Newbie question - Time zones

[sic102]

Hi -

I live in California and have had cable for many years. Switched to DirecTv when I moved house last week.

All the non-local channels appear to be on a national feed - so a show advertised at 10 (while I imagine appearing at 10 on the East Coast) is on at 7...

I've called customer service and they tell me this is how it is supposed to be. Is this true? From the TV Guide on DirecTV's website, this shows that programs are on supposed to be on at the "correct" time. Further, TvGuide.com shows their should be PAcific feeds.

I'm confused and getting no where with customer service. Can someone please tell me how this works? I can't find any info online...

Thanks!

 

[charper1]

First off.... WELCOME!


As with all national feeds they almost always quote EASTERN TIME. Some may say "noon eastern / 9am pacific". Rarely will any quote just pacific unless it happens to be a west coast feed.

 

[sic102]

Thanks for a quick response! So I assume most of the channels (except the local channels) only have national feeds?

This is clearly different from cable and I'd like to stop missing my shows!

 

[charper1]

The EPG should be self adjusting to your TZ; Cable receives the same national feeds via satellite and has no way to alter what times they say in the programs; so I am not sure now what you are asking.

 

[sic102]

Let's say a program on E! was advertised at 8/7c. On cable - I would receive this program at 8 pm local time (in the same way that a program advertised on say, ABC, at 8/7c is on at 8 pm Pacific, not 5 pm Pacific - thus operating like local stations do) , not 5pm

On Directv, this program is now at 5 pm on the west coast. So all the programs on the non-local (CBS etc) channels are now 3 hours earlier than they were when I had cable - is this correct? Its very frustrating...

 

[pamon]

same here... got it in jan '08. certain channels are on east coast times only vs my cable west coast times (USA/Lifetime/Hallmark/etc). called DTV a few times and just figure it's a wierd direct tv thing. i catch WWE raw at 6pm vs cable 9pm. settings are for my proper zip code too. wierd?

 

[jimisham]

Thanks for a quick response! So I assume most of the channels (except the local channels) only have national feeds?

This is clearly different from cable and I'd like to stop missing my shows!

You should talk to Directv about getting a Digital Video Recorder. That'll take care of that problem.

 

[DodgerKing]

Thanks for a quick response! So I assume most of the channels (except the local channels) only have national feeds?

This is clearly different from cable and I'd like to stop missing my shows!

Which is one of many reasons I prefer satellite over cable. I hated waiting until 10pm to watch some shows. Now I can watch them at 7 or record them and watch them a little later. Huge advantage to being a west coast satellite sub

 

[VMI90]

I used to love living in Hawaii and watching the NFL. The early games came on at 8:00 am and the "late" game was on at 11:00 am!