H/HU Hack/Emulation is a way to hack DirecTV and recieve all the channels for free. I think as of right now though, only Emulation is working, where you have a pc connected to your receiver box manipulating the box to think you have a "vip pass" to all the channels. Hope that clears that up. More info at http://www.dssware.com if you want it.

H and HU cards are two different types of Smartcards. HU are the current set of cards. H were the ones previous to that. And for historic reference, the ones before that were F cards. The current DTV stream can be decoded only by H and HU cards. F cards were phased out numerous years ago.

Now, I'm sure you can guess what the other terms applied to these card types mean.

My friend (who is in the US) found the $70 deal and thinks this could be a good deal for him. Apparently it comes out cheaper than a previous quote he had for three regular receivers.

And if it matters to anyone, the coolest (fastest and best menu systems) receivers I've ever used are from Hughes. I've never seen a Tivo DTV yet - again, DirecTV is not available in Canada (only a couple of Canadian alternatives, the most popular one based on Dishnet hardware)

Bruno

And if it matters to anyone, the coolest (fastest and best menu systems) receivers I've ever used are from Hughes.

I will agree with you on this, however, in the world of DirecTiVo it doesn't matter. The hardware used in the Sony, Hughes, and Philips models are identical. I described the slight differences in this thread.

Unfortunately, DirecTiVo units are probably the slowest current receivers at changing channels. For what it's worth, the now defunct UltimateTV is even slower. This is one of the major things I would love to see changed on the DirecTiVos.

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the now defunct UltimateTV is even slower

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Did they really kill the product? I saw something about MS moving the UltimateTV office to Redmond and merging it with the XBox group, but I hadn't seen anything about them EOL'ing UltimateTV.

-Dylan

Yeah, I think it's more serious than just moving people around.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/ms012202.htm

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DoubI didn't see a true DB9 serial port on the back, looks like it's a type of headphone connection for serial ... I haven't researched this yet, but are you guys familiar with this? do I need to find an adapter similar to the pronto's serial cable? (semi-headphone type to db9).

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I know the Philips TiVo units (at least the one I have) come with an adapter cable. Rummage through your accessory bag to see if it's hiding.

(Hey, I can't use markup anymore in my posts - huh? wha?)