Hey everyone, I've been away from DirecTV for almost two years (after being a customer for 10 years).
I've been on occasionally, but not much after leaving Direct.
I spent a year with Comcast on a Tivo setup. Loved the Tivo interface, options, and hardware, but hated the Comcast picture quality (everything down-rez to 720p and compressed noticeably). After my one year promo ran out, I kept Comcast internet and decided to cut the cord and go streaming.
Streaming was a mixed bag, clear limits on what it can do, but it was highly cost effective. I had DirecTV Now for 3 months off the Apple TV promo. It was not reliable, had no DVR, and was frankly disappointing. Since they have added DVR, can't say if it's more reliable, but even their DVR is very limited.
I also spent about six months on Youtube TV. Fantastic interface and app capabilities - and fantastic DVR setup. I hope DirecTV copies their DVR setup for their future OTT service that will eventually (hypothetically) replace satellite. Picture quality was pretty good, better than Comcast, but not as good as DirecTV. Both streaming was noticeably lower than DirecTV satellite.
So... why am I back. They sent a $300 rebate offer that along with two year contract new customer price will net $70 a month average for Choice All-included. That includes my second TV and taking the rebate into account. Two year cost, less rebate, divided by 24.
That is still a premium on what I was paying, double what I spent on Youtube TV. But - it is about double the channels, many that I missed, it is stability, it is top-tier picture quality that no streaming can touch yet.
I kept the setup quite simple this time. HS17 server, and two TVs using Samsung RVU, no client boxes. I tried the RVU setup on my TVs when I had the service last and was satisfied, they ran essentially the same as the client boxes. Note these are 2016 model TVs. I've read that the 2015 and prior ran terribly slow. HS17 seems stable (only 24 hours in), like that it has 2TB hard drive instead of 1TB, and like that it can be tucked away out of site.
I read that there is no OTA support, but the Am21 is long dead and I've read their working on a new integration. If they do launch something, I have to imagine the HS17 will get updated to support in the future. If not, no big deal. I really don't watch sub-channels much, so I feel I can live with the main networks just fine.
Anyway, just wanted to say hi.
I've been on occasionally, but not much after leaving Direct.
I spent a year with Comcast on a Tivo setup. Loved the Tivo interface, options, and hardware, but hated the Comcast picture quality (everything down-rez to 720p and compressed noticeably). After my one year promo ran out, I kept Comcast internet and decided to cut the cord and go streaming.
Streaming was a mixed bag, clear limits on what it can do, but it was highly cost effective. I had DirecTV Now for 3 months off the Apple TV promo. It was not reliable, had no DVR, and was frankly disappointing. Since they have added DVR, can't say if it's more reliable, but even their DVR is very limited.
I also spent about six months on Youtube TV. Fantastic interface and app capabilities - and fantastic DVR setup. I hope DirecTV copies their DVR setup for their future OTT service that will eventually (hypothetically) replace satellite. Picture quality was pretty good, better than Comcast, but not as good as DirecTV. Both streaming was noticeably lower than DirecTV satellite.
So... why am I back. They sent a $300 rebate offer that along with two year contract new customer price will net $70 a month average for Choice All-included. That includes my second TV and taking the rebate into account. Two year cost, less rebate, divided by 24.
That is still a premium on what I was paying, double what I spent on Youtube TV. But - it is about double the channels, many that I missed, it is stability, it is top-tier picture quality that no streaming can touch yet.
I kept the setup quite simple this time. HS17 server, and two TVs using Samsung RVU, no client boxes. I tried the RVU setup on my TVs when I had the service last and was satisfied, they ran essentially the same as the client boxes. Note these are 2016 model TVs. I've read that the 2015 and prior ran terribly slow. HS17 seems stable (only 24 hours in), like that it has 2TB hard drive instead of 1TB, and like that it can be tucked away out of site.
I read that there is no OTA support, but the Am21 is long dead and I've read their working on a new integration. If they do launch something, I have to imagine the HS17 will get updated to support in the future. If not, no big deal. I really don't watch sub-channels much, so I feel I can live with the main networks just fine.
Anyway, just wanted to say hi.
