DirecTv questions

[jkjsooner]

Anyone out there have DirecTv? I'm having a new house built and I'm thinking about getting DirecTv and i have some questions. I used to have DirecTv and loved it but that was back in the days when cable sucked - no DVR, no interactive menus, etc. (Back then my local cable company only offered the west coast games on gameplan and since OU sucked I was lucky to get one game a year.)

Questions:

1. Do you have a DVR? Does your DVR require two lines from the dish or multiswitch? I've been reading about how now they have the technology to multiplex the four (polarity and frequency) signals onto one line if you have the modern DVR's. Anyone have one one? Does it work okay.

To be safe I'm having two lines run to both my bedroom and living room.

2. How is On Demand? I know it requires a separate broadband connection. Is it worth it. Are there significant delays buffering the movie? Have you had any problems with download restrictions from your Internet provider?

3. How is the HD signal? I know bandwidth is an issue but I think it has gotten a lot better lately.

The reason I'm thinking of switching is because I'm really sick of the cable companies. They're much better than 10 years ago but still their DVR's are horrible. (If I didn't think there was a possibility of going satellite I probably would have bought a Tivo by now.)


And for you technical guys, #1 really baffles me. Why haven't the satellite companies multiplexed the different feeds onto one line before recently? This is technology that others have been doing for decades. I understand doing it at the dish might be difficult but why not on a separate box (multiswitch)?

The bandwitch on the coax can't be an issue. It's such a short line and my highly superior FiOS signal (not available where I live now) had no problem getting a high bit rate on the short coax runs.

Anyway, just curious on that last one.

[SoCaliSooner]

I have DirecTv and won't change. I have 2 HD DVRs and both require two cables, however I am not sure if the newest set ups and "whole house DVR's" they offer require two for every box. What I like most is that in 10 years of having DirecTV, I have never paid the full rate for the premier package, plus Stars, the sports packages, ESPN College Football as well as NFL Sunday Ticket and the most I paid one month was $140. The rest of the time it is around $110.

AT&T is now offering DirecTV with their bundling services but even with all their discounts they can't touch what we are paying by not bundling.

[OUthunder]

On demand is at a snail's pace on DirecTV, I don't ever use it unless I have a few hours to spare, seriously.

My home has two HD DVR's, one HD receiver, and one standard DVR. 4 total. I think the limit is 4-5 TV's per home.

Honestly, I'd switch to Cox if they didn't always try to switch and bait me or throw in fees when it's supposed to be free. I was a cat's hair away from switching but the guy on the phone started adding fees and I just handed the guy at the door his phone back and told him to leave.

Honestly, no one can touch the quality of DirecTV in picture quality and in there online stuff. Cox fails miserably in those departments. Cost for me is a wash.

[bluedogok]

Never used On Demand, so I can't speak to that.

I have 3 HD-DVR's, an HD receiver and an old Sony SD receiver currently active. The HD-DVR's that I have do require two cables. I am multiswitched but I know the newer installations are going to the new "stacked" system. I suppose that I will find out when I move.

I have no plans of ever going to any other service but then I have NFL Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings.

[Whet]

1 - Don't have a DVR on DirecTV, only on Comcast.
2 - Don't use On Demand, have used pay-per-view for OU games.
3 - HD is great. Even the SD is better on DirecTV, as compared to the SD on Comcast.

I have 2 feed coming into the house. One goes to the Man Cave, the other goes to a switch, where I can send it to any other location in the house if we want to watch it, rather than Comcast. I have 2 SD DirecTV receivers in the RV and they work fine. I have a HD and SD receiver for the house. It sure does pixelate when there is a heavy rain or snow.

[rekamrettuB]

1. New DVRs use 1 cable. If you are running cable anyway then you might as well do two.

2. My On Demand of new movies is great. I've never had one buffer or anything like that. It starts as soon as I push the button and never freezes. I'm sure it probably has a lot to do with internet connection. Now if I download TV shows or older movies it takes about 30 mins to an hour to actually download to the tuner.

3. HD signal is great and they have a lot of choices.

[Phil]

You only need one cable to each room with the new single-wire multiswitch (swm - pronounced "swim"). I've got two dvrs. On demand works good and there's a ton of stuff on there. Also, with the whole-home dvr, you can watch anything on any of the dvrs from any box, including boxes that aren't dvrs.

[Phil]

1. New DVRs use 1 cable. If you are running cable anyway then you might as well do two.

2. My On Demand of new movies is great. I've never had one buffer or anything like that. It starts as soon as I push the button and never freezes. I'm sure it probably has a lot to do with internet connection. Now if I download TV shows or older movies it takes about 30 mins to an hour to actually download to the tuner.

3. HD signal is great and they have a lot of choices.

The reason the on demand new movies are always right there is that your box automatically downloads some ppv movies without your knowledge or permission so that you'll be tempted to buy the ppv.

[rekamrettuB]

The reason the on demand new movies are always right there is that your box automatically downloads some ppv movies without your knowledge or permission so that you'll be tempted to buy the ppv.

Oooooo...that sounds scary. I wonder what else they download w/out my permission?

And yes, you bring up a great point with the new whole-home DVR function. I think it's 3.99/month but with it you only need 1 DVR box...unless you record every reality show ever created like my wife does. With the whole-home you can watch your recorded shows in any room. If you have several rooms you are hooking up to you don't have to shell out the extra up front DVR cost nor the, I'm guessing, 4.99 per box for the service? I don't look at my bill so I'm not sure if the DVR service costs per box or not.

[Phil]

The whole home dvr is a single charge. There's the usual per box fee, but nothing extra to watch whole home on a non-dvr box.

[Serenity Now]

Dish. Dual. Love it. Don't do nfl or mlb so the rest is equal to me. Run the dual cables to more than one location in the room.

[Sooner Eclipse]

I have 2 HD DVRs w 1Tb eSata hard drives on each and a SD Dvr. All 3 have 2 cables each but the HD Dvrs can operate fully on one cable if using the SWM that Phil mentioned. One exception to Phil's comments - the other SD DVRs and receivers cannot use the recordings on the HDDVRs unless they are switched out to HD receivers. The non HD receivers & DVRs cant use the whole home DVR functions but can still operate as receivers. Any Boxes that begin with H or HR can use the whole home functions. (old Tivo style receivers will not work)

Last month I wanted to switch to cable internet (from ADSL) so I signed up for Time Warner Cable and their fastest Internet. Within a week, I had the cable disconnected and went back to the DirecTV which I hadn't yet disconnected. Within the month, I had also disconnected the cable internet and went to VDSL on Uverse. The HD picture quality of cable sucks compared to DTV. Thats the main reason I went back. Also even though the speed of cable internet is compelling, the real world performance was not as good as ADSL during peak use hours for my neighborhood.

DirecTV charges:
$6 per month per box after the 1st box.
$10 per month for HD service (per acct)
$8 per month for DVR service (per acct)
$3 per month for Whole home serv (per acct)
$XX per month for your chosen package.

The drawback to DTV is the initial investment. $200 per HDDVR, $100 per HD receiver & $100 for the install of whole home service. Once in place however, the monthly charge is cheaper than cable (after the promo package) if you use multiple HD TVs.

Just recently connected the DVRs to ethernet so I cant comment on the on demand.

BTW, VDSL blows cable internet out of the water.

[badger]

The biggest selling point Cox has been hammering for people that want to switch to satellite is that it is easy to lose the signal during Oklahoma weather - not so much rain lately, but thunderstorms and high winds, definitely. I know I've been at a few sports bars that suddenly don't have any TV for an hour or two because they're all on DirecTV.

Any DirecTV'ers have any issues with weather?

[rekamrettuB]

The biggest selling point Cox has been hammering for people that want to switch to satellite is that it is easy to lose the signal during Oklahoma weather - not so much rain lately, but thunderstorms and high winds, definitely. I know I've been at a few sports bars that suddenly don't have any TV for an hour or two because they're all on DirecTV.

Any DirecTV'ers have any issues with weather?

Typically when it rains hard. Not often enough to make me want to switch. Never had an interruption during this 40-50 mph winds we had Sunday and Monday.

[soonerbrat]

Questions:

1. Do you have a DVR? Does your DVR require two lines from the dish or multiswitch? I've been reading about how now they have the technology to multiplex the four (polarity and frequency) signals onto one line if you have the modern DVR's. Anyone have one one? Does it work okay.

I have 3 DVRs, 1 is HD. No, it doesn't require two lines and I don't know what all that other stuff means.

2. How is On Demand? I know it requires a separate broadband connection. Is it worth it. Are there significant delays buffering the movie? Have you had any problems with download restrictions from your Internet provider?

On Demand is great - never any problems except when I first got Directv they didn't have a contract with HBO, they do now. They have shows from other channels besides the movie channels. Pretty much when I download onDemand, it's ready to watch in about 5 minutes, and you can watch during download. No buffering problems ever.

3. How is the HD signal? I know bandwidth is an issue but I think it has gotten a lot better lately.

The HD looks great!


I highly recommend switching. I had cox for a long time, but it wasn't available when I moved a couple years ago. The Directv DVR is leaps and bounds ahead of the Cox DVR, you can do so much more with it. As for outages, I had many, many more outages with Cox and their internet that I ever do with Directv....I think in 2 years it has gone out twice. once was during one of those huge snowstorms and another for just a few minutes during a complete downpour. One of Cox's selling points is that satellites go out? Whatever. Cox is always screwed up.

I'm moving again in June and where I'm going, Directv is not an option. They have a contract with Cox, so I'm taking a step back and not looking forward to it.

[jkjsooner]

Oooooo...that sounds scary. I wonder what else they download w/out my permission?

And yes, you bring up a great point with the new whole-home DVR function. I think it's 3.99/month but with it you only need 1 DVR box...unless you record every reality show ever created like my wife does. With the whole-home you can watch your recorded shows in any room. If you have several rooms you are hooking up to you don't have to shell out the extra up front DVR cost nor the, I'm guessing, 4.99 per box for the service? I don't look at my bill so I'm not sure if the DVR service costs per box or not.

Except you don't get to pause live TV from a non-DVR. Correct?

It's not inconceivable for them to develop a system where the DVR does record live TV that is watched on other boxes.

I had multi-room DVR on FiOS and I liked it.

[Sooner Eclipse]

You might lose signal for 30 seconds to a minute as the initial front moves in but if your dish is aimed properly thats about it. I sat and watched the weather day before yesterday as golfball sized hail was pounding the crap out of my house.

[rekamrettuB]

Except you don't get to pause live TV from a non-DVR. Correct?

It's not inconceivable for them to develop a system where the DVR does record live TV that is watched on other boxes.

I had multi-room DVR on FiOS and I liked it.

I believe that's correct but I've never tried it.

[Phil]

One exception to Phil's comments - the other SD DVRs and receivers cannot use the recordings on the HDDVRs unless they are switched out to HD receivers. The non HD receivers & DVRs cant use the whole home DVR functions but can still operate as receivers. Any Boxes that begin with H or HR can use the whole home functions. (old Tivo style receivers will not work)

Yeah, that's true. Of course, the HD boxes work with any tv - just plug in the RCA cables instead of an HDMI.

[bluedogok]

Any DirecTV'ers have any issues with weather?

If there is a signal loss the dish needs to be aligned, they can get loose over time. Mine has been up on the roof for 8 years and it messed up some last spring when we actually had some measurable rain. I need to move it because it is time for a re-roof so I will get to align it when I move it off the roof and to the fireplace. A few years back we had remnants of one of the hurricanes come through flooding our street over the curbs to the sidewalk (and I live and a moderately steep street) and I had no signal loss.

I switched to Directv when I lived in The Village, this was the summer after the tornado went through that area. My cable was horrible, because of the overhead lines the cable would go out whenever the wind blew, an occasional rain outage was much better than all the time.

I'm moving again in June and where I'm going, Directv is not an option. They have a contract with Cox, so I'm taking a step back and not looking forward to it.

I'm not so sure they can restrict you from a satellite just because they have a contract with a cable provider, there are FCC regs regarding this. I know that in some of the Downtown Austin apartments you can get satellite but you have to pay a deposit and they have some agreement with Time Warner Cable.