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.
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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I meant for when you look in the guide ahead of time, maybe the day before. You can actually start watching it when it starts recording and rewind what has already been partially recorded just like any other recording.steveT said: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.
If they did what you want for all the movies your hard drive would die way too fast from overuse.
I think he was talking about in your playlist for the green play symbols. You are basically streaming OnDemand content, just like on YouTube or Netflix. Once you get a large enough buffer your show or movie should not stutter or stop during viewing. The picture quality might depend on your internet speed too. I know it did on DISH with Blockbuster. I only have 3 mbps DSL myself. Darn small town sucks for internet speed.steveT said: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.
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'm not actually in Glendale right now.)
I wasn't sure, that's why I stated that is how DISH is with Blockbuster. I never actually used PPV on DISH.tonyd79 said:Other than picking 1080p or not, speed has no effect on quality. It is not streaming, it is downloading to your drive and playing it from there. just like a recording except that it is over the Internet.
The watch instantly are sent via satellite in the background.
I think I/we are also confusing OnDemand and DirecTV Cinema. Big differences like you stated.
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