Dallsux Posted July 7, 2004 Author Share Posted July 7, 2004 Originally posted by The Dark Horse I don't even watch ESPN anymore. It almost like all receivers in my house are tuned in to NFL Network at any given moment. I haven't enjoyed anything this much since losing my virginity or seeing the Skins win a playoff game in person. Amen brother! Amen! :cheers: :laugh: :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted July 7, 2004 Author Share Posted July 7, 2004 Originally posted by quicksilver Wow, I'm so envious of everyone out there in the US who at least has the OPPORTUNITY to see all the Redskins games plus so many others. Over here in the UK, we get two live games Sunday night and no choice as to which games they are - I'd gladly pay a lot of money to be able to watch all the Skins games. WOW! International Fans!!! Way cool. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad4comp Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Hey guys i was wondering if any of you have switched from cox over to DTV, because im currently paying about $70 a month just for cox+hbo and stuff. But the reason im not switching just yet is because ive been told that reception quality sucks at times and was wondering if anyone can confirm this ? If so what are the drawbacks with DTV ? Thanks for your input. GO SKINS!!!!! :dallasuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyG3 Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Originally posted by mad4comp Hey guys i was wondering if any of you have switched from cox over to DTV, because im currently paying about $70 a month just for cox+hbo and stuff. But the reason im not switching just yet is because ive been told that reception quality sucks at times and was wondering if anyone can confirm this ? If so what are the drawbacks with DTV ? Thanks for your input. GO SKINS!!!!! :dallasuck The ONLY drawbacks I have seen vs digital cable is that the program guide is a little slower with DTV. The picture is better, TIVO rules, NFL Network is awesome, and if you live out of the DC area, Sunday Ticket is a must. Pricing is similar, and DTV is usually cheaper. I still have cable just for the internet, and all together it's still cheaper than my old cable+internet bill. (excluding the Sunday Ticket price). As far as reception - as long as there are no houses, trees, or power lines in front of your dish, you will not have any problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Originally posted by WallyG3 The ONLY drawbacks I have seen vs digital cable is that the program guide is a little slower with DTV. The picture is better, TIVO rules, NFL Network is awesome, and if you live out of the DC area, Sunday Ticket is a must. Pricing is similar, and DTV is usually cheaper. I still have cable just for the internet, and all together it's still cheaper than my old cable+internet bill. (excluding the Sunday Ticket price). As far as reception - as long as there are no houses, trees, or power lines in front of your dish, you will not have any problems. Rainfade is the only real issue with Satellite TV. During serious storms you can lose the signal, but the storm has to be bad...during which it might be prudent to turn off the TV anyway. I have never had a serious storm knock out a football game and normaly only have had it happen during some Spring Thunderstorms. The resent storms in the Midwest caused some rainfade for an hour or so on one or two nights. No big deal really, but it does happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dallsux Posted July 7, 2004 Author Share Posted July 7, 2004 Originally posted by Kilmer Rainfade is the only real issue with Satellite TV. During serious storms you can lose the signal, but the storm has to be bad...during which it might be prudent to turn off the TV anyway. I have never had a serious storm knock out a football game and normaly only have had it happen during some Spring Thunderstorms. The resent storms in the Midwest caused some rainfade for an hour or so on one or two nights. No big deal really, but it does happen. Yea, I haven't really had any problems at all. I had DTV thru the blizzard of '03 in February & never even had a flicker on my reception. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenF Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 If you live in an area that gets a lot of heavy precipitation on a regular basis, you can get something called the GainMaster dish. The GainMaster is a much larger version of the standard DirecTV dish. The larger size makes it more resistant to loss of signal in poor weather conditions. It's 35" by 22" compared to 20" by 18" for the standard DirecTV dish. DirecTV doesn't offer this larger "GainMaster" dish as part of their free installation offer, so you have to buy it separately. At $100+, It's not cheap. Solid Signal and several other well-known dealers sell this larger dish, although it's not clear to me whether you can order it with installation included, or whether you have to install it yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyward72 Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Would you guys rather have the TIVO or the HDTV DTV box? I know they are coming out with a DTV HDTV TIVO box but is hard to find at the moment. If you can find one, they are very expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenF Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Skyward, Assuming you have a high-definition television, I think a HDTV receiver the way to go, given DirecTV has announced that it will offer at least half of all Sunday Ticket Football games in HDTV this season. FOX is doing virtually all its football games (including the Skins) in HDTV with Dolby Digital 5.1 this year. WTTG (our FOX affiliate) in DC has completed their upgrades and is now prepared to do the Skins in HDTV with DD5.1 sound every week. HDTV with Dolby Digital 5.1 is the next-best thing to actually being there -- like looking out through a window with the fans all around you. Actually, if you are up in the nosebleeds, HDTV with a 104" screen (like I have) and 5.1 sound system may even be better than being there. If cost is not an issue, obviously you go with the HDTV Tivo. If cost is an issue, I would call to try and get a $199 DirecTV HDTV receiver for your main television and $49-$99 Tivos for the other TVs in your home. The Best Buy in Sterling, VA (703-430-2150) seems to get frequent shipments of the HDTV Tivo. At $999, the HDTV Tivo is quite expensive. It can record two HDTV programs at once, and it includes a 250Gb hard drive that provides 200+ hours of recording time for standard channels and 30+ hours of recording time for HDTV. Several third parties offer 300-400Gb upgrades to expand the HDTV storage to 70-80 hours. Note many existing DirecTV subscribers have been able to call DirecTV retention to get a $200-$300 credit toward the purchase of a HDTV Tivo. Simply mention that you are considering cable or Dish Network's free HDTV receiver deal. DirecTV also offers HDTV receivers for $99 to existing DirecTV customers -- again, call customer retention. Even if you don't have a HDTV, it may be worth the better picture and sound that it gets you on Sunday Ticket games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Originally posted by Skyward72 Would you guys rather have the TIVO or the HDTV DTV box? I know they are coming out with a DTV HDTV TIVO box but is hard to find at the moment. If you can find one, they are very expensive. My answer is definately TiVo, but that is mainly because I refuse to live without it now. I have an HDTV, but have never taken the plunge for the decoder and service because of the price. So I really don't know what I am missing, I would know what I am missing with TiVo and really don't like the idea of losing it. You can run a regular TiVo with HD, but that is just recording the SD broadcast, not the HD format. I know a few who do that and would be the way i would go, but my friends also complain about watching SD resolution. Kinda why I don't want to be spoiled by HD yet...but I admit it is tempting. HDTiVo is expensive...too expensive for my taste right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Note many existing DirecTV subscribers have been able to call DirecTV retention to get a $200-$300 credit toward the purchase of a HDTV Tivo. Simply mention that you are considering cable or Dish Network's free HDTV receiver deal. DirecTV also offers HDTV receivers for $99 to existing DirecTV customers -- again, call customer retention. Even if you don't have a HDTV, it may be worth the better picture and sound that it gets you on Sunday Ticket games. That is interesting, but I just activated a new TiVo unit 6 months ago, so I think I am still under that one year commitment thing. Do you know if the $99 includes installation? HD requires a new dish and more cables run into the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenF Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Kilmer, I'm fairly certain the $99 includes installation of the multi-sat dish for HDTV, yes. I'm not sure a six-month-old customer would quality. I believe the deals and credits are intended for DirecTV customers that are no longer under their original service commitment. That said, it couldn't hurt to call customer retention and ask. You could mention that Comcast cable is willing to buy out your DirecTV contract -- which they are doing in some service areas around here. Btw, HDTV does not require that any new cables be run into the house. It does require a new dish and integrated switch, or a new LNB on your existing dish, depending on which one you have. The HDTV dish is two inches larger than the standard dish -- it's 20x18" instead of 18x18". Many DirecTV customers already have this 20x18" dish, because it's required to get locals via satellite in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk, West Virginia, and many other markets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worm Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Ok you guys have convinced me. I'm gonna talk to my buddy who installs DirectTV and schedule my house for installation. Plus the deal they have right now for FREE standard DIRECTV System for up to 3 rooms, including a satellite dish, up to 3 standard receivers and NO-COST standard professional installation sounds good to me, although I have 5 tv's I want hooked up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsarethebest Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 on the subject of directv, i was wondering if it can somehow be used to let me watch skins preseason games even though i'm not in the dc area -- is this a possibility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
worm Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 I'm not sure what the schedule is but the NFL Network on DirectTV is supposed to be televising 54 pre-season games. Maybe not all Live, but you may catch them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallyG3 Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Originally posted by skinsarethebest on the subject of directv, i was wondering if it can somehow be used to let me watch skins preseason games even though i'm not in the dc area -- is this a possibility? Most (if not all) of the games will be carried on NFL Network. Not all live, but they should all be on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsarethebest Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 hey, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenF Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 The NFL Network doesn't have blackouts, so everyone can see all the games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead Money Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 On MOnday I made a "wishlist" with the keyword "redskins" in it and missed yesterdays game againt carolina... :doh: Point of the story when you setup your wishlist put one in for "redskins" and one in for "washington" under the sports/football category. I also put another in for "redskins" with no category at all to catch anything else... I did catch that there is a review of the 78 or 79 skins on ESPN Classic this week. DirectTV/NFL Network/TIVO rule! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselfan44 Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 I've had Direct TV for three years and I honestly don't know how I existed before. I live in NC so everything here is panthers. I used to be able to watch the skins every Sunday because they were most popular team in the state, but when the ***** cats came to town that ruined everything. If it weren't for Direct TV I would have to watch the bottom of the screen for the Redskins scores. They automatically renew mine each season with about a $20 discount. I have noticed that the price has jumped each year by about twenty bucks. I have no other choice except moving to northern VA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWill Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 I have had DTV/Sunday NFL Ticket for four years now as a MA Skins fan. I have never been disappointed. I think DTV is cheaper than cable as well.....and now offers local channels in most areas. There is no substitute for hardcore football fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilmer Posted July 8, 2004 Share Posted July 8, 2004 Originally posted by KenF Kilmer, I'm fairly certain the $99 includes installation of the multi-sat dish for HDTV, yes. I'm not sure a six-month-old customer would quality. I believe the deals and credits are intended for DirecTV customers that are no longer under their original service commitment. That said, it couldn't hurt to call customer retention and ask. You could mention that Comcast cable is willing to buy out your DirecTV contract -- which they are doing in some service areas around here. Btw, HDTV does not require that any new cables be run into the house. It does require a new dish and integrated switch, or a new LNB on your existing dish, depending on which one you have. The HDTV dish is two inches larger than the standard dish -- it's 20x18" instead of 18x18". Many DirecTV customers already have this 20x18" dish, because it's required to get locals via satellite in Roanoke, Richmond, Norfolk, West Virginia, and many other markets. I am going to look into it this week. I knew the Dish and LNB needed switched out, but I also thought more cables needed to come into the house. I will look into it because it would be nice to see the Redskins in HD. Thanks for the info. And for those who have DTiVo, I highly recommend backing up your HDD in the box. When they go bad you lose DTV until you replace it. I lost my HDD in my 1st TiVo and needed to go out and buy a whole new TiVo unit to get back up that same day. Now I just pull the original drive out and keep it as a backup and replace the 40 gb drive with a 120 gb drive. You get more recording and have a nice backup drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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