I'm liking DirecTV alright, just not the guide thing

[fustercluck]

Somewhat of a rant, but don't get all defensive for no reason.

Guy came and installed DTV yesterday, took him like 3 or 4 hours. Mostly it's so far so good but I don't like the guide. It's annoying and slow to navigate through. The fact that I'm not used to it at all plays a part in it. I don't know any of the channels. Not only that, but we got two receivers (HD in living room and DVR in my room) and both units have different channel numbers for everything, so now i'm supposed to try and learn two new channel lineups at the same time? That's going to take forever. I don't know why they can't just use the same channel lineup, even if they are different receivers. Also I don't like that it only shows abbreviations for channel names, and not the channel names themselves. Like I'm suppose to recognize every channel by their abbreviated name. Ones like Fox/abc/nbc/MTV/espn are easy to figure out obviously, but I don't know what every channel is just by the abbreviation.

Also, when you press 'Guide' the guide doesn't really come up, after you press it it brings up a categorical list of channel types (Sports, Movies, Locals, etc.) so that's a waste of time too. And, the 'info' rarely seems to show information about certain episodes of a show, it usually just reads what the show is about. Like for Conan it would read 'Guests and Comedy Sketches". Lame. Also they don't have any rating system for movies like Dish Network had. I definitely liked the Dish network guide better, but they were just much too expensive for what I was getting. Anyway can I hack these systems and put in a different guide or somethin?

 

[CtK]

it shouldnt be diff channel numbers, i think the HD channels are diff from the non-HD channel

if you press to the right and highlight the channel it will give a description of that channel

if u press BACK on the remote it will bring up the guide right away(ya i dont understand this one but it works)

 

[fustercluck]

Well, I don't have HD channels on mine, but still all the channels are different. Also on both guides it lists the same channels multiple times for some reason. And I have the list set to show 'Only Channels I get" and it still shows a bunch of channels I don't get on the guide.

 

[fustercluck]

I think I'm going to try and get the HD DVR they have. When they install it they can take back the two receivers I have now, so they get a 2 for 1 deal - I would like to be able to watch TV in my room, but I would like to record in HD, and not have to memorize two different channel lineups. Why doesnt DirecTV have a dual tuner receiver? It'd be cool if we could get HD out in the living room and I could still get everything SD in my room (No HDTV in my room) from a single receiver. Just thinking outloud here since I'm bored and have insomnia.

 

[sswingle]

I get frusterated by how slow the guide is too.

 

[Syringer]

Yeah Dish Network's system is better. They even have the option of only showing channels that you have access to as well, rather than listing everything.

 

[KK]

the porn is on like 590-600

 

[DougK62]

Dish's guide is far superior to DirecTV's.

 

[BigSmooth]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Yeah Dish Network's system is better. They even have the option of only showing channels that you have access to as well, rather than listing everything.

DirecTV has this also.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: BigSmooth

Originally posted by: Syringer
Yeah Dish Network's system is better. They even have the option of only showing channels that you have access to as well, rather than listing everything.

DirecTV has this also.

according to the OP, he has it set up to do this yet he still sees channels he does not have access to.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: slag

Originally posted by: BigSmooth

Originally posted by: Syringer
Yeah Dish Network's system is better. They even have the option of only showing channels that you have access to as well, rather than listing everything.

DirecTV has this also.

according to the OP, he has it set up to do this yet he still sees channels he does not have access to.

I have the HD DirecTivo and you have to go into the system setup and manually mark the channels that you receive. I'm not sure if the DirecTV DVR or HD receiver requires you to do that either.

The only time the numbers should be different is with the HD channels (channels 70-100). OTA local channels are marked by the channel number-1 (ex channel 36 would show up as 36-1 for OTA).

 

[AnyMal]

The GUI of the programming guide will depend on the make/model of your receiver. The worst looking and slowest one is in Samsung brand DirecTivo units. I have one and hate GUI (guide completely blocks out image when you browse it) and it's extremely slow. On the other hand, my Hughes and RCA receiveres are gret with much better GUI and much speedier navigation.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: AnyMal
The GUI of the programming guide will depend on the make/model of your receiver. The worst looking and slowest one is in Samsung brand DirecTivo units. I have one and hate GUI (guide completely blocks out image when you browse it) and it's extremely slow. On the other hand, my Hughes and RCA receiveres are gret with much better GUI and much speedier navigation.

DirecTV doesn't give out DirecTivos to new customers anymore. All are forced to go with the DirecTV branded receivers.

 

[AnyMal]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: AnyMal
The GUI of the programming guide will depend on the make/model of your receiver. The worst looking and slowest one is in Samsung brand DirecTivo units. I have one and hate GUI (guide completely blocks out image when you browse it) and it's extremely slow. On the other hand, my Hughes and RCA receiveres are gret with much better GUI and much speedier navigation.

DirecTV doesn't give out DirecTivos to new customers anymore. All are forced to go with the DirecTV branded receivers.

That's a shame. I guess I'll have mine til it dies, and it's already almost 3 y/o.