My relationship with D* has been a rollercoaster ride. When I first got hooked-uped with the almighty DIRECTV I thought it was the absolute best Cable/Sattellite service imaginable. It was incredible. Crystal-Clear digital signal on EVERY channel (Audio and Video), easy and convinient channel surfing and program guide, every sports channel a fan can ask for, NFL Sunday Ticket, the easiest PPV ordering I've ever known, and even friendly CSR. Well, that was in the beggining, when I had the most basic TV, equipment, and program package. Now it has become a bit more complicated. With TiVo, DVR's and HD. I have advanced to all this equipment in my home. It hasn't been the best experience. The first big step I took in advancing my D* lifestyle was upgrading my bedroom to a DVR w/TiVo reciever. Cost me $99, I thought it was a hell of a deal. It works beautifully and everything, but D* decided they were going to come out with a new 70 hr. DVR. Mine was only a measly lowsy 35 hr. version (and still is). I was outraged to find out D* came out with this mere months after my purchase. I called, asked if there was anyway I can get the 70hr. DVR at a discounted price for a trade-in. No such thing could occur. I felt screwed. And to top it off, they were offering the new ones for FREE after Rebate! So I said oh well. I got a 54' Mitsubishi Widescreen HDTV. I just recently decided I wanted to finally get it hooked up with the new H20 HD D* reciever. Great deal, $99 after $200 mail-in rebate. Well, here is the worst thing about D*...INSTALLATION! The guy comes in my home, looks at my TV to make sure it is HD ready. He goes back to his truck and pulls out an ALREADY OPENED Reciever box!!! I wasn't pleased. He assured me it was never used and in perfect condition. I was optimistic, but it still appeared to be in it's original packaging unscaved. Next thing I find out is there is NO remote control in the box. But he happened to have a spare control in the truck. Now Im really concerned. He does the installation (pretty slow) and my signal strength is awful on this reciever. 75 or 76 at most on all transponders. Im supposed to get an off-air antenna put on my roof. HE DOESN'T HAVE ONE. He tells me "I promise I will come install it tomorrow, It's my day off" He never came , the next day at least. 2 days later it does get installed, the best working part of the installation is the atenna. As for my signal strength, still in the 70's. Somtimes I'll get a scrambled picture for a brief moment. And the volume BTW on the HD channels is EXTREMELY LOW. My locals are WAYYYY TOO LOUD. I deal though. I got my rebate this week thankfully. But the reciever has issues. It doesn't cooperate well with the off-air. I had to call D* last week when I came home and every channel was "Not Available" I had to disconnect my my off-air for 7-10 days so I could just use the reciever. There are still several minor glitches I notice about the reciever. It is quite slow sometimes in flipping between channels and will freeze when I choose certain options. D* must fix it's glitches. With all that said, it is still THE BEST SERVICE AVAILABLE. Cable was always worse when I had it, no matter who the provider was. And I hear horror stories 10 times worse about DISH. My other recievers still work like a gem. And I expect D* to get the HD glitches in order EVENTUALLY. BTW, anyone have a possible solution to my signal strength problem??? It is only the H20 HD box. My other recievers recieve 90's. The installer gave me a special connection for the box but It doesn't help a bit. One good thing I will say about the installer is, he hooked me up with a FREE HDMI connection (usually costs $60). Although my TV does not use that connection unfortuantly. But I will stick with D* as long as they don't get to bad, I feel prices are reasonable (except for the new LEASE on a HD DVR for $499-Im glad I own all my equipment). And CSR has always been easy to deeal with. I just wish they would let me trade-in and upgrade my recievers for a lower price. One more thing, about volume on the HD channels. Is that because my signal is low, or does D* just have a problem with transmission on HD's?:up
