DirecTV Yay or nay?

snadam

thinking about getting DirecTV. My current cable provider is not cutting it...seems as though my entire neighborhood is running on dish. Literally every house on the block has one or more dishes on each roof, and Im starting to see why. The HD service is sub-par, and on occasion the service cuts out. This has a direct effect on my DVR. Support is not really helping. They suggested hardware replacement (which I did to shut them up), and yet the problem still exists. Long story short, Im confident the neighborhood is cabled badly (or at least my house...like it when I got there). Currently I have an HD-DVR receiver and 2 other basic receivers, and I would like to replace it with the comparable equipment. Anybody here have it? Good/Bad?

Just looking for a little feedback

thanks in advance!

Schluep

I don't have experience with DirectTV, but I was having similar cable problems that have been progressively getting worse for the past two months. I had the Cable company check the lines/drop outside the house and they found that the drop was damaged and there was a significant cut in the top of the line that allowed it to fill with water that had been freezing and then melting causing the line to expand and contract with the temperature changes. Once they replaced all of the line outside things were as good as new.

networker050184

If all the other houses have dish that just means more cable bandwidth for you!!

I had dish before and wasn't a big fan (wasn't DirectTV though). I perfer to watch tv even if its storming. I also like to have my local channels which cost extra with the dish service. It was nice having the 1000 channels of crap I'll never watch though Needless to say I switched back to cable.

garv221

I've had DirectTV and Dish. If you are a sports fan DirectTV has a little better sport packages than Dish. I currently use local Comcast which can package internet with HD tv cheaper than anyone around. Look into AT&T, they package Dish with their DSL at very competitive rates.

http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=9147

snadam

Schluep wrote:

I don't have experience with DirectTV, but I was having similar cable problems that have been progressively getting worse for the past two months. I had the Cable company check the lines/drop outside the house and they found that the drop was damaged and there was a significant cut in the top of the line that allowed it to fill with water that had been freezing and then melting causing the line to expand and contract with the temperature changes. Once they replaced all of the line outside things were as good as new.

you do have a very good point. I guess I should probably have cox diagnose the cabling issue before I go headstrong on switching everything up. However, I do believe the issue is the actual drop from my demarc to my TV. IT looks "home-grown" from the previous homeowner. My guess is that they will just replace the cabling with their own, which will cost me a few bucks, but not a whole lot. Also, I only have a total of 2 drops in the house, and I need a few more drops done. Satellite's HD lineup looks really tempting. Essentially, I need my whole house cabled properly if I keep my current provider, or go with somebody else. So yea, Im on the fence about it.

snadam

Well I finally decided to take the plunge...I was so fed up with the TV issues over the super bowl weekend, Im going with Directv. The nail in the coffin was Monday morning when I couldn't watch ESPN HD. That and the numerous other reasons, I picked up the phone thereafter and got setup with Directv.

CANT WAIT!!!

brad-

I went from cable to DirectTV about 2 years ago and I would NEVER go back to cable.

People tried to say you'll lose signal if there's a could in the sky...we only lose signal in thunderstorms. Otherwise it never goes out. Cable would go out in the middle of the day for no reason. Cable internet was the worst...completely inoperable between 8-10 at night.

I havent got into the HD stuff yet, but for just plain service and cost, DirectTV hands down. We get more channels to boot. I honestly dont even know why cable is still competitive.

snadam

brad- wrote:

I went from cable to DirectTV about 2 years ago and I would NEVER go back to cable.

People tried to say you'll lose signal if there's a could in the sky...we only lose signal in thunderstorms. Otherwise it never goes out. Cable would go out in the middle of the day for no reason. Cable internet was the worst...completely inoperable between 8-10 at night.

I havent got into the HD stuff yet, but for just plain service and cost, DirectTV hands down. We get more channels to boot. I honestly dont even know why cable is still competitive.

cost and service were the 2 that sold them for me. Its good to hear that it sounds like im making the better decision

Mishra

Either method has its ups and downs. You won't start getting great cable until FIOS is implemented IMO.

snadam

Mishra wrote:

Either method has its ups and downs. You won't start getting great cable until FIOS is implemented IMO.

Im down with FIOS, but its not available in my market yet

Plantwiz

Direct is fine and so is Dish, except there is nothing on.

So in 6 short days.....we'll be completely TV FREE in this house. No tv signal at all. Cable will never be an option again....and if some point down the road we are ever so bored that we deem we need to have TV again, we'd consider some flavor of satellite Tv again, but I hardly think we'll ever be that bored.

snadam

Plantwiz wrote:

Direct is fine and so is Dish, except there is nothing on.

So in 6 short days.....we'll be completely TV FREE in this house. No tv signal at all. Cable will never be an option again....and if some point down the road we are ever so bored that we deem we need to have TV again, we'd consider some flavor of satellite Tv again, but I hardly think we'll ever be that bored.

wow, I cant wait for TV NOT to be a necessity for me and my family. Id save thousands a year! Unfortunately, with my media and sports backgrounds, its hard to imagine no television. You have my respect!

dynamik

Plantwiz wrote:

Direct is fine and so is Dish, except there is nothing on.

So in 6 short days.....we'll be completely TV FREE in this house. No tv signal at all. Cable will never be an option again....and if some point down the road we are ever so bored that we deem we need to have TV again, we'd consider some flavor of satellite Tv again, but I hardly think we'll ever be that bored.

I have a TV for video games and the occasional movie.

It's funny. I actually have basic cable even though it's not hooked up. Comcast charges $6-9 for it, and I end up getting something around $15 off my total bill because of the package discount.

Plantwiz

snadam wrote:

Plantwiz wrote:

Direct is fine and so is Dish, except there is nothing on.

So in 6 short days.....we'll be completely TV FREE in this house. No tv signal at all. Cable will never be an option again....and if some point down the road we are ever so bored that we deem we need to have TV again, we'd consider some flavor of satellite Tv again, but I hardly think we'll ever be that bored.

wow, I cant wait for TV NOT to be a necessity for me and my family. Id save thousands a year! Unfortunately, with my media and sports backgrounds, its hard to imagine no television. You have my respect!

We've discussed if for about a year now...and just realized we could stop complaining about 'nothing' being on and actually do a whole lot more. We'll keep the tv's as the kids are starting to enjoy video games (and I think they are good in moderation). We don't think TV is evil or anything, but the programming as of late ....welll it sucks. I've too much Tech material to read, and we have too many projects around the house we can work at that we've decided it's time to give it a try.

We watch movies and the movies on tv we watch.....happen to be the ones we already own If we get really crazy, the library has free videos, so there is an option. I think there are many more things we can accomplish without a tv signal. My husband carves and this will give him more of an incentive to continue those projects (he's got some nice decoys already carved).

Thanks.

snadam

okay so talk about crappy...

directv sub-contractors show up 3 hours late, and tell me within 10 minutes there is no way to mount the 65lb dish they have planned for me...what with my current setup and the fact they dont mount dishes on the roof anymore...they couldnt even guarantee a good signal even with the other options that I wasnt really pleased with.

i was close to snapping, but its really not totally thier fault. The customer service rep should have mentioned at least SOMETHING about a heavy dish whe I originally ordered!

long story short. I went with Dish network instead. Their dish is a standard size and weight, so they can mount it pretty much anywhere on my house...


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