OT: Direct TV / DVR / DVD/ Home Theater Thread

[wco81]

I think they call it MRV, for multi-room viewing.

But they fecking impose an MRV charge on top of a mirroring fee for the receiver in each additional room.

You might as well get two DVRs (if you can work out a deal for rebates to cover the upfront hardware costs) and just pay the regular mirroring fees.

Hanging over all this is the Tivo, which is long overdue.

One thing which is kind of nice is that they waived the $10/month HD Access Fee for 24 months because I have my account set to auto-pay.

[fsquid]

mirror fee?

[dbdynsty25]

mirror fee?

The 5 bucks they tack on for every receiver above and beyond the first one. Lame.

And I'm with Wco...just get another HD DVR...I've got four! LOL.

[fsquid]

Right now I'm going through Duo DISH receivers like crazy for some reason. So I was looking at maybe leaving DISH even though I'd give up FSC HD. But, I would get MLB Network and GolTV again. Does the whole house thing work pretty well at least? With the DISH Duo I can watch my recorded stuff on either TV, but can only watch one in HD.

[wco81]

Sounds like it works from accounts at AVSforum.

But they have to network the DVR and receivers between the two rooms, either with coax or back through the multiswitch.

You have to price out a package and see if it's worth it.

You are leasing the equipment from DirectTV, even though you may pay an upfront price of $200 for a DVR plus shipping (but you can get programming rebates to cover those if your package is worth enough per month).

But if something happens to that equipment, you have to pay to replace it, unless you signed up to pay for a equipment protection plan, which is more $$ per month.

If Dish is replacing faulty equipment without any out of pocket cost, that sounds like an advantage.

[fsquid]

I pay the $5 a month "insurance" to DISH, so I get the receivers swapped for free. I priced it out and the receiveers would be free from the start. I'm sure there is a lease fee, but I can't remember what it is. After the promotion is over the price is basically the same. I'm just tired of going thorugh boxes.

[dbdynsty25]

I'm just tired of going thorugh boxes.

I go through as many as possible...or at least I used to.

[fsquid]

Well, I decided to switch. DirecTV will be cheaper for the same package by about $40 a month for 24 months. I'll give up a few HD channels I get on DISH, but i'm sure those will come to DirectV sometime soon. plus, I'm getting the MLB network which I'm sure I'll watch a ton of.

[snaz16]

Damn,had to dig deep to uncover this thread Anyway,what are you gents who have NFL Sunday Ticket plan on doing in event the lockout goes on? If I'm not mistaken,doesn't Direct tv start billing for this soon?

[dbdynsty25]

Damn,had to dig deep to uncover this thread Anyway,what are you gents who have NFL Sunday Ticket plan on doing in event the lockout goes on? If I'm not mistaken,doesn't Direct tv start billing for this soon?

They don't start billing until August. So you'll be ok. LOL.

[Lancer]

Are there any alternatives to dish/cable? They raised my cable bills where I live so next time I re-up, I'm going to be paying around $170 - but that includes all HD channels and premium channels.

But when it comes down to it, I only watch HBO/SHO series and specials (no movies) and sports on cable.

I've heard a lot of people are cancelling their dish/cable services and hooking up their computer to the tv and only paying for netflix or some other type of service. That sounds intriguing but I don't know if I want to lose the ease of just turning the tv on and flipping thru channels vs booting up some show on the laptop with a wire to the tv etc....

These mega package bundles seem so out of date so do you guys know of anything else out there that can deliver something cost effective?

[dbdynsty25]

Set top boxes like Roku are gaining some traction. My parents have one and love it. It's just an "add-on" to their normal direcTV service, so not sure how much you can really gain from one of them. It just seems like streaming netflix is the biggest plus to a system like that, thus eliminating the need for the premium channels altogether.

[wco81]

Yeah I've been with DirectTV for over 10 years and wondering if the big bill is worth it.

The studios are wary of Netflix. They see a real high stock price and they happened to have cut a favorable deal with one of the studios years ago. That deal is expiring this year or next year and the studios are going to want more money.

So they will either have to raise prices or eat the higher costs. Or offer less content.

The cable companies are also fighting back, imposing caps and probably going to find a way to throttle Netflix traffic.

If you want sports and high-profile shows as they're broadcast, it's hard to get around paying big bills. Unfortunately, Americans pay more for things than a lot of other countries and that includes Internet and in some cases, TV packages.

[dbdynsty25]

If you want sports and high-profile shows as they're broadcast, it's hard to get around paying big bills. Unfortunately, Americans pay more for things than a lot of other countries and that includes Internet and in some cases, TV packages.

That's my problem. I pretty much ONLY watch sports and a select few cable programs outside of normal broadcast viewing and that's what I'm paying for. It sucks...just paying for each "season pass" for MLB/NFL/NBA...I'm going broke paying for cable alone!

[LAking]

If you want sports and high-profile shows as they're broadcast, it's hard to get around paying big bills. Unfortunately, Americans pay more for things than a lot of other countries and that includes Internet and in some cases, TV packages.

That's my problem. I pretty much ONLY watch sports and a select few cable programs outside of normal broadcast viewing and that's what I'm paying for. It sucks...just paying for each "season pass" for MLB/NFL/NBA...I'm going broke paying for cable alone!

Do the NBA and NFL not have online streaming packages yet? If I lived outside of the LA area i'd ditch cable in a heartbeat and just watch NHL gamecenter and MLB.TV on my HTPC and/or PS3. I'm not a big fan of the NBA or NFL so i wouldn't miss those.

[dbdynsty25]

Do the NBA and NFL not have online streaming packages yet? If I lived outside of the LA area i'd ditch cable in a heartbeat and just watch NHL gamecenter and MLB.TV on my HTPC and/or PS3. I'm not a big fan of the NBA or NFL so i wouldn't miss those.

All of the leagues have online packages now...however, if you're in the local market of the game you want to watch, it'll only be available on television (as you implied with the LA area sentence).

[Brando70]

You're also going to take a hit on picture quality with streaming. Even when you have a full HD signal on Netflix streaming it looks just okay, around DVD quality. DTV has gotten a lot better with its HD signal quality and channels like HBO look really good.

[sportdan30]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement hard drive for my Directv HR20-700 receiver? The issue is that the receiver fan and hard drive are constantly running causing audio irritation when trying to watch shows or movies. It seems to be a pretty standard complaint, and others have suggested replacing the hard drive.

I may call Directv, but I don't want to have to pay for a new receiver if I don't have to.

Thanks.

[dbdynsty25]

I believe DirecTV will just ship out a replacement. They are usually warrantied, especially since technically you're only "renting" the unit anyway. I've never had to pay for a new receiver, just shipping charges of like 20 bucks. Granted, I've only had two replaced during my 12 year tenure with them, but they were always ready to replace it with a new unit. Call them first.

[sportdan30]

Well, I went ahead and contacted Directv. They let me know I was eligible for a HD DVR upgrade for $19.99. Of course, that includes a 2 year agreement which I fine with because I'm happy with the service. My bill doesn't change, although if I would have been more foreceful, I think perhaps I could have gotten the replacment at no charge. I'm just pissed that I spent $199 for a HD DVR a couple years ago.

The technical help person said that they couldn't guarantee I wouldn't get the same model. The HR20-700 older model, so the chances are slim.

In the end, we will now have HD in our bedroom which is a major plus.

[wco81]

Actually, if you were still under contract would them, they would tell you that you unless you were paying an equipment protection plan, which is like $5-6 a month, you'd be responsible for your repairs.

Even though you're leasing the equipment.

Fact that you can walk away probably made them more accommodating than they otherwise would be.

[dbdynsty25]

That's not my experience at all Wco. Like I said, both times I've had hard drives fail, they simply replace the entire unit (refurb no doubt) and that's that. Sure, they try to get you to pay for the protection plan, but I've never paid a dime for that stuff.

[wco81]

If you subscribe to expensive packages like Sunday Ticket or HBO, etc., they will be more accommodating.

But there are a lot of stories at AVS about people playing this game. They call and ask for something, whether a replacement DVR or an upgrade DVR and initially them saying no and then you asking for customer retention and then they offering you some credits and then you saying it's not good enough before finally, people get at least the DVR fee waived and get some programming credits.

If you notice, they make it dead simple to subscribe to premiums or PPV. BUt try to cancel a premium. They make you call in and they try to talk you into keeping it.

So it's a matter of how high your monthly bill is and whether they think you'll cancel.

[MizzouRah]

Well, I went ahead and contacted Directv. They let me know I was eligible for a HD DVR upgrade for $19.99. Of course, that includes a 2 year agreement which I fine with because I'm happy with the service. My bill doesn't change, although if I would have been more foreceful, I think perhaps I could have gotten the replacment at no charge. I'm just pissed that I spent $199 for a HD DVR a couple years ago.

The technical help person said that they couldn't guarantee I wouldn't get the same model. The HR20-700 older model, so the chances are slim.

In the end, we will now have HD in our bedroom which is a major plus.

We just received a dual HD dvr in our bedroom from Dish and it only costs $3 a month and it was free. I've been very happy with Dish and now my wife can tape two different shows in her room and leave my dual HD dvr unit in the living room alone.

I do pay a little extra for the service plan, so when a receiver goes out, they just ship me a new receiver.

[dbdynsty25]

That must be what it is for me then...cuz I subscribe to all of the sports packages (NFL, MBL, NBA)...so my monthly is pretty significant. Hmm...interesting. I would think the Sunday Ticket subscribers are the ones they'd F with the most because they know you can't get that anywhere else.