Direct TV

[Biglumber]

Anyone using direct tv whole home dvr? If so how was the install? What hardware was added to your installation?
I have the first generation hd dvr and one hd receiver in my home. Direct tv seems to be having issue letting me know what hardware I need.

Peace

 

[swagler85]

We just cancelled our Direct TV had the regular DVR but not the whole house. Couldn't justify pay ing what we did for how little we watch tv.

 

[mfglickman]

We have hd and regular dvr. Called them to inquire about the length remaining on our contract the other day. Guy said "why? You think it's too expensive?" I said yeah. So he knocked my bill down to $80 from $140/month for 6 months. Just because. Not bad.

 

[MasterMech]

Anyone using direct tv whole home dvr? If so how was the install? What hardware was added to your installation?
I have the first generation hd dvr and one hd receiver in my home. Direct tv seems to be having issue letting me know what hardware I need.

Peace

They gave me the run-around too. Supposedly the first gen DVR's will do WHDVR through their network ports (over your home network) which is how DTV ran the beta-test of the system. Now they claim you need an add-on box (great, more junk, ) to pipe the DVR stream over the RG-6 Coax that carries the normal signal to your TV's. They cited "bandwidth issues" with using your home network. At $249 and another $3 on my montly bill (I was fine with the $3, it's BS since they really don't provide another service but whatever.) to hook up 1 remote TV (bedroom) I told 'em to keep it.

 

[nate379]

I have a wireless broadcaster setup to the one received I have and it transmits to the bedroom TV. The remote works fine in the bedroom too.
Only downside is if someone is watching TV in the living room, you can't watch something else in the bedroom.

Not sure what plan I have but it costs me 52$/month for all the channels I'm interested in and the DVR.

They will usually set me up with a around $50 rate for 12 months, then it goes up, I'll call them and let them know I need to be at the $50 area and they work something out. Have had it for about 4 years now.
Have thought about cancelling, but I do end up watching a bit of TV in the winter. Don't have much motivation to be outside when it's -20* and dark.

 

[Biglumber]

I could never get a straight answer. Last call a couple weeks ago was 199.00 for whatever to be added(technician had to come out).
I figured if I do want whole home dvr it would be best to order all new boxes( i guess the receivers are now network boxes with this particular setup) and the new genie dvr thingie.
When it comes down to it I just don't need it that bad. I'll wait a while and see if Direct TV figures it out.

Appreciate the responses

 

[Jack Straw]

I was told it was $199 for the dvr receiver and $8 a month for the service.

 

[save$]

We have a deal from them we bought through Sam's Club. I have whole house, HD and local. I stopped all premium channels even through they for free up to a year. We have the Advantage membership so our package is about $70. I can watch tv in one room that recorded on the machine from another room. Excellent service with every call we made. They did the install after I had a couple of trees taken down. They ran the wires, well hidden. We had local cable but they kept charging more to point I was ready to toss the whole thing. I am in my second year with direct tv. So far, all good.

 

[nate379]

I got mine free with a 2 year contract (along with the dish and their super chit wiring job I had to redo). It's 6$ a month fee. Worth it to me since I very very rarely watch "live" TV. I can't stand sitting through commercials, not to mention I'm usually never home when anything worth watching would come on.

I was told it was $199 for the dvr receiver and $8 a month for the service.

 

[BIGDADDY]

I have the whole home dvr system from Directv. I have 2 dvr's the 5 tuner and a 2 tuner and 3 receivers for a total of 5 tv's. works great and we watch a lot of tv was actually cheaper then cable and 4 tivo's.

 

[John_M]

When it comes up, DirectTV is one of my favorite subjects. Had DirectTV for about 9 months about five years ago. I have forgotten the cost, but do recall it as being very pricey. The installation was OK and TV picture was good. However, the channels I wanted (PBS, National Geographic, History, Hallmark) were included in only the highest cost packages. Spent many frustrating hours with their telephone Customer Service (good people-bad company) looking for better Program Packages. That was a waste of time.

Finally decided to cancel their service and install (approx. $350.00) an Off-The-Air antenna on top of a very high pole in my yard. I now get PBS and all the football I want - free.

About one month after cancelling my DirectTV service I started receiving USPS mail from them indicating my account was "in default" or " You must call us about your account", etc. Each and every one of these notices was an annoying, dishonest, and in my opinion, fraud on their part. The notices stopped after about 6 months.

I have since received various "Package" offers from numerous companies and some of those offers included DirectTV as one of the offerings. I have responded to all these offers by saying that as long as DirectTV is part of the package the offer will be declined. The signal from DirectTV will never, ever again be permitted through the walls of my house even if the offer includes all channels of DirectTV free for life.

A Premium model TiVo (a truly excellent company) allows me to record all the programming I want.

A rough estimation is that I have saved approx. $4,000 - $5,000 and many hours of frustration since abandoning DirectTV.

Of course, all of the above is just my opinion based on experience.