ejohnson
01-04-06, 05:48 PM
Hello everybody. New to the site and new to DVR/Tivo, have been DirecTV subscriber 5 years. Was forced at first (cable not offered in new subdivsion) but since have had the chance to get cable but felt I would be getting less for more money. Then my wife got me Sunday ticket these last 2 years and I will never switch to cable.
Here is my story . . .
Boy do I feel terrible. I have been wanting tivo for sometime now, hearing people at work talking about it. Local channels have not been available where I live and I have also been wanting them since my rooftop ant. is OK (on certain days) and not so OK (on others). I have kind of put off getting tivo until local channels were available in my area.
Last week I got a call that they would be offered, I said "great, while we're on the phone what are your specials for adding tivo?" Conversation in short was: the the unit would be free and installation for the dual tuners would also be free because a service tech would be coming out to upgrade my dish to receive local channels (also for free). He could do all the work in 1 stop and all I'm getting charged is sales tax and the additional monthly (wich is less then people I know pay for tivo or DVR/digital cable)
Then I get online to start checking out what I am getting. I find the manuals on directv.com and find (1) for DVR, I also find (1) for DVR+ (DVR+ either sounds like VCR+ or the next model higher) so I assume the DVR will be what I get for free. I read the manual, it has all the features that I hear talked about. YES, I got a good deal and its exactly what I wanted. When I got home, I turn to channel 201 and wait for her to talk about DVR. When she started talking about it, she keeps refering to it as DVR+ and diret tv's universal remote. The remote is not the one I read about in the manual (it does not have the thumb up / thumb down buttons for example)
So then I read the manual for DVR+ and it seems similar but it doesn't seem mention about recording shows it "thinks" you will like (this was something I thought would be really cool to have / this is what I thought tivo was). There are other things about it that I definately want also, like season pass, pause & rewind tv, one touch record and so on. But I was still disappointed that it wasn't exactly what I thought.
As I did more research I found a forum on directv.com, it did not sound good for DVR+ (now R15). then I looked further and found tivocommunity.com, then this site.
Wow do I have bad luck. I just know I am going to get the R15 everybody seems to hate so much. All because I waited a few stinking months!!
So I just wonder, is it so bad that when the installer comes with it, should I turn it away? I know free is free, but its still an extra $6 a month, and I have to agree to 2 years. Once it is installed I will probably be stuck. If it is a real pain in the ass and locks up all the time or doesn't record when it is supposed to and so on, whats the point? Would I be better off to wait another year for them to fix the problems or can everything be fixed by the upgrades everybody seems to be waiting for.
If you have the older Tivo unit do you still get the "tivo like" smart features for $6 a month or do you have to subrcribe to tivo by itself now?
I am sure there are some things that I will never notice the difference, since I have nothing to compare it to. I just don't want a piece of junk. And don't want to be stuck in a 2 year agreement with a service that doesn't do all that it could or should.
Thanks in advance and nice to meet you all.
Erik
Here is my story . . .
Boy do I feel terrible. I have been wanting tivo for sometime now, hearing people at work talking about it. Local channels have not been available where I live and I have also been wanting them since my rooftop ant. is OK (on certain days) and not so OK (on others). I have kind of put off getting tivo until local channels were available in my area.
Last week I got a call that they would be offered, I said "great, while we're on the phone what are your specials for adding tivo?" Conversation in short was: the the unit would be free and installation for the dual tuners would also be free because a service tech would be coming out to upgrade my dish to receive local channels (also for free). He could do all the work in 1 stop and all I'm getting charged is sales tax and the additional monthly (wich is less then people I know pay for tivo or DVR/digital cable)
Then I get online to start checking out what I am getting. I find the manuals on directv.com and find (1) for DVR, I also find (1) for DVR+ (DVR+ either sounds like VCR+ or the next model higher) so I assume the DVR will be what I get for free. I read the manual, it has all the features that I hear talked about. YES, I got a good deal and its exactly what I wanted. When I got home, I turn to channel 201 and wait for her to talk about DVR. When she started talking about it, she keeps refering to it as DVR+ and diret tv's universal remote. The remote is not the one I read about in the manual (it does not have the thumb up / thumb down buttons for example)
So then I read the manual for DVR+ and it seems similar but it doesn't seem mention about recording shows it "thinks" you will like (this was something I thought would be really cool to have / this is what I thought tivo was). There are other things about it that I definately want also, like season pass, pause & rewind tv, one touch record and so on. But I was still disappointed that it wasn't exactly what I thought.
As I did more research I found a forum on directv.com, it did not sound good for DVR+ (now R15). then I looked further and found tivocommunity.com, then this site.
Wow do I have bad luck. I just know I am going to get the R15 everybody seems to hate so much. All because I waited a few stinking months!!
So I just wonder, is it so bad that when the installer comes with it, should I turn it away? I know free is free, but its still an extra $6 a month, and I have to agree to 2 years. Once it is installed I will probably be stuck. If it is a real pain in the ass and locks up all the time or doesn't record when it is supposed to and so on, whats the point? Would I be better off to wait another year for them to fix the problems or can everything be fixed by the upgrades everybody seems to be waiting for.
If you have the older Tivo unit do you still get the "tivo like" smart features for $6 a month or do you have to subrcribe to tivo by itself now?
I am sure there are some things that I will never notice the difference, since I have nothing to compare it to. I just don't want a piece of junk. And don't want to be stuck in a 2 year agreement with a service that doesn't do all that it could or should.
Thanks in advance and nice to meet you all.
Erik