Got D* installed today, E* is gone! My experience so far...

[robx46]

D* exceeded my expectations today. I thought the installer would take 5 hours due to each room needing a reciever & thought that the way our cable is run might be an issue, but the installer said that it would have been a problem 6 months ago, but recently it isn't (not sure why, but it was good news).

Our dude was happy to take down our 2 E* dish's while he was on the roof, we appreciated that. He was able to use E*'s cable run (and cable) from the dish into the house which was good.
Thus, aside from bolting in the single dish, that was all the damage that needed done! So we were very happy about that.

Also, the setup I expected was going to be 2 HD DVR's (HR21's) and 1 standard reciever (3 TV's, 4 total, one is mirrored).

Instead of HR21's, we got HR23's! Definitely was not expecting that since D*'s site said the installers were using HR21's currently.
And instead of a standard reciever for our sdtv, he set up a HD reciever free of charge!
So if we want to get an HDTV for that room, we're already set! Also, we can get all those HD only channels on that TV now.

E* still didn't have our HD locals yet, while D* has had them since last summer.
So instead of waiting even longer with E*, it was a great feeling to just say "screw it", and take matters into our own hands and go with D*, get local HD, and get rid of the other issues we had with E*.
It's so nice right now that I'm happy watching PBS HD! A channel I haven't watched in years.

I do miss a few little things about E*, mainly hardware/DVR related, but D* isn't bad at all, and it has its pro's over E* as well. Regardless, the great programming makes up for any shortcomings.
I do like the HR23. I can get used to it I'm sure. And man do these recievers look SHARP! Glossy black with the cool blue lights!
While E*'s recievers were nice and functional, they didn't look nearly this nice and were bigger.

Enjoying our 3 free months of HBO, Starz, & Showtime (at least the HD channels as I don't bother with the SD). And the nice CSR did give us the 1 free yr of showtime after the 3 months is up, so we got that for 15 months. Another bonus I just learned is that with the showtime pack, The Movie Channel HD actually comes with it! So we got a ton of movie options right now.

It hasn't even been a full day of viewing yet, but overall the experience with the install went real well, and so far so good with everything else.

 

[DodgerKing]

D* exceeded my expectations today. I thought the installer would take 5 hours due to each room needing a reciever & thought that the way our cable is run might be an issue, but the installer said that it would have been a problem 6 months ago, but recently it isn't (not sure why, but it was good news).

Because of the single wire multiswitches they use now.

 

[DodgerKing]

Glad to see everything went well. Hopefully your experience with Direct is just as pleasant.

 

[dslate69]

Welcome to the D* side.
For sure your hand will have to get used to the button layout and menu navigating is different of course.
If you have the internet hooked up check out the VOD; lots of free and in HD.

 

[rad]

As dslate69 said, get those boxes, including the non HD receivers hooked up to your home network. Besides VoD check out the Media Share application where can play media from a home server. Also check out the Cutting Edge section, especially the part about MRV (Multi Room Viewing).

 

[dtanderson]

Because of the single wire multiswitches they use now.

So DirecTV now does dual tuners on single wire.....

 

[rad]

So DirecTV now does dual tuners on single wire.....

Yes, they have for awhile now using SWM LNB or switches. It's just that you can't tell DirecTV that you want a SWM install, the computer tells the installer what to put in. You can purchase a SWM LNB or SWM8 switch on your own if you can't get the computer to cough one up for you.

 

[Lkr]

I hope I get this great of an installer when I eventually get D*. Do you know what company installed?

 

[vurbano]

So DirecTV now does dual tuners on single wire.....

Yeah but good luck getting them to give it to you. I was told something like "its not authorized for your area" what a load of crap.

 

[rad]

Yeah but good luck getting them to give it to you. I was told something like "its not authorized for your area" what a load of crap.

We all know that DirecTV has it out for you and Hemi

Three weeks ago my son got a SWMLNB on a new install so it does happen.

 

[DodgerKing]

....and the OP got one as well.

 

[dslate69]

+1
The installer would have rather run 2 extra cables though. Don't understand it, does it come out of their bottom line? I had the CSR put it in the notes . I would have rescheduled again to get a swm. Glad I didn't have to. BTW: I am in a Townhome and the less cables the better in my circumstance.

 

[srenker]

And instead of a standard reciever for our sdtv, he set up a HD reciever free of charge!
So if we want to get an HDTV for that room, we're already set! Also, we can get all those HD only channels on that TV now.

D* is beginning to convert certain smaller metropolitan areas to require HD equipment for local channels. Their HD satellites are able to squeeze more spotbeams for locals into the same location in orbit; SD locals for the smaller markets had been coming from a different location (72.5W). This required a second dish, and the relatively wide angle between there and the main locations (99/101/103) meant that it was harder for many customers to get line of sight to both locations. Long term, D* will also save money by giving up the lease on that 72.5 location.

So if this applied to you, D* considered it cheaper for them to give you an HD receiver. Had you asked for an SD DVR, you would likely have gotten an R22, which is an HR22 with a smaller hard drive and software that forces it to output 480i resolution only.

 

[robx46]

Yeah, I suppose it makes sense (since 2 of our 3 recievers are HD DVR's), to just make the 3rd reciever HD, and avoid the issues you mentioned. But still, whatever the reason, we are still pretty happy about it. Like I said, now that 3rd reciever can pick up those HD only channels, its a real good looking reciever, and if we want to get another HDTV (which is very likely), its just plug and play!

As for the SWM, I heard about those, wasn't sure exactly what they did, and didn't know it was a given that you would get it. Guess we were a bit lucky. However, without the SWM, I bet it would have been a real pain to hook up everything otherwise.

So the install was pretty quick and painless. And the HR23 HD DVR's we got were icing on the cake.
And yes I did already get hooked up to the network, and have played around with VOD, its definitely a nice feature. Very cool.

Btw, where is these "media share" and "cutting edge" apps?
As for our installer, I checked our paperwork, which is only a couple pages, and there is no address. So don't know where he came from.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

We all know that DirecTV has it out for you and Hemi

.

:yikes