DIRECTV STREAM is Rolling Out a New Streaming Player

I am interested in the 15gb storage ? I wonder what this could lead too.

The article says the dongle is going to run the same OS as the "old Gemini streaming player"---isn't that a Satellite receiver?

Gemini is actually a C71K DirecTV Stream box with firmware modified for DirecTV Satellite. 

As stated in the article, this device will be a dongle and not a box. I assume this will indicate Wi-Fi only with no Ethernet port. I see a disaster in the future!

Looks like the Dtv Satellite "Gemini" box that looks like the Osprey runs Genie-like software. Wonder if the Dtv Stream boxes will get that same software. Seems like they are combining the services starting April 6. 

@Glenee The specs quoted in the article are effectively the same as the existing device (4GB RAM, 16GB flash), but with a newer SOC. That flash stores their software and other apps, but isn't really enough to do anything new/interesting.

The references to Gemini don't make a bunch of sense in relation to DTVS, but as this was from CordCutter, lack of coherent info isn't too surprising.  If this is real, it appears to be a fairly minor update (newer SOC) in a cost reduced package and without Ethernet.  I'm not sure what the "improved WiFi" means - the existing is spec'ed to provide 802.11ac, and the issues people see aren't bandwidth but reception which seems unlikely to be improved by a device with a smaller antenna.  I also wonder if DTV would offer it cheaper than the Osprey or just pocket the difference.

I don't know DTV satellite. Is the existing Genie Mini a more or less commodity streaming device that (like the Osprey) has a DTV customized GUI and app on it that the "real" Genie streams to?  If so, would this (or the "Gemini" that runs on Osprey hardware) just a replacement for that dedicated Genie Mini hardware - that is, different dedicated hardware that can be shared with DTV Stream?  I can see the advantage to DTV to only having to make/support 1 device rather than 2, and making the software (well, most of it) common also seems a win (at least if the GUIs were relatively close already - otherwise one of the customer bases (or maybe both) will likely be upset).

I'd guess that (again if this is true) the beta should be fairly short (much shorter than the beta for the Osprey, which went on for a year, as I remember) because not too much seems to be different, unless they are making substantial GUI changes.

Of course, even if this thing becomes available soon, it likely won't matter to me.  They won't let me buy Ospreys, so unless they change their policy, they wouldn't let me buy this either.

Jrandmuser.

How come they wont let you buy Osprey Box's ?

Isn't 16 GB a lot more storage than the Osprey? I thought it had like 8 GB?

Per the specs page in the manual it is 16GB.  8GB is common on commodity Android TV based streamers, but they generally cost a lot less than an Osprey.

@Glenee It isn’t completely clear. I have a “grandfathered” subscription - dating back to when the service first started over five years ago and was called DirecTV Now. The subscription is less expensive than current ones (though not quite as much less as it once was), but customers with those subscriptions have a number of limitations relative to those with current plans. We are limited to 2 or 3 concurrent streams (some have to pay $5/month for the 3rd stream), with no opportunity to get more. We also only get the 20 hour DVR, though they now let us pay $10/month for the unlimited DVR. And they don’t let us buy Ospreys for some reason that they were unable to explain to me – which also means we don’t have access to the pay-per-view offerings.  I’m not sure if there are other restrictions. They have more than once indicated that I was free to switch to one of the current plans (at the current costs). However, the website indicates that current customers (for any DirectTV service) aren’t eligible for the current “offers”, and they won’t spell out what that means. But they are very clear that if a legacy subscriber leaves their existing subscription, they can never get it back.

@Jrandomuser Hmm. OK. I wonder why my storage/apps section on my Osprey says "total 6.3 GB" (not available)

I can’t wait to try the new box if I get one

At $15/month at a lease - never!

Either you or CordCutters misinterpreted - there is no pricing info on the dongle devices yet and they talk (on the website, relative to the "new" DTV via satellite or via internet subscriptions) of a $15/month fee (not a lease or per device) - and that fee might apply just to satellite subscribers.  I'd think when they get around to releasing the dongle version that they should be less expensive to buy (since they should be less expensive to manufacture), but they might just pocket the difference.

@Ludwick577 I see the same, and I don't know.  Perhaps developer mode would provide more details, but I haven't done that. There's certainly going to be a good amount of space taken by the core software (from Google and from DTV) and that might or might not show on the memory usage stats.  They also likely reserve a chunk of space so they can so "safe" updates.  But it still seems that given a 16GB flash there is space missing.

Interestingly, the original version of the device sent for FCC type acceptance had 2GB of RAM and 8GB of flash.  They apparently updated it before release when they realized it either didn't fit or was tight.  It is possible that they hard coded the flash size in the firmware and never updated it, but that seems hard to believe even for them.