DirecTV HD programming

[Wilson]

Does anyone know if the HD programming includes the local channels in HD? I'm really confused by the website and too lazy to call them. We've just started talking about maybe upgrading, but we don't want to go through any trouble buying & installing a separate HD antenna for local channels.

[mdonn76405]

You have to have the ant. and a HDTV. Yes some of the locals braodcast in HD.

[Wilson]

We have 2 HD-ready TVs, they just need HD tuners, which the DirecTV can provide. I was hoping the locals had contracts with DTV in place like they do with the regular programming. I'll have to do a little research and see how much a PITA the antenna is. Thanks!

[mdonn76405]

I forgot, you have to have an HDTV box also.

[mdonn76405]

They charged me $49 for upgrade on ant.

[Wilson]

Did they install it and is it omni-directional?

[mdonn76405]

yse they installed it. Pointed it towrds the good ole South.

[TXrose]

When I called them they told me that the Local channels were included in the HD package. You just had to have the HD Reciever and Dish. We haven't done anything yet because we haven't decided on which TV to get yet.

[Wilson]

Hmmm... I'll go ahead and call them instead of doing the online-ordering. Our DTV Plus receiver upstairs is (surprise) dead and has been for several weeks. When we were forced to upgrade from the TIVO receivers, we went through NO LESS THAN 12 receivers before getting ones that worked. I'm not looking forward to going through that mess of refurbished receivers they like to send out in order to get the upstairs unit working again. I'm hoping with a switch to the HD programming, we can possibly avoid the mess? Maybe wishful thinking?... Honestly, it's been my only complaint ever with DTV. Well, that and somebody recently tried to team up with me to do the $50 off/referral package with DTV and DTV said it didn't apply :rolleyes:.

[TXrose]

I have only upgrade recievers with them to get the two TIVOs all the other recievers I walked into Best Buy to get. But in order to get HDTV (once we get the TV) we will have to upgrade the whole dish. Our first DTV dish we bought a Circuit City, I don't think DTV even sold them and we went to Greenspoint to do that, no stores out here way back then.

[Wilson]

I don't even remember how we got our first DTV unit! Maybe Best Buy? Too much has happened since then lol.

ETA - I asked dh and he said we bought it at Dillard's! I'd forgotten about that, but he's right - I had a good chunk of credit from a return and used it for that lol. That had to have been '98?

[TXrose]

Ours was 93 I think, before 96 I know. There wasn't anywhere out here to buy it, it's been that long ago. But I wouldn't go back to cable ever again. I thought about U-verse but I have seen blogs with too many bad things about U-verse and the few people I know who have it say the picture quality is bad, plus they only offer 1 tivo, we have 2 tivos right now.

[Wilson]

We have 2 DVR units as well - I like having the ability to record up to 4 programs at once! It's probably only happened one time, but the option is nice :).

[TXrose]

Having a teenager keeps them both busy, she can only record her programs on one of the TIVO's the other is off limits. She would be recording 4 at a time if I let her.

[IndianSpringsGuy]

Ours was 93 I think, before 96 I know. There wasn't anywhere out here to buy it, it's been that long ago. But I wouldn't go back to cable ever again. I thought about U-verse but I have seen blogs with too many bad things about U-verse and the few people I know who have it say the picture quality is bad, plus they only offer 1 tivo, we have 2 tivos right now.

Hmmm a tivo? I am not familiar with the term. I have three TV's, four computers and all of them are using UVERSE equipment. I have had satellite before and UVERSE beats it out very well. The DVR works great, I can program is from the internet anywhere I have access to a computer. Ther are a significant number of pay by view (24 hour access and can be recorded), free view anytime movies and programs, plenty of HD channels and the service is very reliable. Quality is excellent. We sometimes have some gliches on channels that are fed from satellite, especially one from South America, but otherwise, hardly any problems at all. Once or twice we had to turn off the receivers and restart them, sort of like restarting a computer with a software issue. It had something to do with nearby installations at our neighbors homes. There have been about 8 or so installations that I am aware of on our little street, and we had only two interruptions early, right after they first started on our street. We were apparently the first to be installed. AT&T provided equipment for our computers and they configured the operating systems to operate on their wireless devices.

[Wilson]

You haven't heard of TiVo? The original DVR service?
http://www.tivo.com/

[IndianSpringsGuy]

Nope I bypassed that technology. Never touched it and no one in my family had it. Interesting.

[TXrose]

On your Uverse did they have to rewire? My house is currently wired for Direct TV all in the attic as we did it ourselves and for the DSL all in the walls and attic since we did it ourselves. Besides the problems others have had we didn't even want to try it although they offered a money back guarantee because of the wiring issue. We were afraid they would want to rewire and charge us. We have had issues with Directv in the past when the brought out the TIVO's since we had to have a 2nd line run they wanted to run it outside and drill through the brick, they wouldn't even get up in the attic and run it down the same way the original one was run, so we just had them hook up the one that was there and re ran the 2nd cable ourselves. Another thing that concerns me is running multiple TV's and multiple computers. I have read that that can make the service unreliable and poor quality. We have 4 computers. And 4 tvs. I just wonder how that would affect the quality.

[IndianSpringsGuy]

They told me that they would check it out and rewire if they needed to, but I knew it would be OK here in this house. First of all they use the telepohne wire. They gop out to a box and reconnect the telephone wire to the UVERSE box. Then they go your telephone bax and rewire it there to separate the UVERSE signal from the telephone analog signal. Then they connect the UVERSE part of it to a telephone jack for internet and connect the coaxial cable to the signal, and I do not remember exactly how they connected that to the co-ax. I think it is through the modem. The second day I had an issue with it and called them. The fourth day I had a second issues and called them. They walked me through the problems each time and had no answers as to why those two events occured. After that I had one more incident about two weeks later. I learned to turn off the receivers when I had a problem and tow other issues that occured later were fixed quickly by booting the receivers. Now the thing is perfect, no outages at all and no signal problems in storms or at anytime. I like the service. The only problem I have now is getting the remote to respond quickly. The second and third press of a number on the remote are difficult to take effect. It takes a little patience sometimes. I should take advantage of the favorite channel capability and then I could surf more easily. We have too many channels!

Like I said, we have 4 computers and three TVS on the system. No different quality than if we would have no computer and one TV. We can be watching 3 TVS and re33cording channels on the DRV all athe same time with no effect. I have never however recorded more than one channel at a time and watched all the TVs, so I cannot testitify to that possible issue. When the tech left, he had everything runniung at the same time to make sure our line was clean and no noise would interfere with the quality of running everything at the same time.

[TXrose]

My only concern would be all the computers and TV's sharing the one modem. That would eat up a lot and then slow down the computers, we can't afford to have the internet slow since sometimes hubby has to get on and do stuff for work in the middle of the night. Oh, and I would lose a TIVO :( . Maybe if they offered 2 DVRs and I knew it would still run good with 4 tvs and 4 computer hooked up......:( I guess we will decide what we are going to do once we decide on which HDTV we are gonna get, right now our TV is working just fine and I hate to spend the money to replace it, just for a newer model.

[msmichellemiller]

I think we are the last people on Earth to still have a regular console t.v. instead of some huge flat-screen or HD! :p
I'm sure by the time we get one they'll have something different out already! LOL

[Wilson]

A real console TV?! Or just a tube? We're throwing out a 32" Sony behemoth as I type! Our furniture will thank us :p.

[TXrose]

I think we are the last people on Earth to still have a regular console t.v.

My TV is at least 10 years old. 32 or 37 inch not sure. Not a console, consoles are free standing. I think they call this one a table top.

[Wilson]

Same here... The Sony we're getting rid of I think we bought in '96. Ooops... it's 27" - not 30-something! Sony KV-27V22... it was a good tv way back when lol. I remember how the Sony's were 2X heavier than everyone else, because they were the best TVs lol. Now these tubes are just back-breakers!

[msmichellemiller]

A real console TV?! Or just a tube? We're throwing out a 32" Sony behemoth as I type! Our furniture will thank us :p.

Yep! It's sort of like furniture/t.v. in one, I guess. Has the whole cabinet thing in the bottom and it's the biggest b**** to move out of all of our stuff! I know it's from the 90's, belongs to SO and is one of the last "pre-me" items I've allowed him to keep. It worked in smaller apartments but now that we have such a huge family room it really seems dwarfed and looks a bit silly now. We always order UFC fights when they're on and invite people over to see them and hang out. It's a little embarrassing to have everyone crowd around our thirty-whatever-inch but at least they are friends so it doesn't matter too much. I'm thinking after the holidays we'll finally get a new one and maybe move the console to our bedroom. It works too well still to just get rid of.