The time has arrived, R.I.P Directv

[Hemi 6.1]

Blue Ridge is actually really good. They use Passport Echo software on their DVRs, which is much faster and pretty smooth and easy to use interface. It's WAY better than the original SARA UI that comes preinstalled on SciAtl cable boxes. Glad Blue Ridge has the sense to reformat their equipment with better software.

They also have quite a few HD channels that DirecTV doesn't have (who the hell knows why). The VOD is really robust and also includes HD content on demand. It's instant and there's no "downloading", plus the library is much more extensive.

I don't have Blue Ridge myself, but the inlaws have it up in Pike county PA. Every time we go visit I have to say I'm impressed with that company, especially since it's not a big name like Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, Cox, Mediacom, etc. I think you will be happy with the service and congrats for expressing your feelings with your wallet. It's good to have options!

I do have 10mbps Internet through PTD.net via Service Electric Cablevision. It's rock solid and always achieves the rated speeds. PTD.net also provides Blue Ridge with their Internet connection, so you should have a good experience as well.

This is what I've noticed as well.

Thanks, Blue Ridge well Its no Comcrap
.
As I said the HD is Just as good as Dish if not better, without them Side by side, its hard to make that decision.

Blue ridge will be side to side with D* for one month
.

I hear how slow and crappy the SA boxes are, But the DVR i used was Light speed ahead of my HR23.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

D* has a basic pack with encore and movie channel.
Comcast wants about $16 just for movie channel (not part of showtime)

Blue ridge is $39.95 for their entire Premium pack, and I might add they Have all the HBO and Cinemax channels.

 

[Rey]

Hate to see you go buddy but i hope it works out for you. You need to do whats best for you. I will be very curious about your experience with cable so if you can keep me posted. Don't be a stranger.

 

[satjay]

Its good that for some there are other choices when it comes to cable, for me its just comcast, I went on there site just price wise to see how much thigs would cost, if you have more then one DVR or more then one HD box you get hit hard. Let us know how it works out, I think when you call to do the final disconnect maybe they will discuss with you promos to keep you?

 

[htmommy]

Free lunch , No way, Were not talking about a free lunch,
Were talking about a $242 per month Bill.

242 a month.... gssh that is a car payment!! No doubt you wont miss that. 2904 a year and if a 2 year contract its 5808 - damn - can I move in?? LOL

Seriously its a new economy and do whats financially best for you and your family - let us know how it goes after you switched over.

Good fortune.

 

[kjlued]

Good news, after you turn in all of your equipment and realize how big of a mistake you made, all you have to do is call DirecTv and they will offer you the world to come back. They will give you a free HD/DVR, free HD, and all the new customer promos plus I think there may be a few extra on top of that. You mighteven be able to squeeze them for another free upgrade or two.

Either way, you'll be back. lol

 

[Hemi 6.1]

. They will give you a free HD/DVR, free HD, and all the new customer promos plus I think there may be a few extra on top of that. You might even be able to squeeze them for another free upgrade or two.

Yea, thats sad.

I won't be back anytime soon unless D* give me 4 HDDVRs, or 2 HD DVrs and 2 H receivers with Free MRV.

I don't see that happening.

 

[ELMWOOD]

Yea, thats sad.

I won't be back anytime soon unless D* give me 4 HDDVRs, or 2 HD DVrs and 2 H receivers with Free MRV.

I don't see that happening.

Directv does not even have as many channels as my cable company. My gawd I don't think they could give everything away to me and have me come back anytime soon. The on demand with cable is nice and I don't need internet to use it.

 

[kjlued]

The on demand with cable is nice and I don't need internet to use it.

Considering most people have internet, I don't find this to be a huge issue.

 

[ELMWOOD]

Considering most people have internet, I don't find this to be a huge issue.

It's called buffering. Who has time for buffering? I by no means am bashing dtv. I had them for over a decade. My cable company just has all the latest upgrades and the price can't be beat for the next two years.

 

[kjlued]

Yea, thats sad.

Agree and disagree at the same time.

I understand that every time somebody asks D* can't offer a bunch of free stuff, but they could be easier to work with.
E* is the same way.
Until they learn to do this, the "2 year customer" will happen a lot more.
Most people just want to have their SP just work with them.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

It's called buffering. Who has time for buffering? .

Agree, It shouldn't be considered VOD, unless its ON DEMAND, not on On demand in 3 hours.

D* has a lot IMO to work on.
Prices, equipment ,upgrade cost.

 

[Ronnie-]

Hemi since you will still have D* when you get your new internet connection, try On-Demand then. I am sure you will find it to be more like what you want VOD to be. Even with my 6 mps connection I rarely have to wait more than a few (10 or so) seconds to start watching even in HD.

 

[cypherstream]

I don't have much success with D* VOD. 90% of the time my selections never even show up in the playlist. They do show up under History as Cancelled (Program unable to download 3005/404). It takes quite a few tries, but I can eventually get it to work. It's just a lot of in and out of menu's... quite a PITA. Even when it would work with my 10mbps connection, it should just start playing when you select a title. I don't want to have to back out of the menu and select it from a list. Heck, with Boxee or even the YouTube feature on the HR24, it's able to stream that in real time. Why not stream VOD in real time if your connection is available for it? Netflix and Amazon stream real time on many devices. My other gripe with D* VOD is that the majority of it is in SD.

I miss living in a Comcast area. I'd have tons of HD content on demand, available instantly. Plus I didn't have to see the Wife watch E!, Style and We in SD, because they are all HD on Comcast. We also would of been able to enjoy AMC's "The Walking Dead" in HD. However with DirecTV's new gestapo CEO, he really put the brakes on adding popular, most requested HD networks. I'd be gone too if I weren't in contract. My local cable co is just a mom and pop shop serving various communities in PA, and they have over 100 HD channels. BBC America and Fox Movies in HD is coming on 2/28. Boy that would be nice to get... but I'm not about to subscribe to two providers. What a waste of money for a lot of duplicated content. Too bad I can't do ala-carte and pick and choose certain HD channels on cable to suppliment the lacking HD content on DirecTV. From our cable provider I would hand pick these for me and the wife (E!, Style, We, DIY, Cooking, BBC America, Reelz, Nat Geo Wild, TruTV, HLN, G4, HI, GSN, Ovation, Nasa, SWRV and LMN). I already get HSN, QVC and ION in HD via ClearQAM. They just don't have AMC in HD yet, but at least they are nice when you request it on their facebook page. I guess that's the difference between a smaller operator vs. a large scale corporation. DirecTV needs the canned responses, as there are more people asking the same thing like "When is AMC and BBC America going to be carried in HD?" Answer: "We have no new HD channel additions to announce at this time." Gee thanks DirecTV, thanks for nothing.

 

[Bruce]

Good news, after you turn in all of your equipment and realize how big of a mistake you made, all you have to do is call DirecTv and they will offer you the world to come back. They will give you a free HD/DVR, free HD, and all the new customer promos plus I think there may be a few extra on top of that. You mighteven be able to squeeze them for another free upgrade or two.

Either way, you'll be back. lol

The main reason I left D* was I wanted to upgrade my two SD boxes to HD, I already had a HD box and a HD DVR from them and wished to upgrade the other two since they are hooked up to HDTVs anyways, they would not do it without charging me a few hundred dollars, so I said no thanks and set up a cancel date( which I could change if I could not find another provider), called up Comcast and the rest is history.

Anyways D* keep calling me offering me money off, free programing, etc, etc, then a week after I had Comcast installed( and 6 days after my cancel date) they finally offered me the boxes I wanted at no charge, why did they not just do that in the first place, when I set up my cancel date they asked what it would take to keep me, I told them-new HD Boxes at no charge, I know it was in my notes on my account since they offered it to me after my cancel date, why waste my time and the money off my monthly bill they offered($30 off a month for 12 months) was more then just upgrading the boxes fee.

But it was too late, already had Comcast for a week and found their service to be better, (I live in a rebuilt Comcast area, very few analog channels, very fast, boxes work great, more HD channels-AMC for example- then D*, great On Demand, etc, etc).

Don't take this as a bashing D* post, I loved being with D*, never a problem and I still would be with them if they would of upgraded my boxes.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Well looks like my Phone number transfer went through without a hitch so, Cable is all set for Thursday, I ordered 2 500 GB western digital Sata Drives for 2 out of 4 of my Scientific Atlanta 8300. They gave me a deal both for $150 , $50 less then What D* wanted to charge me for 1 HR 24.

D* refuses to budge with any offers , so I Paid up all my Seasonal Sports packs today, and I think now , I won't keep them past this Friday.

Been a good ride, but no going to pay for a service that won't give me the equipment I want, with out shelling out $550.
Nope.

 

[FlyingJ]

R.I.P. LOLS This death is being milked! Die already! Just playing Hemi. Good luck!

 

[Hemi 6.1]

R.I.P. LOLS This death is being milked! Die already! Just playing Hemi. Good luck!

I can't wait to get Comcast Philadelphia.

It take 10 Business days to release a Phone Number from Verizon, Thats what takes so long.

It was 15 days for Vonage to release their number, I wasn't wating that long.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

RIP Directv 02/10/2011

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Well its been almost a month since I got cable, So I thought I'd give you my Update.

The Scientific Atlantic box are by far way faster and more responsive then any HR I've had the pleasure using.
The EHD puts the recording capacity right on Par with D* HR23 and seems to never slow down, Unlike the HR's with 50% recording space used
The use of PIP and plenty of recording options and features that make recording a breeze.
The VOD puts D* to SHAME,as well as the TV games interactive selection is fast and again responsive.

HD channel selection is Great, I get Comcast Philly in SD and HD, NFL Red ZONE as well Fox Soccor and Gol HD without spending addtional on the Multisports packs.
As well as quite a few other in HD that D* hasn't added. Like AMC,E!,DIY,Game Show,ION, and a few others.
Quite a few SD channels, that D* doesn't carry as well, Like Neighboring locals about 11 of them, as well as some other SD nationals WNEP2,Qubo,ABC News Now,Accuweather, plus more
And REAL Local on the 8's.

SD PQ is better then what i'm used to with satellite. Doesn't seem to be loaded with micro blocking.
HD PQ , is Not Quite as WOW as D* is on Many channels, But still quite good, Brings back memorys with Dish , and their Over compression, and channel cramming, But still not to shabby.

Premium Channels, well hands down Cable beats all.
Limited HD premiums though, which for me is missed, But again the SD is better then what I'm used to so , its really not a big deal.

But over all, Customer Support, well no more Over seas call, Big plus in my book.
Closed on Major holidays!! Not good!
But now offers 24/7 Customer support and weekends which is a big step from the old bankers hours they used to be open.

Now Some bad!
When the Power goes out, So does your Cable, Don't like that!
When the Cable goes out, thats a fear as well.

2 IMO large draw backs.

Has no happend yet, but no one is sure how often it can happen.

Now what I miss from D*.

Game Search feature.
and Maybe NFL ST come the Fall.

But I got my First Cable Bill, And it was $183 including taxes and Fee's for G10 Internet,Unlimited phone,Their Top of the line HD Digital Plus Basepack,with all the Premiums,for 4 HD DVRs.
A $50 saving over Januarys Bill with D* Verizon and Vonage.

Its nothing personal D*, But maybe add some Neighboring Locals, the Missing Premiums,Comcast Philadelphia, and Stop charging $200 per HD DVR lease, and for God sake, get Rid of your Verizon bundle partner.

But make no mistake, I've go nothing against D* I like them as a satellite provider, I just wish a few more of my request areas would be addressed.