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Greez Lightning
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Posted - January 30 : 4:26p

For those of you that have Direct TV you probably know that Direct is going through major changes to improve their service and your normal channels will no longer work in a few days.

But the part that chaps my hide is they broke off their contract with Tivo and now that they have 5 satellites they require you to put in another new dish for HDTV. I just got a HD dish less than a year ago plus a receiver with a Tivo.

Direct kicked Tivo out. They made their own recording device. And what adds insult to injury is Tivo has a copy write on their machine so the easy access from your remote has all been changed and everyone is complaining about it.

So yesterday I had to throw out my Tivo and HD Dish and buy a new HD Dish and Receiver with a 320 Gig hard drive to record stuff to.

Granted I now have about 90 HDTV stations with many more to come but now the new recording device I just paid for belongs to Direct TV not to me. Its a rental. On the other side of the coin they say that if its changed you just turn in your Receiver and they give you a new one.

Right.....Ill wait and see if that ever happens.

I just learned to navigate TIVO really well and now I've got to relearn a whole new system.

Not only that but my Denon Processor took a shit last May. The left rear surround channel went out. A week ago the same thing happened. So now I think its a Lemon or they are having problems with the Model AVR2106. So Im afraid to go have it fixed again only to have it go out again. So I had to go buy a new Processor. As much as I liked the Denon I decided once bitten I was not about to buy another Denon. So I got a Yamaha RX-V861. Ive had Yamaha sound equip before and was always very happy with it. Plus this one has 120 Watts X 7 Channels plus two HDMI inputs.

So bottom line is Ive had to dump another 1500 dollars into my system in the bedroom and the entire system is only a year old.

Another thing that pissed me off is I had 30 gigs of movies and shows on my Tivo that were all lost. There was no point in off loading the stuff I had on there as it was all HD. So If I loaded it to a DVD Id loose quality.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Edited by - Greez Lightning on January 30 4:37p

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Mark05KR
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Posted - January 30 : 4:59p

I have Directv and three Tivo's.(No hd though). I haven't heard anything about having to switch. It must be just for receiving the HD channels.

Also, you can still watch your movies that were recorded on the old HD Tivo unit. The DVR does not have to be connected to the satellite dish to play back content that you had previously recorded.

Greez Lightning
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Posted - January 30 : 5:02p

Thanks Mark

Mark05KR
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Posted - January 30 : 5:03p

Mark05KR
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Posted - January 30 : 5:06p

By the way. I also have a Yamaha HT receiver, the HTR-5890. It is the best receiver I have ever had. 7.1 surround sound with 140 watts/channel. It impressed the hell out of my Son and Son-in-Law when they were here for Christmas.

Edited by - Mark05KR on January 30 5:07p

SPROCKET
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Posted - January 30 : 5:32p

I ditched my Direct TV last year....all the rumors from them claiming that aren't true on the commercials ARE true.

I always lost signal on rainy or windy days, and their service just sucked. Twice I had to have them come out to put the dish some where else because my complex was complaining....where it needed to be they said they couldn't do it and still get signal so I just went and relocated it my self and it worked perfectly when they said there's no way.

Texas Termin8er
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Posted - January 30 : 5:42p

I have not had any contact stating I have to change out my equipment from Direct TV.

I do see that they are changing around the menu features and doing some other changes.

One thing I am pissed about though is I noticed that I have lost a few of my HD channels. Upon searching the website, I see they are now offering different levels of HD programming and the few I lost I have to upgrade my package to get. I think that is Bull.
TA

Greez Lightning
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Posted - January 30 : 6:02p

Sprocket, I had that problem a long time ago but since Ive gone to HD Dishes Ive gotten very strong reception in thunder storms, rains, you name it.

TT yeah thats part of the changes Direct is starting to make.

Im pretty sure these changes Direct are making are going to make it the leading HDTV Satellite source. But meanwhile they are going to piss a lot of people off as they will have to upgrade as I have.

I have to admit its nice having 90 HDTV stations at this time. You can get just about anything in HDTV. News, Sports, Movies etc. Plus Direct is going to put up movies in HD that you can just download for free.
I think the area is called on comand.

Edited by - Greez Lightning on January 30 6:10p

Mark05KR
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Posted - January 30 : 6:44p

I haven't moved to the Directv HD here yet because my dish is mounted about 100' in front of the house. The two cables from the dish are buried. To get HD, I would have to get the new dish and run new(additional) cables from the dish to the house. I would also have to replace the switch that allows me to run my three Tivo receivers.

We had planned to keep Directv when we move this spring/summer, but now I may take a good look at other options. My daughter has Comcast digital cable and they like it pretty well. But, I am in the same boat as you, Greeze. I have gotten real familiar with the Tivo interface and I like it because I know how to get things done. Old dog, new tricks and all that shit.

When we get ready to move I guess I'll have to call around and see what kind of a deal I can get. Sometimes the cable and satellite companies will do a lot to buy or keep a customer.

Greez Lightning
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Posted - January 30 : 6:55p

Mark, The Tivo is soon to become obsolete. Best to go with Direct, sink another cable and change the dish and Receiver as I did.

Mark05KR
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Posted - January 30 : 7:13p

Nah. I'm leaving all that stuff right here in New Hampshire and moving my ass to North Carolina. I have lived without HD so far, I can make it for a few more months.

After 50+ years I have grown sick and tired of WINTER!

I agree about Tivo, though. Too bad, they had some good features in their software like the home media. You could program your Tivo from anywhere that had an internet connection. Good for those days when you forgot to record something until you were halfway through dinner at your son's house.

Tivo also came out with a streaming option that would let you record a program in a Tivo in one room and stream that recording to a Tivo in another room so you could watch it there.

Unfortunately, those features never got migrated to the Directv version of the software and some cable systems don't seem to work very well with the Tivo hardware. The cable companies and Directv are all trying to get their customers to buy or rent the hardware from them.

It sucks for Tivo, since they pretty much created the entire DVR market.

Edited by - Mark05KR on January 30 7:15p

Tom in Tacoma
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Posted - January 31 : 9:53a

The change to HD is inevitable. Starting in 2009 all stations are required to broadcast in HD. I know some of you are 'doing fine' without HD - but when you do make the change you'll ask yourself why you waited so long!

Lynn - you're gonna love the new set-up in the family room! It'll knock your socks off!

Texas Termin8er
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Posted - January 31 : 10:39a

Quote:

Originally posted by Tom in Tacoma

[i]I know some of you are 'doing fine' without HD - but when you do make the change you'll ask yourself why you waited so long![i]

So True.

I guess I already have the new hardware because I do not have Tivo for my DVR it is DirectTV stuff. I do hate the thing to a degree because you can't watch and record different programs. I never have liked that "non-feature". Sounds maybe you were able to watch something while recording something else with Tivo.
TA

Tom in Tacoma
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Posted - January 31 : 1:23p

I don't have Direct - I've got Comcast digital cable with one of their provided DVRs. I've got the ability to record one thing while watching another (or recording two things concurrently).

devnull
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Posted - January 31 : 1:58p

Quote:

Originally posted by Tom in Tacoma

I don't have Direct - I've got Comcast digital cable with one of their provided DVRs. I've got the ability to record one thing while watching another (or recording two things concurrently).

Also, in case you care, Comcast is beta-testing a Tivo DVR offering. I've seen it, it looks and works a lot like the Tivo you are used to.

Mark05KR
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Posted - January 31 : 2:01p

With the Directv/Tivo you can record 2 channels at the same time and, while recording those 2, you can watch a program that was recorded earlier.

Greez Lightning
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Posted - February 1 : 3:49p

Mark Yup thats true.

Tom, So what have you got in there buddy? Dont keep me in suspense.

This year Im going to find a HD projector to fit my 8 FT. X 10 FT. screen in the living room. I have a Barco with a line doubler which was the cats meow a year ago but its obsolete these days.

Tom in Tacoma
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Posted - February 2 : 9:58a

The old Sony that you watched is no more. Replaced it with a nice lil' Pioneer 60" Plasma and swapped out the DVD player with a Sony Blu-Ray.

Oh my... I never realized how good a picture could get...

Mark05KR
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Posted - February 2 : 5:54p

Quote:

Originally posted by devnull

Quote:
Originally posted by Tom in Tacoma

I don't have Direct - I've got Comcast digital cable with one of their provided DVRs. I've got the ability to record one thing while watching another (or recording two things concurrently).

Also, in case you care, Comcast is beta-testing a Tivo DVR offering. I've seen it, it looks and works a lot like the Tivo you are used to.

Do you have any more details on this beta test? We are considering switching to Comcast cable when we move and if they support the Tivo interface, I would switch. My Daughter has Comcast cable and I don't like the software on their DVR. It is way to busy and confusing. I really like the Tivo user interface and I don't really care that much how the content gets delivered. You can get every channel in the world delivered directly to your television, but if the user interface is confusing, WTF good is having 1,000 channels?

Bluewater
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Posted - February 3 : 9:03a

"The left rear surround channel went out. A week ago the same thing happened. "

Your speaker could be the cause .

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