As of Monday, I am now a Direct subscriber

[colt45allstar]

My installation is set for early Monday.

I've not used Direct TV for years, when I was still living at home my dad had it around a decade ago but eventually switched to Dish Network because of the lack of local channels via Direct TV in our area.... The locals still aren't available in Joplin Mo, but seeing how there are still alternate feeds of the various stations I don't feel like I'm missing on much other than the local news and I'm more of a National News/MSNBC buff anyway.. so no huge loss.

I along with my father have been using Dish Network these last few years, but felt Dish Network in a lot of ways was Direct TV lite.

Direct TV just seemed to offer most everything Dish offered and then some... I gave Dish Network a little bit more time in hopes that Voom would return (Monsters HD was my main motivation for signing up for HD programing along with my roommate at the time.... of course they went and took it off the air within days of our signing up)

I've since moved... got rid of The HD programming (since the HDTV was my roommate's) but stuck it out with Dish minus the HD channels.

Last week I bought a new 40 inch Samsung 1080 P lcd and the allure of the superior sports packages via Direct TV (and the continued abscense of monsters hd on Dish) was more than enough for me to make the switch.

I got the premier package with ESPN Full Court added and MLB extra innings added come baseball season. The baseball was the true deal breaker as I love sports as a whole, but baseball is by far my favorite and with Extra Innings not coming back to Dish anytime soon.. I simply had to have it.

I also got one hd dvr for the living room and two standard dvr's for my bedroom and my roommate's bedroom.

I'm very excited and can't wait to get it hooked up and ready to go.

 

[jdspencer]

Welcome!!

Let us know what your installation experience was.

 

[Rey]

welcome. we are anxious to hear from you and how it went today.

 

[colt45allstar]

Well unfortunately the weather is awful here.. Roads are icy as icy gets and the installation has been delayed.

I'm hoping to get it installed by mid week instead, but there's supposed to be rough weather all week so we shall see.

 

[deez04]

Also remember...being a huge MLB fan like you are, D* will add MLB HD on Jan.1st!

 

[colt45allstar]

Ok potential pitfall....

I was under the impression that you could get 'alternate' feeds of the various local channels through direct tv, (Washington DC CW for example) now I come to find out that you likely need a waver from the local stations before they will be able to do it. (to be fair no one from Direct told me this... just my obviously poor and somewhat flawed research led me to think it)

I guess the local stations more or less laughed at a guy I know who asked about this in the past.

So having said this (doesn't matter much for me.. but matters to my roommates who watch more of these stations minus the local news) how easy is it to incorporate over the air antennas with Direct TV?

I know nothing about these antennas not one iota, but was hoping someone here was knowledgeable in that area. Also do they only work for hd channels, for example would a person be able to pick up the non hd local channels with one, I ask because only one of our four local channels is currently broadcast in hd.. at least to the best of my knowledge.

Thanks and for the record I plan on keeping direct tv regardless, even if means helping to pay for basic cable as well until Direct adds our locals.... perhaps a long wait as both Direct and Dish for that matter seem more interested in adding hd feeds to locals currently available, as opposed to adding locals that aren't available at all.

edit:

Also anyone have any experience with the over the air tuners for direct tv (AM 21 for example?)

When they sent me my receivers they sent me a HR22 and to the best of my knowledge it doesn't have a built in tuner.

Thanks and sorry for the I'm sure basic questions... just trying to figure out possible ways for my roommates to still be able to watch their shows they watch.

 

[jtwex]

The AM-21 will work & incorporate all your local digital channels regardless of whether they are being aired as HD. Sometimes these locals aren't included in the database list used to program the AM21 but this problem has only been reported a few times by my account. You could also just use your built in tuner in your TV if it has a digital tuner (as all new TV's are required to have now) though that would not get incorporated into your DTV receiver/DVR. As far as Antennas go, the bigger the better. Some report having success with small UHF antennas right on top of the TV but I use a massive 16ft antenna & still needed to use both an amp/preamp setup to fully tune in all the channels. I was also surprised that the preamp did more to increase the signal coverage than the distribution amp.

 

[Jimbo]

Colt,
Looks like all your towers are with in 15-20 miles from you, I would try a indoor antenna first, just to see what you can get.
According to antennaweb you should get ABC and NBC from Joplin, CBS and FOX from Pittsburgh Kansas, all within easy reach for an OTA antenna.

AntennaWeb

Jimbo

 

[mdonnelly]

And all your local channels will broadcast in digital by February 19th, whether or not they have any HD. Get that antenna now so you'll be ready.

 

[colt45allstar]

Ok one final question.

What's the likelihood of being able to receive a CW channel via Direct in my area?

Our CW isn't a local affiliate and instead part of CW plus

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_CW_Plus"]The CW Plus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:KWBD_CW.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/KWBD_CW.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/3/37/KWBD_CW.jpg[/ame]

According to the above link it's a cable only station owned by cable one. It's around half way down the page.

Does this mean we should be able to get a distant feed of CW?

I know my last roommate and I had a distant feed (New York if I remember right) as recently as June or July of this year via Dish Network

It wasn't a station that either one of us ever watched, so not sure if it was ever 'taken away'

I ask because with it not being a local affiliate, it's not something we can receive via a ota antenna and am21 combo... but wasn't sure if the "cable only" designation was likely to matter in terms of getting a distant feed.

That's the 'local' station ( I saw local because cw is a local channel in a lot areas even if technically not here) that my roommate and his wife watch the most, I personally couldn't care any less about the station.

Thanks for the prompt and helpful responses and sorry for so many questions.

On a final note my new install date is set up for Monday morning, a week after my initial date.. but the weather has finally cleared.

 

[jdspencer]

The CW is also "cable only" in my area. It is owned by our local CBS affiliate and will eventually be on a subchannel for that station. The problem is that is won't be HD.

 

[colt45allstar]

Well I just read that the likely reason my last roommate and I got CW via Dish Network was due to them having a "superstations package" that Direct apparently doesn't have.

Well looks like I may be helping my roommate and his wife pay for Cable as well, because they watch way too many shows on that station to simply not get it at all.

If a 'waver' is needed and if the station is indeed owned by Cable One (wiki's not always the most accurate source) I surely don't see Cable one being willing to give me a waver they don't want people leaving their digital cable package for Direct.

I wonder if threatening to leave my 8 meg cable internet service through them, for DSL service would help in that area.. assuming a waver would be needed to not have to also subscribe to cable also.

 

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