After considerable debate, lots of forum reading, lots of questions asked and answered, lots of emails exchanged with various forum members, an order placed with DirecTV, then cancelled, then placed again, I "finally" decided to jump in. Installation took place last Friday, and at this point, it is definitely so far so good. I finished closing out my Comcast service yesterday, so now I'm officially a DirecTV customer (for at least 2 years).
Early first impressions:
Installer was awesome. Kind of a young guy, who was completely willing to allow a pole mount (even though I can get line of sight from the very top of my roof @ 25' off the ground). No extra charge. His other installer guy didn't show, so I worked with him the whole time helping to trench, set up receivers, disconnect the old gear, etc. We were able, as I suspected, to use all of my existing RG6 home wiring, so no new wires were draped around my house. Very happy with the installation process.
HD Locals PQ - One of my early concerns. While I would give a slight edge to Comcast in the PQ of my locals, the difference is negligible. NCAA tournament on CBS, NHL on NBC, golf, etc all looked very nice this weekend. Maybe just a tad softer than I had with Comcast, but certainly a nice clear picture and certainly one I can live with.
All other HD - Very nice! Even the legacy MPEG-2's are fine. Comcast's HD picture quality was really good too, but instead of 14 HD's on Comcast, I'm getting 40+ with the Choice Xtra, plus more local HD's, RSN HD's and Sports Pack HD's .... well over 50 in all. BIG advantage to DirecTV.
SD PQ - As with Comcast, there is a lot of variability between the best SD channel and the worst one in terms of PQ. But overall, I was pleasantly surprised that DirecTV SD appears better than Comcast. Another one of my early worries dispelled.
I'm getting every channel (particularly the sports ones and local HD's) that the web site said I'd get based on my zip code, and this was one of my many other concerns.
The Deal - Got a very nice deal, stacking the $18/yr deal with the $10/24 months AAA discount, 3 mo. Starz/Showtime, etc .... so the price for the first 2 years will be very nice.
Only real compaint - Customer service. Thoughout my various phone calls to the company (prior to actually signing on), I got so many different stories that it's laughable. Anything to make a sale, I suppose. Crappy customer service isn't a DirecTV-only commodity though .... and as long as the gear is working, I don't really care what kind of people are manning the phones.
Will follow up in a month with further impressions, but I wanted to post my personal experience for the benefit of any others who are pondering a switch.
Jeff
Early first impressions:
Installer was awesome. Kind of a young guy, who was completely willing to allow a pole mount (even though I can get line of sight from the very top of my roof @ 25' off the ground). No extra charge. His other installer guy didn't show, so I worked with him the whole time helping to trench, set up receivers, disconnect the old gear, etc. We were able, as I suspected, to use all of my existing RG6 home wiring, so no new wires were draped around my house. Very happy with the installation process.
HD Locals PQ - One of my early concerns. While I would give a slight edge to Comcast in the PQ of my locals, the difference is negligible. NCAA tournament on CBS, NHL on NBC, golf, etc all looked very nice this weekend. Maybe just a tad softer than I had with Comcast, but certainly a nice clear picture and certainly one I can live with.
All other HD - Very nice! Even the legacy MPEG-2's are fine. Comcast's HD picture quality was really good too, but instead of 14 HD's on Comcast, I'm getting 40+ with the Choice Xtra, plus more local HD's, RSN HD's and Sports Pack HD's .... well over 50 in all. BIG advantage to DirecTV.
SD PQ - As with Comcast, there is a lot of variability between the best SD channel and the worst one in terms of PQ. But overall, I was pleasantly surprised that DirecTV SD appears better than Comcast. Another one of my early worries dispelled.
I'm getting every channel (particularly the sports ones and local HD's) that the web site said I'd get based on my zip code, and this was one of my many other concerns.
The Deal - Got a very nice deal, stacking the $18/yr deal with the $10/24 months AAA discount, 3 mo. Starz/Showtime, etc .... so the price for the first 2 years will be very nice.
Only real compaint - Customer service. Thoughout my various phone calls to the company (prior to actually signing on), I got so many different stories that it's laughable. Anything to make a sale, I suppose. Crappy customer service isn't a DirecTV-only commodity though .... and as long as the gear is working, I don't really care what kind of people are manning the phones.
Will follow up in a month with further impressions, but I wanted to post my personal experience for the benefit of any others who are pondering a switch.
Jeff
