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Supporting Founder
Edit: New Information to add!
It took several calls into Directv to get all the credits onto my account but they did get them on the account. The only thing they forgot was the free NFL Superfan package which I called into today to get added. I asked very nicely if I could get a free HD DVR box for some of my past and present troubles and was happy to be offered an HD DVR for free with a 20 buck shipping charge with free install. I can say that I will be a very longtime customer that is for sure.
End Of Edit:
First I will start by saying that DirecTV was installed less than two days ago so these are my first thoughts about DirecTV right now. Also this post will most likely be very long but I will break it down into sections. Also keep in mind that I have been a Comcast customer for the last 1-2 years "and" the last time I had DirecTV was about four years ago. So lets get started.
I called DirecTV about a month ago and spoke with several people in customer retention to get an idea about what kind of deal I could get as a returning customer. So I'm saying the deal I got so that others reading would know they do have options on getting some things cheaper.
With the above said I was happy with this deal even though I'm quite sure I "might" have got a better deal if I pressed it much harder. So now onto the Ordering section of my review.
Ordering Section:
First HD DVR (HR20-700 model) for 200 bucks plus 20 bucks S&H charge charged to my credit card.
Second HD DVR (HR20-700 model) I bought at my local Circuit City store for 300 bucks. DirecTV put a 100 buck bill credit towards this box which makes it a net upfront cost of 200 bucks.
I ordered NFL Sunday Ticket for 269 bucks for the season and got "free" SuperFan.
I'm also getting the following bill credits as part of what they called a Win Back offer.
10.00/month off any total choice package for 12 months (120.00 total).
Free HD Access for 12 months (120.00 total).
Free HBO, Cinemax, Showtime Unlimited and Starz Superpak for 3 months. This totals around 125 bucks in total credits.
So I consider free Superfan to be required as those services should be included in the base Sunday Ticket package so I don't consider this a credit like I do the others. With that said I consider myself as getting a total of 465 bucks in credits to offset my upfront hardware investment of 500 bucks (200+300).
I'm the type of person who doesn't care if I pay nothing upfront or get a discount over a period of time as long as the end result is a good deal for me. So in my case I may be spending 500 bucks upfront but the end result is that after one year my total "net" upfront cost will only have been 35 bucks for two HD DVR boxes so I consider that a great deal. Yes if I pressed it I might have been able to get no upfront costs for hardware but I doubt I would have also got all the programming credits so in the end I got the same deal as most others which is two free HD DVR boxes for 20 bucks S&H each.
Installation Section:
This will be most likely the shortest section. My installer who is named Steve at DirecT Tech showed up "On Time" and did one heck of a good job. Compared to my past installs and upgrades in Florida it was nice to see such a complex install go without any flaws. Nothing more needs to be said in this section.
Programming Section:
I'm a Plus HD DVR subscriber with Boston HD local channels with all premium channels except the Sports Pak. First the current MPEG2 HD channels without a doubt don't look very good compared to Comcast. But they are so far much better now compared to four years ago when they would cut in and out and tile like no end was in sight. I'm glad to say that I no longer see much of this thus far so I can live with them for now.
Now NESN HD (spotbeam channel in MPEG4) plus my Boston CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox HD stations in MPEG4 look stunning and I honestly cannot see any difference between them on DirecTV compared to Comcast for the day I watched them. I was watched them using an Optoma HD70 at 92 inches screen size so that is far big enough to notice any major and most likely minor difference.
So with all of this said "if" DirecTV puts all current and new national HD channels in MPEG4 with the same quality of my HD local channels I believe that HD-Lite will without a doubt be a thing of the past in our world.
DVR Features:
My new DirecTV HD DVR IMO is a big step-up from the Comcast Moto 3416 running the iguide software.
The HR20 is much more responsive to remote commands compared to the Moto box and that is a big plus IMO.
Also the fact that the HR20 can cache the guide data is a big plus over the Moto 3416 as well. I just cannot stand it when I have to unplug a box and wait 15 minutes for fricking guide data to show up again. With DirecTV that is no more.
Also the HR20 is far better with recording conflict management in that it lets me select a specific show in a clear view to not record to fix a conflict.
Its hard to remember everything but thus far the DVR seems to present critical menu options in a clear and concise way compared to the Moto box with Comcast.
Beyond all the above I still do miss the Comcast video On Demand service but I also have hope that the upcoming DirecTV On Demand service will fill that void. The single biggest feature I see with the DirecTV On Demand service IMO is the ability to "download and playback" a VOD title "while" recording two live HD feeds again all of this going on at the sametime.
My Comcast internet service is fast enough that I'm sure the VOD service with DirecTV will be a very good experience from what little I've seen thus far of it.
So to finish this off I must say that so far I'm very happy with everything available today on DirecTV and am waiting for all the new stuff coming soon. I will say that IMO I consider DirecTV to be a very different offering today compared to four years ago so my past experiences with them I'm throwing out of the window. So IMO it only matters to me what DirecTV does and doesn't do from this day and on. They have a clean slate in my book and lets just say that very very few companies get this chance with me.
It took several calls into Directv to get all the credits onto my account but they did get them on the account. The only thing they forgot was the free NFL Superfan package which I called into today to get added. I asked very nicely if I could get a free HD DVR box for some of my past and present troubles and was happy to be offered an HD DVR for free with a 20 buck shipping charge with free install. I can say that I will be a very longtime customer that is for sure.
End Of Edit:
First I will start by saying that DirecTV was installed less than two days ago so these are my first thoughts about DirecTV right now. Also this post will most likely be very long but I will break it down into sections. Also keep in mind that I have been a Comcast customer for the last 1-2 years "and" the last time I had DirecTV was about four years ago. So lets get started.
I called DirecTV about a month ago and spoke with several people in customer retention to get an idea about what kind of deal I could get as a returning customer. So I'm saying the deal I got so that others reading would know they do have options on getting some things cheaper.
With the above said I was happy with this deal even though I'm quite sure I "might" have got a better deal if I pressed it much harder. So now onto the Ordering section of my review.
Ordering Section:
First HD DVR (HR20-700 model) for 200 bucks plus 20 bucks S&H charge charged to my credit card.
Second HD DVR (HR20-700 model) I bought at my local Circuit City store for 300 bucks. DirecTV put a 100 buck bill credit towards this box which makes it a net upfront cost of 200 bucks.
I ordered NFL Sunday Ticket for 269 bucks for the season and got "free" SuperFan.
I'm also getting the following bill credits as part of what they called a Win Back offer.
10.00/month off any total choice package for 12 months (120.00 total).
Free HD Access for 12 months (120.00 total).
Free HBO, Cinemax, Showtime Unlimited and Starz Superpak for 3 months. This totals around 125 bucks in total credits.
So I consider free Superfan to be required as those services should be included in the base Sunday Ticket package so I don't consider this a credit like I do the others. With that said I consider myself as getting a total of 465 bucks in credits to offset my upfront hardware investment of 500 bucks (200+300).
I'm the type of person who doesn't care if I pay nothing upfront or get a discount over a period of time as long as the end result is a good deal for me. So in my case I may be spending 500 bucks upfront but the end result is that after one year my total "net" upfront cost will only have been 35 bucks for two HD DVR boxes so I consider that a great deal. Yes if I pressed it I might have been able to get no upfront costs for hardware but I doubt I would have also got all the programming credits so in the end I got the same deal as most others which is two free HD DVR boxes for 20 bucks S&H each.
Installation Section:
This will be most likely the shortest section. My installer who is named Steve at DirecT Tech showed up "On Time" and did one heck of a good job. Compared to my past installs and upgrades in Florida it was nice to see such a complex install go without any flaws. Nothing more needs to be said in this section.
Programming Section:
I'm a Plus HD DVR subscriber with Boston HD local channels with all premium channels except the Sports Pak. First the current MPEG2 HD channels without a doubt don't look very good compared to Comcast. But they are so far much better now compared to four years ago when they would cut in and out and tile like no end was in sight. I'm glad to say that I no longer see much of this thus far so I can live with them for now.
Now NESN HD (spotbeam channel in MPEG4) plus my Boston CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox HD stations in MPEG4 look stunning and I honestly cannot see any difference between them on DirecTV compared to Comcast for the day I watched them. I was watched them using an Optoma HD70 at 92 inches screen size so that is far big enough to notice any major and most likely minor difference.
So with all of this said "if" DirecTV puts all current and new national HD channels in MPEG4 with the same quality of my HD local channels I believe that HD-Lite will without a doubt be a thing of the past in our world.
DVR Features:
My new DirecTV HD DVR IMO is a big step-up from the Comcast Moto 3416 running the iguide software.
The HR20 is much more responsive to remote commands compared to the Moto box and that is a big plus IMO.
Also the fact that the HR20 can cache the guide data is a big plus over the Moto 3416 as well. I just cannot stand it when I have to unplug a box and wait 15 minutes for fricking guide data to show up again. With DirecTV that is no more.
Also the HR20 is far better with recording conflict management in that it lets me select a specific show in a clear view to not record to fix a conflict.
Its hard to remember everything but thus far the DVR seems to present critical menu options in a clear and concise way compared to the Moto box with Comcast.
Beyond all the above I still do miss the Comcast video On Demand service but I also have hope that the upcoming DirecTV On Demand service will fill that void. The single biggest feature I see with the DirecTV On Demand service IMO is the ability to "download and playback" a VOD title "while" recording two live HD feeds again all of this going on at the sametime.
My Comcast internet service is fast enough that I'm sure the VOD service with DirecTV will be a very good experience from what little I've seen thus far of it.
So to finish this off I must say that so far I'm very happy with everything available today on DirecTV and am waiting for all the new stuff coming soon. I will say that IMO I consider DirecTV to be a very different offering today compared to four years ago so my past experiences with them I'm throwing out of the window. So IMO it only matters to me what DirecTV does and doesn't do from this day and on. They have a clean slate in my book and lets just say that very very few companies get this chance with me.
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5730 views
L
That seems like a good deal you got. I just got myself a 25 dollar credit when I got home from work Sunday night only to find I had no Buccaneers game recorded. It seems that the primary box on my account recorded a black screen and my other two boxes recorded I think the first 15 minutes of the game and kept showing a searching for authorized content message. Also one of my boxes kept saying my access card expired. The end result was that the only reason I switched to DirecTV was so I could see my home team the Buccaneers in New Hampshire. I also had to have HD DVR boxes because I'm working every Sunday afternoon.
It ended up that the CSR noticed my account was last in Florida so when only two games had this problem she knew I wasn't saying this just to get a credit . She knew that most likely was the only game I really cared about. I at least got to watch the Short Cut of the Bucs game but man I was really pissed off after getting home. Beyond that I ended up getting the damn flu and had to call in sick today. I mean I hardly ever get sick and in one week I get the flu and rip the top of my finger off during a very important first two weeks. Its enough to make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. I'm just glad I refused to pay full price for SF because if I did and paid close to full price for the HD DVR boxes I might have sued for breach of contract to get out of my two year deal as I would have been that mad.
My problem is that as mad as I would be I still couldn't go without football which means I wouldn't have the guts to file a breach of contract lawsuit lol....yeah I'm all talk sometimes lol. I'm hoping for a much much better week coming up lol.
It ended up that the CSR noticed my account was last in Florida so when only two games had this problem she knew I wasn't saying this just to get a credit . She knew that most likely was the only game I really cared about. I at least got to watch the Short Cut of the Bucs game but man I was really pissed off after getting home. Beyond that I ended up getting the damn flu and had to call in sick today. I mean I hardly ever get sick and in one week I get the flu and rip the top of my finger off during a very important first two weeks. Its enough to make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. I'm just glad I refused to pay full price for SF because if I did and paid close to full price for the HD DVR boxes I might have sued for breach of contract to get out of my two year deal as I would have been that mad.
My problem is that as mad as I would be I still couldn't go without football which means I wouldn't have the guts to file a breach of contract lawsuit lol....yeah I'm all talk sometimes lol. I'm hoping for a much much better week coming up lol.
S
well it could have been worse, you could be an eagles fan
That seems like a good deal you got. I just got myself a 25 dollar credit when I got home from work Sunday night only to find I had no Buccaneers game recorded. It seems that the primary box on my account recorded a black screen and my other two boxes recorded I think the first 15 minutes of the game and kept showing a searching for authorized content message. Also one of my boxes kept saying my access card expired. The end result was that the only reason I switched to DirecTV was so I could see my home team the Buccaneers in New Hampshire. I also had to have HD DVR boxes because I'm working every Sunday afternoon.
It ended up that the CSR noticed my account was last in Florida so when only two games had this problem she knew I wasn't saying this just to get a credit . She knew that most likely was the only game I really cared about. I at least got to watch the Short Cut of the Bucs game but man I was really pissed off after getting home. Beyond that I ended up getting the damn flu and had to call in sick today. I mean I hardly ever get sick and in one week I get the flu and rip the top of my finger off during a very important first two weeks. Its enough to make you want to pull your hair out sometimes. I'm just glad I refused to pay full price for SF because if I did and paid close to full price for the HD DVR boxes I might have sued for breach of contract to get out of my two year deal as I would have been that mad.
My problem is that as mad as I would be I still couldn't go without football which means I wouldn't have the guts to file a breach of contract lawsuit lol....yeah I'm all talk sometimes lol. I'm hoping for a much much better week coming up lol.
well it could have been worse, you could be an eagles fan
Lon.TV
Time for another AWESOME video from Lon Seidman of LON.TV!
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwivKnNZrw
Direct YouTube Link - Lithium UPS Battery Backup Review - Oupes UPS 1200 Review
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwivKnNZrw
Direct YouTube Link - Lithium UPS Battery Backup Review - Oupes UPS 1200 Review
The Official LON.TV Website
Lon on Facebook
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0 views
My OTA is not working anymore. This started after the latest update. I have the OTA dongle with a OTA antenna that I've been using for years. My hopper does not recognize the dongle anymore and when I go to the OTA setting, it has a screen that says to plug a dongle into the USB. I tried unplugging and plugging back, in the same usb port and other ports. The Hopper does not recognize it. Anyone have same issue?
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5252 views
Hi all. If you were using a single tuner USB OTA adapter that is no longer working, please PM me. Thanks. 
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
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79 views
Pub Member / Supporter
Now that I'm retired, obviously I have different health care insurance. I take 2 prescriptions. With my old insurance I didn't have to pay for either of them, now I do. It's not a huge amount but it led me to dig a little into the cost of prescription medications. I have been using Walgreens for the longest time. But what I found was that Walgreens price is 4.8 times more for one of my prescriptions and the other is 2.3 percent more compared to the lowest price pharmacy. If you pay for prescription medications you might want to have a look at trumprx and see if you can get a lower price.
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11 views
TWiT Tech Podcast Network
Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xnM_6NlEjsU
Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo Preorder Experience With Christina Warren
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xnM_6NlEjsU
Direct YouTube Link - iPhone Duo Preorder Experience With Christina Warren
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed
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4 views
For some reason, the satelliteguys.us site is loading a lot slower than usual on both Chrome on my Asus laptop and Safari on my iPhone.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
I'm also seeing longer appearances of the blue bar at the top and the "3 blue bars" loading symbol.
Is anyone else also having the same problem? Thanks in advance.
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19056 views
More specifically, these:
A more scholarly story is here:
www.bleepingcomputer.com
A more scholarly story is here:
PHP warns admins of two critical flaws, emergency patches coming tomorrow
The PHP security team is warning administrators to prepare for emergency security updates tomorrow to address two critical vulnerabilities, as information about the flaws has reportedly leaked ahead of their scheduled disclosure.
When I heard about this exploit I was wondering how quick you would be on it.
12 minutes after the patch was release I had it patched.When I heard about this exploit I was wondering how quick you would be on it.
Staff member
HERE TO HELP YOU!
Cutting Edge
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
So let the game continue!
The last song was added by Bobby who posted...
One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters
CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!
Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game
Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.
Example:
Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
Another example:
Ride the Lightning -- Metallica
Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne
Get it?
An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68572 Replies
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2675891 views
Supporting Founder
Lifetime Supporter
I was reading this article
thehill.com
That said this-
Last summer, for the first time, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime claimed the largest share of the television viewing audience, surpassing both cable and broadcast TV. Streaming captured 34.8 percent of July viewers, according to Nielsen data, compared to 34.4 percent for cable and 21.6 percent for broadcast.
And then, sometime in the second half of 2022, cord-cutters became the majority. The share of cable and satellite television subscribers dipped to 48 percent, according to a report from Samba TV, a television technology company.
Now I do not consider those with YTTV and the likes, Cord Cutters, but they still do not have Traditional Cable/Satellite delivered Live TV, so I decided to do the math.
There are, now, 129 Million Households in the United States.
In 2015, there were 100 Million Cable/Sat Subscribers , no streaming Live TV Service.
Today, there are 66 Million Live TV subscribers, including Cable, Satellite and Streaming.
Roughly, Streaming Live TV has 14 Million subs including all of them.
So that means, Cable/Satellite now has, roughly, 51 Million Households
So in just 8 years, lost 49% of their subscribers and by the end of this year, expected sub count to be, roughly, 45 million households.
That means a total loss of 55% since 2015 at the end of 2023.
But out of 129 Million households, 45 million will mean only 35% will get Cable/Satellite Delivered Live TV by the end of 2023.
Imagine what 2024 will be like.
Cable TV ‘cord-cutters’ became the majority in 2022
The steady decline of cable and broadcast television, and the rise of streaming services, reached a sort of inflection point over the past year. Last summer, for the first time, streaming ser…
thehill.com
That said this-
Last summer, for the first time, streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime claimed the largest share of the television viewing audience, surpassing both cable and broadcast TV. Streaming captured 34.8 percent of July viewers, according to Nielsen data, compared to 34.4 percent for cable and 21.6 percent for broadcast.
And then, sometime in the second half of 2022, cord-cutters became the majority. The share of cable and satellite television subscribers dipped to 48 percent, according to a report from Samba TV, a television technology company.
Now I do not consider those with YTTV and the likes, Cord Cutters, but they still do not have Traditional Cable/Satellite delivered Live TV, so I decided to do the math.
There are, now, 129 Million Households in the United States.
In 2015, there were 100 Million Cable/Sat Subscribers , no streaming Live TV Service.
Today, there are 66 Million Live TV subscribers, including Cable, Satellite and Streaming.
Roughly, Streaming Live TV has 14 Million subs including all of them.
So that means, Cable/Satellite now has, roughly, 51 Million Households
So in just 8 years, lost 49% of their subscribers and by the end of this year, expected sub count to be, roughly, 45 million households.
That means a total loss of 55% since 2015 at the end of 2023.
But out of 129 Million households, 45 million will mean only 35% will get Cable/Satellite Delivered Live TV by the end of 2023.
Imagine what 2024 will be like.
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71359 views
Sony is discontinuing it's last 4K disc player, Panasonic has been rumored to be doing the same, the end of physical media is unfortunately, about to happen.
cordcuttersnews.com
Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News
Sony has discontinued its final standalone UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K, ending shipments of the device with no successor model announced. The move, first spotted by Japanese website Kunkoku.jp and confirmed through the status of the product on Sony’s own website, marks the company’s...
cordcuttersnews.com
I am so done with Sony on so many levels. This is just one small piece of it.Sony is discontinuing it's last 4K disc player, Panasonic has been rumored to be doing the same, the end of physical media is unfortunately, about to happen.
Bad News For Blu-ray Fans: Sony Has Stopped Making a Popular Player | Cord Cutters News
Sony has discontinued its final standalone UHD Blu-ray player, the UBP-X700/K, ending shipments of the device with no successor model announced. The move, first spotted by Japanese website Kunkoku.jp and confirmed through the status of the product on Sony’s own website, marks the company’s...
Interesting article about the work being done to develope an ATSC 3 converter box. Yes it does mention affordable.
www.tvtechnology.com
Pearl TV Issues Progress Report on Low-Cost 3.0 Converters in Advance of NAB Show New York
Group has secured lower pricing from key tech players to make less costly boxes available
www.tvtechnology.com
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296 views
It's dead, they just don't know it yet. They killed it by forcing DRM on it, and that TOTALLY botched implementing it.
There is absolutely NO compelling reason for anybody to switch to ATSC3.0. They only want it as a total and complete money grab.
Who says dinner or lunch has to be the only good meals of the day?
Honey butter grits with scrambled eggs and grilled boneless pork ribs on flakey biscuits washed down with cranberry juice.
Honey butter grits with scrambled eggs and grilled boneless pork ribs on flakey biscuits washed down with cranberry juice.
6631 Replies
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379745 views