Ordering DirecTV this Summer, help please!!

[adam61]

Quick history...I was a Dish Network customer for about 5 years at my old house. I sold my house to build a different one and cancelled Dish cause my apartment didn't have a southern sky view. Well my new house will be done by August and I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do. I honestly really enjoyed Dish and liked their units, but there's 2 major issues. They massively ramped up their reciever fees and they still don't carry my local DMA in HD (Tyler, TX) even though Dish has had it since like 2007. As long as everyone thinks DirecTV is a good plan for me that's the direction I plan to go, but I had a few questions and the live chat people on DirecTV's website weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

My house is brand new and has a network box in the garage with all the house's coax in it (I have no idea if this matters). I currently have 3 HD TVs, 1 SD TV, and my computer has a WinTV HD card. So essentially 4 HD and 1 SD, I will eventually convert my last SD to HD and add maybe 1 more HDTV so max I will have 6 HD's including my computer. You can now see how Dish's new Reciever fees were going to demolish me. So here's my questions...

1) Please explain how this whole-home DVR system works? I've read several articles, but am still a little hazy. Is this setup more cost effective for extra reciever fees than just putting HD DVRs all over the place?

2) I want to be able to record at least 4 shows at once. How does this fit in with the whole-home system? Would I just put 2 HR 21-24's in 2 of the rooms and the more basic HD reciever in the other 2-4 rooms? What is the cost of this?

3) What is the biggest difference in the HR21/22/23/24? How hard is it worth pushing for later models cause I know it's costly to change later?

4) Any other good bits of info or fees etc. that might surprise me switching from Dish?

Thanks for your help I know it was a lot of questions, but I want to get it right.

 

[gampp]

1) Please explain how this whole-home DVR system works? I've read several articles, but am still a little hazy. Is this setup more cost effective for extra reciever fees than just putting HD DVRs all over the place?

Basically, all of your HD receivers (including the DVRs) are networked together so that you can watch any of the recorded programs on any of the receivers. It's $3/month, but you still have to pay the $5/month/receiver for each box after the first one. The savings would come from the up front cost of the receivers. With the current deal, I believe you get one free HD-DVR and one free HD receiver. I got two HD-DVRs and paid $99 for the second one. After that, each DVR is $199 and each HD receiver is $99.

2) I want to be able to record at least 4 shows at once. How does this fit in with the whole-home system? Would I just put 2 HR 21-24's in 2 of the rooms and the more basic HD reciever in the other 2-4 rooms? What is the cost of this?

To record 4 at once, you need two DVRs. Cost wise, you're looking at:
First DVR: free
Second DVR: $99 (with promotion)
4 HD receivers: $99 each = $396
Total: $495

If you want additional DVRs instead of HD receivers, make it $199/box instead of $99. Using standard HD boxes instead of DVRs and turning on MRV will save you $400 up front.

Monthly it costs $7 for DVR service, $3 for MRV, and $5 per receiver after the first, so $35 in fees per month.

3) What is the biggest difference in the HR21/22/23/24? How hard is it worth pushing for later models cause I know it's costly to change later?

4) Any other good bits of info or fees etc. that might surprise me switching from Dish?

Thanks for your help I know it was a lot of questions, but I want to get it right.

The HR24 is quite a bit faster than the older boxes. I highly recommend pushing for them. The seem to be more prevalent now, so shouldn't have too much trouble getting them on a new install.

I just switched from Dish a month ago and couldn't be happier. All of the horror stories that you've heard regarding the Direct boxes are no longer valid if you get the HR24. I have an older post comparing the 722 to the 24 that you can search for to see my pros/cons.

 

[adam61]

Thanks for the reply, that pretty much answered all my questions. I did think of a couple quick questions though.

1) The electricians are in my house now putting all that in, is there anything I should have them do different if I'm planning this setup? Every room has a double Coax drop and they all go back to a central network box in the garage.

2) When I was browsing DTV's website I saw something for a $25 one time fee you could watch shows on your computer and allow any TV in the house to stream movies/pics from your computer. How does that work and would it save me $99 for one of the recievers?

I also use a front door security camera I usually walk to my computer to check before answering the door. Would it be possible to stream that to every TV with this setup? I know that's probably a pipe dream, but worth asking!

 

[Ronnie-]

The boxes do have a media share feature, if it would work with the security cam, I am not sure.

 

[gampp]

2) When I was browsing DTV's website I saw something for a $25 one time fee you could watch shows on your computer and allow any TV in the house to stream movies/pics from your computer. How does that work and would it save me $99 for one of the recievers?

I also use a front door security camera I usually walk to my computer to check before answering the door. Would it be possible to stream that to every TV with this setup? I know that's probably a pipe dream, but worth asking!

I don't think you'll have to pay the fee to get media streaming and Direct2PC on a new install. I got the Media Streaming automatically just by hooking the setup into my network. I haven't tried the Direct2PC, but I assume it works the same.

I don't know about the security camera, but if you can get it to stream through a media player, it may show up.

 

[Ronnie-]

I would say that if he can get it to stream through a media player it SHOULD show up. Again though, I have never tried it. I do know that I can watch netflix, hulu, ect on my HRs using the media share and PlayOn.

 

[ltorres98]

Good luck with direct. You'll go running back to dish after they start driving up ur bill.

 

[jcrandall]

Good luck with direct. You'll go running back to dish after they start driving up ur bill.

Tell that to the people that just started paying $17/mo per HD DVR, $39 for their external hard drive, etc.

BTW, what is dish calling their packages this week? Tops, medals, elements?

Anyway, well they all have fees (Directv $3/mo for MRV), DirecTV has been much easier in that area, as does account fee, not receiver fee, in most cases. (such as dvr).

 

[harshness]

The term "Whole Home DVR" is somewhat misleading.

It represents something otherwise known as multi-room viewing (MRV) and can only be used on a peer-to-peer basis at this time. The implication is that a single DVR can serve up a "whole home" worth of TVs connected to HD receivers. In fact, each HD DVR can only serve up the TV that it is connected to (as you would expect) and one other HD receiver/DVR. Most will need at least two HD DVRs to cover recording everything (each HD DVR can record up to two programs at once).

Other considerations:

DIRECTV doesn't offer channels 14 or 18 in HD (if they're available in HD at all) so if you have designs on recording programming from those channels (or subchannels of channels of the ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC channels), you'll need an AM21 for each DVR that you might want to record OTA content on.

If you previously enjoyed using an archival hard drive with your DISH Network receivers, that's not an option with DIRECTV.

 

[Davedirectv]

The term "Whole Home DVR" is somewhat misleading.

It represents something otherwise known as multi-room viewing (MRV) and can only be used on a peer-to-peer basis at this time. The implication is that a single DVR can serve up a "whole home" worth of TVs connected to HD receivers. In fact, each HD DVR can only serve up the TV that it is connected to (as you would expect) and one other HD receiver/DVR. Most will need at least two HD DVRs to cover recording everything (each HD DVR can record up to two programs at once).

Other considerations:

DIRECTV doesn't offer channels 14 or 18 in HD (if they're available in HD at all) so if you have designs on recording programming from those channels (or subchannels of channels of the ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC channels), you'll need an AM21 for each DVR that you might want to record OTA content on.

If you previously enjoyed using an archival hard drive with your DISH Network receivers, that's not an option with DIRECTV.

Some misleading stuff going on in this post for sure, might want to check your facts.

 

[bamaweather]

DIRECTV doesn't offer channels 14 or 18 in HD (if they're available in HD at all)

Whoa, hold up. That is extremely misleading, because they are not available in HD.

KCEB (which DirecTV maps to channel 14) isn't available in HD OTA. 18 is a subchannel of KYTX ( it's actually 19-2), which is definitely SD only.

Of course, you wouldn't even get those channels from Dish unless you hook up an antenna.

 

[Ronnie-]

So glad that the Dish guys showed up.:up

 

[Ronnie-]

Good luck with direct. You'll go running back to dish after they start driving up ur bill.

That is true in some cases, not in others. I am cheaper with my setup with D* everytime I compare to E*.

Of course there is a war zone for these types of discussions.

With what he is adding, he will probably be better off price wise with D*.

 

[bbixler]

So glad that the Dish guys showed up.:up

LOL....That's Harsh for ya. Always sticking his nose in the Direct TV forums but not having a clue what he's talking about.

 

[adam61]

Thanks for all the replies, I still am not sure on my question from the previous post. If I do the $25 thing so I can watch TV on my computer and stream things from my computer to my TVs does that computer need it's own $99 reciever as well or does it save me that cost?

Also on the AM21 thing if I have 2 HR24s and 3-4 of the regular HD Recievers could I have an AM21 attached to 1 of the HR24s and have the ability to watch that OTA recording in any room? This would allow me to record up to 4 DirecTV shows at once +1 OTA is that correct?

 

[harshness]

Some misleading stuff going on in this post for sure, might want to check your facts.

It seems completely accurate to me. Perhaps you can illuminate us as to how the current Whole Home DVR service allows a single DVR to serve up more than two programs at once. I'd be very interested in how you envision recording OTA content without an OTA tuner of some sort.

 

[harshness]

Thanks for all the replies, I still am not sure on my question from the previous post. If I do the $25 thing so I can watch TV on my computer and stream things from my computer to my TVs does that computer need it's own $99 reciever as well or does it save me that cost?

The computer uses software and its own hardware to decrypt/decode the stream. No box or tuner is required. It is important to understand that the DIRECTV2PC software can only play content that has been recorded. I'm not sure where the $25 fee came from.

Also on the AM21 thing if I have 2 HR24s and 3-4 of the regular HD Recievers could I have an AM21 attached to 1 of the HR24s and have the ability to watch that OTA recording in any room?

The AM21 allows you to view live OTA on the box that it is attached to and to record it as one of two possible simultaneous programs. You can view the recording on any one of the other boxes.

This would allow me to record up to 4 DirecTV shows at once +1 OTA is that correct?

Two DVRs can record up to four programs regardless of whether they are satellite or OTA sourced. Adding an AM21 to a DVR does not add the ability to record a third stream.

 

[harshness]

Whoa, hold up. That is extremely misleading, because they are not available in HD.

You didn't see the "(if they're available HD at all)" part of the sentence???

KCEB (which DirecTV maps to channel 14) isn't available in HD OTA. 18 is a subchannel of KYTX ( it's actually 19-2), which is definitely SD only.

Subchannels aren't always SD anymore, but if they don't crowd two together, that's good news. I'm surprised that they're remapping LIL channels all over the place.

 

[jcrandall]

I'm surprised that they're remapping LIL channels all over the place.

I know they do this quite a bit with CW. Thier national CW for local markets is on channel 14. Here in Flint MI, for example, when they added CW 46 they just put it on channel 14 in place of the national one (years ago). This was to prevent confusion for existing users. So this channel, which either comes from 46-1 or 25-2, depending on how they get it, is on DirecTV channel 14. Interestingly enough, the OTA channel is widescreen SD, though it shows 720p it is quasi-HD at best (this station runs CW and NBC in 720p on the same channels, with quite reduced bandwith). Anyhow, Directv still has 14 in 480i sd non-wide though.

 

[bamaweather]

You didn't see the "(if they're available HD at all)" part of the sentence???Subchannels aren't always SD anymore, but if they don't crowd two together, that's good news. I'm surprised that they're remapping LIL channels all over the place.

I did. What I'm suggesting is maybe you shouldn't bundle "advice" about things you aren't so sure of.

As Jason mentioned, several markets used to receive the CW on channel 14. When the local affiliate was added, it wasn't moved to prevent confusion. The other channel is placed on 18 because it is actually referred to as "MYTX 18". (It must be placed at 18 on cable or something). And no, that particular subchannel is not available in HD. I'm quite aware that more than one HD subchannel can exist.