Everyone has different television viewing habits and preferences. Some don’t have a TV at all and there are times that seems appealing. My viewing habits can be summarized as follows:
- I don’t watch TV every day.
- I only watch TV using a DVR.
- I only watch pre-recorded shows (except occasional sports.)
- I usually skip commercials and sometimes even boring content within a program.
- Most of my TV watching is late, when the kids are asleep.
Last fall I posted about “part 1″ of my search for HDTV service. Earlier this year I dropped Dish Network due to frequent hardware failures. I then switchted to Comcast and was happy enough with the service, but the monthly cost was too high after the initial promotions ended so I restarted my quest…
A little bit of research led me back to DirecTV. Their offerings have improved in a number of ways since I left them last year. Most importantly since I’m now a “new” customer, they’re offering a reasonable deal on new HDTV/DVR receivers.
Additionally I discovered that AAA members get additional discounts on top of the regular promotions for new DirecTV customers. Offer is available only by calling the AAA exclusive DirecTV toll-free number to order services: 1-800-242-9114. Valid AAA membership number needed when calling.
I ordered two HD-DVR systems and two standard (SD, non-DVR) receivers for a total cost of $130 with installation and a two year service agreement. My monthly cost for TV service will be half of Comcast’s with more programming — even after my initial promotions expire.
I needed a new roof-top dish to receive the newest signals, and the DirecTV installer put the dish right where I wanted it.My only complaint about installation is the installer wanted to charge $80 extra to remove my old roof-top dishes. I had three, one old DirecTV and two from Dish. I removed them and patched the screw holes myself.
I am very happy about the following aspects of the DirecTV service so far:
- The picture quality is better than expected. According to my research, DirecTV’s HD signlas are not technically as complete as cable or over the air HD broadcasts, but I can’t tell the difference.
- The DVR interface is easy to use, and response to the remote.
- The On-Demand service has lots of programming, comperable to what Comcast offered.
- The DirecTV receiver (HR-22) can play audio, video, and photo media through my home network which is stored on my Windows PC.
- The new roof-top dish to receiver wiring is much less complicated than it was previously. I have only one RG6 cable coming from the dish to a central wiring point. A non-powered splitter then provides one single cable output to each receiver. The splitter provided by the installer supports up to 8 receivers. The new receivers can now provide dual-tuner HD support with a single cable run back to the splitter.
I have the following suggestions for improvement:
- It would be nice to replay a program on a different DVR than it was originally recorded on.
- It would be nice if the DirecTV receivers could act as media sources to Windows Media Center.
- It would be nice to configure the DVR recordings via a web interface instead of the remote control.
In summary, I am now again a happy DirecTV customer. Your startup and monthly costs are sure to vary from mine, as they are dependent on seasonal promotions.
