[wesmills]

At the risk of being flamed, here goes:

I just activated a HR10-250 for OTA HD recording. I don't want the MPEG2 HD channels, so do I have to pay the HD access fee? And by "don't want," I mean "physically can't get," because my complex' shared dish setup only has 101W, so 110 is invisible to my receivers.

Would either reason ("don't want" or "can't receive") be enough to cancel the extra $10?

If not, that's perfectly fine. I'm not trying to be a cheapskate here, but if I don't have to pay it, I'd rather not. I have no plans to call DirecTV and threaten to cancel my service if they don't remove it or anything.

 

[Mertzen]

Yes, it is required. And just as the leased IRD fee the HD access fee is impossible to have waived.

 

[curt8403]

At the risk of being flamed, here goes:

I just activated a HR10-250 for OTA HD recording. I don't want the MPEG2 HD channels, so do I have to pay the HD access fee? And by "don't want," I mean "physically can't get," because my complex' shared dish setup only has 101W, so 110 is invisible to my receivers.

Would either reason ("don't want" or "can't receive") be enough to cancel the extra $10?

If not, that's perfectly fine. I'm not trying to be a cheapskate here, but if I don't have to pay it, I'd rather not. I have no plans to call DirecTV and threaten to cancel my service if they don't remove it or anything.

You have an HD unit, even though it cannot get the HD, the fact that is is an HD unit means you must have the HD access for now. that may change in the future

 

[protosphere]

Actually, if it is an HR10-250 it technically should be considered an 'Owned' receiver. If you look at the Directv Lease Addendum it says you are required to have HD Access but only stipulates if you are leasing the receiver. So in your case you would not be required to have HD Access on your account.

RETURN OF DIRECTV EQUIPMENT. If you cease to be DIRECTV's customer for any reason (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) or if you decide to disconnect/cancel/terminate your DVR service or HD Access fee (if you are leasing a DVR or HD Receiver), you must call DIRECTV within seven (7) days after the termination of your DIRECTV programming services, DVR service or HD Access fee, as applicable, to (i) make arrangements for DIRECTV to pick up all your DIRECTV equipment; or (ii) obtain information from DIRECTV necessary to arrange for a ground or air freight service to pick up and deliver all of your DIRECTV equipment to DIRECTV.

 

[shelland]

Actually, if it is an HR10-250 it technically should be considered an 'Owned' receiver.

How can you assume his receiver is owned?

 

[protosphere]

How can you assume his receiver is owned?

HR10-250's were originally sold only as 'Owned' Receivers (1000 bucks :lol: ), and if he bought one used, chances are pretty good that it is going to be an 'Owned' Receiver. He can double check this by talking to the folks over in the Access Card department. Sometimes these older receivers get activated incorrectly on the account as a 'Leased' receiver so the only way to remedy this is by talking to the CSRs in said department, but no, I do not know if his receiver is actually 'Owned' or 'Leased' per se, just simply saying that he may be able to get it removed due to that stipulation.

 

[BattleZone]

The majority of HR10s are owned, but at the very end, you could get them leased. Leasing started March 1, 2006, and they were still installing HR10s through June or July of that year.

 

[kevinwmsn]

The majority of HR10s are owned, but at the very end, you could get them leased. Leasing started March 1, 2006, and they were still installing HR10s through June or July of that year.

They were still installing them around August 2006 when I got mine, I know every area is different. A lot of people back then didn't want a HR20.

 

[wesmills]

HR10-250's were originally sold only as 'Owned' Receivers (1000 bucks :lol: ), and if he bought one used, chances are pretty good that it is going to be an 'Owned' Receiver. He can double check this by talking to the folks over in the Access Card department. Sometimes these older receivers get activated incorrectly on the account as a 'Leased' receiver so the only way to remedy this is by talking to the CSRs in said department, but no, I do not know if his receiver is actually 'Owned' or 'Leased' per se, just simply saying that he may be able to get it removed due to that stipulation.

I got it (for free) from a friend who had his from the day they launched (he's a hardcore HD fanatic). Will that get me anywhere in declaring it owned and possibly having the HD access fee removed?

I was under the impression that HD access was like Showtime or the Sports Pack; it bought you access to a set of channels, not that it was an enabling feature for a specific receiver type. If it being marked owned is a requirement, I'll call and sit on hold with DirecTV to get them to fix it.

 

[BattleZone]

Call DirecTV and ask for the Access Card department. They are the ones who can correct the receivers leased/owned status if it is wrong. Once that is done, the HD package issue can be addressed.

 

[JLucPicard]

I don't recall the facts of the discussion, but wasn't there a discussion at one point about the ability to record HD being shut off if you did NOT have the HD Access? I don't recall if that applied at all to HR10-250s, or if that just affected HR20 OTA capabilites if you shut off the HD Access. I seem to recall that it wasn't a problem for a while, then DirecTV "enforced" that policy.

 

[boba]

At the risk of being flamed, here goes:

I just activated a HR10-250 for OTA HD recording. I don't want the MPEG2 HD channels, so do I have to pay the HD access fee? And by "don't want," I mean "physically can't get," because my complex' shared dish setup only has 101W, so 110 is invisible to my receivers.

Would either reason ("don't want" or "can't receive") be enough to cancel the extra $10?

If not, that's perfectly fine. I'm not trying to be a cheapskate here, but if I don't have to pay it, I'd rather not. I have no plans to call DirecTV and threaten to cancel my service if they don't remove it or anything.

I have an HR10-250 as my only receiver and all I pay is the DVR fee no HD fee.

 

[Dave]

Anyone can cancel the HD access fee at anytime. It is not a requirement of any HD receiver. You do not have to take the HD channels. I know this because I cancelled the HD access for (2) two months. I have the HR20-100.

 

[Newshawk]

The HR10-250 is the only HD DVR from DirecTV that allows OTA reception without having the HD Access fee on your account. IIRC, you don't even need to have the receiver active on the account for the ATSC tuners to work. However, the HR10 won't record anything unless it is active on your account with DVR service for Tivo.

 

[JLucPicard]

Thanks for the info, Newshawk - that makes sense with what I could recall.

 

[Grentz]

Anyone can cancel the HD access fee at anytime. It is not a requirement of any HD receiver. You do not have to take the HD channels. I know this because I cancelled the HD access for (2) two months. I have the HR20-100.

Interesting, surprised they would allow that.

In the TOS it says you need to have HD Access if you have a HD receiver, at least it did when I read it over awhile ago.

 

[wesmills]

So everyone knows, I just got off the phone with DirecTV and had the HD Access package deleted. The rep even took extra time to make sure the extra $0.14 in taxes had also been removed. Now my bill hasn't gone up another ~$120/year. I did mention that I couldn't "see" the HD channels over satellite ("Is it trees?" No, I use a community dish that's only a stacked-101 system. "Oh, hopefully they'll be upgrading that soon.") and so she agreed to remove the pack.

She didn't say one way or the other whether my HR10 being marked "leased" had any effect, so I didn't ask. Having the HR10 and OTA HD recording is worth more to me than the box is to DirecTV, so they'll never ask for it back and I won't be disconnecting it anytime soon.

Thanks for the replies, everyone!

(Oh, and the ATSC tuners do work on the HR10-250 without it being activated, and you can even pause/rewind the video. Hitting "List" or going into the "Programs to record" menu gets the popup about the DVR service not being active.)

 

[cmtar]

Yes, it is required. And just as the leased IRD fee the HD access fee is impossible to have waived.

Actually it can be waived, im getting free HD for 12 months because when i first switched to HD they messed up my bills for 3 months straight billing me for all kinds of extra recievers i didnt have.