If you buy a pay-per-view
movie or event, the DSR6000 will inquire if you want to record it or simply watch it. This
means you can watch that movie twice (or more) or even stop watching and get back to it
later. What could be better?
Only connect
I won't pretend I never watch TV in real time anymore, but
when I do, it seems as though I simply didn't plan ahead wisely. Generally, I can simply
call up Now Playing and have my choice of interesting programming ready when I am
-- and I can skip the commercials! I can record the BBC newscast and watch it with my wife
when she gets home, and I can tape shows we both like that occur after her bedtime (which
is pretty much anything in primetime) and watch them with her on the weekend.
You know, just having TV I want to watch ready to go when I
have the time to watch it would be enough. But the best part of it all is that the picture
quality and sound quality are both top-notch. The Philips DSR6000 truly is TV my way.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
Philips DSR6000 Digital Satellite Receiver/Recorder
Price: $399 USD
Warranty: One year parts and 90 days labor
Philips Consumer Electronics Co.
64 Perimeter Center East
Atlanta, GA 30346-6401
Phone.: (770) 821-2715
Website: www.philipsusa.com (related links: www.directv.com, www.tivo.com)
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