Chicago HD Locals

[podman]

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum:

I read through this forum that HD locals will be available to subscribers in the Chicagoland area.

I haven't received anything in the mail from D* yet. Can someone shed some light on what exactly what I'm going to have to do and how much money I'm going to have to spend for the new dish and receiver? Secondly, will D* give me any type of discount for the install or will I responsible for the total cost?

Lastly, in Chicago, we carry about ten local stations of which about half are public service and public broadcasting. Any word on how many of the locals we'll get?

Thanks for your help everybody

 

[LonghornXP]

Hi everybody, I'm new to the forum:

I read through this forum that HD locals will be available to subscribers in the Chicagoland area.

I haven't received anything in the mail from D* yet. Can someone shed some light on what exactly what I'm going to have to do and how much money I'm going to have to spend for the new dish and receiver? Secondly, will D* give me any type of discount for the install or will I responsible for the total cost?

Lastly, in Chicago, we carry about ten local stations of which about half are public service and public broadcasting. Any word on how many of the locals we'll get?

Thanks for your help everybody

First DirecTV has only officially said that they will carry only the HD feeds from the networks and they won't carry a non HD feed. Now that doesn't mean that they won't carry subchannels but just keep this in mind.

If your an existing customer you will get a letter or a phone call or both letting you know when you can get your hardware upgraded. Once your called you will get a free or very low cost upgrade of both your HD box and dish. If you have an HDTV box (non DVR) you will only get the HD box replacement. If you have an HD Tivo you will have to wait until DirecTV has their HD DVR available which is expected sometime in January. If you have an HD Tivo you will get the new HD DVR replacement and dish for free or very low cost.

If your a new customer or an existing customer who wants to get the upgrade now you can go to your local B&M store and pay to have the dish installed by them and pay for the HD box at a cost of 200 bucks. You will also get a 200 dollar rebate as well.

If you a new customer who wants an HD DVR or an existing customer that wants an HD DVR but only has an HD box I would suggest waiting until the new HD DVR comes out in January because DirecTV will for the first time be renting the HD DVR with no upfront costs and they will support the box so that if it goes bad they will replace it like cable. If you rent the HD DVR you at a later date can just send it back to D* if you wanted to rent something new such as the Home Media Center or a newer HD DVR with say bigger hard drive space.

Now this next tidbit isn't official but my contacts feel pretty good about this. It seems that if you rent say the HD DVR if you rent it and stay as a customer for your full two year agreement you will outright own that box after that with no more rental fees at all. Now if you want a newer box you might have to start renting again and you may or may not be able to trade in your box if you own it at that point and your not paying a rental fee.

I hope this gives you some insight on the changes that are coming at the first of the year for directv new and existing customers.

 

[goaliebob99]

I think the big question is what locals in hd they will carry.... Currently CBS,NBC,ABC,WGN,Fox, and UPN are doing hd. Also WCIU is schedualed to start its HD bradcaust sometime next year 2006. (bulls, sox and cubs games will be in hd on WCIU)

 

[podman]

Just called D* on equipment upgrade. They informed me until the Beta testing is complete in Detroit, they won't contact any of its Chicago customers about upgrading to a new dish and box. They said that they hoped that this testing would be complete in 2-3 weeks.

 

[sshams95]

What are we hearing from Detroit? How is the HD local reception and quality? Any bugs, problems, etc? I also live in Chicago and I have HDTivo with an OTA, so I'm getting Chicago locals in HD (except CBS) and getting NY HD network channels. I don't know if I should jump right away or wait until all the bugs are fixed.

 

[hdtvtechno]

no bugs in Detriot

Only except that Directv has a broadcast problem on "their end"

 

[wolfman]

I'm in Chicago, and when it comes time for this upgrade there is no way they are removing the dish I have now. I will keep it up until I know there are no problems with the new one.