Direct TV in Calgary, Canada HR-20

[DRC]

Before I hear about whether or not Direct TV is leagl or illegal in Canada let me ask my question. After 14 years with Direct TV I have been shut down and "flagged" because they have determined the billing address on my credit card is Canadian. Even though they have collected $1000,s of dollars from me over the years and I did have a US address they have shut me down. The question I have is this: I have an HR-20 and HR10-250 PVR that have worked perfectly since I bought them. On those two PVR's I have over 40 hours of saved HD concerts. I have no problem watching my recordings on the HR10-250 but I cannot watch the HR-20 because of messages from DTV saying I need to call extension 726 etc. I have no interest in reactivating these I just want to watch the content I have on the HR-20.
Any suggestions?

Now my opinion: This is my personal opinion based on my own experience.
As I have mentioned I have been a Direct TV customer for over 14 years and even though I have a US address my primary billing address is in Calgary. I have used the same credit card for those 14 years and as far as I am cocerned I paid for a service and enjoyed that service. If I had the choice I would pay for that service again if I had that option. I will have Direct TV again when I go back to California in October.
I also pay for Shaw HD and Bell ExpressVu HD so the Canadian service providers are getting my dollars.
Here is my issue. I have normalized my data for an apples to apples comparrison.
1.Shaw says they have 31 HD channels. When you strip out the time shift etc they really only have 23 channels that I would watch or PVR. This includes only 3 HD movie and 4 HD PPV.
2. Bell says they have 63 channels but when you strip out 11 French, time shift etc. they only have 24 that I would watch or PVR. This includes 3 HD Movie and 4 HD PVR.
3. DTV says they have 130 HD channels but when you strip out regional, time shift etc. they only have 67 that I would watch or PVR. This includes 12 HD Movie and 14 HD PVR.
1. I pay Shaw around $99 per month for those 23 HD channels because they make you pay for all the other crap to get HD.
2. I pay Bell around $71 for those 24 HD channels becasue they also make you buy all the crap to get HD. For the most part they are they same as Shaw.
3. I was paying DTV around $110 per month. I also have to buy crap I don't want to get all the HD.

My point is this. If I had to choose a provider based on those I have done business with I would choose Direct TV every time because of the huge variety of HD content they provide for basically the same amount of money I am paying Shaw.

 

[MattJ2124]

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by " time shift"?

I'm Canadian living in OHIO and get the CI package so I can catch my Flames!!!!!!

On the other issues you have, I agree with you, I am not understanding why you cant have Directv in Canada?

 

[DRC]

In Canada time shift means that I get all the networks (CBS, NBC etc) with an East Coast feed and West Coast feed. With PVR I watch when I want and don't care that I get two feeds of the same programmimg 3 hours apart.

 

[Mr Tony]

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by " time shift"?

also allows you to watch CBC/CTV/Global from 5 time zones

 

[Mr Tony]

as to the original question

Doesnt Directv have a "help" channel like Dish & Bell do? (Dish 101 and Bell 198)...I thought as long as you had a signal from the satellite the box should work on the "free" channel and allow you to access the DVR stuff?

 

[DRC]

Direct TV has peview channels on 100, 200 and 500 and I can see those fine. When I go into "playlist" which contains my recorded content it says I need to activate my PVR service and I can't get past that. I think it has something to do with the fact that the HR10-250 is Tivo PVR and the HR-20 is Direct TV PVR. I just need to figure out how to access my content.