Dallas HD news

[ocnier]

I'm pretty sure longhornxp already said something like this, but I was in Best buy today and actually cornered a Directv corporate guy/installer on his way to a meeting with the regional store boss. I quizzed as much as I could before he bailed, but he informed me that July 15th is the hard date when the great switch out for dishes begins. I was pleased to finally hear a hard date out of someone from directv in person. I assume this date will apply to all the first 12 markets. It should definitely make july an interesting month. I hope this helps.

 

[dgordo]

That's pretty much what I am hearing also for the first 12 markets but no new channels will launch until 8/1 to allow time for all the installations and testing.

 

[LonghornXP]

That is about what I'm hearing. Just remember that a big announcement will occur sometime in July and the announcement will include information about the new boxes, new national HD channels, local HD markets, how customer will be upgraded and when along with several other smaller things.

 

[Barney]

Another month & half to go........this is harder to wait on than when I waited for my subwoofer to "get home"....

Barney

 

[CWS_kahuna]

What happened to the June timeframe for an announcment?

Regardless it's nice to hear some kind of date finally about the dish switching.

 

[LonghornXP]

What happened to the June timeframe for an announcment?

Regardless it's nice to hear some kind of date finally about the dish switching.

The june announcement will give all of us a general idea of what will take place in the coming months along with a few specific details. The July announcement will be much more specific and will cover other areas of interest such as programming and pricing.

 

[Barney]

The june announcement will give all of us a general idea of what will take place in the coming months along with a few specific details. The July announcement will be much more specific and will cover other areas of interest such as programming and pricing.

......and pricing....that scares me.

Barney

 

[charper1]

...I was in Best buy today and actually cornered a Directv corporate guy/installer on his way to a meeting...

Just to be funny, how does someone work for DirecTV corporate and be an installer at the same time? and Since when do DirecTV corporate guys come out to talk to specific regional Best Buy store managers individually? Is you friend just a contracted installer for Best Buy?

AND

The last week of June is STILL 3.85 weeks away, so a June announcement could still be that far off; although I am hoping the announcement will be more like mid-June.

 

[cr0mag]

......and pricing....that scares me.

Barney

Agreed... I'm still predicting additional 'back exit invasions' without any sort of reach-a-round after what they tried with ST. While I'm sure they will eventually have a ton of new hardware and programming, in the meantime, I'm sure that they are going to try to get us to pay for it.

 

[LonghornXP]

Agreed... I'm still predicting additional 'back exit invasions' without any sort of reach-a-round after what they tried with ST. While I'm sure they will eventually have a ton of new hardware and programming, in the meantime, I'm sure that they are going to try to get us to pay for it.

Sorry I should have been more specific. When I say pricing this is what I'm talking about.

Firstly expect the HD Package to increase somewhere between 12.95-14.95/month. HD locals will be free if you currently get the locals package and no the locals package won't increase in price.

They will also give the rental pricing for most if not all of the new HD boxes and if you want to buy upfront without renting they will give you those prices as well.

Also the other pricing would be for customer who want to upgrade to a rental option and what programming credits they would get for doing so. Say if you have an HD box today if you decide to rent an HD DVR instead of getting a replacement HD box they would give you a programming credit for doing so. Remember that D* will have to replace the boxes no matter what so they have an incentive to give a customer 250 bucks in a credit to gain extra rental revenue.

If you have an HD DVR (HD Tivo) they will give you an incentive via programming credits to rent the upcoming multiroom HD DVR.

Those are the types of pricing I'm talking about. Look at this from D* point of view below.

Customer with HD Tivo gets free or very low cost replacement.
Customer with HD Tivo gets 500.00 programming credit if he/she rents the HD DVR at a discount for one year but still keeps paying the rental cost for years to come.

I'm hearing that the basic HD DVR (not the multiroom) will cost around 12.95/month so if a customer has an HD Tivo I'm hearing they would get a credit around 500 bucks plus one years rental at 5.00/month off. So if the regular priced rental is 12.95/month than that customer would get one year rental at 7.95/month plus a 500 buck credit.

Now none of this is set in stone and can always change but here is the pricing range I've been hearing for rental options.

Basic HD box = 4.95-7.95/month.
Basic HD DVR = 8.95-14.95/month.
Multiroom HD DVR = 9.95-16.95/month.

Now remember that all the new HD DVR boxes will not have a DVR fee so all you will pay is the rental for the box. I hope this sheds some light on what I mean by price.

 

[ocnier]

Just to be funny, how does someone work for DirecTV corporate and be an installer at the same time? and Since when do DirecTV corporate guys come out to talk to specific regional Best Buy store managers individually? Is you friend just a contracted installer for Best Buy?

AND

The last week of June is STILL 3.85 weeks away, so a June announcement could still be that far off; although I am hoping the announcement will be more like mid-June.

All I know is that I asked him if he was with corporate and not just a contractor installer. He said he was, he was on his way to a meeting with a best guy there I had never seen before (subnote the best buy guy was really well dressed). I have no idea what they were going to talk about. My guess is to give more info about the changes coming as far as install questions. The main point is that during our short conversation, he gave me the hard date of the 15th of July. The best buy store was the one in grapevine, tx. The announcement in June may still come, but according to this guy no dishes will begin to be swapped until the 15JUL05. That's pretty much all I know.

 

[beast37799]

Basic HD box = 4.95-7.95/month.
Basic HD DVR = 8.95-14.95/month.
Multiroom HD DVR = 9.95-16.95/month.

Now remember that all the new HD DVR boxes will not have a DVR fee so all you will pay is the rental for the box. I hope this sheds some light on what I mean by price.

But will d* still charge a mirror fee or is that included in the rental price

 

[LonghornXP]

But will d* still charge a mirror fee or is that included in the rental price

You would still pay the mirror fees as you always do.

To give you an example of pricing lets say that the HMC will cost 14.95/month for the rental. That rental price would cover the rental of both the server and upto 3 client boxes for a total of 4 rooms.

You would pay the following below.

HMC system rental = 15.00/month.
Mirror fee for extra rooms = 15.00/month

So your total cost for the hardware side which would include both the rental fee and mirror fees for a total of 4 rooms would cost 30.00/month.

Now say if you get total choice premier with locals plus the HD Package at 14.95/month you would have a total bill like this below.

94.00/TC Premier with locals (both SD and HD)
15.00/HD Package
15.00/HMC rental
15.00/mirror fees
-----------------------------------------------------
139.00/total without taxes
18.00/13% taxes at least for me
-----------------------------------------------------
157.00/month total bill for everything at regular prices.

Now even if the HMC rental was another 6 bucks per month extra with taxes that would still make the total bill only 163.00/month.

That to me is a very good deal because right now my cable company to get everything they have costs me the same amount if I wasn't getting any discount from them and that is for three rooms so with D* I would save 6 bucks a month on the extra mirror fee which would bring my price lower so that even if D* charged an extra 6.95/month for any new SVOD offerings that would still put my bill very close to what my cable company is today.

Edit...also keep in mind that for customers who feel the Sports pack isn't worth 7 bucks a month they can cut that off and actually save that 7 bucks a month because these new boxes won't have a DVR fee which means you can drop TC premier to get rid of the sports pak without having to start paying another 5 buck DVR fee like now that would result in only a net savings of two bucks a month.

So for customers who feel like I do about the sports pak you can knock off another 8 bucks off of that total price.

 

[Gen Custer]

Longhorn, If you have an HD TIVO, will they swap it out free of charge for a similar HD DVR or better yet the HD HMO server so that those of us who dropped a grand on it will not have to pay rental fees?

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn, If you have an HD TIVO, will they swap it out free of charge for a similar HD DVR or better yet the HD HMO server so that those of us who dropped a grand on it will not have to pay rental fees?

At the least you will get a free replacement or a very small fee (25 bucks or less) for their basic HD DVR if you trade-in your HD Tivo. This above is for sure what isn't quite known yet as far as the specifics of what you would get and have to pay is below.

If you have an HD Tivo they will have an offer for you if you want to wait for the HMC system.

What I've been told is that you would have the option of getting a free HMC replacement for your HD Tivo if you wait for the HMC instead of taking the HD DVR that comes out a few months before the HMC.

The other option I've heard is that an HD Tivo owner can get a very nice programming credit towards the HMC plus a discounted rental price for a period of time.

I wish I knew more but they will let us all know within a few months because they have to get different offers and pricing depending if your trading up an HD Tivo or a basic HD box.

Edit...just keep in mind that sadly to say they as in DirecTV has a large incentive to try and get you to rent the multiroom HD DVR instead of taking a free replacement HD DVR so don't be suprised if you would get a much better deal upfront but with the drawback of having to rent in future years. It depends on how good the offer is for you to decide one or the other. Just remember that by renting the HMC (and getting a programming credit) if it goes bad they replace it and if something newer and better comes out you can upgrade to that newer box without feeling shorted after spending a grand. Again everything has its advantages and disadvantages and its for you to decide what is a better deal for "you" based on what "you" want.

 

[Gen Custer]

Longhorn
1)If the new HD content is all MPEG4 and the HMC is not out when MPEG4 goes live, will they "loan" a customer a regular HD MPEG4 box until they trade the HD TIVO for an HMC?
2)There had been some talk that trading in a SD TIVO would also get you an HMC, have you heard anything on this? Would someone with an HD TIVO and a SD TIVO actually get 2 HMC servers?

All your info is greatly appreciated.

 

[LonghornXP]

Longhorn
1)If the new HD content is all MPEG4 and the HMC is not out when MPEG4 goes live, will they "loan" a customer a regular HD MPEG4 box until they trade the HD TIVO for an HMC?
2)There had been some talk that trading in a SD TIVO would also get you an HMC, have you heard anything on this? Would someone with an HD TIVO and a SD TIVO actually get 2 HMC servers?

All your info is greatly appreciated.

I've heard that trading in two SD Tivos will get you a certain amount of programming credits towards buying the HMC upfront or renting it.

It seems to be a matter of how much credit amount you will get.

Two SD Tivos should get you the least amount.
One basic HD Box (ie Zenith SAT520) will get more than two SD Tivos.
HD Tivo would get you the most for a single box.

If you have two basic HD boxes you might get the same amount as a customer trading one HD Tivo.

If you have more than one HD Tivo you will get double the amount as a customer with one HD Tivo.

I wish I could tell you what specific amounts and I with I knew myself.

I've heard that has an HD Tivo can first replace their HD Tivo with the basic HD DVR as both a rental or a replacement and later upgrade to the HMC by sending the replacement HD DVR back to D*.

Now I've heard that if you take a free replacement and you upgrade to the HMC you can only get a replacement which may cost you to pay the difference.

Now if you take a rental replacement for your HD Tivo to get the basic HD DVR you would get your programming credits and when the HMC comes out you can give back your new rental HD DVR and you would pay the discounted rental rate plus they would give you the difference in credits if any between the HD DVR and HMC.

This was confusing but I'll explain below.

This below is just an example and not the true or final pricing by any means.

Customers who have an HD Tivo can get the following offers to trade-up.

Basic HD DVR:
Purchase option = free or low cost replacement.
Rental option = you would get a 500 dollar programming credit but you would pay the rental fee.

HMC three months later offer:
Purchase option = They would pay maybe 100-200 bucks extra to get the HMC as their HD Tivo replacement.
Rental option = Customer would get say a 500 dollar credit but they would pay the rental fees from now on.

Now if a customer trades in their Hd Tivo for the HD DVR using one of the two offers they can later upgrade the HMC by sending back their HD DVR replacement. But if you accepted a free HD DVR replacement and decide to upgrade to the HMC you would still need to pay the differences as it you were taking the HMC offer above as it you never got a replacement.

What I don't know is if a customer who accepted a free HD DVR replacement would be allowed to upgrade to the HMC later using the rental option. If they do allow this that might be the best move if you have an HD Tivo.

You can get a free HD DVR replacement for three months at which time you send back that replacement box for the HMC as a rental option thus getting a programming credit and paying the rental fees.

 

[Gen Custer]

Thanks for the info Longhorn!

It sounds like there will be a lot of confusion out there in the marketplace especially with the inconsistancies in quality and knowledge in the customer service reps. This seems like a setup for a lot of false information and promises by inexperienced CSRs.
I dont think i'll take a chance trading in myHD TIVO right away for the basic HD DVR. I think I'll wait for the HMC to be available so that there is no confusion on Directv's part. I can just about see all the posts of people not being able to upgrade their newly traded HD DVRs for HMCs because they didn't take the rental option.
I hope the transition will go smoothly.

 

[plugplay]

Will they likely allow us to upgrade without deactivating our HD-Tivo for a large credit as I would still like to keep my Tivo?

 

[ocnier]

I would just like to see a true descriptor of the D* MMC with pics and details (basically a projected product data sheet). I wish D* would just go ahead and release that info, it sucks to wait.