Posted: 1/29/2008 11:40:06 PM EDT
|
We're nearing the end of a 1yr promotion that gave us a decent price on premium programming, phone and internet, so we are considering our options. We definitely will want HD programming and at least 2 DVR's. One question re Direct TV: As far as the equipment goes, do you own it or rent it? I'd appreciate hearing about any good or bad experiences, advice, suggestions. |
| The services is pretty good in my opinion; but the cost is getting more and more each year. My biggest problem is that you dont own any of the equipment anymore. It s all rental so the the boxes add alot on top of an already pricey viewing pacage. I also have the DVR and it kicks ass! Theres always something good to watch on tv. Sgt Bell |
You own it. I was a little concerned switching from cable to satellite because of the horrror stories I've heard with service interruption. I moved to the boonies and didn't have a choice and I am very happy with DirecTV. I've lost signal in very extreme rain and wind, but the longest period of outage was about 15 minutes and it doesn't happen often. I haven't bumped mine to HD yet, but I do have a DVR. BigTen Network and NFL Network at no additional cost is a bonus for me. CourtTV is only available from DirecTV; Dish Network has elected not to carry it. |
|
The only reason I have it is for the nfl games. Its ok. It has some goofy times where the box messes up. But other than that it is ok. I am going to get a new lcd tv soon so I might upgrade to the HD programming and just let go of the movie package to offset the cost. Another plus is using their website to make changes to your programming. almost instant. Con is you cant change your due date for your bill. they will shut the mofo off quick if they dont get paid. my .02 cents |
Thanks, Does the DVR let you pause and "rewind" as do cable DVR's? |
You need to read your terms and conditions... As of Mid 05 they no long have owned equipment. All equipment, no matter the source, is leased. |
How is it that we bought a used receiver from a third party and got it hooked up. I won't deny the $5.00 fee or whatever, but the equipment is not from them and they sure aren't taking it from me. I started my service in 2006. |
Maybe it was mid 06, but all new service from DTV is leased equipment... I have one own DVR and one leased DVR. The owned one was from Jan 05 the new one is from Oct 07 |
I believe you are probably correct if you get new equipment from them. There is a $5.00 lease charge per receiver. According to their website they don't like to add equipment they didn't send out. Maybe I got lucky. At least the dish itself is free.  I'll be upgrading to the HD DVR shortly. I've been abusing my TV by sending it standard def. |
Thats good, I've heard the HD is better than cable, I don't think any of my Comcast HD is 1080i, it doesn't look like it anyhow. |
Problem is, even if you go to Worst Buy or Circuit City and pay for it there, it's still leased equipment. So you pay for it at the store, but you still don't own it. Knowing that, you can do what I did. I called them up and told them that my local cable provider would buy out my lease if I moved to cable/HD/DVR. They sent me to a "retention" specialist who gave me my HD DVR for free and a years upgrade to HD for free. |
| DirecTV's good stuff, I've been trying to get the wife to let us change over for a while, and she just won't let go of cable. They have so many more HD channels than cable it's not even funny. I know quite a few people that have it, and they're all very happy with it. Though with them, I've had some tell me you own it, some tell me you rent it. It might depend on where you live...? I know we own all our cable boxes, modem, etc. Though a friend of mine not 20 miles away was told he couldn't buy the equipment. Wierd. |
| I've never had any major complaints with DirecTV. If you want an upgrade, they're really pushing their new multiple HD Channel package. I recently had to cancel service because after my divorce I moved to an apt that doesn't get DirecTV. When I called to cancel they offered me a free HD-DVR , free 1yr of HD programing, and free 1yr of DVR service (which is usually a $5/month fee) if I signed a 2yr contract. Not a bad deal in my opinion. |
|
I've got the latest HR21 DVR and it's a hella nice unit, but there are still some firmware bugs to be worked out. 1. Two tuners: Watch one, record one or you can record two. Outstanding. 2. USB Ports: Not active, yet. Waiting to see what they're gonna be good for. 3. SATA port: Just like the TiVo, add external storage to your unit. 4. Ethernet port: I connected mine and I can pull MP3s, videos and movies off other shared PCs (WMP11) in my house. Sorta cool, but slow right now. They say you may need a ViiV PC. There are a few bugs that should be fixed with firmware updates, but it's a cool unit. |
I've had DirecTV since 02, never had any complaints. The TiVo service is simply amazing, the newer units have the network ports, you can Slingbox if you like. We will be getting a HD unit sometime this year (probably after tax time), apparantly the dish is somewhat larger than the standard service dish, and the cabling has to be upgraded as well. Question for those of you who have DirecTV HD: do they really have to put the dishes for HD service on it's own pole? (when we moved last summer, we moved the service also, the DirecTV contractor told me that the HD dish has to have a pole set in concrete since the dish is larger. I thought he might be bulllshitting me, but I'll need to know soon, regardless). |
The lack of Dual live buffers is garbage! The technology has been there for YEARS and they refuse to utilize it. DTV really screwed the pooch trying to make their own DVRs. I have had DirecTv since 96 when it was still USSB or whatever. I like their programming but their falling out with TIVO may send me to cable when my DirecTivo goes belly up. |
|
I had DirecTV for years but shut if off a couple years ago. I had DirecTV because of the sports packages. Specifically MLB, NFL, and college football. I paid quite a bit of money for these three packages that I couldn't get anywhere else. However, I was never satisfied with the service of these packages. Frequently, the baseball game I wanted to see was blacked out for no reason that I could figure out. I am a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. They would be playing Atlanta lets say. I live in Las Vegas and the game would be blacked out. I would call up and say: I am not in either market. I couldn't go to the game in person or watch it on the local network. Why is the game blacked out when I paying all this money for the package just to watch this ??? They didn't give a shit. With football, there was another problem. I am a Steelers fan. I would find the Steelers game on the menu and program it into my DVR. Let's say it was on channel 715 (just a made up number as an example). I would check all week and the guide says it is in channel 715. I would check the day of the game and it shows it is going to be on channel 715. Then I would come home and have three hours of the weather report because the game was actually shown on some other channel for no reason that I can figure out. This happend ALL the time. I would call and they wouldn't give a shit. So, since I wasn't getting to watch what I was paying for anyway, I switched to cable. I now have a package with cable TV, cable internet, cable telephone. If DirecTV had their shit together they could have easily kept my business. |
I agree that the unit should have come with dual buffers. I'd like to jump back and forth and not miss anything. I am concerned about the extremely slow connection to my networked PC for retrieving videos and such. It's till just a gadget until content comes along. Once the on-demand feature is engaged for the HR21, then I'll start to make use of the networking and SATA features. |
My DVR was one of the "Ultimate TV" units. I paid $10 a month for the service but it scheduled very well. Never used a unit without a scheduling/guide service. |
|
One thing that I love about DTV is the 'a la cart' channels. Unlike cable, where I had to buy an upgrade package to get the one or two channels I wanted, I pay a monthly fee of $1.99 for the outdoor channel instead of the $10 or so so I get 25 channels that I will never watch. I am very pleased with them. |
|
"Never used a unit without a scheduling/guide service." I am not "into" TV at all, so maybe I was doing something wrong. BUT, it had a guide service. I would look on the guide and see what channel the guide said the game was on. I would set my DVR and then it wouldn't be shown on that channel even though the guide said it would be. I have even looked at the guide while I was watching a game and it said the game would be on channel X, and it wasn't, it was on channel Y. When I wasn't home, and set my DVR to record the game on channel X, I got nothing but three hours of the weather report while the game was shown on channl Y for no reason that I could understand. Another similar complication, espeically for college football: You would search for a game and it would show the game being on three different channels sometimes. BUT, here at my house it would only actually be shown on one of those channels. Which one was something I was never able to figure out so I could record it. It was a crap shoot. Two out of the three are going to be blacked out for your market, which one is really going to be shown ? |