HD Upgrade To Eliminate OTA

[ccorson97]

I am in Columbus, OH. I upgraded to a 3-LNB dish with an HD-DVR in June of last year, so I also have an OTA antenna. I would like to upgrade to the H20 with the new DVR.

I know that I am an "A" list customer, since I have been with DirecTV since 1996 (and they have told me).

Have things settled down with the upgrades so that if I upgrade now, I am set for a while? Also, I assume that since Columbus is now part of HD Locals I won't need the OTA, which is good since I have my HDTV in my basement.

Thanks for any info anyone has on this.

 

[CRendall]

I don't have a HR20 but from what I've heard it's working much better with the latest software release.

To get your locals in HD from DirecTV you will need to upgrade to the 5LNB dish.

 

[robbiee19]

I am in Columbus, OH. I upgraded to a 3-LNB dish with an HD-DVR in June of last year, so I also have an OTA antenna. I would like to upgrade to the H20 with the new DVR.

I know that I am an "A" list customer, since I have been with DirecTV since 1996 (and they have told me).

Have things settled down with the upgrades so that if I upgrade now, I am set for a while? Also, I assume that since Columbus is now part of HD Locals I won't need the OTA, which is good since I have my HDTV in my basement.

Thanks for any info anyone has on this.

Hey, I live in Hillard west of Rome -Hiliard Rd. If you watch all the PBS HD channel with sub chs , CW ch 53 and PAX 51, you will still need the OTA antenna. CW does broadcast HD shows and the OTA 51 channel is better pq with OTA. D* does broadcast those ch just in SD. So, if don't care about those chs you can get rid the OTA.

 

[wneilson82]

The DVR has settled down where it is good to use, imo.

I still use an OTA that I bought at CircuitCity though

 

[rad]

You probably should go to http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/localChannels.jsp?assetId=900018 plus in your zip and see what locals D* actually does carry for you. I haven't seen them do PBS stations yet and in some markets due to the local station wanting more $'s from D* to carry the ATSC channel D* has decided to not carry it. Plus there's always the times where there is a problem with D*'s backhaul or other hardware that looses a HD LIL channel every now and then, In the past 10 days I lost the ABC HD LIL for 5 days and the FOX HD LIL has now been down for 3. So you might just want to keep that old antenna around for awhile yet.

 

[ccorson97]

Thanks for everyone's reply. I called DirecTV today, and told them i wanted to upgrade. The guy put me on hold and then transferred me (I think to Customer Retention).

They told me there was a note in my file that they would swap me out to the new 5 LNB dish and HD-DVR for no charge, so they scheduled the install. I thought I was going to have to do some haggling, but didn't even have to ask for a good deal.

Again, I have been a customer since around 1995, so I am sure that had something to do with it.

 

[jetwrench]

If you already have the ota run to the area the receiver is going to be in I would use it also. I know I'm not the only one that feels the ota hd picture is better than the sat one.Another plus is that the ota gets several different hd programs per given channel,for example 7-1,7-2,7-3.Whereas the sat hd channel is only the hd version of the normal channel.

 

[ccorson97]

If you already have the ota run to the area the receiver is going to be in I would use it also. I know I'm not the only one that feels the ota hd picture is better than the sat one.Another plus is that the ota gets several different hd programs per given channel,for example 7-1,7-2,7-3.Whereas the sat hd channel is only the hd version of the normal channel.

You know, now that you say that - I remember during March Madness last year that my local CBS affilliate had all the different feeds on the HD channels (10-1, 10-2, 10-3, etc) so I was flipping through them.

Thanks for the reminder!!

 

[robbiee19]

Thats correct. So, you will still need the OTA for that and back up.

 

[ChrisClearman]

The HD locals are compressed and don't look as good as OTA. Use OTA if possible.