Slight correction in my original post above. I meant satellite "feed" when referring to Dish's ppv ordering method.steveT said:
Ordering ppv on DirecTV
I switched to DirecTV last month after years with Dish, and I have a very basic question about ordering ppv movies. It makes me feel like an idiot just asking this question, but I haven't been able to find just a clear answer on Direct's website or anywhere else I've searched.
With Dish, there were about 15 high-def channels of just the most recently released movies, those that were in theaters just a few months ago. You just clicked on the channel, and the movie started instantly. You didn't have to wait until the next half-hour start time. They just played. It was my understanding that the first few minutes of all those movies had already been downloaded to your dvr, and after commencing the movie you just picked up the rest from the satellite screen. At least that's what I thought, maybe I was wrong.
My question is, where is the equivalent on DirecTV?? If it's there, I can't find it. I see all the movies around channels 120-200, but with start times on the half-hour or hour. And I know you can download a billion movies through their internet connection. I have the CCK installed, but I live in an area where the max internet speed available is 3Mbps (I get about 2.6Mbps effective), so I really don't want to have to wait a few hours for a movie to download.
Is there anywhere on DirecTV that I can just order an HD movie (recent releases, not 20-year old flicks), and have it start instantly?
With Dish, there were about 15 high-def channels of just the most recently released movies, those that were in theaters just a few months ago. You just clicked on the channel, and the movie started instantly. You didn't have to wait until the next half-hour start time. They just played. It was my understanding that the first few minutes of all those movies had already been downloaded to your dvr, and after commencing the movie you just picked up the rest from the satellite screen. At least that's what I thought, maybe I was wrong.
My question is, where is the equivalent on DirecTV?? If it's there, I can't find it. I see all the movies around channels 120-200, but with start times on the half-hour or hour. And I know you can download a billion movies through their internet connection. I have the CCK installed, but I live in an area where the max internet speed available is 3Mbps (I get about 2.6Mbps effective), so I really don't want to have to wait a few hours for a movie to download.
Is there anywhere on DirecTV that I can just order an HD movie (recent releases, not 20-year old flicks), and have it start instantly?
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Thanks, that's good to know. But in particular I'm more interested in starting a movie right away. It sounds like to use that method, I have to record those in advance of when we'd actually be watching. What I'm really thinking about are the times when there's nothing else on, and I'd like to catch a movie I missed recently in the theaters.banditt76 said:What you can do on DirecTV that I actually like better is just record any of the PPV movies and they will be in your playlist. You will never be charged anything unless you actually buy and view the movie before deleting it from your playlist. I found this out by accident last week when I was messing around and a movie magically appeared in my playlist that I was viewing info on. I think I accidentally selected it to record somehow. I was pissed until I went online to see if I was charged for it and was not. Nothing was showing in my Purchases section on my DVR either so I figured that's what happened even before I checked my account.
Would those green arrow icons be in the channel guide for those channels in the 120-200 range? Or somewhere else? So far, I haven't noticed any of those anywhere.tonyd79 said:Yes. There are a handful of movies downloaded to your dvr. Anytime you see a green arrow icon, it means the movie is already on your system. By playing it, it makes it available in your playlist.
Also, some of them will show up in the guide below channel 125.
Even with your download speed, you don't have to wait hours if you use download. The speed is limited at the source. The color code of the download arrow will tell you when you can watch. Red means you can't watch uninterrupted. Yellow means you may (usually can). Green means you are good to go.
Try a download to see how fast it is. You don't pay unless you watch and say you are willing to pay.
As for downloading, the only thing I've downloaded so far was a 1-hour HD episode of "The Wire" (which is only 4x3, not 16x9), and it took well over an hour to download. I'd asked one of the D* service techs who was working on another problem about this, and he told me that watching anything downloaded before it was completely downloaded, could cause problems...
I've had the DVR for 2 weeks now (it's the HR34). I'll have to look for those green arrows tonight.tonyd79 said:How long do you have your dvr? They may not have been pushed to your system yet.
That's why I'm feeling like an idiot even asking the question, because after having DTV for a few weeks now, I'm still not getting the difference between the OnDemand and DTV Cinema. Guess I was just really used to how Dish did it, where I had that list of recent theatrical releases, and could just start them instantly at any time. We hardly ever watch old movies, only really interested in ppv's for movies we wanted to see, but not bad enough to get our butts out to the theater.banditt76 said:I wasn't sure, that's why I stated that is how DISH is with Blockbuster. I never actually used PPV on DISH.
I think I/we are also confusing OnDemand and DirecTV Cinema. Big differences like you stated.
Another stupid question: will there be any difference in picture quality with movies I download from the net, versus those delivered by satellite?
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