Direct TV

[PennBF]

Has anyone had experience with Direct Tv? What is your opinion?:confused:

[beeber]

We moved here in September and subscribed to Direct TV. So far the service has been perfect. The only thing to look out for is that Direct TV gives you free HBO, Show Time, etc. for the first 90 days and if you don't contact them to decline continuation of the premium channels after 90 days they will bill you.

[memason]

I have had good experience with DirecTV. Lots of HD channels. Only caveat is that it could go out for short times during heavy thunderstorms.

If you decide to go with DirecTV, I can save you $100. PM me if you're interested...

Mike

[ladydoc]

Has anyone had experience with Direct Tv? What is your opinion?:confused:

We have had direct tv in every house we have had and never have had any problem with the service. Anyone with direct tv can save you $100 on the service in the form of a $10 discount per month for 10 months. You and the person who referred you both get the discount.

[eweissenbach]

I have had good experience with DirecTV. Lots of HD channels. Only caveat is that it could go out for short times during heavy thunderstorms.

If you decide to go with DirecTV, I can save you $100. PM me if you're interested...

Mike

I too have had DirecTV for 12 years and am a fan. Ditto to the problem of going out during storms, the only downside.

[LvmyPug2]

We've had Direct TV since August here in FL. We also had it a couple of yrs "up north" We are fans, but I will say we rarely, if ever, lost reception up north, but down here it happens more frequently, especially in the summer, when you get those down bursts that only last a few minutes.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

We've had both Dish Network (in the past) and DirecTV (currently). Switched because, at the time, Dish didn't have a couple of stations available in HD that DirecTV did.

We're happy with DirecTV. Nothing's perfect but they're pretty darned good as far as I'm concerned. Superb picture quality - we've become spoiled!

Beware (with either provider) of what constitutes a "free standard installation". In DirecTV's book, a standard installation includes a roof mount antenna/dish, not on a pole mounted in the ground. (Why? I have no clue! Baffling....) The vast majority of the installers are independent contractors - if you want your antenna pole-mounted, confirm your cost in advance. Old threads on the topic have feedback on the antenna installation varying from no cost to over $100 for the antenna install, I believe. Verify the charges with the installer prior to him/her beginning the work. Some have been successful with making a call to DirecTV at that point to work out the cost.....and have been able to get the pole-mount install for free.

Bill :)

[CarGuys]

Any problems in TV with a Direct Dish's angle of reception? Or is there a good line of sight to the sky?

I have had it up North here and the service was good the pic quality very good.

Only bad part was going out in four feet of snow to brush off the snow or freezing rain preventing a picture.

Ohhhhh gee that won't be a problem in TV right!

Herv

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Any problems in TV with a Direct Dish's angle of reception? Or is there a good line of sight to the sky?......

No problems with that for us, Herv? Our patio villa backs up to a CYV wall. Though we had to keep the pole-mount antenna pretty close to the house, the antenna points over the wall and between the roofs of the two CYVs behind us.

Appropriate line-of-sight will depend on the scenario around your house - other homes, landscaping, etc. to the south of your antenna.

Bill :)

[John_W]

We switched from Comcast to Directv four years ago back in Maryland and at the time tripled the amount of HD channels for about the same price, we went from 30 to 100. Also way more sports on Directv, and when you subscribe to Showtime and Starz and pay $24 extra. On Comcast you get one Showtime and one Starz channel in HD, on Directv you get 10 Showtime and 8 Starz channels in HD. The same can be said with HBO and Cinemax, I wouldn't have anything else but Directv.

Moved here in July and brought our Directv boxes with us and had Directv immediately installed with NFL Sunday Ticket added, means I can get any NFL game regardless of what's on the local channels. Our HD reception in Maryland was as good as Comcast, maybe a little better, but here in Florida it took my 50" Plasma TV to the same clarity level as my 120Hz 40" LED TV. Meaning, it is even better, the installer said probably because I've got a newer dish that my previous home and we were switched from component cable to HDMI cable, now it's crystal clear.

I never had the problem with snow collecting in the dish back in Maryland. We would lose reception during a rain storm both there and here but that can be eliminated if you switch your on-screen guide to all channels and then tune to the non-HD version. For example if you're watching HGTV HD on channel 228, when it rains go to the basic channel 228 and the channel will appear unless it's a major downpour.

[CarGuys]

Thanks John and Bill!

Our back yard faces due South. Hope they can shoot between or over some pretty Tall Oak trees!

H

[John_W]

Were in a CYV but the backyard faces north. Directv put the dish on the roof near the edge 15' behind the gate on the entrance side. This way it's up and out of the way and you don't have to worry about hitting a pole or something if they mounted on ground level. It appears to point almost straight up and we have no line-of-sight problems at all.

[CarGuys]

Were in a CYV but the backyard faces north. Directv put the dish on the roof near the edge 15' behind the gate on the entrance side. This way it's up and out of the way and you don't have to worry about hitting a pole or something if they mounted on ground level. It appears to point almost straight up and we have no line-of-sight problems at all.

Kool!!!! We had Direct TV and Fios Black Fiber. SPOILED ROTTEN!

Now renting a home with MUD RUNNER Slow!

[RCR]

I'd advise you not to contract with Direct TV. During our thunder storm season which last about five months the storms arrive anytime between 3 and 6PM. All you get on your screen is "Searching for Sattelite". Had them out several times for adjustment of the Sattelite. TO NO AVAIL!! Also, we have frequent outages of electricity some very short some for long periods. Regardless of the length of shortage, each time you will have to reprogram your remote. If you tire of this and try to cancel they will charge you a substancial fee for early termination. I went back to Comcast and have had very little problems.

[aljetmet]

Never had to re-program a remote after an outage. I use RF for my two DVRs and no problems.

Haven't heard of such problems in the last 18 months when discussing Directv.

Been a customer in Memphis for over 11 years.

Notice they have a great deal going on for new customers.
(I want the deal when we move early 2013)

Anyway also rec'd an email from them that for $150 you can download any DVR recorded program to your smartphone or PC automatically.

Also for those that do not know, you can access any recorded program on your DVR and watch on your PC. If you have more than one DVR you can do it. (DVR and PC must be on your home local network)

[NJblue]

I'd advise you not to contract with Direct TV. During our thunder storm season which last about five months the storms arrive anytime between 3 and 6PM. All you get on your screen is "Searching for Sattelite". Had them out several times for adjustment of the Sattelite. TO NO AVAIL!! Also, we have frequent outages of electricity some very short some for long periods. Regardless of the length of shortage, each time you will have to reprogram your remote. If you tire of this and try to cancel they will charge you a substancial fee for early termination. I went back to Comcast and have had very little problems.

First, I'm not sure where you live, but we don't have very many electricity outages where we live in TV - in fact perhaps only two in the past 3 years. Secondly, when power is interrupted, we never had to reprogram the remotes.

Yes, during SEVERE thunderstorms there may be disruptions, but this is far from a daily occurrence and the disruptions are for perhaps 10 to 15 minutes.

I have been looking for lower cost alternatives to DircTV but have not found any that offers what we want. The closest was Prism but they are severely limited on recording capability on their one DVR (something like 35 hours of HD content) and also limited on the number of simultaneous HD channels that can be recorded. They also do not offer the sports packages that we want.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

The only thing that happens whenever our power drops is the receivers will essentially "reboot" themselves when power is restored. Thus it will take a few minutes for them "to gather their brains" (as I jokingly like to call it) and be ready for use again once the power comes back on. It's similar to what you'd experience if you shut your computer off and then power it back up again - it's got to start things back up from scratch.

Never had a need to reprogram any remote on a power drop.

Bill :)

[John_W]

I'd advise you not to contract with Direct TV. During our thunder storm season which last about five months the storms arrive anytime between 3 and 6PM. All you get on your screen is "Searching for Sattelite". Had them out several times for adjustment of the Sattelite. TO NO AVAIL!! Also, we have frequent outages of electricity some very short some for long periods. Regardless of the length of shortage, each time you will have to reprogram your remote. If you tire of this and try to cancel they will charge you a substancial fee for early termination. I went back to Comcast and have had very little problems.

For free installation and one free satellite box you had to sign a 24 month agreement, that's the reason for the huge disconnect fee. Directv is not as easy as Comcast to operate, so for the novice TV watcher Comcast is a good deal.

For sports fans there is nothing close to Directv, with NFL Sunday Ticket I can watch any game on the weekend regardless of what's on TV in Orlando. You can also have the same situation with Major League Basement and NHL Hockey. As far as outages, we have never lost our power in the five months we've lived here. During rain storms, on occasion I will have to go to the backup channel (non-HD) and usually you can continue to see the channel even during rain. If it's a severe storm you may lose backup signal but then again, you should be turning off your TV in that situation.

Directv is probably guilty of not training customers in the proper use of their remotes and receivers. If I had ten minutes with you and your Directv box and remote you would have a completely different outlook on the system.

[Bill Gordon]

Had direct tv for almost two years, we are not full time residents. Arrived Weds. Nov 9th and everything was fine. On Thursday we played golf in the AM and when we returned we had no reception from satellite. Called Direct tv and went thru several checks with no success. At this time, Thurs. At aproximately Noon that they needed to send a service person and the earliest they could get someone there was Sunday AM. Totally unacceptable now have Comcast Cable.

[Number 6]

I have been a customer of DirectTV for quite a few years, mostly for the NFL Sunday Ticket. The rain fade does not happen very often and only for a short period of time.
One thing that you should know is that you can "deal" over price. Every once in awhile I call them to discontinue service. Do this and you will be introduced to any number of offers to stay. Anyone paying full price for their service is way overpaying.

[PennBF]

Thanks to all who responded to my question. I ended up calling Direct TV and going over their pricing. The key question was to forget all the "new customer discounts and perks"..What will I have to pay after the all of these are through and I am on a regular rate schedule.
It was interesting as it ended up that if I duplicated all of the things I now have with Comcast, (e.g. 3 DVR's, etc.) I would end up paying just about what I currently pay Comcast and maybe just a little bit more. Agreed, I would most likely get some added channels but for a few football games for a short time I would be at breakeven.
Again..thanks to all who took the time to write..That is what makes the TOTV and the Villages such a great place to live.:wave:

[Realitybreak]

I'd advise you not to contract with Direct TV. During our thunder storm season which last about five months the storms arrive anytime between 3 and 6PM. All you get on your screen is "Searching for Sattelite". Had them out several times for adjustment of the Sattelite. TO NO AVAIL!! Also, we have frequent outages of electricity some very short some for long periods. Regardless of the length of shortage, each time you will have to reprogram your remote. If you tire of this and try to cancel they will charge you a substancial fee for early termination. I went back to Comcast and have had very little problems.

We have 3 receivers. The old non DVR receiver needs to be reprogrammed after a power outage, the 2 DVR receiver do not need to be reprogramed. I would contract DirectTV and explain your problem, you may be able to get your receiver upgraded for free. We do not use the old receiver much so it is not an issue for us.

[Dbinac]

Have had DirectTV for many years. Very pleased but it can be a touch pricey but to us it is worth it.

[Irishmen]

We just ordered a HD DVR for free on line for being a loyal customer. We've had the service since 1997 and love it. We were one of the first to fight for dishes to be allowed in the villages. Glad they let them.

[Vinny]

Went through the pricing thing myself and found Direct TV to be more costly for me. As much as I hate Comcast Customer Service which seems to take several phone calls before you get a US CS rep and then a few more calls to find someone who fixes the problem in two minutes while the others schedule a technician to come out to your house. I evern had them insist that there was no outage in my area even though all my neighbors called to ask me if my Comcast was out too.

However, there is no really good alternative that would get me to switch right now. I no longer watch sports and the only thing that would get me to switch is a multi room DVR. Comcast, now Infinity has that but is rolling it out city by city and TV is far from a big city with a large user base eager to spend more money for better services. :)

In any event it seems that as I age, the offerings on TV that interest me grow smaller and smaller each year. Even the movies out these days hold less interest for me. I guess the target audience audience for most movies and television shows are for the 25-45 age group and not those on fixed incomes. I find more entertainment on the internet these days but know that a good number of TV residents are not very computer literate beyond basic web browsing and email, so they are still stuck with the traditional forms of entertainment. i have to say that Comcast's internet and phone service have never given us a moment's trouble in the last two years. I also like the ability to watch movies and TV shows on my iPad on my lanai, when travelling and even at anyplace that has a wifi hot spot.

[jflynn1]

Signifigant problems between what is told to you by the salesperson and what is actually provided. ie; ON Demand features that are provided by Comcast are not the same with direct TV, need seperate box, and reciver. Depending on oyu level of expetise you could ihstall it your slef for $50.. cost of the reciever or Direct V will install for $250.00. NFL Package. YOU DO NOT get evry game. If gam is Blacked out it is Blacked Out. Example, Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, When it rains you loose the signal or the signal breaks up. If Dish installed on house need to consider adding gutters over the dish, sometimes that helped.After discussing the misinformation provided by the sales people at Best Buy We finally went back to Comcast.

[John_W]

...NFL Package. YOU DO NOT get evry game. If gam is Blacked out it is Blacked Out. Example, Tampa Bay Bucaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars, When it rains you loose the signal or the signal breaks up. If Dish installed on house need to consider adding gutters over the dish, sometimes that helped.After discussing the misinformation provided by the sales people at Best Buy We finally went back to Comcast.

Since TV is in the Jaguars and Buccaneers viewing area you're right, if the Jaguars or Bucs game is blacked out you won't get it. However, if that were the teams I wanted to see then I wouldn't need NFL Sunday Ticket. I would guess that 99% of the villagers that order NFL Sunday Ticket aren't wanting to watch those two teams, at least I'm not.

I've had Directv since 2008 so after awhile you will pick up shortcuts. Unless you get a monsoon type rain, you can still watch TV by going to the backup channel. For example if you're watching TNTHD and it goes out because of rain, bring up 'all channels' on your onscreen guide and then select the TNT backup channel. You'll lose the HD but still see the show in digital format.

As far as On Demand, I've never used it with Directv since I mostly watch sports and movies I don't find much need for that service.

[graciegirl]

Does anyone know if it is possible to get a station from another city hooked up on Direct TV?

Granddaughter has just been hired by TV station in Louisville.

[John_W]

Does anyone know if it is possible to get a station from another city hooked up on Direct TV?

Granddaughter has just been hired by TV station in Louisville.

From what I've been told, your local stations are determined by your zip code. I've heard of people giving a different zip code to Directv but then you would lose all your Orlando channels and only be able to see Louisville. She would probably be best to just mail you some DVD's of her work.

[OpusX1]

Gracie, I think, but am not sure that you can get other cities for a fee. Almost every city is on the satellite. I would call Direct TV customer service.

[renrod]

We just ordered a HD DVR for free on line for being a loyal customer. We've had the service since 1997 and love it. We were one of the first to fight for dishes to be allowed in the villages. Glad they let them.

You made me look for the FREE DVR. No such thing as free, you had to sign a 2 years extention to your contract, and that will be at full monthly cost, no chance to negotiate a "deal".
BTW, we have DirecTV and like it very much, but the "Free" does not exist.

[anarick]

i had Direct TV up north and had it go out on me once during the World Series and it lasted about 30 minutes. I got rid of it right away and went to Cable. Have not had a problem since. This was back in 2008. Otherwise the pic was great but then again so is the pic on Cable.