Anyone know about DirecTV?

[elleng]

Will be moving to this place in September, Direc is there now, and I'm curious. http://smd.craigslist.org/apa/3907272842.html I understand from the current tenants that price is OK, but how's the service? Choices/selections of stations?

Thx

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

1. I'm thinking of trying it

especially with football season coming up and their NFL Sunday Ticket package which they claim lets you follow every game of your favorite team which is not available on Dish Network. I now have Dish and they keep raising the price while eliminating channels. I have the America's Everything package and I'm paying almost $140 a month and they're telling me it will be going up. I love movies but frankly with those dozens of movie channels, Showtime channels, Encore channels, TMC channels, HBO channels, Cinemax channels, Starz channels and others, the movie channel companies Dish carries seem to be investing in fewer and fewer good movies and running the same old crap. I barely watch them anymore and when I check the program guide, I see that each week it seems to get worse.

I'm now watching dozens and dozens of great old movies available free on YouTube that are better than the same old chestnuts I see through Dish. My 13 years of loyal customer status with Dish Network is coming to an abrupt end and I might try Direct TV just for my Oakland Raiders this season.

[rurallib]

2. I spent about a month comparing DISH and Direct

I am a Dish customer now. Best i could tell there ain't a hell of a lot of difference.
When you add it all up, both are kind of crappy. Customer service sucks with Dish anymore, but Direct uses the same model.
The only big difference I saw is that you get MSNBC as a basic on Direct where it is level 3 before it shows up with Dish.

After some negotiating, Dish convinced me to stay, but I told them I am no happy customer. I too have been with them 13 years.

I looked at our local cable also, but they had some severe technical problems.

I think I will stick a computer on our TV and see what out there in cyber world this winter.

[elleng]

3. Thanks. GLAD they have MSNBC!

That and PBS are my mandatory minimums! Tenants said the service is good. Apparently cable not feasible there. Kind of rural, cottage is related to 'big house' that may have been a farm some years ago.

[Betsy Ross]

4. No comment on stations or prices

But I can say that we have been very happy with DirecTV. Our experience with customer service has always been good.

[elleng]

5. Good.

Thanks, Betsy Ross.

[handmade34]

6. DirecTV is good

I am fine with it, don't watch much, but they have all the channels that matter...

[elleng]

7. Great.

Thanks

[femmocrat]

8. We have had DirecTV for several years and are satisfied with it.

We got rid of Comcast when they took MSNBC off basic. We also have HBO. There are a LOT of channels, but most of them are junk -- infomercials, shopping channels, etc.

I don't know what we pay. Service has been fine, no problems. They came right out when called or solved problems on the phone. If there is bad weather, we sometimes lose the signal briefly. If the power goes out, the signal has to search or something, but then comes on.

One thing I really enjoy is that they frequently have free weekends for the movie and premium channels. I record movies like mad when they have that!

[hopemountain]

9. no complaints from me

i went 7 years without t.v. - but was starting to go a little stir crazy out here in the woods during winter so i got in with a good 2 year deal - $40/mo for the first year and $62 for the second. i don't have any of the premium movie channels - but don't care about that. i have all the ones i want:
msnbc
current
link
documentary
a&e
nat geo
nat geo wild
animal planet
history
history 2
turner classic movie channel (love this)
local stations (meh...very biased red neck stations)
and a few others
once my promotion ends, i am unsubscribing for awhile.
directv had a better choices in combo pack offers for me so that is why i chose them over dish.
i will never go back to cable.

[elleng]

12. Sounds like a good combo for my use.

Thanks, hopemountain.

[cyberswede]

10. We like it.

We switched to our local digital TV service for a while, but we recently switched back.

We really wanted to support the local company (*really* local, as in the owner lives down the street), but the DVR device just wasn't adequate. The cost was the same, so we felt like we weren't getting the same quality for the price.

DirecTV's DVR devices have all been really good and user friendly, in our experience. We have the Genie now - we can watch & record any show in any room - awesome! I also like the ability to schedule recordings online from anywhere: from work, while on vacation, etc. I think they now allow you to access your stuff to *watch* from anywhere, too - I'm gonna try that on our next vacation.

All that said, the cost is ridiculous, but my hubby needs his soccer channels.

[elleng]

11. Thanks, cyberswede.

I won't pay 'ridiculous,' but don't demand soccer channels, either! In fact, I feel I 'jinx' my teams, so barely watch Nationals and Redskins, tho daughter attends games whenever she can.

[madrchsod]

13. better than dish

channel selection is pretty good depending on the package. the receiver is better than dish`s receiver/recorder

[elleng]

14. Good.

Thanks.

[dr.strangelove]

15. DirecTV is great - Help out one of your friends though

I have had DTV for 12 or 13 years now. Other than a short outage during a snowstorm, I have never had a service issue. Even when that happened, I called and they took $10 off my bill due to the outage, even though it lasted about an hour. They constantly have free movie channel deals and every year on my anniversary they send me 2 free pay per view movie tickets so I can get 2 movies for free. I love the service.

If you have any friends or family who are current DTV users, please do you and them a favor. DTV pays you and the friend that referred you $100 dollars, as a credit on your service, for the referral. It used to be $20 off each of your bill for five months, but I do not knwo how they do it now. I heard it was $10 a month for ten months. If you don't know anyone that has it, pick a DU friend and give them and you the savings. Its great to get a price break on a monthly bill like this.

[femmocrat]

16. Yes! Great advice.

You have to have their account number when you call. You can't do it later (we found out!).

[dr.strangelove]

17. Its free money

so I would tell anyone to take advantage of it

[Flashmann]

18. Anyone know about DirecTV?

My wifes folks have it...The 2 main gripes I hear from them are:A)Rain fade,though it doesn't happen often and doesn't usually last long.
B)The Weather Channel isn't localized and is useless to them.

The gripe I have,when at their home,is that the audio doesn't seem to be true stereophonic,as it is with my cable.Most noticeable on the music only channels.

The main plus,to them is,in their minds,they're driving Comcast out of business by buying DirecTv.

[sammytko]

20. Isn't local weather shown every 8 minutes or so?

I think you have to go to the menu or something.

I just use my phone to get weather updates on Wunderground.

[Flashmann]

21. Isn't local weather shown every 8 minutes or so?

Yes...My Father in Law tells me that,through satellite dish,the Weather Channel isn't dialed in to the local feed the way it is with cable.
I have Comcast.The Weather Channel is on 2 different places.One is HD,one is not.The HD one doesn't have the "crawl" across the screen bottom telling our local stats at the airport and downtown.It has everything BUT that.That's what my in laws get with their DirecTv.No local and no "local on the eights".
I don't understand the why of it,since satellite providers have to offer you "network" channels,but are restricted,by law,to only offering those in whose "broadcast territories" you're in.For instance,you can't live in Columbus,Ohio and subscribe to the Los Angeles network affiliates anymore.If they can keep track of who is where and restrict the services to basically what you'd get with the new digital antennas,(the modern free "over the air" broadcasts),I don't see why they can't/won't tailor the local weather crawl onto their Weather Channel feed,but they don't.At least no according to my in laws.

[olddots]

19. Dish is probably owned by Direct to make Direct look good.

I have friends that had dish because like me they hate Murdoch who owns a very large part of Direct . I will spare you the details of the problems they had with Dish and just say that after 30 or so years Direct TV is the lesser of evils between cable & sat and that isn't much of an endorsement for Direct.