rwethereyet
Yeah, okay.
Does anyone have DVR through Directv? Like/dislike?
DVR through Directv
- Thread starter rwethereyet
- Start date
lovinmaryland
Well-Known Member
I have both a tivo and a dvr through direc tv and I must say I prefer the Tivo better but the dvr works just fine. Infact they now let you record programs from your phone or internet... its pretty cool
rwethereyet
Yeah, okay.
I do not have Tivo currently. Can I buy a Tivo and hook up through Directv or do I have to use Directv's receiver? Anyone know?
lovinmaryland
Well-Known Member
You can get the tivo and hook it thru directv but you have to pay a $5 monthly service fee.
I like the tivo better but the dvr works just fine.
rwethereyet
Yeah, okay.
I'd still have to pay the $5 monthly fee with the DVR. That's what Directv said. I wonder if I did go out and by the Tivo, if we could hook it up ourselves or if Directv would have to come out and do and charge an installation fee.
It would be cheaper to get the DVR because Directv said it would be $100 for the receiver and S&H, comes to $132. It's not that much cheaper than the Tivo. I think Best Buy had one for $149. We aren't Mega TV users where were have to tape 3 or 4 shows at a time. But it would be nice to have a show taped everynow and then. And put a show on hold while the kids are acting up, as to not miss anything.
BoyGenius
Cyber Bully Victim
One thing you have to watch if you're upgrading from a standard receiver is the DVR needs two lines running to it from the LNB. You can't split one line with a splitter into two. It needs two dedicated lines because it has two tuners. DTV won't run the second line for free, they'll charge you for the service call, even if the rep wrongly tells you it's free.
The HD DVR's have had some past problems with "black screens" but that may be fixed now with the more recent firmware upgrades. You'd set something to record and end up with a blank, black screen instead of the recording.
Since they fixed the black screen issue I'm pleased with it.
Beta84
They're out to get us
Dont forget the ~$15/month service charge to own your Tivo. It's just some wires...lovin might know more, but I don't see any reason why you'd need to pay DirecTV to install the Tivo. It just connects from your box to Tivo to TV.
Beta84
They're out to get us
oh wow...DirecTV screws you with the dual tuner? That sucks. What jerks. You only need 1 hookup with cable.
lovinmaryland
Well-Known Member
I never had to pay them to install it but you do have to pay the monthly fee to them.
They never charged me to do that... it might be a new fee :shrug:
BoyGenius
Cyber Bully Victim
This conversation brings back bad, fairly recent memories. I had HD receivers installed. Few months went by and I decided to pick up an HD DVR one day out at the store. I bring it home, go to hook it up and see the two tuners. So I go to Radio Shack and get a splitter. Bring it home, split the line, hook both up, doesn't work. Call DTV. Rep sayd a splitter is a no go, I need two lines and they'll send a tech out for free to do it. Few days later the tech comes and installs the second line. Bills me $65 I think it was for the service call. I say no way, they said it was free. I get them on the phone, they recant and say whoever was wrong to tell me it was free and it's not. I'm getting billed, like it or not. Going up the food chain didn't help, I got billed.
Oh, wanna hear the good part? That new equipment extended my contract commitment back to two full years. Apparently anytime they give you new stuff it renews your service obligation. Be sure to ask them about that too.
I also had the monthly maintenance plan too, so that didn't help either.
Beta84
They're out to get us
this is why i stick with cable whenever possible...
lovinmaryland
Well-Known Member
Well that is crappy! I actually havent had any problems w/ them so far... other than when the person installed the dvr upstairs in my bedroom he did not hook it to the phone line so if I ever need to order pay per view, movies, or adult movies
I have to call to do it... but they always wave the fee for me.I really love this new option of recording things from your phone or computer I think that is really neat. So when it is slow here at work I can scan what is on the next few days and set things up to record.
BoyGenius
Cyber Bully Victim
It was superbly aggravating. That receiver I replaced with the DVR, I wasn't allowed to keep anymore under the equipment agreement. So they sent a box for me to ship it back. I did promptly. Next thing you know they're saying they never received it with automated phone calls and they're going to bill me hundreds of dollars for it. That took a lot of phone calls to clear up also.
somdbingolady
New Member
We have had problems with Directv with the DVR. BE CAREFUL!! We had to send one back to directv because the harddrive locked up and they said no problem we will replace it. Well we got a return kit in the mail and sent it back to them. 3 months later our services were cut off, I know the bill was current so I called up and they billed me for the DVR $200.00 At this time it was a sunday the skins were getting ready to play. I called directv numerous times and logged over 6 hours of calls. They told me they never got my reciever. I had a fedex tracking number and everything... My service was cut off for a week unless I paid the bill of $200.00. I didn't pay it of course and I had no service, they never found it. Well I finally paid the $200.00 because my daughter was driving me crazy about watching the same DVD. So I called directv and somebody transfered me to a recovery department. Finally some guy look over all the notes and emails and credited the $200.00 back. But was the worse nightmare I ever went through. I was put on hold so many times and was disconnected. Nobody would help me. I wish I could get cable, but were I live I am only setup for Directv. But other then that mess I love my DVR, not so much directv.
TWL
Kernel panic: Aiee.......
Yes and satisfied.
I have had an HD DVR through DirecTV for a year and a DirecTivo(Tivo with built in DirecTV tuners) for 4 years and been with DirecTV since 1998. Currently DirecTV does not offer the DirecTivo but in late 2009 they should have a HD DirecTivo. I have never had any problems with the DirecTivo and only minor problems with the HD DVR.
All of the minor problems with the HD DVR was because the dish came slightly out of alignment causing loss of some of the HD channels. Since I have experience setting up these systems, I was able to realign the dish myself without having to wait and pay for DirecTV to send a tech. If you have the Protection Plan, this would be free but you still will need to wait for the tech.
A misaligned dish is one of several reasons for the "black screen" recordings mentioned above. I personally have experienced this once in the year I've had this HD DVR.
DirecTV has some pretty cool things going on that is currently in beta testing that I'm involved with. One is a program which you can stream recordings from your DVR (R22/HR20/HR21/HR23 DVRs)to your PC called DIRECTV2PC. And, IMHO, the best is MRV. The ability to stream recordings from the DVR to another DirecTV receiver(currently only the H21-100 and H21-200 receivers). While these betas aren't ready for the general masses yet, they should be within the next few months.
Personally, my experience with DirecTV customer service has always been pleasant. Just remember, for every horror story you hear, there are 1000's more that are not that you don't hear about.
BoyGenius
Cyber Bully Victim
I probably didn't do a good job explaining the black screen syndrome, so I'll do so now so we don't have people out there screwing up the alignment of a perfectly good dish.
It's a firmware problem on some of their DVR's. This is one of many threads that talk about it:
Discussion Forum
What happens is you set the DVR to record. It records the show according to the program list, but when you go to play it all you get is a black screen and it immediately says keep/delete.
I bought the HR20 in late 2007 I would say. By Spring I would guess about 50% of my recordings were starting to drop with this black screen problem.
I started calling tech support and got the "ok, remove the lines from the back of the DVR, unplug it, put the lines back on tight, plug it back it and hit the reset button. On future calls it progressed to doing hard resets on the DVR that were wiping out my recordings.
After the third request to do a hard reset by their tech support folks I got disgusted and demanded to talk to a manager. I already knew there was a problem because of the other people complaining in threads such as above. The manager gets on and I say look I'm spending $130 a month with you guys and I can't even watch the news each night when I come home. I then told him he either gives me a new DVR or I'm cutting the service down to basic and one receiver and turning on full option cable. The manager admitted that they had a problem with the firmware of the DVR's and that they were working on it and at first refused to replace it. I then told him the DVR was also locking up on fast forwards, which it was. Bam, dude ships me a new DVR. HR700 I believe. Much nicer, and the screwy blue light doesn't revolve on this one like the HR20 did.
With the new one I had the black screen problem a couple more times, but nowhere near as much as on the HR20.
A few months later they did a firmware push, I think it was probably September, that locked up the DVR when they did it. A few days later they sent an apology email for screwing up the firmware push. You had to unplug the DVR to recover from it.
Since then the black screen issue has never happened again.
Dish alignment had nothing to do with this.
clevalley
...
I have both a tivo and a dvr through direc tv and I must say I prefer the Tivo better but the dvr works just fine. Infact they now let you record programs from your phone or internet... its pretty cool
but I like the DTV interface better than TIVO. One thing I do not like about the DTV HD-DVR is you cannot jump to the end or beginning of a recording if you are in the middle of it like you can with TIVO, but this is a minor complaint...
TWL
Kernel panic: Aiee.......
I'm very much aware of what this problem is. I only displayed one possible cause. Others are incorrect grounding; either dish, DVR, or both possibly caused by a differential in ground between dish and DVR. Dirty electricity to DVR; a UPS or other power conditioner greatly reduces this. Failing LNB. Failing BBC. Failing multiswitch. Loose or otherwise compromised(moisture) COAX F connections. Using COAX substandard to RG6. The DVR, itself, is defective. Or the firmware; However, I have my doubts, seeing that I, and many others, have been pushed the same firmware without any or little problems. I'm only saying this because my one "black screen" only happened after the current NR firmware push.
TWL
Kernel panic: Aiee.......
SUPERSKIPTOTICK
One thing I do not like about the DTV HD-DVR is you cannot jump to the end or beginning of a recording if you are in the middle of it like you can with TIVO, but this is a minor complaint...
Do a keyword search for SUPERSKIPTOTICK.
After it's enabled, press FF followed by the Advance button(looks like ->|) to go forward one tick. Or, press RW followed by the Instant Replay button ( somewhat looks like @) to go back one tick. Subsequent presses of Advance or Instant Replay advances or goes back an additional tick respectively.