[Hybrid AWD]

Well I truly never realized how much information there is on Direct TV. I came on here first browsing around seeing what everyone talks about and man, talk about a lot of different things to discuss.

My installation is scheduled for this upcoming Saturday however, I may try and move that to Friday. NHRA Top Fuel cars are in town Saturday. From the sounds of it, I need to be prepared for them even showing up in their alloted time frame. :lol:

Hopefully with the switch from basic cable to Direct TV I will be extremely happy with the difference. Right now I have basic cable with Cox Communication and I sure do miss a lot of football games because of it. :nono2:

The reason I signed up for Direct TV is because of the number of channels available in HD, the number of channels in general and the amount it will cost me. For those interested, I work at Best Buy which they offer a $20/mo off coupon for employees who take a simple quiz each month. So right off the top, I save $20. Also, they had a promotion going to where new customers get $30 off a month for 12 months.

With them offering the NFL Sunday Ticket for $74.99, subtracting my $30 off from Direct TV on top of the $20 off from Best Buy, I found my self paying only $24.99/mo for the top package offered. :joy:

I verified through the phone that after the NFL Sunday ticket was over, that I could switch to a different package and they said I could do so. So most likely I will switch to the Choice HD package for the remaining 8 months. After my 12 months is over, it's back to only $20/mo for the following year. So I think it's well worth it.


Looking forward to gaining a lot of knowledge from this forum, thanks in advance!

 

[AirRocker]

:welcome_s

May I be the first to welcome you to DBStalk! You are correct... There is a small amount of information that can be found on this site... :sure:

Sometimes it can be a bit confusing... or hard to find exactly what you're looking for... so feel free to ask away in this thread!

Good luck on your install!

 

[David MacLeod]

welcome, you'll see a lot of info nd discussions here. a lot of opinions will be voiced and this will allow you to make informed decisions. there are a lot of good people here.

 

[ProfLonghair]

I'll echo that. Not jsut knowledgable about Directv, but TV in general, and lots of other stuff (check out the Sports and OT forums, for example). And, as a new member, I also recommend checking out the CE program (in it's own subforum).

 

[Ryan415689]

Edit for content

 

[David MacLeod]

Hi everyone. My name is Ryan. I work for Directv in technical support. I found this site while at work the other day when we were having the issues with the HDDVRs. I have been working in the satellite business for over 3 years working for both Dish Network and Directv technical support. I am sure I will enjoy it here.

welcome Ryan, hope you also enjoy it here.

 

[Malibu13]

Hybrid & Ryan, DBSTalk Welcomes you both

 

[Steve615]

:welcome_s to the forums Hybrid and Ryan.
You will find a world of information on here in regards to both satellite providers and a pretty wide range of other topics too.
If you have any questions,don't hesitate to ask them.
There are alot of very helpful folks on here with alot of knowledge about a wide variety of topics.

 

[Hybrid AWD]

Thanks for the warm welcome! The next major step into my world of "true HD" is a 50" Samsung Plasma... or do I want LCD... so many options

 

[MIAMI1683]

Welcome guys. Come in and sit down, grab a thread and start reading. There is alot of information here. From baisic setup to complex. Wall drops and SWM and everything in between. Enjoy!!!!

 

[David MacLeod]

Thanks for the warm welcome! The next major step into my world of "true HD" is a 50" Samsung Plasma... or do I want LCD... so many options

both have advantages, tell you what-buy both and I'll take the one you don't want
been some good prices on plasmas in last 2 weeks or so. I got lcd due to being cheap but would have liked plasma.

 

[houskamp]

Thanks for the warm welcome! The next major step into my world of "true HD" is a 50" Samsung Plasma... or do I want LCD... so many options

LCD uses less electricity.. plasmas have faster screens..
A good LCD will cost slightly more..
Best thing is to goto a few stores and look at them both... Check the viewing angle and watch some fast motion shots.. Then you can make your choice on what you like and what you want to pay..

 

[Hybrid AWD]

both have advantages, tell you what-buy both and I'll take the one you don't want
been some good prices on plasmas in last 2 weeks or so. I got lcd due to being cheap but would have liked plasma.

LCD uses less electricity.. plasmas have faster screens..
A good LCD will cost slightly more..
Best thing is to goto a few stores and look at them both... Check the viewing angle and watch some fast motion shots.. Then you can make your choice on what you like and what you want to pay..

Being as though I work for Best Buy as a second job.... all I do is loom over all the TV's and which one I want. We get a great deal that I have yet to see be beating by anyone else (cost + 5%). The 50" Samsung Plasma will cost me around $1400 out the door. Can't go wrong with that. The new Samsung LN46A850 is $2000 out the door.

 

[rudeney]

Personally, I prefer plasma over LCD. My only complaint about plasma is the power consumption. My Panasonic 50” draws 500-600 watts. Of course it makes a nice heater in the winter months!

 

[bakers12]

Hi everyone. My name is Ryan. I work for Directv in technical support. I found this site while at work the other day when we were having the issues with the HDDVRs. I have been working in the satellite business for over 3 years working for both Dish Network and Directv technical support. I am sure I will enjoy it here.

I hope you will not be disappointed by some of the posts you will read here. Please keep in mind that many people in these forums are having problems and they come here for help. Because of this, there are many more problems, complaints and rants than there are posts saying that everything works well.

DirecTV gets a lot of complaints aimed at them around here because of that. So don't be discouraged and do stick with it. You won't believe how much useful information you can pick up over time.

 

[Hybrid AWD]

Direct TV is up and running!

Well the guy came out yesterday around 3:30pm and started doing the work. Being the nice guy that I am, I offered to help him in any way possible.

The installer seemed to be somewhat new, however he did an excellent job and took everything I said into consideration. He mounted the satillite dish on the corner back side of my houses roof. It's a really good spot that makes it somewhat hidden from the road.

The installer didn't finish up until around 9:30pm last night and I felt sort of bad that it too so long when earlier in the day he noted that he was at work at 6:30am that morning. I guess that is what he gets paid for though.

Since I havent had a lot of time to mess with it, I don't know too much on it right now. I do know that I have the HR22 receiver. I'm not sure what my secondary receiver is upstairs.

I did notice that in the book it says channels 2-69 are all the original local channels, however there is a bunch of channels missing. It jumps from around channel 27 to 38 and then jumps to somewhere in the 70's I think.

I have also decided to go ahead and fork out the money for a Harmoney remote. With everything that needs to be controlled now, it's just the right way to go. I also need to hurry up and buy a new TV so I dont have to buy an HDMI switch box since my current tv only has 1 HDMI port.

Overall, I am happy with having HD for a change. Now let's hope I stay happy!

 

[sigma1914]

I also need to hurry up and buy a new TV so I dont have to buy an HDMI switch box since my current tv only has 1 HDMI port.

HDMI switchers from monoprice.com are fairly cheap and work very well.

 

[Hybrid AWD]

HDMI switchers from monoprice.com are fairly cheap and work very well.

Is it worth buying a switcher if I am getting a new TV? The only HDMI input will be the PS3 and DVR.

 

[joed32]

If it has two HDMI inputs then you won't need a switch. The last one I bought from Monoprice was a manual and it was $18.

 

[rudeney]

Direct TV is up and running!

Congratulations!

Well the guy came out yesterday around 3:30pm and started doing the work. Being the nice guy that I am, I offered to help him in any way possible.

The installer seemed to be somewhat new, however he did an excellent job and took everything I said into consideration. He mounted the satillite dish on the corner back side of my houses roof. It's a really good spot that makes it somewhat hidden from the road.

The installer didn't finish up until around 9:30pm last night and I felt sort of bad that it too so long when earlier in the day he noted that he was at work at 6:30am that morning. I guess that is what he gets paid for though.

These guys really don't get paid enough, especially the good ones.

Since I havent had a lot of time to mess with it, I don't know too much on it right now. I do know that I have the HR22 receiver. I'm not sure what my secondary receiver is upstairs.

Lucky dog! The HR22 is the latest with a larger hard drive that is double the capacity of the HR20/21 models!

I did notice that in the book it says channels 2-69 are all the original local channels, however there is a bunch of channels missing. It jumps from around channel 27 to 38 and then jumps to somewhere in the 70's I think.

That's correct. You only get the channels for your local market so it's like in the "old days" of OTA antennas. For example, I get 6, 10, 13, 21, 33, 42, 44, and 68. The 70's are duplicate of channels in the higher (200's) range. They are there for compatibility with older receivers that can only handle MPEG2. You might want to create a custom favorites list and uncheck these. You'll want to watch and record them on the 3-digit channels as the MPEG4 version is higher quality and requires less disk space to record.

I have also decided to go ahead and fork out the money for a Harmoney remote. With everything that needs to be controlled now, it's just the right way to go. I also need to hurry up and buy a new TV so I dont have to buy an HDMI switch box since my current tv only has 1 HDMI port.
Overall, I am happy with having HD for a change. Now let's hope I stay happy!

A good remote can certainly help increase the enjoyment of your system. The Harmony remotes seem to be very popular. As for staying happy, my advice is to be prepared to put up with some minor glitches, but if you need more than one reboot or have more than one or two recording problems in any given month, then you have a problem beyond "software". Post here if that happens - most people are ready and willing to help solve it.