I am tired of my cable company. They are complete jerks. They don't have a phone number at the local office, so you have to go in to ask a question or change your service. They took over when our old cable company (astound) sold out to them (charter).

I am thinking of getting direct tv (or similar)but know next to nohing about it. Do any of you have it? How do you like it? Where do I get it? any thing else I should know?

I would be wanting to watch in several rooms, and would be interested in the DVR feture if offered.

Thanks for any advice.

never going back to cable for one reason. nfl ticket. i got two new HD receivers for fathers day from kristi. thanx babe. all of what you want is available from directtv. never had a problem with them. their support is superb. also, lots of distonery chanels. history chanel(modern marvels!) and other non movie chanels...do it bro-you won't be disappointed. go on line to directv's websight. every thing you need is right there, easy to navigate. also has all the phone numbers you need.

hope this helps...

nine

i have dish tv. i had for many years direct tv, they will both give an excellent picture and dish tv has 24 hour tech support. i believe direct tv has the same.

i left direct tv for voom satellite because it had more hi-def channels. when they went out of business, dish tv bought their satellites so i went with dish.

on all of these satellite companies there are about 40 or more music stations. that gives the impression that you are getting a lot of channels of tv, but you are not.

toby and i oversubscribe to their packages becuse we spend some time flipping channels. you should have a hi-def set to get the full benifit of what's available.

even without, the picture quality is better then cable or rabbit ears.

this will get you a ton of info.

there are always specials where they will mount the dish, install in all the rooms up to 3 for nothing, you just have to commit to a year. i believe you can commit to even their minimum package to get the free stuff.

this is their minimum $50.00 a month.

Animania HD

Family Room HD

GamePlay HD

Discovery HD Theater

Equator HD

DISH Network PPV in HD

Film Fest HD

HDNet Movies

Kung Fu HD

Monsters HD

World Cinema HD

HDNews

Rave HD

ESPN HD

ESPN2 HD

NFL Network HD

Rush HD

WorldSport HD

Gallery HD

HDNet

HGTV HD

TNT HD

Treasure HD

Ultra HD

Universal HD

Standard Definition Channels

* ABC FAMILY

* AMERICA'S PREVUE TV

* ANGEL ONE

* ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

* BEAUTY & FASHION CHANNEL

* C-SPAN

* C-SPAN2

* CABLE NEWS NETWORK

* CARTOON NETWORK

* CCTV-9

* CNBC

* COMEDY CENTRAL

* COUNTRY MUSIC TELEVISION

* COURT TV

* DISCOVERY CHANNEL, THE

* DISNEY CHANNEL (EAST)

* DISNEY CHANNEL (WEST)

* DRIVE TV

* E! ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

* ESPN

* ESPN2

* ESPNEWS

* ETERNAL WORD TELEVISION NETWORK

* FOOD NETWORK

* HEADLINE NEWS NETWORK

* HEALTHY LIVING CHANNEL

* HISTORY CHANNEL INTERNATIONAL

* HORSERACING TV

* ISHOP

* Jewelry Television

* LEARNING CHANNEL, THE

* MEN'S CHANNEL

* MUSIC TELEVISION

* MUSIC TELEVISION 2

* NASA

* NICKELODEON/NICK AT NIGHT (EAST)

* NICKELODEON/NICK AT NITE (WEST)

* QVC SHOPPING NETWORK

* RESORT AND RESIDENCE

* SCI-FI CHANNEL, THE

* SHOP AT HOME

* SHOP NBC

* SPIKE TV

* TRAVEL CHANNEL, THE

* TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK

* TURNER BROADCAST SYSTEM

* TURNER NETWORK TELEVISION

* TV GAMES NETWORK

* TV GUIDE CHANNEL

* TV LAND

* TV OUTLET MALL

* USA NETWORK

* VH1

* WEATHER CHANNEL, THE

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/ 

programming/pricingandpackages/platinum/index.shtml

they charge $5.00 a month extra for the use of the second and or third converter box.

during football season i use direct tv in another room to watch the football lineup that only direct has. i believe it is $150.00 for the seasons and you get all the football except the ones on standard channels.

They have electricity in Minnesota? What the *@#^!

Be aware of all the add-ons to the price, for both Directv and Dish.

It's usually $5/month for each additional receiver (excluding dual tuners like DVRs), and $5/month for DVR service (not sure if that is per DVR or not) and HD is about $10/month.

So if you get an HD receiver and a DVR, you're looking at an extra $20/month.

Also, be very careful and make sure you aren't "renting" the receivers. Some Dish providers charge you $5/month/receiver above all the other costs, and the hardware isn't yours to keep. Not sure if any Directv providers do that, but one of our friends got screwed that way by Dish, and so did our neighbor.

Go somewhere and check the menu/guide systems on Dish and Directv. We like Directv's better than our friends Dish's, but we have Sony receivers and they're different than RCA's (which suck).

Have ' Dish Network ' ~

One draw back, signal loss during heavy rain or snow storms. Make sure you can reach the dish to clear it of snow in the winter months.

Verizon is offering Direct TV, with their service.

Price wise, they have cable beat, more choices, less cost.

Good luck ~

I too grew tired of the cable company and after several years of battling with them, I got a dish ... more than 12 years ago ... when I got my first dish, the small dishes were in their infancy and I got a 10' dish that I was quite happy with ... but as the small dishes grew in popularity, more and more of the programming switched over to them and ultimately, we gave up the big dish and went with DirecTV ... we've been happy with them and still pay less for more programming than we did with the cable company in the early 90s ...

Contact DirecTV and get a rundown of what they offer in your area ... I think you're going to find you can get at least 2 if not 3 boxes that have Tivo built into them and get as much programming as you can possibly hope to watch for less money than you pay the furshlugginer cable company ...

LMK if you have other questions I can answer ...

I've had DirecTV for 6 years........Got it first, cuz of NFL ticket (of course)

We used to have some problems with rain messing up the signal, but since we moved 3 years ago and got a new HD dish, I've only lost signal once (and that was during Hurrican Rita!)

Plenty of channels to choose from, and you can get the receiver for free (unless going HD, and then you can talk them down from published prices)

dkeage

We have Dish and love it.

I have Comcast and I hate it, but too damn lazy to change and do not intend to try and learn a new bunch of channel numbers....LOL

Charlie

I have three boxes, have HDTV, have all the movie channels that are available and bill is really high, but picture is great, still hate Comcast....

Charlie

PS I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express once.

I've had DirecTV for about 4 years now. I love it. Sunday ticket allows me to watch the beloved Packers during football season. I think I've only lost signal half a dozen times and that's only in big t-storms or heavy, heavy snow fall. When it goes out, its only for 5-10 min.

I have 5 recievers (only three are hooked up) and two of the 5 are Tivo systems. They charge you $5/month for each reciever after the first one and $5/month for Tivo (no matter how many Tivo systems you have).

The only problem I have with them is that the installers are locally contracted guys. Some are good, some are rotten. When I moved and had it installed in my new house, it was in the middle of a snow storm and the guy was a couple cans short of a six pack. He didn't get the dish lined up right and placed it in a less than desireable location. He had to punch two holes in the outside wall because he messed up the first one. He didn't ground it right, couldn't get the recievers set right... in general botched the whole install. I took over and got the recievers set up and sent him on his merry way.

This week my multiswitch went on the friz probably because it's still improperly gorunded. I called DirecTV and told them that they need to send another guy out and do it right. They wanted to charge me $80 for a service call and I said "Nothing doing, the cable company is one short call away." So, I have an appointment for this Sat 9-12 am for another DTV guy to come out and make it all better.

DirecTv rules!

Besides the NFL package which is the best thing since sliced bread, alot of the movie channels are broadcast in Dolby 5.1 even on the non HD channels. This means if you hook up your box to output sound to your home theater you can get DVD quality sound while watching a movie.

I have had both Direct TV and Dish Network............currently have Dish Network.

I am "satisfied" with Dish Network and I was almost as satsified with Direct TV.....we get better reception with DN during rainstorms.

Got DirecTV out here North of Seattle. Not because I wanted it, but because the missus wanted to move to an island where there is no cable service. Can't complain, though, finding a house near Seattle, quarter acre, two story 1850 sq. ft., right on a golf course for under $200K just three years ago is worth it.

Had very few problems with DirecTV. Got the full package, somethng like 5 HBO, 4 Cinemax, blah blah. Occasional digital breakup in pix, usually during heavy rain. Overall, good quality, and that's on a 55" RP TV with a 600 watt Kenwood home theater system. Looks and sounds amazing, especially when cranked up. No loss of quality on bigger TV like that, also looks good on a 13" in my home office, 20" in the bedroom. Didn't care for the NFL package...lot of dough for just a few games, and out here on the left coast you have to get up kinda early to see some games. The baseball package is a screamin' deal, however.

Direct Tv....$50 a month

TiVo...$5 a month

NFL Sunday Ticket...$150.00 a season (non HD)

Big TV with Picture in Picture....Bought it long ago waiting for it to die so I can convert to HD

Box of Punch Rare Corojo Magnums....roughly $90.00

Always seeing the Packers and not leaving my sofa on Sundays...Priceless

andytv 13

that's because DN's satellite is up higher.

Thanks guys for the info. I think we'll go for it. Is this something I'd look for at a best buy type store or online?

Would do it in a heartbeat. I can't.

Too many trees. Had a Direct TV guy drive up, ne never got out of the car. He just shook his head said "It wouldn't work" and drove away. (sniffle)

Rugrunner,

Start with the telephone company. They may have a combo deal. Then check the Sunday paper for an ad.

call direct tv, tell them you are thinking of being a subscriber and are shopping around.. They should make you a whopper of a deal!