Thinking of direct tv , who has it.

[FishNHard 145]

Hey all, Id like to get rid of Comcast and try out direct tv and was wondering if anyone here has it and how do you like it ? any issues good or bad , thanks John

[PK90 3,570]

I have it. Only issues are pixelation once in awhile. I have a main HD receiver, 3 mini genies, and 1 wireless genie. I pay about $250/mo for everything.

[Steve_G 51]

I first got DirecTv back in the early 90's and had it up until about a year and a half ago. I switched to cable's triple play just to save a few bucks (wife's great idea). The savings the first year was great, now in the second year, it's very little. Once the two year commitment is up, I'll be going back to DirecTv.

 

There is no comparison in picture quality, especially the HD channels. I never had any issues at all with their hardware, constantly have freezing with Optimum's boxes. The only thing is, you will lose reception during heavy storms, but it does not last long, they have made great improvements in that area since the early 90's.

[Howard 538]

I had DISH years ago and went back to cable due to the pixilation, drop-outs during heavy storms and overall lack of quality.  Cable or FiOS I believe still has more available bandwidth and delivers content with less compression.  This will become even more critical as we move to 4K content.  Further, if one cares, cable is two way communication these days while I don't think sat offers that.

 

The other big thing Cablevision offers is their millions of free WiFi hot spots which saves me a lot on cellular data.

[Porthole 15]

For the longest time we couldn't get SAT TV because of trees.

Technology and Sandy took care of that.

 

The deciding factor for us was cablevision's service during storms. When the power would go, TV was still OK in our house since the TV's and the rest of the AV stuff is on battery back ups.

 

Hurricanes Irene and Sandy, Irene - 3 days no power, Sandy 14 days no power. cablevison - shuts off the backup gens after 12 hours - so no cable service.

But the real kicker was your DVR does not work without a cable signal, so a hundred plus hours of recorded shows on two different DVR's and we can't watch anything.

 

I tried dish (got a great deal at the Dover NASCAR race). Nothing but problems trying to get all the TVs to work and as it turns out, no HD on the portable stuff. And customer service was horrible.

 

We have had DirecTV for almost 2 years now. For the most part it works fine, very few drops because of weather so far.

Likes - one DVR with multiple secondary "genie clients" picture is good, RF remotes instead of IR

DVR works all the time, even without a SAT signal

 

Dislikes - the price goes up every year, have to pay for a mandatory sports access that I do not watch, one DVR for the whole house. My wife and I watch about 50% of the same shows and 50% completely different. One of us is always erasing the other's shows.

The picture quality on the portable (ipad etc) is crap

Many "on demand" shows are not HD and you cannot scroll forward.

 

The biggest plus for us it that I can take my DVR with us camping. I have a portable antenna and the RV is rigged to just plug in the DVR, set the antenna and watch the tube.

And if I can't get a signal, there are always plenty pf recorded programs to catch up with.

 

If it was up to me (it's not) I would simply have a HD antenna on the roof and watch OTA stuff. You can now get DVR's that work with OTA signals.

We are in the Belmar area. For us I can get 50+ HD channels in our camper sitting in the driveway.

A rooftop antenna would be even better.

An antenna, DVR and one or two of the net services and I could save $125 plus a month

[Porthole 15]

The other big thing Cablevision offers is their millions of free WiFi hot spots which saves me a lot on cellular data.

 

 I find their hotspots frustratingly slow and frequently turn off my phone's wifi to speed things up.

[Howard 538]

 I find their hotspots frustratingly slow and frequently turn off my phone's wifi to speed things up.

Strange, I have never noticed that.

 

The point you raise with the DVR's reminds me of another issue.  I hate it when I have a show set to record and it gets screwed up because a football game goes late.  You would think in this day and age if I had it programed to record show "X" then it would record show "X" when they show it, not just at the one hour time slot it was supposed to be on.

 

This entire industry is totally screwed up that we have to pay for sports stuff or garden shows that maybe we never want to see.  I don't get why I have to program the virtual DVR either.  I should be able to go to their library and watch any show they ever showed while I was subscribed to that content.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

My In-laws used to have Dish network here.  The signal would always go out anytime it rained moderately.  Always had signal problems with them - price kept increasing.  It would take a long time to download programming information as well.

 

Eventually the dish went bad and they said it was our fault (I don't know how - they're up on the roof and nobody goes up there)..  They would make us pay for it.  Nope - Returned the equipment and cut 'em off.  I've had to use Comcast, unfortunately.. but hey - that's what I have here.... 

 

My in-laws don't have TV service now - they only really watch chinese tv shows anyway so I just put chromecasts all around and they stream it off youtube.

[MedicYeti 96]

I have it. I love it.

That is all

[virpacalis 1]

Two years ago I tried xfinity, my internet provider, to save a few bucks, but quickly and gladly returned to DIRECTV for its picture quality and user interface. Only during the very worst of storms do I have trouble viewing or recording shows.

[Porthole 15]

At least with SAT you have a choice, even though limited.

 

In central monmouth county you are limited to one crappy cable company, cablevision. 

I can't get fios where we live and Verizon is no longer running copper anywhere. Seems fiber optic is on it's way out as well with everything going wireless.

 

So for me I have a choice of two SAT TV providers, 1 cable company or OTA. Not really a lot of choice if you think about it.

[Guest]

I hear a lot of people replacing cable with netflix but I haven't looked into it yet. Although I hate comcast!!

[SL8R 1]

I've had DirecTV for about 8 months, I love it.  I've got the wireless genie with the main box and two of the smaller units.  The wireless units are great because I can bring them out to the garage or the back yard and still get reception (YMMV).  I had issues about a week ago when that wet heavy snow crusted on the dish, I used a roof rake to gently scrape it off and was back in business.  I don't see myself going back to cable anytime soon.

[Springfield1911 22]

I've always loved Directv. Had it for years when I lived with my parents but when I got an apartment I had to settle with cable. I purchased a home a few years ago and switched to Directv about 9 months ago. I have to say you get a lot more for the money with Directv. Their promo offers are great. The only thing now is that you have to commit for 2 years. Years ago you did not have to.  I was an installer years ago and you always hear people say the signal goes out every time it rains. Its simply not true as long as the dish is installed correctly. Level and plumb. The only time it goes out is when there is a thunderstorm because the clouds are a lot more dense so the signal wont go through. Even when it goes out during a thunderstorm its usually only for a few minutes, not during the whole storm.   The new slim line dish makes installation a snap and also a lot less wires outside of your house. Only 1 wire goes from the dish to a switch and gets split off from there. The Genie system is great. I have 3 televisions in my house and with the Genie you can watch and record from all TV's. The Genie system actually has 5 tuners built in so you can actually watch/record up to 5 different shows at the same time. I have the top package and with all the promo credits I have it for $113.00 a month on 3 tv's. It is going to go up once I hit the 13 month. Not sure how much but I have no problem with it. It is true that they have been upping their price every year but I had the same experience with cable. If you really don't mind the hassle, the best thing to do is switch providers every 2 years to take advantage of promo offers. Dish from what I understand pretty much works the same as Directv, just points to different birds in the sky. Dish programming packages are not as good as Directv's in my opinion but when I did my research its not a bad deal if you don't care about sports. If you dont care about sports, DishTV is the way to go. 

[FishNHard 145]

My internet is thru Verizon and have not had any big issues  so im mostly just looking for tv , The problems im having is a lot of freezing and tiling .Ive called them about it around 8 times already and the last time I called I found out I have been getting charged $ 2.99 for a digital adaptor which I don't have since jan 24th 2011 . They sent a tech out and he checked the box and cables in my house all was fine when he went to the pole found out the was a signal issue said repair guys will be by to fix it that was 2 months ago when I called last time i also found out no repair order was ever issued . Right now I pay $105 for basic cable with the outdoor channel added . direct tv with be $47.13 for the first 12 months then it goes up $43.00 after that , they only thing I hate the 2 year lock in and right now with the tree's being bare if they get a good signal now and just put it up what happens when the trees fill in and if reception goes to crap am I screwed cause no I have a 2yr contract .

[Springfield1911 22]

At least with SAT you have a choice, even though limited.

 

In central monmouth county you are limited to one crappy cable company, cablevision. 

I can't get fios where we live and Verizon is no longer running copper anywhere. Seems fiber optic is on it's way out as well with everything going wireless.

 

So for me I have a choice of two SAT TV providers, 1 cable company or OTA. Not really a lot of choice if you think about it.

 

I was also stuck with Cablevision/Optimum and that's why I went with Directv. From what I read, Verizon has been done for years on large expansions of FIOS so looks like that will never be an option where I live. 

[Springfield1911 22]

My internet is thru Verizon and have not had any big issues  so im mostly just looking for tv , The problems im having is a lot of freezing and tiling .Ive called them about it around 8 times already and the last time I called I found out I have been getting charged $ 2.99 for a digital adaptor which I don't have since jan 24th 2011 . They sent a tech out and he checked the box and cables in my house all was fine when he went to the pole found out the was a signal issue said repair guys will be by to fix it that was 2 months ago when I called last time i also found out no repair order was ever issued . Right now I pay $105 for basic cable with the outdoor channel added . direct tv with be $47.13 for the first 12 months then it goes up $43.00 after that , they only thing I hate the 2 year lock in and right now with the tree's being bare if they get a good signal now and just put it up what happens when the trees fill in and if reception goes to crap am I screwed cause no I have a 2yr contract .

 

No responsible installer should put up a dish if he sees bare trees on your property. Do not risk it. You need a clear line of site to have a dish installed properly. Also sometimes it seems like you cant get a signal but you have to remember the dish sits at a 35.5 degree elevation and about 231 degrees Southwest. About how far back are the trees? Are they right on your property or in the distance?

[FishNHard 145]

The trees are in my neighbors yard say80ft -120 depending on what side of the house the dish would go on I only can get an idea of direction  thru what others have there dishes at and theres a site you punch in your address and it will tell which way the  dish needs to face 

[ogfarmer 138]

I have direct tv for almost 10 years. Its great! We got whole home dvr etc...

 

Had a few pixelation issues year ago, turned out that a spliter went bad and the dish got a little out of its prime pointing direction. Maybe from some ice falling off roof and bumped it. Called them and they came and fixed it. Never goes out in bad weather. I like some of the exclusive channels on directv. Also directv allows pay ala cart for channels not in your plan. I pay 2 bucks or so a month for sportsman channel and outdoor channel so I can watch all the gun shows and hunting shows.

 

 

If you decide to go that way, look me up we can do the referal thing and we both can save some $.

[Springfield1911 22]

The trees are in my neighbors yard say80ft -120 depending on what side of the house the dish would go on I only can get an idea of direction  thru what others have there dishes at and theres a site you punch in your address and it will tell which way the  dish needs to face 

If your in the Tom's River area the dish would have to point 231 degrees southwest with an elevation of ~~~36 degrees. Sometimes you can get a signal from a ground mounted dish but that poses other issues.

[Njbanshee 9]

I have direct tv, I switched a couple times but it only lasted about a week each time.

[bignic83 0]

I have Direct TV. Love it. Especially the Sunday Ticket!

[illy 1]

Directv ftw.

 

The only thing better is FIOS if you can get it in your area

[1LtCAP 4,262]

Directv ftw.

 

The only thing better is FIOS if you can get it in your area

the thing that would keep me from fios is that it's verizon. i've had too many issues with those shitstains in the past. never again.

[Njgunowner 2]

I liked Directv but I switched back to comcast because it saved me like $40 a month and didn't have to do a contract. Then I got fed up with comcast and cut the cord and use things like FireTV and Roku. If you absolutely must have cable tv, Directv is the way to go. 

 

Just an FYI, after the first year if you call directv and tell them the bill is too much and to cancel they'll lower your price. Doesn't matter if you're still in contract or not. You'll need have some balls and go through with it if they don't. They WILL call you a day or two later with a better offer. I did that a few times before switching back to comcast and ultimately cutting the cord. I've been cable tv/directv bill free for 6 or 7 months, I don't miss it at all. 

 

Every single show I like is either on Hulu the next day or available on their website (this is where the Roku or Amazon Firetv comes in). I couldn't care less about sports, I mean seriously you spend 1.5 hours to watch 11 minutes of football. Then another hour in commercials! (that's a real number btw, they did a study and found that after commercials, replays, and players milling around the field you watch 11 minutes of actual play lol )

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281204575002852055561406

 

[NJdiverTony 27]

I had Dish Network for about 9 years and it always worked great, but then got a great deal last year on DirecTV with a 2 yr contract and switched to and it's awesome!  Picture quality on HD channels is awesome and love the Genie whole home DVR system.  Great customer service too.  Cable SUCKS... there is no comparison with Satellite HD picture quality.

[Guest]

Rob Lowe has direct tv

[1LtCAP 4,262]

I liked Directv but I switched back to comcast because it saved me like $40 a month and didn't have to do a contract. Then I got fed up with comcast and cut the cord and use things like FireTV and Roku. If you absolutely must have cable tv, Directv is the way to go. 

 

Just an FYI, after the first year if you call directv and tell them the bill is too much and to cancel they'll lower your price. Doesn't matter if you're still in contract or not. You'll need have some balls and go through with it if they don't. They WILL call you a day or two later with a better offer. I did that a few times before switching back to comcast and ultimately cutting the cord. I've been cable tv/directv bill free for 6 or 7 months, I don't miss it at all. 

 

Every single show I like is either on Hulu the next day or available on their website (this is where the Roku or Amazon Firetv comes in). I couldn't care less about sports, I mean seriously you spend 1.5 hours to watch 11 minutes of football. Then another hour in commercials! (that's a real number btw, they did a study and found that after commercials, replays, and players milling around the field you watch 11 minutes of actual play lol )

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281204575002852055561406

 

not a sports fan at all. i used to watch nhra drag racing, and winston cup. winston cup went tits up many moons ago. they were hanging on by a thread when they still had the likes of earnhardt driving. not so much anymore. nhra? it used to be very little talking, interviews after a run, and lots of racing. now? lots of bullshit, very little racing.

 as for commercials......i channel surf to avoid them.

[jtd771 18]

I've had Direct TV for over 5 years and we are extremely happy.  As others have noted there's been a few short outages during particularly bad weather but they seem to be only a few minutes till the thickest clouds blow past.  After Sandy it was the only option for a week as the cable was down in my neighborhood.  That alone is worth keeping it in my eyes.

[1LtCAP 4,262]

i've been on crapcast for years. the two most notable things i gotta say, is that even when my electric was off after irene, once i fired up the generator, i still had cable. i can't honestly recall any cable outages in at least the last 6 years or so. the other thing, is that their customer service has gone through the roof. it used to suck talking to them worse than it did talking to verizon......not so any more. now, it's almost enjoyable to talk with their customer service reps.