There are no HD TiVos yet. They are in litigation still. THey have actually been produced, but they can\'t sell them yet.
Yes, you need an eliptical dish. You will find them in stores with two horns. You can call Direct TV and request a Sat C kit. They are giving them away. You need Sat C to get ESPN, Discovery, Showtime, and HDNet movies. I think eventually you will need Sat C for HDNet and HBO as well. I\'m talking about the HD versions of all of the channels here of course.
FOX broadcasts NOTHING in HD. THey are a 480P network. They are going to change over to HD starting next year, but who knows how long it will take to get implemented.
An HD receiver for Direct TV will cost you anywhere from 300-800 bucks depending on what you want. Budget yourself 400 and you\'ll be fine.
If you go the cable route you can get HD for cheaper startup costs, but they have a very low capacity for future channels. Cable companies are raking in the bucks with Cable Modems and they would rather use the bandwidth for that rather than more HD channels.
Satellite on the other hand has a pretty good capacity. Heck, when Super Dish comes out Dish network may have the upper hand. MPEG 2 is pretty old school now. I would have to imagine that direct tv doesn\'t have many more years before needing to upgrade the codec schemes.
And as far as some one mentioned only 6 channels. Here in Tampa I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX (Sort of, it\'s widescreen anyway), WB, UPN, PBS, HBO, Discovery, HDNet, HDNet Movies, and ESPN. Showtime is also offered and there is a PPV and a special events channel. so you have available between 13-15 channels.
