Ready to dump Directv

[robjlevin]

Wow, haters are gonna hate is right.

There is not one constructive piece of criticism in this thread. "It sucks" is completely meaningless.

I'm no apologist. This new interface takes some getting used to, but it's very easy to read and really...how much time do you spend staring at it? But that's beside the point; PQ is as good or better than any other provider, there is no other provider that has ANY 4K and for a sports fan, there's no other choice. I'd also rank their customer service-while not perfect-higher than any of their competitors.

 

[Phil T]

FYI, I did CE testing of the HS17 and received mine in November 2016. I enjoyed being a tester and updated my clients to the C61K’s at my own cost. During this fall (almost a year later) DirecTV began testing the new GUI. I was not given a choice and the new GUI was pushed to me. Initially pushes would download in the background and install when clients were not in use. This was fine. Then, IMO, they got in a hurry to meet a November 1st deadline to begin rolling out the GUI. They began pushing software during prime time that interrupted recordings. They also pushed software that would erase recordings and series links. Then two of my C41W clients were rendered useless by pushed software. Directv was no help and referred me back to regular CSR’s who expected me to pay for replacements.
I requested to be removed from the push lists but that request was ignored. By then the wife acceptance factor was gone. Also testing equipment was extending my commitment and limiting my ability to get any discounts. It was a perfect storm. I complained to AT&T Investor Relations (Office of the President) and requested my commitment be removed. They did remove it, but then a representative called me and told me “that’s what you get for being a tester” and hung up on me.

I realize there can be problems and issues when beta testing equipment. I was open to them but there is a huge lack of communication between DirecTV and the testers. At some point the hassles involved become greater then the benefit received. This was not an issue before the AT&T take over. I have tested equipment for them for over ten years. I also believe that when a product is released that you should not be on the test list forever. This happened to me on two different pieces of equipment. The only way to get removed is to replace equipment at your own cost or cancel service.

I hold no bad feelings towards the CE program and the volunteers who run it. Their hands are tied by the lack of communication and respect of testers from DirecTV/AT&T.

Claude, who started this thread, has been in the satellite business forever. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of satellite tv. There used to be a huge advantage over cable in cost and services provided. Not any more. The TV world is changing and the younger generations are not going to pay the high costs. They want TV for free or on their phones. They don’t care about 4K. AT&T is a wireless phone company. Now Comcast is a wireless phone company. T-Mobile just bought a cable company. The FCC sold off some of the TV spectrum to the the wireless companies.

For now, for me Comcast/Tivo is the best combination/value. That may change. Nothing is forever.

 

[Jimbo]

FYI, I did CE testing of the HS17 and received mine in November 2016. I enjoyed being a tester and updated my clients to the C61K’s at my own cost. During this fall (almost a year later) DirecTV began testing the new GUI. I was not given a choice and the new GUI was pushed to me. Initially pushes would download in the background and install when clients were not in use. This was fine. Then, IMO, they got in a hurry to meet a November 1st deadline to begin rolling out the GUI. They began pushing software during prime time that interrupted recordings. They also pushed software that would erase recordings and series links. Then two of my C41W clients were rendered useless by pushed software. Directv was no help and referred me back to regular CSR’s who expected me to pay for replacements.
I requested to be removed from the push lists but that request was ignored. By then the wife acceptance factor was gone. Also testing equipment was extending my commitment and limiting my ability to get any discounts. It was a perfect storm. I complained to AT&T Investor Relations (Office of the President) and requested my commitment be removed. They did remove it, but then a representative called me and told me “that’s what you get for being a tester” and hung up on me.

I realize there can be problems and issues when beta testing equipment. I was open to them but there is a huge lack of communication between DirecTV and the testers. At some point the hassles involved become greater then the benefit received. This was not an issue before the AT&T take over. I have tested equipment for them for over ten years. I also believe that when a product is released that you should not be on the test list forever. This happened to me on two different pieces of equipment. The only way to get removed is to replace equipment at your own cost or cancel service.

I hold no bad feelings towards the CE program and the volunteers who run it. Their hands are tied by the lack of communication and respect of testers from DirecTV/AT&T.

Claude, who started this thread, has been in the satellite business forever. I think we are seeing the beginning of the end of satellite tv. There used to be a huge advantage over cable in cost and services provided. Not any more. The TV world is changing and the younger generations are not going to pay the high costs. They want TV for free or on their phones. They don’t care about 4K. AT&T is a wireless phone company. Now Comcast is a wireless phone company. T-Mobile just bought a cable company. The FCC sold off some of the TV spectrum to the the wireless companies.

For now, for me Comcast/Tivo is the best combination/value. That may change. Nothing is forever.

Again .... Wow.

You are all over the place on this one, I'm not gonna go thru all of them, however, I will tell you that ATT is Not a Wireless phone company ....

ATT is a Phone company, with working lines, wired lines ... ALL the Phone and Internet and U Verse TV work on WIRED circiuts.
ATT Also is a Wireless as in Cell services as well as Sat TV.

Of course you knew all this, but seem to think that they can't do anything to anyones liking, mainly yours.

Fwiw, the Sat business is going no where soon, it will be around for a long time ... it was just reported recently that they are building another Sat, possibly built already, I didn't look into it that far to see when exactly it was going up.

If they are building Sats still, the service will be around for quite some time.

 

[littlecloud319]

Claude, I think it’s time you dig them Hopper 3’s out of your closet and come to dish. In my experience there are far less issues and we dish power users will always find a solution for a fellow dish user. We can guide you to the perfect setup for your needs.

 

[Jimbo]

Claude, I think it’s time you dig them Hopper 3’s out of your closet and come to dish. In my experience there are far less issues and we dish power users will always find a solution for a fellow dish user. We can guide you to the perfect setup for your needs.

You don't know Claude very well, do you ?

Claude will never be going back to DISH ...
Claude was a DISH dealer for many years, he knows all about them and how they work.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Claude, I think it’s time you dig them Hopper 3’s out of your closet and come to dish. In my experience there are far less issues and we dish power users will always find a solution for a fellow dish user. We can guide you to the perfect setup for your needs.

There will ever ever be an active dish subscription in my home or an account in my name, or a dish account I pay for.

My friends are not even allowed to get Dish, in fact I made them all cancel

 

[edisonprime]

Yeh if you don’t like this interface you won’t like hydra at all

Am I the only one who happens to LOVE and PREFER both new interfaces from DirecTV and TiVo? The only gripe I have with the DirecTV one is that it lacks single channel series recordings.

 

[osu1991]

I’m fine with Hydra. Have it on one of my TiVo’s, but the others are still on the previous OS. Dont want to deal with the changes for my parents and I still occasionally will send a video from the PC to the TiVo with pytivo instead of moving it to a plex folder

 

[edisonprime]

You don't know Claude very well, do you ?

Claude will never be going back to DISH ...
Claude was a DISH dealer for many years, he knows all about them and how they work.

For myself I kind of want to go back, but I posted a couple of reasons in a thread I started over in the Dish forums on which is holding me back from that.

 

[dolfan3033]

You don't know Claude very well, do you ?

Claude will never be going back to DISH ...
Claude was a DISH dealer for many years, he knows all about them and how they work.

Pretty sure he was joking. Claude isn’t afraid to discuss his displeasures in the Dish forums.

 

[robjlevin]

Am I the only one who happens to LOVE and PREFER both new interfaces from DirecTV and TiVo? The only gripe I have with the DirecTV one is that it lacks single channel series recordings.

No. But nobody show up to a forum like this to say everything's great. It's a misery loves company kind of thing. One person complains and the rest join in.

I think the new interface is much nicer than the old. Needs a few tweaks but listening to some of the complaints you'd think DirecTV was providing everything in standard definition and removed everyone's favorite channels.

 

[mdram]

i havnet gotten it, but the pics i have seen look, meh

i see no need for channel logos, just give me a number and name.
i actually like the current guide.
dont need all the pics and stuff

 

[CSM]

i havnet gotten it, but the pics i have seen look, meh

i see no need for channel logos, just give me a number and name.
i actually like the current guide.
dont need all the pics and stuff

Would you prefer this guide instead.

https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/tvguide.jpg

 

[mdram]

not the colors

as i said i think the guide is fine as it is, well it could have another hour, but thats not really needed

 

[CSM]

I haven't gotten the new guide yet and I do like the current guide and wish it had an extra half an hour but sometimes the info button is delayed for a few seconds. Other times the info button is fast.

 

[xterra]

Would you prefer this guide instead.

https://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/tvguide.jpg

My dad has the same UI, it's terrible.

 

[JoshC]

We have Dish Hopper throughout the house, but i have Directv in mine, just so i can watch Astros on ATT Southwest, used to be ROOT Sports. So im familiar with both UI’s. I like that Dish gives you more accessibility options for Vision, far as text size, different theme, looks etc. Whereas DirecTv doesnt over anything!!! Other than CC and a Talking guide, they give you none of the options that Dish does, which is a shame, and they should be made to have for people with vision problems. I dont see why they cant give you the option to pick what UI you want, doesnt seem that hard to me to offer that, give people options. The new UI is nice looking, and im getting used to it pretty quickly, quicker than i thought i would. Only thing ive noticed is sometimes when i bring up the playlist, the screen will go blank for a couple seconds, not every time, but it does do it.

 

[Jimbo]

We have Dish Hopper throughout the house, but i have Directv in mine, just so i can watch Astros on ATT Southwest, used to be ROOT Sports. So im familiar with both UI’s. I like that Dish gives you more accessibility options for Vision, far as text size, different theme, looks etc. Whereas DirecTv doesnt over anything!!! Other than CC and a Talking guide, they give you none of the options that Dish does, which is a shame, and they should be made to have for people with vision problems. I dont see why they cant give you the option to pick what UI you want, doesnt seem that hard to me to offer that, give people options. The new UI is nice looking, and im getting used to it pretty quickly, quicker than i thought i would. Only thing ive noticed is sometimes when i bring up the playlist, the screen will go blank for a couple seconds, not every time, but it does do it.

We use to have those options, back in the day before everything went Branded.
There were about 4 different makes out there and each was a bit different.
You had Sony, RCA and Hughes that I can remember off the top of my head, maybe more.

 

[EarDemon]

Am I the only one who happens to LOVE and PREFER both new interfaces from DirecTV and TiVo? The only gripe I have with the DirecTV one is that it lacks single channel series recordings.

I can only speak for DirecTV, but I have no problem with the new DirecTV UI. Like Mdram, I see no real need or value for the channel logos and programming cover art. It doesn’t really bother me that they’re there, I just see no need for them and would rather have the space used for an extra half an hour or hour in the EPG. Channel name, number and a brief description of the event is all I need. But then again, I don’t spend hours a day watching the guide, so it doesn’t matter. And yes, having the only option be to record programming on All Channels SUCKS! I DVR Road Trip Masters on Discovery on Saturdays, and it reairs on Pursuit on Sundays, I get it recorded on both channels. I can’t believe someone at DirecTV thought doing it that way was a good idea.

 

[rapidturtle]

I'm not crazy about the new guide. I hate the lag, and if I am watching a non HD channel and bring up the guide, it is almost unreadable. Why if on a SD channel does the guide come up in SD?