New directv customer

[skierrob]

New first time DirecTV customer here. Previously had OTA for about a year with a TiVo - prior to that had Verizon FIOS and before that Dish.

Signed up on Costco.com for the $300 cash card offer with the Select All In $50 package with a Genie and one mini genie. Price stays the same for 24 months as I'm an AT&T wireless customer.

Will get another $10 off each month due to combined billing with AT&T wireless - combined my bills on Sunday.

So my total bill will be $40 a month for tv which isn't too bad - my internet is $39 a month from Charter. FYI I was going to do charter tv instead of Direct, but they don't include BBC America in their base spectrum tv package - and their $39 spectrum tv offer doesn't include broadcast tv fee, regional sports fee and tons of taxes. And if I had wanted BBC America would have had to pay $12 more for their "tier one" package or $20 more for the "silver" package.

Ordered service on Friday afternoon and was installed Saturday afternoon. No issues during install. Received an HR44 and not a 54 because I don't have 4K programming which sucks but no big deal.

As a non sports fan I'm happy with the Select package except for not getting travel channel (oh well).

Getting premiums for three months free of course and also the HD Extra package for three months for free.

So far I like the HR44 except for two things:

1. 30 second skip quickly fast forwards 30 seconds instead of just skipping 30 seconds like my TiVo and Dish 722 dvr. Minor annoyance to see the ads fly by.

2. What I'll call season pass recordings isn't as refined as TiVo in regards to preventing repeat episodes. With TiVo I could set the Daily Show, South Park, etc. to avoid repeats when a generic guide description was used with a "first run" flag from Tribune by using a wish list and not recording any episode with the generic description. This option doesn't appear possible with the HR44 and I'm already seeing evidence of duplicates that will be recorded for Saturday night live and other shows due to this lack of functionality.

Any tips or tricks on avoiding repeats would be helpful - manual recordings don't work well when there are repeats either.

Robert

 

[maestro7]

When on the Guide screen, if you press the record "red dot" button three times (I think it is) while remaining on top of the desired show, you should be set to record the season for that show. By definition, it would only record the first airings of each episode.

For more granular manipulation, you can navigate under the Menu system (see online documentation for receiver specifics), find the name of the program and adjust recording options.

I hope this helps!

 

[rad]

You can change the box from the 30 second SLIP mode to skip. Go to the Smart Search, enter 30skip, press the red botton on the remote and say search all. The box should now do a 30 second skip, if you want to go back do the same but search for 30slip.

 

[skierrob]

Isn't this the same as selecting first run in the recording options?

My issue is when a show has a repeat but does not list true guide data. IE - some repeats of shows like The Daily Show where it sometimes but not always just has a generic description of "A humorous slant on top news stories" and no info about that specific episode.

When this description is given and no real episode info is given, Tribune gives the episode the new episode flag.

So with TiVo, to not record the episode, you say record all except if the above is in the episode description.

Hope that clarifies my issue?

Windows media center would also deal with this by letting you record only new episodes of the show and only at a specific time (i.e. 11 pm).

This would also resolve the 3 am episode repeat with the above generic guide data and new episode flag issue noted above.

Thanks!

When on the Guide screen, if you press the record "red dot" button three times (I think it is) while remaining on top of the desired show, you should be set to record the season for that show. By definition, it would only record the first airings of each episode.

For more granular manipulation, you can navigate under the Menu system (see online documentation for receiver specifics), find the name of the program and adjust recording options.

I hope this helps!

 

[Jimbo]

Isn't this the same as selecting first run in the recording options?

My issue is when a show has a repeat but does not list true guide data. IE - some repeats of shows like The Daily Show where it sometimes but not always just has a generic description of "A humorous slant on top news stories" and no info about that specific episode.

When this description is given and no real episode info is given, Tribune gives the episode the new episode flag.

So with TiVo, to not record the episode, you say record all except if the above is in the episode description.

Hope that clarifies my issue?

Windows media center would also deal with this by letting you record only new episodes of the show and only at a specific time (i.e. 11 pm).

This would also resolve the 3 am episode repeat with the above generic guide data and new episode flag issue noted above.

Thanks!

Several things may be happening here.
The Genie as well as the rest I think go by Air Date, it will be listed in the Info part of the description.
If the show doesn't give an Info date, I believe it will record.
Also, it may be looking as the first show you set to record as being a New as it has nothing else to work off of, see if it continues after that 1st episode.

 

[maestro7]

Several things may be happening here.
The Genie as well as the rest I think go by Air Date, it will be listed in the Info part of the description.
If the show doesn't give an Info date, I believe it will record.
Also, it may be looking as the first show you set to record as being a New as it has nothing else to work off of, see if it continues after that 1st episode.

(For the OP) It might also help to simply call DirecTV up and see what they have to say.

Otherwise, yes, thanks for the deeper explanation. You have a good point.