DirecTV questions (1 Viewer)

[Tim Kline]

I'm planning to finally invest in a DirecTV system when I get my new HDTV. I'm sure it's different depending on where you are but roughly how much can I expect to spend on a monthly bill, if I have all of the movie channels? I have 4 rooms that have TVs in them, and there could end up being a 5th when I get the new TV, is it possible to have 5 different TVs going with 5 different channels on? I know best buy has some free 3 room system deal going right now? Or do you still have to watch the same thing on every tv? In a bad storm or with lots of snow on the roof covering the dish, will I be able to watch anything?

The reason I want it is I'm kind of tired of paying so much for cable, and a friend has Comcast HDTV and it's really not that great. I've been hearing that the best way to go for HDTV has always been satelite. I know there's not a lot of channels just yet but I just want to be prepared for the future

I'm currently paying $178 a month for 2 digital cable boxes, all movie channels, cable modem and a phone line. The cable TV part is over 100 a month, so I'd like to lower that. Will I have to keep the cable for my internet? DSL isn't any good where I live, I've tried several different providers and my house is just in a bad spot :frowning: My cable modem is really great though. I've read about satelite internet connections, are they any good? I do a lot of downloading and uploading so I need something that's good both ways.

 

[MorganT]

Probably around $120 for everything a month, plus a 12 month contract.

 

[Heath_E]

Keep your cable internet. I have Direcway internet, and while it is better than dialup, you do not want to trade good cable internet for it, which you say has been great for you. Satellite internet is more expensive, slower, has a download cap, has horrible upload speeds(often not much higher than dialup), and has high latency(about 5-10 times that of cable).

As far as DirecTv goes, I love it. Of course, I don't have to worry about snow, so I can't comment on that part of it. But, I do get a ton of rain yearly and it is rarely a problem. BTW, those three room deals that you are talking about do indeed allow watching three different channels at the same time. The three lnb dish, which allows you to get all of the regular channels as well as HDTV and local channels, will have connections for four different receivers already built in. Five or more receivers is possible with some extra equipment. Keep in mind that a seperate cable needs to be run from the dish to each receiver, and that you need an HD capable receiver to get HDTV, which won't be included in those deals. All in all, At least in my neck of the woods, I rarely, if ever, run across someone that doesn't feel that DirecTV is a better deal than cable.

 

[Steve Lumbert]

I have DirecTV and love it. I get all the movie channels, local channels, and HDTV programming for $94 including all the taxes and stuff for 2 receivers (both HDTV). Each additional receiver costs $5/mo.

You can buy switch boxes that hook up the the 3-LNB dishes to run several TVs. I'm not sure the maximum number but it's more than 5. My LNB has a 4-way switch built in.

The only downside to my setup was the cost of the HDTV DirecTV converters. I run Samsung SIR-TS160s on both HDTV sets and they are spendy ($500+ new). One I bought used and I had a hell of a time getting them to send me a new access card. Apparently, DirecTV has some rules that existing customers can hook up used equipment but new customers can't. The first customer service rep I talked to didn't realize I was an existing customer I think.

Prior to DirecTV, I was an unhappy AT&T/Comcast digital cable subscriber. With all the billing problems and outages I experienced, I never regretted going to satellite.