Genie question- lost features vs DISH DVR

[lparsons21]

only problem is every time i think i am ready to switch, there is a dishpute that prevents me

That is an issue, though not a big one to me. Between what I have recorded on the Hopper, Netflix and Amazon Prime I can find so much to watch it just isn't a big deal.

Lloyd from the Pixel

 

[Troch77]

So you prefer a slightly better guide over actual HD? That's kinda odd...

I prefer not paying for $7 for each receiver including the first one.
I also prefer VOD that doesn't take hours to download.
I also don't like paying $6.39 on RSN fees.
While the HD PQ is better on Directv, never enough to justify paying $15 more a month in my opinion to deal a slow crappy HR and those sad Clients.

And sorry, But I'm not paying Directv $200 for an Leased HR upgrade, when I can buy and own additional Hoppers for $75 less, and never resign a commit.

So clearly PQ IMO isn't the top factor in deciding a provider.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[Ronnie-]

I always thought that the big advantage of PTAT is never having to actually figure out which of the new shows you might want to record. Just turn on PTAT and it gets them all. That gives me a chance to watch one or two episodes of a new show and if I really like it, then schedule it to 'save series' so the 8 day window isn't an issue.

Lloyd from the Pixel

That was the draw of it when we had dish. I enjoyed the feature, and my wife more than I.

 

[ejb1980]

Why are all you Dish fanboys in the Directv area? Dish has terrible PQ. Awful. It just does. Sports on Dish are unwatchable. I don't pay for my first receiver on Directv, and I can actually watch all the Celtics games. The on-demand has SIGNIFICANTLY improved recently. I used to bash Directv's on-demand, but I can't anymore. There's more and more of it, too.

 

[ejb1980]

That was the draw of it when we had dish. I enjoyed the feature, and my wife more than I.

That's what on-demand is for. Why would you want your hard drive filled with shows that you aren't going to watch? PTAT has NEVER made any sense to me. I can do any time anytime with any DVR.

 

[Troch77]

That was the draw of it when we had dish. I enjoyed the feature, and my wife more than I.

I actually don't even use it.

It was a fast half a$$ed answer to make a 3 tuner receiver adequate against recording conflicts, remember VIP DVRs weren't integrated like HR2s in the Hopper systems.

Only problem is Dish realized Local network programming is ho-hum,
So the next answer was the Super Joey that helped combat recording conflicts, and thats more when PTA became a feature more than a band-aid.

Actually it would be better if you could pick the 4 channels you want.



Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[Ronnie-]

That's what on-demand is for.

One could use on demand for it I suppose, but personally I found PTAT to be a better option. It did not suck up data, and it was just all in one place for the browsing. I found a couple of shows that I would not have given a glance otherwise when we had Dish.

 

[Troch77]

. I don't pay for my first receiver on Directv.

You don't ,but my Guess you pay $23
or $25 for your Advanced receiver fee.
$10 HD, $10 DVR, $3-5 MRV Fee depending on your sign up date.
A new customer would pay $15 Advanced receiver fee, and a $7 first room fee.
$22.

You pay more .


Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[mdram]

no first receiver here, and no hd fee
so $13 for me

 

[Ronnie-]

Why would you want your hard drive filled with shows that you aren't going to watch? PTAT has NEVER made any sense to me. I can do any time anytime with any DVR.

You can of course turn it off. Unless I am mistaken, at least when I had it, PTAT did not use any hard drive space that the user would save their other recordings on. So while it is saved on the hard drive, you did not gain extra space by disabling it. That may have changed, and I may be remembering it incorrectly.

In any case, different things for different people. The not having to remember to set it and catching shows that I would never have set a timer for was a big draw for me at the time. I am sure others have different views.

 

[Troch77]

no first receiver here, and no hd fee
so $13 for me

Are you under a promo with ATT?


Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[mdram]

nope, when i signed up back in 2010, i received free hd for life with autopay
had the same thing with dish at the time

 

[Troch77]

nope, when i signed up back in 2010, i received free hd for life with autopay
had the same thing with dish at the time

Nice , you got lucky.
That offer wasn't available when I signed up last time around.
My advanced receiver fee started at $20, then went to $23.
I had no RSN fee when I signed up in 2012, but by 2015 it was almost $6 , now it's over $6.

I always felt every package should have an option to opt out.

I will certainly consider Directv if they drop that HR line and make a new 8 tuner Genie.


Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[mdram]

well i got doubly lucky
initial install was hr24 and h24
then the genie came out, and i replaced the h24 with a genie
so i didnt have to pay for any equipment,a nd dint have to have a paper weight, err i mean mini genie

 

[lparsons21]

Why are all you Dish fanboys in the Directv area? Dish has terrible PQ. Awful. It just does. Sports on Dish are unwatchable. I don't pay for my first receiver on Directv, and I can actually watch all the Celtics games. The on-demand has SIGNIFICANTLY improved recently. I used to bash Directv's on-demand, but I can't anymore. There's more and more of it, too.

I'm a TV fanboy! And why am I here in the D* area? Because #1: I can be, #2: because I want to be.

And no, the Dish HDPQ is far from awful. I've been watching the Olympics for the last few days and find the sports to be very viewable, hell, I can practically watch the grass grow on the golf course! Is D*'s slightly better? Yep, said so a number of times. Is it vastly better, no.

As to D*'s VOD, well it had to improve or just remove it altogether. On E* I can and do watch VOD as it streams, even the 4K stuff with almost no burps. Never could do that when I had D*.

Lloyd from the Pixel

 

[Troch77]

well i got doubly lucky
initial install was hr24 and h24
then the genie came out, and i replaced the h24 with a genie
so i didnt have to pay for any equipment,a nd dint have to have a paper weight, err i mean mini genie

I started out with HR34,HR23,and 2 H25s,
By the end of my Directv Era, I had HR34,HR24,HR24,H25,C31.
My sister had the HR44 installed, and It wasn't impressive enough for me to upgrade and stay with Directv.
so I left.
And went with 2 Hoppers 2 Joeys and two 211's.

Certainly a downgrade tuner wise, but our demand is much lower than before, since my kids are much more into Netflix and on demand than live recording.

As far as Hopper 3, well I was withing 2 days of an upgrade install, and I decided to cancel.

So who knows what the future may bring.



Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[Troch77]

I'm a TV fanboy! And why am I here in the D* area? Because #1: I can be, #2: because I want to be.

And no, the Dish HDPQ is far from awful. I've been watching the Olympics for the last few days and find the sports to be very viewable, hell, I can practically watch the grass grow on the golf course! Is D*'s slightly better? Yep, said so a number of times. Is it vastly better, no.

As to D*'s VOD, well it had to improve or just remove it altogether. On E* I can and do watch VOD as it streams, even the 4K stuff with almost no burps. Never could do that when I had D*.

Lloyd from the Pixel

Directv On demand would Buffer using 60 MBPS service.
That's pathetic...


Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

 

[mdram]

Directv On demand would Buffer using 60 MBPS service.
That's pathetic...


Samsung Galaxy S6 Active

arent the on demand servers provided by the providers?
i dont see how its a directv issue?
maybe they are limiting the bandwidth?

wither way its a strange issue i have seen various places

 

[lparsons21]

based on how well E*'s VOD streams vs how poorly D*'s does it, it would seem that it isn't the content providers doing that last link.

 

[ncted]

slow crappy HR and those sad Clients.

It is amusing. When I got my first DVR it was a Sony-branded DirecTivo which seemed very snappy. Over time, it seemed to get slower and slower, so I got an HR10-250, and it was good for a while, and then started to seem slow. Eventually, a software upgrade made it much faster again.

Then I got a SA8000HD from the cable company running Passport, which was fine, and I could use an eSATA drive to get extra space. They "upgraded" us to Navigator, and it was as slow as molasses.

So, I switched to Dish, with a 722 and a 622, both of which gradually got slower with each software upgrade.

Then I switched back to DirecTV with HR24s, which seemed blazing fast at first, but the new black menus made it slow.

I got an original Hopper with a Joey, both of which slowed over time to the point they were painful to use at times. (see a trend starting here?)

Next, I had a Tivo Roamio OTA, which has not been part of the pattern at all, despite a number of software upgrades and new features which could have easily slowed things down.

Now I have an HR54 and a C61k, which seem plenty fast, but I am sure they will slow down over the next couple of years I have D*.

Aside from the retail Tivo, every STB I have ever owned/leased has become sluggish.