24 Hours with DirecTV and here is my review

[goaliebob99]

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The Phone Call to Directv.

So, I called up the number on the letter saying that I got in the mail saying that Directv wanted me back. I was hooked up with the 4 months free with the purchase of the NFL Sunday ticket,Free super fan, Free Nascar Hot pass, and Free install. I Was also told that I would be getting brand new equipment as Dish network gives out refurbished equipment, when I asked why cant I get a free HDDVR. When asked what model I would be getting they specifically said an HR20-700, the latest and greatest. Cool, scheduled the install for that Saturday, for a two room HD install. Over all the call went really well.

THE INSTALL

My install was scheduled for 12-5. I call Directv up to get a better estimate on when the installer would show up so I could Begin talking down my dish 1000 and making way for the installer to run new wiring. BTW the installation company that showed up was All American Direct I think was there name, I know there the HSP for My area in southern Chicago area. Directv calls up the HSP with me on the phone, they contact the tech, and he says he can make it here between 2-3.

Its now 4pm and the tech hasn't shown. I get on the horn with Directv and 15 min later the tech finally shows up. He gets here, I show him the two rooms and we do a walk through. I show him the two room and show him the existing wiring outside. While doing the walk through I have him the OK to run an additional wire to each location, and use the existing dish line for the 2nd tuner on the HD DVR. So I'm outside with the tech and hes installing the dish on the pole and I ask him what receivers he brought. He said a refurbished HR20-100.

Wait a minute.. If we look up at the CSR call that Is totally different than what I was told. So I get on the horn with Directv and The HSP. It turns out that Directv sent the HSP nothing but refurbished HR20-100's and no new models. Well since I'm getting a refurbished model, I want it for FREE since that was the excuse that I was given for on why dish can give out there equipment for Free. So 4 calls later and I'm talking with customer retention. Customer retention apologized and they are sending me an HR20-700 as I was supposed to get new equipment and the work order even stated it.

So with that taken care of, they put in the refurbished model to get me in service, until they can send me a 700. At this time my wife decides that she wants one in the bedroom too as she cant live without her HD DVR in the bedroom. I ask the installer if he can run another line to the bedroom as well and I will pay for labor since he's here. He says no problem and that he will bill me for it, so he runs the line to the bed room. So were all set. He puts the -100 model in the bedroom and installs and activates it and all the lines are ran for the HD DVR that will be going in the Living room.

He asks me If I know how to use the HD DVR, and I say yes. He then says he wants me to sign the work order. Wait arnt you going to show me where all the channels are and the features of the DVR? So he does a quick run down on that, and trys to get me to sign the work order again. Wait lets do a walk through real quick. So I look in the bed room, and there is a mess all over the place where he drilled the hole, I didn't say anything, but it would have been nice if he cleaned up his mess. Then I noticed the bushing. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? Why isn't there a wall plate up? He says he's out and wont get any in until Monday. Well, can you drop one off and put it in or get another tech out here to give you one? NOPE. WTF. So we look in the living room. OK beige on white. LOOKS horrible. Dont you have white wall plates? No, beige was the only color I had. OK. What about taking the screw out of my other plate and putting it on yours? oh I don't have any screws. By this time I'm getting pretty heated.

We go outside... I notice the fact that none of the holes are sealed with silicone. Mentioned that, and he sealed them but without bushings. We go out to the ground block, the dish is grounded to the ground block but the block itself is not grounded. Don't you think thats an important thing? So he runs the ground. By this time its dark, and I notice that he never attached the ground block to the building. So we go to his truck, I sign and annotate the work order with the stuff he failed to do. He takes off, not giving me a copy of the work order and annotations. WTF.

So, I call up Directv and schedule another tech to come out here on Monday morning. Attached below is pictures of the install, They speak for them selfs. You can notice the difference where I did my own dish network install and Directv's install.

So now its off to best buy and my wife and I are off to get my other HD DVR.


24 hours later with Directv.

So I hook up the lines in the living room to the HR20-700 and do the setup. My first impression is while Dish does have a better DVR, This little puppy is not far from the 622. I don't like the setup of the off air antenna. I like dish's method of scan and a list of your channels pop's up instead of by zip code and and what Directv gives you. I noticed that there are a few sub channels missing that I did get with dish. Directv needs to add them in the system or let the receiver add them as per the OTA station is sending. Directv needs to take a note of this.

I would like to see features like external hard drive archiving and VOD support. Which from what I hear is coming. I did have the opportunity to download the CE release and am still waiting on VOD to appear in my guide. I don't know exactly whats going on with hard drive support but someone can let me in on it. I'm using a usb hard drive BTW.

Now, the quality of programming on DIRECTV is allot better than dish. Do not get this confused with the quality of picture which I will be covering in a moment. Last night I had the opportunity of viewing the Jeff Gordon channel of the Nascar Hot pass. I literally felt like I was in the car with him when he won and that was the first time in a long time that I was excited about a Nascar race. WOW is all I can say. I will be renewing my subscription for this, for next year. The NFL Sunday ticket is way cool, along with all the mix channels.

Now to The HD lite portion of the review. Directv needs to bring all there mpg2 channels out of HD lite mode and into full glory mpg4 mode. This was noticeable with the mpg2 version of HBO and the mpg4 version of it. Now to the movie channels in MPEG4. WOW, WHERE WAS THIS ON DISH! I AM VERY IMPRESSED! This is literally the most beautiful picture that I have seen since the days of pre hdlite. IF this is directv's future then Directv subs have a very bright future. DIRECTV'S HD PICTURE ON THESE CHANNELS BLOWS DISH NETWORK RIGHT OUT OF THE WATER! That was a side by side comparison on the same TV, same resolution between dish and Directv. My wife even said she noticed a major difference. With Directv the picture seems sharper where as dish is softer. Also, I gained double the movie channels in HD than what I had with dish.

Over all I'm very impressed with Directv as a whole, minus the installation company. I would give Directv a grade of A and the installation company a grade of F---.

Now if I can only see some VOD!

[richiephx]

Thanks for the overview Bob...good info

[JAG72]

Great overview Bob. I was really waiting on the comparison from some more people on the D* and E* MPEG4 PQ.

[Ron61250]

Looks like my install exactly-I have come to realise that this is the norm and not the exception. Ron

[schneid]

Same for me, loose wires, loose connections, holes not sealed, equipment not connected right, equipment not setup, HDMI not working. All no big deal IF you how to mop up after they leave. Very sad to leave the less technical with a sub-standard install that they will be blind to until some geek relative, friend, or neighbor happens by and straightens it out. Still my HR20-100 works and works well. Thrilled to be rid of AT&T Dish Homezone.

[goaliebob99]

guys you are dead right. Directv would be a great service. They just need to get their installation corps set stright.

[boba]

It is all in D* not wanting to pay for quality. That installer probably made less than $70 and had to pay for his own supplies.

[atp1313]

Welcome back to D*...hope you truly do enjoy your stay. Installation companies can be a real downer and do sometime make for a bad first impression. But as it appears with your experience, once the signal comes through, you tend to forget about how bad the install goes.

So now a few answers...

I don't know exactly whats going on with hard drive support but someone can let me in on it. I'm using a usb hard drive BTW

External drives will not work with USB, only eSATA. Simple answer there. And any attached external drive will replace the internal drive, not add to the internal drives recording size. Once the eSATA drive is unplugged, the internal drive will fire itself back up.

Directv needs to bring all there mpg2 channels out of HD lite mode and into full glory mpg4 mode.

D* is planning on converting the MPEG2 to MPEG4, but not for at least another year or so. The future is bright in that regard.

[goaliebob99]

ATP thanks for the update. That totally sucks.. That was one feature that I liked about dish, and the usb hard drive support in conjuction with the recivers hard drive. Is there any way to transfer programs from one to another?

[vurbano]

Originally Posted by goaliebob99

ATP thanks for the update. That totally sucks.. That was one feature that I liked about dish, and the usb hard drive support in conjuction with the recivers hard drive. Is there any way to transfer programs from one to another?

no