One thing I hate about DirecTV

[SlitheryDee]

Weird. My grandparents just wanted to get local channels and directv couldn't provide them with the receivers they had, so they upgraded them for free...to HD receivers...and they don't even get HD service. It's kinda strange that they won't upgrade you for free as well. I bet you could get the fees waived if you complained enough.

 

[weadjust]

Directv just recently started installing the new Home Media Center/DVR model HR34. It has five tuners so you can record 5 shows at once and a 1 TB hard drive. I am not under contract so I may have to upgrade. Right now it's only available to new customers due to limited supply. Should be available for existing customers in Feb or March.

 

[Rage187]

I pay Directv $110 a month with no premium channels. I'm considering paying the ETF and dropping them altogether.

Combined with what I pay Comcast for Internet, I could buy comcasts largest package and still save money, plus get phone service.

BTW, Directv is raising their prices again next month.

 

[Superself]

talk to a different csr, everyone one is different. a lot of times, you can get deals like free hd for 12 months, or a 10 dollar credit for 12 months, etc..

At any given time, I usually have ~30 dollars in credits every month on my account.

THIS!

Happens all the time...I don't know how directv trains their csrs but they all seem to be singing their own tunes when it comes to customer satisfaction. YOU should take advantage of this every time.

 

[Doppel]

Directv just recently started installing the new Home Media Center/DVR model HR34. It has five tuners so you can record 5 shows at once and a 1 TB hard drive. I am not under contract so I may have to upgrade. Right now it's only available to new customers due to limited supply. Should be available for existing customers in Feb or March.

Nice! Mine records two at once but I can watch a third signal real time.

 

[bearxor]

Directv just recently started installing the new Home Media Center/DVR model HR34. It has five tuners so you can record 5 shows at once and a 1 TB hard drive. I am not under contract so I may have to upgrade. Right now it's only available to new customers due to limited supply. Should be available for existing customers in Feb or March.

The only complaint I have with that is that they use H25's as the 'front-end'. I tried to do a similar set up when I switched a few months ago. I had a HR24 in the garage and used a H25 on my to TV's. Then I found out the H25's can't pause Live TV. 'Well, duh, of course they can't!' I told myself.

I just don't understand because 2GB of flash would solve that problem and give you like a 1/2 hour buffer for live TV. Even if it runs the cost of the receiver up another $5 or so...

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I wanted to buy direct or dish. They both said they required two year contracts for service and that's when I said "okay thanks have a nice day."

If my life gets to the point where I "need" tv I think that is not a life I'd like to live.

 

[bearxor]

I wanted to buy direct or dish. They both said they required two year contracts for service and that's when I said "okay thanks have a nice day."

If my life gets to the point where I "need" tv I think that is not a life I'd like to live.

You know, you don't HAVE to sign a contract to get Dish/DirecTV. If you purchase all of the equipment instead of leading it, they won't make you commit to any particular length.

But that's pretty expensive.

 

[Rage187]

You know, you don't HAVE to sign a contract to get Dish/DirecTV. If you purchase all of the equipment instead of leading it, they won't make you commit to any particular length.

But that's pretty expensive.

Not sure that is true. At least not with Directv. You can go off contract once you have completed one but not begin service without a contract.

 

[Doppel]

The only complaint I have with that is that they use H25's as the 'front-end'. I tried to do a similar set up when I switched a few months ago. I had a HR24 in the garage and used a H25 on my to TV's. Then I found out the H25's can't pause Live TV. 'Well, duh, of course they can't!' I told myself.

I just don't understand because 2GB of flash would solve that problem and give you like a 1/2 hour buffer for live TV. Even if it runs the cost of the receiver up another $5 or so...

Yeah the workaround is if you want to pause simply hit record, then run it off the DVR and at that point you can pause, kind of weird, though.

I wanted to buy direct or dish. They both said they required two year contracts for service and that's when I said "okay thanks have a nice day."

It sucks, but I had cable for years before this and two years runs out quickly. Also, you can bail out at $20/month left if you really need to.

Even if you can do Directv without a contract I doubt you want to, they incentivize so heavily that your first year in particular can be extremely cheap. When i went to it my first year was a big discount over cable with much better hardware.

 

[bearxor]

I checked with a couple of 3rd party installers before I subscribed and they all said if I bought the equipment then there wouldn't be a contract. Though I have read that it gets messed up in DTV's system quite often.

But yes, the discounts are heavy the first year. I hesitated so long because, over the course of two years, DTV is more expensive than cable. I have the top-end package and the first three months cost me $70, and the next 9 cost like $120, then the next 12 cost like $150. I was paying about $120/mo with cable. I sat down and finally figured it out and it wasn't but like $75-100 more expensive over the lifetime of the contract but I get so much more for that.

I have a small, rural cable company as my only provider here and they are very slow in adding new channels and new technology. I finally got HBO Go and iPad live TV. I was doing a WMC with cable card but it was just such a hassle. And then I guess I was going to have to upgrade my cable card tuner to something new since the ATi one was so old and only one tuner.

I'm happy I switched so far. Get a lot more bang for the buck. Even though I barely watch it on the receiver. The only thing I really don't get that I is get on cable is E! HD. Watching The Soup in SD is terrible.

 

[Ichinisan]

I checked with a couple of 3rd party installers before I subscribed and they all said if I bought the equipment then there wouldn't be a contract. Though I have read that it gets messed up in DTV's system quite often.

But yes, the discounts are heavy the first year. I hesitated so long because, over the course of two years, DTV is more expensive than cable. I have the top-end package and the first three months cost me $70, and the next 9 cost like $120, then the next 12 cost like $150. I was paying about $120/mo with cable. I sat down and finally figured it out and it wasn't but like $75-100 more expensive over the lifetime of the contract but I get so much more for that.

I have a small, rural cable company as my only provider here and they are very slow in adding new channels and new technology. I finally got HBO Go and iPad live TV. I was doing a WMC with cable card but it was just such a hassle. And then I guess I was going to have to upgrade my cable card tuner to something new since the ATi one was so old and only one tuner.

I'm happy I switched so far. Get a lot more bang for the buck. Even though I barely watch it on the receiver. The only thing I really don't get that I is get on cable is E! HD. Watching The Soup in SD is terrible.

I also have a small, extremely local cableco...and I happen to work for that company. Our equipment is also old / dated...and we'll soon be absolutely forced to replace everything because the models we use are no longer available to purchase.

We still don't have HBO Go or iPad live TV.

I currently use a cableCARD tuner with WMC7 (HDHomeRun Prime). Love it.

I get E! HD. Until recently, The Soup used SD clips for almost everything.

 

[edro]

I'm in the EXACT same situation as the OP.
We are planning to cancel DirecTV after next year and switch back to OTA Antennas.

The commercials piss me off the most. If I am paying $130/mo for TV service, it should be commercial free! The only channels I watch other than ABC,CBS, FOX, NBC (which are free OTA) are all the Discovery type channels (science, history, tlc, discovery, etc).

DirecTV is such a waste.

 

[HNNstyle]

Is there a difference between Comcast and DTV in picture quality?

 

[Ichinisan]

Is there a difference between Comcast and DTV in picture quality?

Well, theoretically, broadband cable should be capable of higher throughput than a tiny DBS receiver...so they could have more channels or higher bitrates. In practice, many cable companies squander their bandwidth and compress channels to hell. As the industry transitions to switched digital, they'll soon have more bandwidth than they'd know what to do with.

 

[MotionMan]

If it wasn't for live sports, I probably would drop cable.

Everyone on the media side probably knows that and that is why the networks pay so much for the rights to live sports and generally do not provide them online unless you are a cable/sat subscriber.

MotionMan