Is the PRIME 6 soon to be released?

[simas]

We'll have some more official announcement in the near future, but I've been told I can tell people if they ask me about it directly. So, yeah, it's the original PRIME, and it's in production right now. I don't think anything will be changed on it. It's going to be a limited run, as the SOC needed for the original PRIME's design is still discontinued. However, we uncovered a bunch of SOCs during the office move to Phoenix, and on top of that discovered someone had a few thousand more labeled as a different part number. So while it's not nearly as exciting as an entirely new CableCARD product, and it won't increase the tuner count, these will be freshly manufactured units, and we'll support them as long as we can.

And we're still going to release DRM recording support. At first it will come out for the SCRIBE/SERVIO DVRs, because we were able to built those with special considerations for DRM ahead of time, but Nick thinks he can get things to work on the other software platforms.

NedS , have you thoughts on how you would allocate or distribute the 'last batch' of PRIME3s? would be sent to retail channel, amazon, your own store ,etc.

Given the low quantity and some pent up demand from us (people on this forum), it may help to know where (and when) to look or not to look

thank you

[mcewinter]

We'll have some more official announcement in the near future, but I've been told I can tell people if they ask me about it directly. So, yeah, it's the original PRIME, and it's in production right now. I don't think anything will be changed on it. It's going to be a limited run, as the SOC needed for the original PRIME's design is still discontinued. However, we uncovered a bunch of SOCs during the office move to Phoenix, and on top of that discovered someone had a few thousand more labeled as a different part number. So while it's not nearly as exciting as an entirely new CableCARD product, and it won't increase the tuner count, these will be freshly manufactured units, and we'll support them as long as we can.

And we're still going to release DRM recording support. At first it will come out for the SCRIBE/SERVIO DVRs, because we were able to built those with special considerations for DRM ahead of time, but Nick thinks he can get things to work on the other software platforms.

How do you plan to distribute? I don't think I'll be buying one but there was a lot of excitement regarding the PRIME6 and also some disappointment regarding the demise of the PRIME3. The people that frequent these forums should get a fair crack at them. ...assuming the available quantity is rather limited.

[rpcameron]

So after years of posts being deleted and marked as FUD, turns out the predictions of it never being made were right all along.

Yep. And now we'll see if the veracity of DRM recording not being tied to the Prime 6 is true. I'll believe it when I see it. After all, what's 6 years between friends ...

[trakz]

What would be awesome, would be a 3D printed chassis that supported a modular interconnect. So if someone buys a couple of Prime 3’s, they could take the boards and put them into a single chassis.

Basically a hacked together prime 6 (albeit requiring a couple of CableCards).

[manicslothpdx]

This is speculative, but after reading through these forums I suspect that they had every intention of releasing the PRIME 6 and that it's probably even ready for production, but they never got CableLabs certification for the device.

[gary1955]

all bad news for me. it is not worth the added cost for the second cablecard.

[rrussis82]

all bad news for me. it is not worth the added cost for the second cablecard.

Well having 6 tuners with 2 cable cards even renting the second for $10 ish on comcast, still beats renting 6 set top boxes.

[gary1955]

all bad news for me. it is not worth the added cost for the second cablecard.

Well having 6 tuners with 2 cable cards even renting the second for $10 ish on comcast, still beats renting 6 set top boxes.

I don't run out of tuners watching 3 different tv's. I do frequently run into problems with more than 3 programs being scheduled to record at the same time. Windows Media Center used to be able to look for conflicts and warn you if it couldn't reschedule. Channels DVR doesn't have that capacity so it has to be done manually. I have to keep the Xfinity DVR with its 4 tuners for premium channels so for me the cost of another cable card is not worth it.

[Dan_Austin]

I rarely have a tuner count issue with a single Prime-3, but was looking forward to having extra tuners for conflict avoidance.

I'll likely try to score a couple of the new units, with one destined to be stored on a shelf. I live in an OTA dead zone so my choices are cablecard tuners or nothing. Really hoping it does not come to nothing

[manicslothpdx]

I was watching an auction on eBay for one of the old HDHR3-6CC-3X2 6-tuner products (a rack mount device with two of the 3-tuner boards inside) and it ended way out of my price range at $370. If that is any indication, there is still a market for these CableCard devices.

[GetMatt]

I live in an OTA dead zone so my choices are cablecard tuners or nothing. Really hoping it does not come to nothing

There is always TVE and ******. Does your location support ******? I wish HDHR DVR supported TVE and ****** that would be perfect.

[GetMatt]

I live in an OTA dead zone so my choices are cablecard tuners or nothing. Really hoping it does not come to nothing

There is always TVE and ******. Does your location support ******? I wish HDHR DVR supported TVE and ****** that would be perfect.

Moderator, how in the world is that a blocked word? It's just a free service that allows you to pickup local OTA streams on IPTV. Because it's in possibly competition with OTA tuners?

[Dan_Austin]

I'm generally not interested in streaming TV options, but do appreciate the spirit it was offered. The forum masked out what I think is a provider that begins with an 'L' and ends with a 't'. I have that in a trial to deal with a channel that my cable company has setup wrong in their head-end. I don't hate it, but would not want it to be my only/primary option...

[manicslothpdx]

I tested Channels DVR using my Comcast login to configure a "TV Everywhere" source and I forced myself to use it instead of my PRIME 3 CableCard source just to see what the differences would be. I couldn't get locals with TV Everywhere as a source and I don't live in a L****t market, but this wasn't a huge deal because I also have a QUATRO configured as a source in Channels DVR. In my opinion, the combination of a QUATRO and a TV Everywhere login as sources for a Channels DVR setup is a very compelling alternative to a PRIME 3. As a DVR, it was seamless recording a TV Everywhere stream vs. a CableCard channel. I know there are differences. There might not be parity between your CableCard lineup vs. your TV Everywhere lineup. Also, there is no surround sound with TV Everywhere streams and the compression might be higher. But, from purely a usability standpoint, I couldn't tell a difference between using a PRIME 3 as a source vs. using a QUATRO (or L****t) + TV Everywhere login as sources. I also tested Plex (I was evaluating my options after a TiVo hard drive failure) but Plex doesn't support TV Everywhere so I was limited to testing Plex with a PRIME 3. In the end, I just fixed my TiVo because there were issues with Channels DVR that I didn't like (no live TV window in the guide, no fast tuner switching) but I really liked Channels DVR and came very close to switching permanently after trying it for a couple months.

[rpcameron]

We'll have some more official announcement in the near future, but I've been told I can tell people if they ask me about it directly.
…
And we're still going to release DRM recording support. At first it will come out for the SCRIBE/SERVIO DVRs, because we were able to built those with special considerations for DRM ahead of time, but Nick thinks he can get things to work on the other software platforms.

@NedS: Two things you mentioned.

1. It's been over 2 business days—and over half of a calendar week—since you've spilled the beans, but there has yet to be an official announcement. Is one still slated to be made? (The Prime 6 page is still live, and mentions it is still in development.)
2. Is there any timeline for DRM recording availability? Many users supported the Kickstarter with the expectation that DRM would be made available to the DVR. While that was indeed years ago and Kickstarter backers haven't been additionally billed, it was still a promised feature that has yet to arrive.
   (Additionally, I recall a post from 2+ years ago of Nick stating that he had DRM working in test builds; this indicates it is definitely possible on current third-party hardware. However, your statement seems to imply that only first-party hardware will be supported for the initial release. This additional hiccup appears to be ploy to garner more hardware sales while neglecting those who paid money for this long-promised feature; does SD have an official comment on this new status?)