My first impressions of D* after switching from E*

[Mr. Kennedy]

First off, let me point out the $ part.

With E*, I was paying:

47.99 Top 200 w/ locals
20.00 HD
5.99 DHPP
5.98 DVR Fee
6.00 Leased Receiver Fee

85.96 + TAX

With D*, I'll be paying (for the first 4 months)

69.99 Premier w/ NFL Sunday Ticket and Nascar Hotpass w/locals
0.00 HD (They are giving me four months of HD free)
5.99 DTV Protection


75.98 + tax

After the four months, I'll downgrade to Choice and will be paying

49.99 Choice w/ locals
9.99 HD
5.99 DTV Protection

$65.97 + tax

Roughly, I'll save about $20 a month over what I was paying E*

DirecTV also gave me a $100 rebate and a $50 Visa gift card.

So far, very happy.

Next....the installation.

Installation was scheduled on Thursday of last week for today. I was worried it'd take them all day to get here or they would pull what E* did and reschedule at the end of the day. Nope. Installer was here at 8:10am.

Install took about an hour and a half. The installer was fairly new to the job (three months) but he flew through the install. He setup both receivers and made the call. 10 minutes later, he was onto his next install.

So now to get down to the best part. The watching.

I'll admit that I think E* has the better receiver software/layout. That said, I'm sure I'll get use to using D*.

The channel quality is noticeable to me on some channels. I think DiscoveryHD looks much better on D*. The HBO and Showtime channels looks very, very good as well. The real test will be when some live sports are on. That's the reason I made the switch. As long as the quality is comparable, I'll be happy since the quantity on D* is so much better.

Did I mention I'm getting free NFL Sunday ticket? :clap

Really, E* was a fine company, but they just didn't offer enough sports for me without having to pay out the nose. And even then, no BTN or ST.

I did have to pay an early cancellation fee to E* of $33.65, so I guess that only leaves $16.35 on the gift card. Heh.

So overall, I'll be paying about $20 less a month and got $116.35, free Sunday Ticket and 4 months of free movie channels to switch over.

I think I did okay.

Now, let's get those new HD channels rolling and I'll say I did GREAT!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Discovery HD is the way that ALL HD channels should look, DirecTV have been running it at full resolution the past few weeks, and it looks amazing!

Hopefully the PQ will look like that when they roll out all these new HD channels in two weeks.

Enjoy your DirecTV!

 

[joedekock]

First off, let me point out the $ part.

With E*, I was paying:

47.99 Top 200 w/ locals
20.00 HD
5.99 DHPP
5.98 DVR Fee
6.00 Leased Receiver Fee

85.96 + TAX

With D*, I'll be paying (for the first 4 months)

69.99 Premier w/ NFL Sunday Ticket and Nascar Hotpass w/locals
0.00 HD (They are giving me four months of HD free)
5.99 DTV Protection


75.98 + tax

After the four months, I'll downgrade to Choice and will be paying

49.99 Choice w/ locals
9.99 HD
5.99 DTV Protection

$65.97 + tax

Roughly, I'll save about $20 a month over what I was paying E*

DirecTV also gave me a $100 rebate and a $50 Visa gift card.

So far, very happy.

Next....the installation.

Installation was scheduled on Thursday of last week for today. I was worried it'd take them all day to get here or they would pull what E* did and reschedule at the end of the day. Nope. Installer was here at 8:10am.

Install took about an hour and a half. The installer was fairly new to the job (three months) but he flew through the install. He setup both receivers and made the call. 10 minutes later, he was onto his next install.

So now to get down to the best part. The watching.

I'll admit that I think E* has the better receiver software/layout. That said, I'm sure I'll get use to using D*.

The channel quality is noticeable to me on some channels. I think DiscoveryHD looks much better on D*. The HBO and Showtime channels looks very, very good as well. The real test will be when some live sports are on. That's the reason I made the switch. As long as the quality is comparable, I'll be happy since the quantity on D* is so much better.

Did I mention I'm getting free NFL Sunday ticket? :clap

Really, E* was a fine company, but they just didn't offer enough sports for me without having to pay out the nose. And even then, no BTN or ST.

I did have to pay an early cancellation fee to E* of $33.65, so I guess that only leaves $16.35 on the gift card. Heh.

So overall, I'll be paying about $20 less a month and got $116.35, free Sunday Ticket and 4 months of free movie channels to switch over.

I think I did okay.

Now, let's get those new HD channels rolling and I'll say I did GREAT!

Any time in the past I have looked at going E*, I have always found their comparable package was at least $15 more than what I was paying with D*

If I was a new customer who is making HD a high priority, I would be all over this offer from D* to sign up for Sunday Ticket. Its really no loss. You get Sunday ticket for free for signing up for their premium package at a discounted rate. And as you are doing, after the Sunday Ticket expires, you can downgrade to a package without movie channels and still save money.

I really wish they had some sort of preview or offering for current subscribers who have never had the Sunday Ticket. I would really like to see how much of it I would actually watch.