Thinking about jumping ship to DirecTv....
 

I know there are a ton of dish threads lately, but I want to get some more specific feedback.

Here's my thinking:

Right now, I pay about $100 for cable modem service, cable service and telephone. Breaking it down, it's about $40 for internet, $40 cable and $20 for phone.

What I am thinking is this. There are some great packages for new subscribers to DirecTv. Orbit Satellite has a great package right now. I can get a two room system. The main receiver is the Philips Series 2 35 hour tivo and the other receiver is the basic one.

I have an old Tivo with a lifetime subscription. What I am thinking is move that one into my room with the other dish reciever. I don't have a tv in there yet, but that will be forthcoming shortly. Once I do, I can hook up the basic reciever and the old Tivo. I'll have to hack it for the cable modem, though since I will be cancelling my phone. That's not a big deal, though.

In the main room, I'll use the the Series 2 Tivo.

As for costs, this is what it breaks down. I'll cancel my cable and phone. I'll have to probably pay $50 a month for cable modem service after that. I'm going to get the Total Choice Plus package with locals, so that works out to be $40 a month. Plus the $4.99 Tivo service fee, it works out to be almost exactly what I am paying now.

So in essence, for $100 upfront and the same cost monthly, I get an extra Tivo unit, better reception and better channel selection.

I'd be interested in getting some feedback from people here. It is greatly appreciated. Sorry for the ramblings. :)

Sounds good to me. I couldn't live without my Tivo(s).

Good deal; go for it, but how will your regular Tivo work without a phone line? Does it have a built-in network card?

You can hack it with a network card. I haven't done that yet and won't bother to until I get another tv for my bedroom.

I saw where people have hacked their Directivos with wireless cards (to get shows off of the Tivo and schedule recordings/season passes from their PC).

ditto.

Triple LNB dish, 35 hour Tivo, two receivers, cordless phone remote, shipping and installation (extra wall drop needed): < $150.00 <small>( www.valueelectronics.com )</small>

DSL hardware/shipping/install: $12.95

Telling Cox Cable to ____ off: Priceless!!!


The installer arrives in 2 hours and 10 minutes! This day is going too slowly. :grunt:

the only time you need a phone line is for the initial setup. after that it phones home everynight to see if you've ordered ppv, from what i remember. i order those online anyway. haven't had a phone connected to it in 3 months. everything is done through satellite.

well, things are looking badly. I can't get a direct line of sight to the DirecTv satellite and my apartment community is unwilling to allow me to attach it to the roof. :(

That's why next time I move, I am bringing a compass with me before I sign anything.

Well, I was planning on getting it when I moved in here. I did not research it enough, though, to know that the dish has to be facing SE. Unfortunately, this was the only apartment on the 2nd floor. I could've got the ground floor place across the way that is perfect. :(

I knew all that - here on the east cost you must face SW (the satellite is over Texas). However, I thought the apt I picked faced SW for sure. However, it was more like WSW, so I ended up missing it by 10 degrees.

So if the "place across the way is perfect" I assume it faces roughly south? Which way does your apt face then? Roughly north?!

The place across the way faces SE. My place faces NW.

Ack that is dissapointing.

I am about to move out in a couple of months, and am dreading the ordeal with the directv.

I will sublet for a couple of months before I buy a new place, and will try and find a location with a Directivo, otherwise I am going to hurt like a mofo.

Y2K Falcon, I love it!

Hope your directivo works out, I've had mine 3 months and it has been a dream. No more land use tax for me, cable can bite me.

I just switched to DirecTV last month after being with Dish Network for a year. I will never go back to cable and I love DirecTV much better than Dish Network. Mainly because of the DirecTivo unit. I'm usually an early adopter on electronics, but I have resisted Tivo because I just couldn't believe it was "that" great, but I was so wrong. It truly changes the way I watch TV now. It is great! I would suggest that anybody with DirecTV should spend the extra money for the Tivo reciever, you won't regret it!

Cat

:up::up:

stop bumping this thread guys, you are bumming me out. :( ;)

sorry for compounding your misery

How many floors on your apartment building?

Do you have a deck?

Can you run a pole from your deck so a dish can point over the roof? What about off to the side?

no time to thread bump. All sorts of programming await me on my DTivo.....

That's likely a landlord no-no. Most leases state that the dish must be located within the tenant's leasehold area.

Only reason I brought it up is that I have a friend that was on the second floor of a two story apartment building and was allowed to extend a pole off his deck to shoot his dish over the building.

so if you live in texas, does the dish have to point straight up?