Hey guys had some questions. I have been using Cox for the last probably 5 years for my Cable, Internet and Phone supplier. I live outside Oklahoma City. I've been ok with them so far. But I'm a tech guy and I've noticed the technology that Cox uses seems to be slipping further and further in the past. So I began to look at their new Whole Room DVR/Plus package and Trio guide system, and it looks ok... But reading on AVSForums I noticed some pretty horrible stories about the way the tech works and how wonky it is.
So I've began to look at DirecTV. The technology looks to be the best available that there is, the HD guide looks fantastic, (I'm a sucker for techy/flashy stuff) and the prices seem to just decimate what Cox can offer particularly for the first two years with the various promos DTV is running.
Here's my setup. I have 2 HDTV's and I want to have DVR's on both. The wife records tons of shows and she'd love to record more than two at once. So I'm looking at the HMC DVR because of the 5 tuner functionality. She currently beats her head in when she can only record 2 shows at once with our Cox box. I'd also probably be putting in the standard HD DVR Receiver in the bedroom as that will probably be more my TV and I'd like to have the ability to record, pause, rewind live TV which I don't think the whole room sub receivers can do. (This was an issue I had with Cox's whole room system) My question is, if I purchase these two receivers the HMC and the standard HD DVR, will the two communicate together/share programming (I.E. Can I record a show on the HMC and watch it on the HD DVR and vice versa) or are they separate autonomous units?
I don't have more than the HR34, but AFAIK you can record from and view on any connected unit.
How is DirecTV's customer support? I've had very little luck with Cox's and they tend to screw things up before getting them fixed. The bedroom I'm putting the HD DVR into has had issues with the outlet before, is this something DirecTV will work on and it's included in the installation price?
I had them before a few years ago and just signed up recently again and so far they have been very responsive (even though their accounting department is pathetic) and have resolved any problems which is better than I thought they were back then. If you're looking for true excellence with any provider you will be disappointed.
I'm a bit worried of course about signal degradation, living in Oklahoma we do get some nasty storms and the occasional snow/ice for days. Is this still an issue or has it mostly been resolved?
I'm in Colorado and haven't had any problem except with real heavy snow that buries the dish and that's only been once since Feb. 1 when I signed up. Rain surprisingly hasn't bothered it at all, although we haven't had a real bad storm recently.
How's the picture quality? I've heard it can be better than cable but wasn't sure if that was true or not.
My expeience was with Comcast and DTV is light years better. In all honesty, though I started watching HDTV via OTA over 6 years ago and when Dish first came out with HD and it was all better before they started compressing everything so much, especially OTA.
If I think of anything else I'll try and post it up, but I'd appreciate some input from the guys who are using the service before I commit.