Opinions on DirectTV

Shift518 Automotive Shift518 Off Topic
1

*To get to the point and skip the other random crap, jump to the **

With moving into the new house, I am starting to look over my options for cable/internet. I currently have Time Warner triple play bundle with 1 HD DVR box, and 1 HD box. I have HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax and the sports tier (Speed), standard Roadrunner, and phone. I’m paying around $220/month and quite frankly I don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. I’m constantly having issues with the HD channels not working, everything is slow as balls, and its just not really all that impressive for the raping I’m taking.

So I started looking over some options for the new house. I really wanted to go Fios, but its not available at that address yet (damn). So as far as internet goes, I’m pretty much stuck with Time Warner. However, when it comes to TV, I can get more with Direct TV. And being a left turn junky (Nascar), the Nascar Hot Pass is pretty f’ing awesome.

Basically I can get Roadrunner Turbo, a premium package from DirectTV with that whole home DVR, 1 HD DVR Box, 2 HD boxes for $120 the first 3 months, $165 from 3-12 months, then $185 from 12-24 months. Or I can drop my phone and stick with Time Warner and pay $171/month for a slightly smaller package (no Hot Pass, less premium channels, less HD channels, etc).

**So after that long wind, my real question is: Does anyone have first hand experience with Direct TV??? I always hear the horror stories of losing the signal constantly and having issues with satellite TV. But I’ve also heard that the newer technology rarely ever has issues… so I’m completely lost. It seems like it will be a better overall package for basically the same money.

And BTW, sorry Jim, but Time Warner is just getting on my nerves lately… lol

2

TWC’s equipment sucks, but the service is a bit better I think.

3

Get either service for TV, get RR Turbo for internet, and drop your land line all together.

For the phone: Get Google Voice (pending you have a smart phone that has the app) and get another 518 number for that. Use that as your ‘home’ number.

Google voice is quite nice for stuff like this.

4

the direct tv i expierenced in FL was slower than hell, kept cutting out and i hated the guide.

5

I have Direct TV and I have TimeWarner Road Runner Turbo and home phone. I havent had any problems with Direct TV. Customer service is good and they come out faster to repair any issues they can solve over the phone. The only thing I didnt like is with Direct TV you have to purcahse the receivers and pay $5 per month per receiver. I do thing if you send a box in you get the moeny back but im not positive on that as I havent sent one back. I pay about $170 per month

6

I have DirecTV and I love it. Would take it over TWC any day of the week. Picture quality if you have an HDTV is not even comparable. Customers service is actually to my suprise extremely good. If your unhappy tell them, they will do damn near anything to make sure you’re happy.

The overall layout of the software (guide, how recorded shows are displayed etc) is so much better than TWC, depending on the hardware you get (the receivers specifically) some can be somewhat slow going through the guides others are very fast. If you get an HD DVR chances are you will get an HR23-700 or HR24-700 depending on what they have in stock, they are very fast, all the standard non dvr receivers seem pretty quick. Some movies I just rent now rather than download because they are full 1080p/24 although it is a tid bit expensive at 5.99 a pop. DVR’s hold way more than TWC as well.

As far as loosing signal etc. In the 2 years we have had it, we have lost signal maybe 4 times, all during bad storms and not for more than 5 mins at most, most of the time its a 30-60 second dropout. TWC is generally the same way during bad storms as the main feed comming in is from satellite.

With all the premium channels we have it end up being slightly cheaper than TWC but not by much.

I actually had a TWC rep call me just today, asking if they could match this and that with DirecTV would I switch back, I told her not a chance in hell.

If your eally want to save money look into Dish network as well, while they are smaller than DirecTV they have some of the best equipment and always keep it fresh, their plans seem to be ~$20 dollars cheaper than DirecTV and they offer great signup promotions. Most of the channels you watch wont be an issue, DirecTV has more channels than all of them, but a lot of them are indie networks and foreign channels.

Oh and touching on what Jon above me said about buying recievers etc. If you dont signup with DirecTV with a contract 12-24months you have to buy the receivers outright, and pay a $5 dollar service like he said, but really its no differant than TWC, while TWC has no contract I believe its $9 a month for HD DVR, and $5 per regular receiver. Something like that.

If your looking to save the most money and have solid service get Dish Network, if your looking for the best all around quality and service get DirecTV…

7

i have dish network and loveeee it . for cheaper than time warner i have all h/d channels along with most local channels

8

I <3 my directv

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It’s cool until you bill goes up 2/3s after all of the intro offers run out and your contract automatically renews at the f-me-in-the-a rate.

I pay like $100/mo for 1 hd/dvr, and 2 standard receivers, and that’s on a mid-range package.

The only benefit is our boxes are way faster than most of my friends TWC boxes.

Hardly ever have an issue with weather, but when i do have issues for some reason it’s only during mild weather.

What i mean is, it seems like a ‘normal’ rain will make it fuck up, whereas a nasty tstorm will barely effect it.

IDUNNO.

10

Yea, I looked into the “after offers” prices through the entire 24 month contract (as well as afterwars). Within the 24 months, I will be paying about $170 on average for 1 HD/DVR, 2 HD boxes, and the premium package. Where the TWC would be on average about a dollar more and it has A LOT less stuff.

I completely went through the HD channels for both DirectTV and TWC and over-all they had pretty much the same amount of channels, but TWC had a bunch of channels in HD taht I would never watch where DirectTV had more of the common channels (at least for me) in HD. So for me, DirectTV had a better HD selection.

I think I’m going to give it a try. Worse comes to worse, I either suck it up for the 2 years, or pay to cancel early and then go back to TWC.

11

almost $200 a month is insanity for television IMO.

12

its TV and internet, but yes, I agree. Problem is that my wife has crap she watches on both HBO and Showtime, she is a DVR nut, and I HAVE to have my Speed… lol. So if I were to do a mid-level package and then add on the extra crap, it ends up being more than the premium package. So I pretty much just have to bend over and take it.

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Plus, the quality of the picture is 10x better on directv