I just switched from Dish Network to DirecTV and I immediately felt like I jumped back a few years in technology. Dish Network had much more storage on the DVR, their guide had some customization with the layout and colors, the record features allowed me to create folders and I could save recording series to specific folders that I chose, when accessing the recordings all the recorded material had nice visible icons of each specific show so you didn't have to stumble around reading everything to find what you were looking for. Part of me is wondering why DirecTV is so far behind Dish with some of these features that make using the DVR so much better. I browsed around to try and see if there was any information online regarding software updates in the future that may include some of these features but I did not find anything. Does anyone have any knowledge of any of these features coming to DirecTV? I hope they do make efforts to improve the DVR interface and usability especially when a competitor like Dish is now pushing out voice activated remotes and a Hopper DVR that has 16 tuners built in and over 3 times more storage space than DTV. If anyone has any helpful information it would be greatly appreciated!
DirecTV interface not as good as Dish
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DirecTV / ATT is in the process of developing their next generation product. They wanted to make sure the backend was good to go before pushing out something new after the merger. We should see something on this next year.
Yeah they were in sort of limbo for almost a year between the agreement and the final approval just as the industry was entering the 4K era.
And I'm not even sure the 4K consortium has reached total agreement on specs.
All these things are superficial things ...
I can work my D* equipment without having to have colorful icon and other things you mentioned just fine.
Btw, how big is the HD on the said Dish dvr your talking about ?
If your using a BIG hard drive on Dish and your recvr goes bad, you still lose all your recordings, so why fill it up ?
Only other thing I find worse is when someone says, I had this priceless recording on my DVR and now it's gone ...
Shame on you if it was priceless and on any DVR ... you should have known better than to have a priceless show left on a DVR.
I can work my D* equipment without having to have colorful icon and other things you mentioned just fine.
Btw, how big is the HD on the said Dish dvr your talking about ?
If your using a BIG hard drive on Dish and your recvr goes bad, you still lose all your recordings, so why fill it up ?
Only other thing I find worse is when someone says, I had this priceless recording on my DVR and now it's gone ...
Shame on you if it was priceless and on any DVR ... you should have known better than to have a priceless show left on a DVR.
Hopper drives are 2TB with 1.25TB available for user recording. The rest is reserved for VOD, operating program, etc. Priceless recordings can be transferred to a RAID external drive. External archiving is unlimited and tied to the account, not the Hopper, with up to 3 2TB drives connected at a time. Archived programs are playable directly from the DVR menu with all trick play features.
The colors don't really bother me but I was just making a point about evolving and being competitive with your rivals. You don't need a Mercedes-Benz either but if it is around the same price as a Geo metro then why not.... The big thing I liked about dish was icons for my daughter because she is too young to read. Storage space is also important because I deal with three different people who all record their own stuff. This stuff isn't a deal breaker for me but it would be nice to DirecTV step up in this facet
i prefer clean and uncluttered. and i think directv is this way atm
as i scroll through shows, the icon is usually above it. why add them below?
i dont want a carousel style interface (like the on demand section)
leave it simple
i dont like the idea of folders i have to go into.
putting the same show in a folder is fine, but multiple shows so i have to go in and out is not making it simpler
no need to change the interface, it functions fine
as i scroll through shows, the icon is usually above it. why add them below?
i dont want a carousel style interface (like the on demand section)
leave it simple
i dont like the idea of folders i have to go into.
putting the same show in a folder is fine, but multiple shows so i have to go in and out is not making it simpler
no need to change the interface, it functions fine
Ive switched back and forth several times and things never change (so far)
Dish has better hardware and interface
Directv has better service and PQ
I take PQ every time. I mean my HR44 records what it is supposed to and displays native HD live tv, so what do I care.
Dish has better hardware and interface
Directv has better service and PQ
I take PQ every time. I mean my HR44 records what it is supposed to and displays native HD live tv, so what do I care.
Well I tend to disagree with you. If you have multiple people using this who watch entirely different things then it's annoying to have to fumble thru everyone else's stuff to find yours. Hence the folders. I could set all my programs to record to my folder with a click of a button. This made life very simple. With what you view as easier with DirecTV, I now have to look thru everyone's stuff to find my recorded stuff vs Dish where I open my folder and everything is right there. You also weren't fully understanding the icons I was referring to. I'm attaching a picture so you can see what I mean. A layout like this especially for children makes selecting things to watch 1000 times easier rather than me having to read all the recordings in the dvr to my child or having to scroll over every movie in the guide that's on live TV to show an icon of the movie. Hopefully you understand my point of view. These little features may seem unnecessary to you but I can assure you when you deal with multiple people in a home with entirely different programs they watch and children who are highly visual.... You would understand where I'm coming from. In a way I see your view similar to using a flip phone, yeah it works fine and it's basic. However, I'm more of the person who seeks an iPhone and loves features and options. DirecTV will eventually get on board because they will have no choice but to try to compete with dish. It's just a matter of time. I was mainly just trying to see if anyone had helpful insight or knowledge on when DirecTV would be adding more software features.
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The AT&T deal seams to have put them behind as before they led?....We will know just after first of the year I bet?....CES would be the time to start getting press......I hate the guide and have lots of complaints, Im sure they know....lol
If I ever had a guide that looked like that, I would have to reconsider my need for pay TV. How on earth can you find anything in that cluttered mess? Alphabetically is not how a DVR should be sorted, it should be the last things that it records. That's how I would think most people would want it. How do the kids find the folders? How many shows can your kids who can't read possibly record? Wouldn't it be easier to teach them to "press this button" then "this one", pointing to the LIST and DOWN buttons, than to teach them to sort through folders? I don't get it.
And if you look on the Directv interface, as others as noted, there is a show icon on each folder of recorded shows if you scroll. Much cleaner and easier to navigate. This is not Netflix. Comparing this to a flip phone is a bit off. Dish is like a Note 7, all pretty and flashy, but you get burned with bad PQ and a DVR filled with hundreds of shows you'll never watch.
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that pic is exactly what i envisioned. its horrible. way too much real estate used.
i cant see each episode and their record date easily as i can with directv.
As a Hopper user, I agree.
I wish there was a" List View"
Without those Icons in the Recordings list.
But the Guide I definitely prefer the Hopper.
I'd rather have channel Icons than forced Ads all over the place.
I wish there was a" List View"
Without those Icons in the Recordings list.
But the Guide I definitely prefer the Hopper.
I'd rather have channel Icons than forced Ads all over the place.
Simple solution would be to make a Custom guide for the kids and a separate on for the adults if they want one.
You make it sound like no one here has more than one person in the house .... most of these people have wives/husbands and kids they deal with.
Easy solution for you having to scroll thru others shows ... use different DVRs... don't turn on the share and they work individually.
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