Has anyone ever successfully gotten out of their DirecTV contract?

[FenderMute]

I just purchased a DirecTV TIVO (standard definition) package and I am having second thoughts. My main concern is picture quality. Currently with Comcast digital the quality is very good including analog channels, if DirecTV is noticeably worse I don’t want to be stuck for the next year. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

P.S. The only retailer actually displaying (in my area) a DirecTV system is Circuit City, but it is an HDTV display. I managed to get the sales person to switch on a standard def. channel but it may not of been a fair comparison. First the picture was stretched second I noticed motion artifacts and block like artifacts. Is this noticeable on a 27 standard definition set?

[RAD]

If you're planning to watch on a 27in SD set them probably you'll be happy with D* picture quality. Like any picture, when you start to blow them up you start to see the flaws.

[SuperJack]

To answer your question, YES, you can get out of your DirecTV contract. You have the option of returning your receiver to DirecTV in lieu of the $150 cancellation fee.

If you have a 27" set, you probably won't notice compression artifacts. These exist on digital cable as well (and are sometimes worse than DirecTV), and 1080i high definition, regardless of the provider.

Hope everything works out for you!

[mini1]

a 27in analog set is not going to show any compression on DirecTV or any satellite service. It is just not big e'nuff to show the problems with the picture, not to mention its analog. Don't second guess, you will be more than happy with a real DVR and DirecTV.

[MarkA]

Assuming your digital cable service is HITS satellite like ours here is, DirecTV has a sharper but blockier picture. Overall, it looks substantially better though, IMHO. And it looks FAR better than our analog cable here.

[Ron Barry]

a 27in analog set is not going to show any compression on DirecTV or any satellite service. It is just not big e'nuff to show the problems with the picture, not to mention its analog. Don't second guess, you will be more than happy with a real DVR and DirecTV.

Actually a 27" TV will show artifacts from a short distance. I can see them sitting 5' ft away. I have a 27" in my bedroom. The artifacts are more noticable the bigger the TV is. If you notice them or not will depend on the distance you are from your set and your how sensitive you are to them. My guess is that you would easily adjust and not notice them after a short period even if at all.

[aaronwt]

Most people won't notice them.

[SnowFade]

I agree. The only time I notice them on any of my 3 27" sets is during a cartoon (although I can see different shades of black on solid black screens, which I also saw with digital cable). Trust me, you'll be happier with DirecTV and TiVo than with any cableco I've ever known.

[COA]

I do not know if you bought unit from Circuit City or not, but they have a 30 day return policy. Though, I do not think you will need it after you see your picture.

[jmbrooks]

You didn't say if your cable TV provider had a DVR. If not it is a no-brainer, once you use a DVR you'll never go back. The DirecTiVo ialso has a dual tuner and 100% digital signal, is cable??

Also the satellite DVR records the digital bit stream directly to the internal hard drive so the recordings are exacly the same as the original feed. A stand-alone TiVo must convert an analog program to digital before recording resulitng in some picture quality loss.