Need help, DTV customer since 95 at a very

[geaux1]

high level, am considered a "best customer" and should be, I spend well over a hundred a month on programming plus 2-3 sports premiums a year like NFL, NHL and Euro Cup and Rugby PPV's etc. I am about to buy a MB 62" HDTV. This HD DTV thing blows as far as I can tell but I have only looked at the web and called the CSR, not made my usual threat to disconnect to talk to the intelligent people that I always have to do. They want 400 bucks???? And more in the fall???? Time Warner will come out for free and has boo coo more HD channels, Dish will do it for something like a hundred (or so says their website but granted I have not called them either). What gives? I had heard nightmare stories about DTV HD and this looks terrible. I hate it because I am hispanic and our local Time Warner hispanic options are horrid. Dish is great, better then DTV thought DTV is quite good but I like the Sunday Ticket and the familiarity. But I also heard they want some ridiculous amount of money over the already high NFL price to get Sunday Ticket in HD, but I did not confirm this. Am I wrong? Any suggestions? If I call and speak to rentention will they be sane? I mean I am sorry but it is just dumb for them to expect me to give them a penny to come out and hook up a triple LNB or "lease" me the HD DVR or the new one in the fall (if I understood the CSR correctly) when Time warner will do it for free (actually 5 bucks). Does this make sense to anyone?

 

[johnml]

If you already have ST, you should get SF free. the lease fee is $4.99 for the HR10-250, Which you should also get for free. You have to call retention. 800-824-9081

 

[geaux1]

I called, thanks, they gave me pretty much the deal, did not say anything about a lease fee but said all I would pay is an additional 9.99 for teh HD package which is what cable charges about anyway so obviously I am not paying for a lease fee either. Said when swapout occurs would be charge a nominal 40 or 50 buck fee, not hundreds, which I said should not happen either but not worth arguing over. Got free SF with my ST and 4 months of HD programming. Don't know why I should have to call an extra number, that's got to be a bad buss. practice. With me, I am patient and no big deal. I have heard DTV's HD is not as good as the others, but they have always had better service overall than the rest, so I am willing to bet whatever shortcoming they have will in the long run be fixed.

 

[TulsaCoker]

I have D* HD service and my brother in law has E* HD service. Both of us have the same 40" Sony XBR Direct View TV's and I can honestly say D* HD PQ is very good. I cannot tell the difference between D* and E*. So when people make statements that D* HD picture quality is horrible they in my opinion are full of it or their display is junk. Also I here a lot claim cable (TW, Cox etc) have a lot more HD and for the most part they do not. People tend to add all the local channels but if I do which I get from OTA (6 channesl) plus the 8 from D* that I subscribe to it's more then Cox in Tulsa offers. Just mu two cents.

 

[katyh20]

You didn't mention whether they cut you a deal on the HD part of the NFL Sunday Ticket, the NFL Super Fan package. I think it usually costs $99 although there have been some incentives offered this year to reduce the price either for early renewal or as a reward for having it last year. I got a reduced price this year. I don't like paying extra for the HD games but what am I going to do since I love football and HD.

 

[geaux1]

They gave me the SF free for this season, don;t see me paying for it after this. If they make me pay an extra 99, i'll probably cancel NFL next year altogether since they have those extra Thursday games and they have that flex schedule for the Sunday night games t move better games to prime time the last half. Just a principal thing since it's so high already.

 

[Jimbo]

I have D* HD service and my brother in law has E* HD service. Both of us have the same 40" Sony XBR Direct View TV's and I can honestly say D* HD PQ is very good. I cannot tell the difference between D* and E*. So when people make statements that D* HD picture quality is horrible they in my opinion are full of it or their display is junk. Also I here a lot claim cable (TW, Cox etc) have a lot more HD and for the most part they do not. People tend to add all the local channels but if I do which I get from OTA (6 channesl) plus the 8 from D* that I subscribe to it's more then Cox in Tulsa offers. Just mu two cents.

Alot has to do with each persons individual set up as well when it comes to comparing PQ.

Jimbo