Apologies for taking too long to post, too much going on when one is moving with a toddler.... Anyway, here goes my experience with the installation and my experience with Directv so far.
The installation was great. Installer arrived at 10:30am, within the 8-noon timeframe. After working on the roof for about 1:30hrs, to replace a part on the Directv dish that was already installed in my house, and to connect all the wiring outside, he came inside and did a great job of setting up everything, including the internet component. The only reason he did not spend more time with me explaining the functionality was that I needed to run back to the old place, to give my keys to the movers so that they could start packing our stuff.
However, after installation, I have had an issue, which I'm going to probably follow up on it this weekend. As per instructed, I added SportsPak after my install, so that I wasn't automatically put in the Directv Premier package, due to all movie channel promos. However, I noticed that I wasn't been able to get Fox Deportes, a channel that is part of the Sports Pak AND it's a channel that I was really looking forward to getting. Fox Deportes covers many South American matches like Copa LIbertadores and Copa Sudamericana not covered by Fox Soccer Channel, and Fox deportes does have SAP in English. So I call Directv customer service and a gentlemen there did spend quite a few minutes navigating the various Directv systems until he realized I would need an extra Dish and that install would cost me over 100 dollars. Why do I have to pay extra to get a channel that Directv clearly indicates it's part of the Sports Pak is beyond me. Also, the original csr should have noticed that I wanted the SportsPak from the get go, so this extra Directv Dish would be needed in the original install!
Other than this issue with Fox Deportes, I am really enjoying the service. I love the ability of watching YouTube videos - little one loves the GillieBellie videos like Old MacDonald and Wheels on the bus, so it's very convenient. The weather app is also great, give my local weather very fast. Also, it's good to have my NYC metro RSNs and in HD! And MRV is really, really great!
I do miss BBC America HD, the swap between tuners w/out the need to active it and w/out the need to worry about first having to enable it and, then , worrying about it getting disabled after 2 hours, and, mostly, the live tv button. But I do believe those are very small prices to pay for an overall superior experience.