Questions before Moving to Brighthouse from DirecTV

[MikeBtp]

About ready to move to Brighthouse cable (Central Florida-Lake Mary area) from DirecTV (which I've had for 13 years) but have a few questions:
1. How is the HD video quality? Is 1080i available regularly? How about 1080p availability?
2. Does Dolby Digital audio work well consistently (no skips, no glitches, in sync with video)?
3. Any outages and if so, how often and how long?
4. Is there a search feature and, if so, how far into the future does it search and can you setup a recording for future programs?
5. Is there a specific DVR model that works better than others?

DirecTV's quality and service have been gradually getting worse over the years and I'm ready to make a change. My other choices, besides Brighthouse, are Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T U-verse (soon). I'm leaning towards Brighthouse and understand their guide is not very good but I can possibly live with that, although the guide and search feature of DirecTV were very good.

If anybody has moved from DirecTV to Brighthouse, could you give me your impression?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[iceturkee]

Stick with directv

 

[The Insider]

About ready to move to Brighthouse cable (Central Florida-Lake Mary area) from DirecTV (which I've had for 13 years) but have a few questions:
1. How is the HD video quality? Is 1080i available regularly? How about 1080p availability?
2. Does Dolby Digital audio work well consistently (no skips, no glitches, in sync with video)?
3. Any outages and if so, how often and how long?
4. Is there a search feature and, if so, how far into the future does it search and can you setup a recording for future programs?
5. Is there a specific DVR model that works better than others?

DirecTV's quality and service have been gradually getting worse over the years and I'm ready to make a change. My other choices, besides Brighthouse, are Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T U-verse (soon). I'm leaning towards Brighthouse and understand their guide is not very good but I can possibly live with that, although the guide and search feature of DirecTV were very good.

If anybody has moved from DirecTV to Brighthouse, could you give me your impression?

Thanks,
Mike

1. Bright house sends whatever the channel provider offers. (except 1080p which is rare on any system)
2. Yes the surround sound works great on the channels/programs that offer it.
3. You should experience a lot less then you did at Directv. With cable you do not get the infamous "rain fade". If you have an outage it is typically isolated to a very small area and there is a reason why (ie: cable cut, lightning damage, etc). I can count on 1 hand the number of times I have lost service for any length of time over the past several years.
4. Yes there is a search feature, and the guide has data up to 7 days into the future. So you can set a recording on future programs without a problem.
5. I prefer the newer cisco dvrs, they work well. I have the whole home DVR its a Cisco DVR and love it.

 

[iceturkee]

About ready to move to Brighthouse cable (Central Florida-Lake Mary area) from DirecTV (which I've had for 13 years) but have a few questions:
1. How is the HD video quality? Is 1080i available regularly? How about 1080p availability?
2. Does Dolby Digital audio work well consistently (no skips, no glitches, in sync with video)?
3. Any outages and if so, how often and how long?
4. Is there a search feature and, if so, how far into the future does it search and can you setup a recording for future programs?
5. Is there a specific DVR model that works better than others?

DirecTV's quality and service have been gradually getting worse over the years and I'm ready to make a change. My other choices, besides Brighthouse, are Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T U-verse (soon). I'm leaning towards Brighthouse and understand their guide is not very good but I can possibly live with that, although the guide and search feature of DirecTV were very good.

If anybody has moved from DirecTV to Brighthouse, could you give me your impression?

Thanks,
Mike

you do have a selection of movies in 1080p on dtv. as a new customer, you would be eligible for directv's new 5 tuner hd dvr and 2 clients at no extra charge. that box is better than anything you'll get from bright house.

 

[iceturkee]

you do have a selection of movies in 1080p on dtv. as a new customer, you would be eligible for directv's new 5 tuner hd dvr and 2 clients at no extra charge. that box is better than anything you'll get from bright house.

my bad, if you are a current dtv customer, you might not get the new customer deal. but if you talked to retention and told them you wanted to go to cable, they may give you a sweetheart deal. no promises.

at present, i have both. there are things i like about cable....more national hd and watch espn. i won't use their boxes as i have tivos in my living room and bedroom. on the negative side, i find their picture quality to be almost unwatchable. too much pixelation on my 88 inch projector screen and 64 in plasma.

 

[jcarrera]

...I have tivos in my living room and bedroom. on the negative side...

Do non-BHN boxes (STBs) give you all of the functions you get with a BHN box--like the channel guide, on-demand, etc?

Also, how do you get BHN to 'authorize' your box (allow it to work on their network)?

I am very annoyed at the high monthly cost of the three BHN boxes I have (all different BTW).

 

[iceturkee]

my tivo boxes require a multi stream cable card and a switched digital box. the tivo boxes will not get any sport subscriptions such as nba legue pass or mlb extra innings. it also will not get any on demand programming. the boxes are free and i believe the cards are $3.99 a month. plus, their is an additional fee to tivo. my tivo elite has 4 tuners and a 2tb hard drive in it. my tivo xl has a 1tb hard drive in it.

 

[jcarrera]

What about the channel guide. Do they display that, and jump to the selected channel in it?

Oh, and what is a "switched digital box" other than the TIVO itself?

 

[iceturkee]

many of bhn's channels are on switched digital. those channels are unavailable with the cable card, which was developed long before switched digital. so you have to rent a seperate box (although, there is no longer any charge) to get those channels.

there is a 2 week channel guide which i like very much!

 

[jcarrera]

So, to eliminate 3 current boxes, I would have to have 3 tivos (or equivalent), with a BHN cable card rented in each, plus another box for each?

I am seeing replacing one box at 3 locations with 2 boxes at 3 locations.

Is there any site where I can reliably figure up the cost for such an arrangement?

 

[The Insider]

dont you have to pay a fee to use Tivo?

 

[iceturkee]

dont you have to pay a fee to use Tivo?

i mentioned that. however, he can buy a lifetime subscription which pays for itself.

 

[iceturkee]

So, to eliminate 3 current boxes, I would have to have 3 tivos (or equivalent), with a BHN cable card rented in each, plus another box for each?

I am seeing replacing one box at 3 locations with 2 boxes at 3 locations.

Is there any site where I can reliably figure up the cost for such an arrangement?

i believe 3 cable cards would cost you around $12 a month, maybe even a little less. the switched digital boxes are free. and depending on what tivo boxes you bought, you would probably pay about $15 a month (tivo fee for one box), maybe less as you would have a multiple box discount.

 

[jcarrera]

Please look at the attachment. Can you tell me how much it would decrease if I turn in the three STBs that I use? They don't seem to be broken out as a completely separate charge--for example a charge for the "Navigator Guide" is bundled in.

I understand that if I do that, whatever the decrease is from losing the boxes, I have to add back
the monthly cost of three cards from BHN, and
the monthly cost of the tivo fees
(plus sinking the cost of three tivo boxes).

Aside- I never knew I was paying a separate fee for the modem in addition to the internet cost.

 

[iceturkee]

Please look at the attachment. Can you tell me how much it would decrease if I turn in the three STBs that I use? They don't seem to be broken out as a completely separate charge--for example a charge for the "Navigator Guide" is bundled in.

I understand that if I do that, whatever the decrease is from losing the boxes, I have to add back
the monthly cost of three cards from BHN, and
the monthly cost of the tivo fees
(plus sinking the cost of three tivo boxes).

Aside- I never knew I was paying a separate fee for the modem in addition to the internet cost.

that attachment looks like its for one hd dvr. monthly cost for one tivo including cable card and monthly fee to tivo would be about $19. but if you could find a used tivo with a lifetime subscription (which transfers), the cost would be about $4 a month for the cable card.

 

[The Insider]

Please look at the attachment. Can you tell me how much it would decrease if I turn in the three STBs that I use? They don't seem to be broken out as a completely separate charge--for example a charge for the "Navigator Guide" is bundled in.

I understand that if I do that, whatever the decrease is from losing the boxes, I have to add back
the monthly cost of three cards from BHN, and
the monthly cost of the tivo fees
(plus sinking the cost of three tivo boxes).

Aside- I never knew I was paying a separate fee for the modem in addition to the internet cost.

you currently pay about 18$ in extra box fees (as the first box is included in the combo you only pay for the other boxes)

If you drop two of the boxes your bill will go down about 18$ (then add 2 cable cards at 6/month and 2 Tivos at 30/month )

Seems cheaper to stick with the BHN boxes. As 1 of your boxes is included in the package and if you drop the box you lose the package (will not save anything by dropping the last box your HD DVR)

 

[iceturkee]

you currently pay about 18$ in extra box fees (as the first box is included in the combo you only pay for the other boxes)

If you drop two of the boxes your bill will go down about 18$ (then add 2 cable cards at 6/month and 2 Tivos at 30/month )

Seems cheaper to stick with the BHN boxes. As 1 of your boxes is included in the package and if you drop the box you lose the package (will not save anything by dropping the last box your HD DVR)

price wise, maybe as i pointed out buying a used tivo xl with a lifetime subscription would give you a much bigger hard drive (1tb) and only cost the fee for a cable card. i would also argue that tivos don't have the software problems that some bhn boxes have. last bhn box i used was a samsung. while it was better than those old SA boxes, i would still choose tivo. plus newer boxes have 4 tuners in them!

 

[jcarrera]

Thanks for the inputs. I think I am beginning to get a handle on the pricing.

Don't understand about needing to keep one BHN box. Are you saying there is no option for customers to not have a box at all?

 

[iceturkee]

Thanks for the inputs. I think I am begging to get a handle on the pricing.

Don't understand about needing to keep one BHN box. Are you saying there is no option for customers to not have a box at all?

i have been told by bhn people about those promos which require you to have their box. it has to be on your account. but you do not have to have it hooked up or activated. i have been told you can put it in your closet for a year (or whatever the kength of the promo is).

 

[k2afe]

About ready to move to Brighthouse cable (Central Florida-Lake Mary area) from DirecTV (which I've had for 13 years) but have a few questions:
1. How is the HD video quality? Is 1080i available regularly? How about 1080p availability?
2. Does Dolby Digital audio work well consistently (no skips, no glitches, in sync with video)?
3. Any outages and if so, how often and how long?
4. Is there a search feature and, if so, how far into the future does it search and can you setup a recording for future programs?
5. Is there a specific DVR model that works better than others?

DirecTV's quality and service have been gradually getting worse over the years and I'm ready to make a change. My other choices, besides Brighthouse, are Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T U-verse (soon). I'm leaning towards Brighthouse and understand their guide is not very good but I can possibly live with that, although the guide and search feature of DirecTV were very good.

If anybody has moved from DirecTV to Brighthouse, could you give me your impression?

Thanks,
Mike

The nice part about Brighthouse network is that I get the sports package for $s well. 8.00 per month. This gives me NFL redzome and IF ? the NHL commences on Dec 1st I get that as well k2afe