Direct TV - pros/cons

[mikevan1818]

I'm moving into my first real (non-college roomates, with my fiance) apartment in a week or so and I'm looking into TV options. Right now I'm leaning towards Direct Tv. I'm curious to hear anyones thoughts on Direct TV. Pro/cons, better options, package deals, promos, etc.

[burniebrewer]

I've had it for 3 years now, no complaints. You will have the occasional service loss due to heavy rains, but it doesn't last long and is not a reason to go cable.

 

Check out their website for a list of current promos:

 

 

www.directv.com/DTVAPP/gl...-PAM100CBO

 

 

When I ordered, I did it completely online and just selected a time slot for installation. The guy called me an hour before my slot and was here in five minutes.

[craigharmann]

I had Directv, got rid of it when I moved previously, as my landlords wouldn't allow me to attach the dish to the house. Then we moved again, and got a cable package of high speed internet, cable, etc. After a year, they jacked up my rates, so I went back to Directv, and I am SOOOO happy. I would rather have Directv any day over cable. Without a doubt.

[cweber39]

DirecTV also has a better picture than cable. We had DirecTV switched to cable, because of better pricing with Road Runner etc. After a day of cable we went back to DirecTV.

[Fatter than Joey]

Ive had DirectTV for about 8 years now -- I love it.

 

If you are a big NFL fan, (as am I), it is a must have.

 

I am very very satisfied.

[sgtcluels]

Rain fade is very annoying. But it's normally not to bad and you know when the big heavy stuff is coming with your advanced warning system.

 

I love my DTV, I think picture quality is much better then cable on my SD tv. I do not know about their HDTV content quality, but they are always launching more satellites to bring my bandwidth. So if quality isn't as good, they'll probably have Cable beat on pure content.

[DHonks]

The weather issues don't happen too much in Wisconsin, and you'll probably love power or Cable service in severe storms anyways.

 

The thing I love about DirecTV is that the channels are arranged logically. I'm currently in AZ, and I love that all the ESPN's (except ESPNU) are together. With Cox Cable, ESPN and ESPN2 were in the 30s, and ESPNews was like 160-something.

The superstation types are all together with SciFi, USA, TBS, TNT, FX, etc all a touch away. And I like the educational ones, so Hist, HistINT, Military, nat'l geographic, discovery, biography, and discovery-times all together.

 

Most Directv issues can be solved with a phone call or resetting the receiver. Most cable issues require a technician to come over..5-7 days after calling. The only tricky thing is that for the DirecTV DVR, you need two cable lines.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

DTV is OK. I have had it for about a year now. I always had digital cable.

 

If you're an HD person (who isn't now days!) they are supposed to be getting a lot of HD channals this year. We'll see.

 

One of the biggest cons though is in Milwaukee the CBS affiliate hasn't signed an HD contract with DTV. So you won't get CBS in HD over DTV. You'll need a seperate HD tuner for that.

 

It's not the worst thing since the OTA signal is better than the one DTV will give you. But it's a pain none the less.

 

I like it overall and haven't had any real issues with them.

 

 

I just hope more HD content shows up soon.

[DatHoser]

Just switched to DTV.

 

Cons:

We have their DVR's which are pieces of garbage - numerous software issues coupled with customer service that only know how to tell you how to reset the thing, not good.

 

Programming-wise, I keep trying to tell them that FSN-WI is full-time and should be my local sports net (still get Brewer games, though). They keep telling me FSN-North is my local sports net ant keep shoving the gerbil programming my way (I live in Waukesha County).

 

Pros:

Picture is much better; channels better arranged (as previously mentioned), and the loss of picture due to weather are about the same or even less than the amount of times our digital cable box went out and reloaded itself (cable CS rep.: "Just unplug it for 15 seconds and plug it back in and it will be good as new." Me: "Yeah, for the next half a day."). Also, the free promos aren't bad.

[Barbs4339]

Probably not relevant to apartment living but I like cable for the sole reason of being able to split it to as many TV's as I want. I have 2 DVR's boxes with 1 being an HD, and am splitting to 5 other TV's. You need a box for every TV with satellite. Also, regarding DVR boxes, you rent them with cable but have to purchase one with satellite for around $400.00 I believe.

[Brian the Automator]

[ I have 2 DVR's boxes with 1 being an HD, and am splitting to 5 other TV's. ]

 

The caveat there being that the 5 other TV's only get analog cable... So if channels above 100 have much importance to you (they don't really for me), it's something to consider...

[sgtcluels]

Isn't that also illegal?

[BraunsBoyfriend]

Barbs is right on about the DVR boxes. Cable has a great deal with them. Can't beat it. A few bucks a month rental. What a deal. Eepecailly for the HD ones.

 

However, DTV is supposed to be coming out with a similar program this year.

 

Just like they are supposed to start carrying many more HD channels.

 

In theory, DTV should be the HD network of choice sometime this year.

 

I think Dish actually has the most HD content currently...

[FVBrewerFan]

I've had DTV and cable off and on for years- and in 4 different houses. Overall, DTV is better BUT I have stayed with TWC over the past several years for one reason- availability.

 

People always tend to gloss over the weather issue, but it is real. I like Time Warner because I have had virtually 0% down time, and with DTV there are issues every time there was a decent rain coming down. It happened often enough that the better programming wasn't worth the annoyance.

[TheCrew07]

Dish does have the most HD content at the moment as that's what I have, but I'd do Direct TV in a heartbeat over cable. I was paying $150 for no movie channels and RoadRunner. With Dish I ended up with the HD package all of the movie channels but Stars, and my bill before my movie rentals is about $115. Before HD I was at about $95 a month so with Road Runner still costing me $50, it was a wash but I had twice as many channels and all the movie channels I wanted. I'll never go back to Time Warner, they screwed me over for years with digital cable.

[Barbs4339]

Quote:

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Isn't that also illegal?

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No, it's not. In fact, many times the installer will do it for you. You are already paying for the service, so you are not stealing anything.

 

Quote:

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The caveat there being that the 5 other TV's only get analog cable

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This is true. But it works well when you have 2 kids and they can have regular cable on TV's in their bedrooms without having to pay extra. I get all my digital TV watching done in the living and family rooms. Then in bed I typically just watch the news until I fall asleep.

[Samurai Bucky]

Here is another thought:

 

AT&T has a bundled package if you get the following:

 

Satellite TV (DIsh Network)

AT&T Phone service (not digital)

Cingular Wireless Cell Phones

AT&T (Yahoo!) DSL

 

You might want to check that out as an option.

[1992casey]

When you do runs from cable boxes to more than one television, you're going to see the same channel on each TV, so there's nothing to steal. In the case of cable, the analog channels are available without a box, so you can still switch between those channels on each set by bypassing the box.

 

The two downsides to DirecTV:

 

? No full-time FSN-WI

? Lack of local HD channels

 

The upside is that nothing is analog; all channels have a good picture.

 

A rule of thumb: all cables and satellite companies stink when it comes to explaining regional sports networks and blackouts.

[dadofandrew]

Casey, we used to split our Direct and still do our cable, and we did not have the "same channel" restriction...just the only channels under X rule.

[JimH5]

I've been a Directv customer for almost 6 years. Here are my thoughts. . .

 

Pros--

 

MLB Extra Innings package.

Great picture quality

Decent price. Not sure how it compares to cable.

It's not cable.

 

Cons--

 

Directv DVR is wayyy worse than Tivo.

 

HD Programming seems a little lacking. They are supposed to be rolling out some new channels before this fall, but I've stayed away from their HD package as I just don't think I'd watch what they're showing.

 

New holes drilled in house. "Standard Installation" is never what you really want. You'll pay extra for "Custom Installation", where you decide where your ports come into rooms. Plus, every room has to be wired where you want service. Typically, your house has rooms already wired for cable.

 

No local news on CNN Headline News, or local Weather on the Weather Channel, or local government/school board channels.

 

 

That's about it from my perspective.

[Paul77]

Quote:

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Directv DVR is wayyy worse than Tivo.

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Did they do away with the DirecTivo? Thats what we have. Being a long time Directv customer (about 9 years) and an early tivo user, I'm thrilled with this box.

 

Anyway, let me just throw my 2 cents in... I've had digital cable, Dish and Directv and I have to say directv is the best hands down.

 

The only complaint I have about Directv is that while their customer service used to be absolutely top notch, it is now just "average". I think you can trace that change directly to the fact that they now outsource their CS calls.

 

I used to have DishNet & DirectV at the same time and I hated DishNet. I understand they have improved quite a bit, so perhaps my opinion is a bit dated. A few years ago I moved and I got talked into Digital Cable service. I hated it so much. The equipment was poor, the service was laughable and the product was sub-par. I went back to Directv after 6 months.

[JimH5]

Did they do away with the DirecTivo?

 

They launched their own DVR product and I believe they will only offer Tivo service to those who are grandfathered. . .but don't quote me on that one.

 

I had two separate Sony Directv receivers with Tivo, and one of the boxes died. When it came time to replace that one box, (if I remember right) the choice was pretty much to go with the Directv DVR. It was free after rebate with a 2-year commitment.

 

So now I have one of the old Sony Tivo boxes and one of the new(er) Directv DVRs, and it's no contest. . .the user interface on the Tivo is vastly superior.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

Casey, I'm not sure what you're talking about. The cable works is every channel is being sent your at once. So if you have cable ready TV's, you can split the cable so to speak (not literally, but through a modulator) and run them to separate TV's and everyone can watch what they want.

 

If your TV's aren't cable ready(which means they were made in the 1980's) then you need cable boxes to do this.

 

Digital cable is a little different in that TV's aren't digital cable ready.

 

But the cable line still has every channel being sent through at once. So if you have one digital cable box you can watch digital cable on one TV but also run the line to other TV's and watch regular, old cable.

 

This is the nature of cable. They are sending you every channel at once. You select the channel you want to view. If the cable is modulated then you can watch another channel simultaneously because you have another output.

[PKBadger]

What Casey is talking about is running from the cable box to multiple screens. That would cause each screen to display the channel selected on the cable box.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

In that case, yes.

 

I'd just use a modulator.