# DVR Service $5.99



## lz7rdg (Dec 5, 2006)

When we start the DVR service it is a 2-year obligation. After that period of time, what happens? Could we cancel the service? If so, would we need a different tuner or could we continue to use the R-15? Does anyone know what the added service is when we have the DVR Service for $5.99 or what we loose if we did not have it?

All I can see in the 2-week schedule and some little used features like Active and others.

Thanks, John


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## rlambert7 (Feb 7, 2006)

lz7rdg said:


> ...Does anyone know what the added service is when we have the DVR Service for $5.99 or what we loose if we did not have it? ...


I think the "service" for $5.99 to you are refering is called the "Protection Plan". Go to the following link to see what is covered.

http://directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=900030

If you don't have it, you would have to pay [around $70] for a service call if you needed you dish realigned, and have to pay for replacement equipment if you got hit by a power surge/spike.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

The 2-year commitment is for the base contract...the programming.

DVR Fee, Mirroring Fees, are all optional


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

You can use the R15 or any DirecTV DVR as a standard receiver without paying the DVR Fee. You just won't be able to record any programs.


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

You also won't be able to watch any shows that you already have recorded if you don't have yhe dvr service. It will basically turn into a standard receiver, as litzdog911 said.


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

The DVR services enables the DVR features pause, RW, FW Rec, etc. You do have to have DVR of course. Without the service, the DVR will function like a regular receiver.

Once the 2 year commitment is up, you can cancel at any time without penalty. Otherwise, you'll continue on a month by month basis. You shouldn't notice a difference.


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## lz7rdg (Dec 5, 2006)

Thanks everyone. It's just one of those questions that one thinks of in the middle of the night, you know, and it's like - how did I get here? 

John


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## babzog (Sep 20, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> You can use the R15 or any DirecTV DVR as a standard receiver without paying the DVR Fee. You just won't be able to record any programs.


And that's what bugs the h3!! out of me... the box is mine... they send me the guide data anyway, then I have to pay them _extra_ to _use_ the features of the box? Does anyone else here think the "DVR fee" is nothing more than a cash grab?


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

If you think it's a cash grab, you're welcome to invest in DirecTV Group, Inc. Here's their CNN Money.com status page. If DTV's ability to build a DVR is any indication, some folks are about to lose a boatload of money. Sadly, I doubt that's much of an indication.

Cheers,

P.S. I should have realized the significance of the name, DirecTV. If they were really able to make a DVR, wouldn't they be DirectDVR rather than DirecTV?


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## Mrpalmer420 (Jan 9, 2007)

Since the R15 is basically a computer and the recorded programs are just saved in the hard drive, How can anything tell the box to stop doing what it was built to do. i don't understand how the DVR will all of a sudden stop recognizing that it has a hard drive and no longer be able to record anything.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Mrpalmer420 said:


> Since the R15 is basically a computer and the recorded programs are just saved in the hard drive, How can anything tell the box to stop doing what it was built to do. i don't understand how the DVR will all of a sudden stop recognizing that it has a hard drive and no longer be able to record anything.


If this is a serious question, the answer is:

"Because the box was programed to only work if the service says it's ok" obviously.

Do you understand that even though your XM radio and regular DTV box were designed and built to receive sat broadcasts, and even though the sats will always broadcast no matter if you pay or not, your equipment will stop doing what it was built to do if you stop paying? This is no different.

You can get PC based DVRs that work like you're imagining (MS MCE, FreeVo, MythTV) but they will not be intergrated with 2-tuner DirectTV recievers.

You want to use DTV's hardware with their features and services, you pay DTV's fee or the box will stop working.

Same with Tivo. You want to use Tivo's hardware, with Tivo's features and Tivo sevices, you pay Tivo's fee, or the box will stop working.


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## Cerus (Feb 8, 2007)

babzog said:


> And that's what bugs the h3!! out of me... the box is mine... they send me the guide data anyway, then I have to pay them _extra_ to _use_ the features of the box? Does anyone else here think the "DVR fee" is nothing more than a cash grab?


The DVR fee is just like any other fee for service. You have to pay for Tivo which allows you to pause, rewind and record, why should D* be any different? Many devices have several features that you can only get by paying extra. If $5.99 for the the DVR fee is going to break your bank then I suggest you get a less expensive TV option.

And unless you paid the full price (over $300) for your R15 you do not "own" it, you are leasing it.


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## lz7rdg (Dec 5, 2006)

Then why would a person pay over $300 to own?

John


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

Many people do own them for less money from before the leasing thing started. That's irrelevent.

This thread is getting silly.

Go complain that you paid good money for a car but still have to buy gas for it.

If you want to get a DVR that doesn't require service to operate, you can do so, and that's what you all should have done rather than playing so dumb about service-oriented business models.

This is not unfair, it was not kept secret from you, it is not unique to DTV and is NOT hard to understand.
If you don't like it, don't pay and don't use the service. If enough people feel that way and don;t pay, DTV will change the model....they'll probabaly drop the need for seperate service and raise everyone's base fee by $6 instead.....


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## westernamerican (Dec 14, 2006)

Might it be just another way for D* to get in our hips?


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## dtv757 (Jun 4, 2006)

with the HR10-250 u can still pause and record live tv and switch between tunners with the DVR service active. so HR10-250 will now allow you to store any shows without the dvr service active but it will still pause rewind live tv,


with the R15 all dvr features are disabled if you DVR service is not active. you cannot rewind live tv on an R15 w/o having the DVR service active on your account.


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## JimV (Feb 3, 2007)

Why is everyone getting so mad at this person? Legitimate question I think.

When Tivo came out, they charged X dollars a month or lifetime fee but you got an EPG with the deal that regular cable TV just didnt have back then. So the monthly service fee meant something because you got the guide that told you what you could download and that subscription was so that youd get an updated guide daily or monthly or whatever.

With D*, you already get the EPG with the regular service. Tacking on a DVR, which you paid for separately, gets you additional software which lets you do the recording. Why then is there a monthly carrying fee? If I plug in a VCR, I'm not having to pay a carrying fee for the priviledge of recording. It does close to the same thing (except the live TV part) as a dvr albeit with much less storage capabilities.

I think that was the point of the question, and a valid one. The $5.99 a month is so that you have the priviledge of recording programming on a hard disk based system.


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

JimV said:


> The $5.99 a month is so that you have the priviledge of recording programming on a hard disk based system.


Not at all. I can plug in my MCE PC and do it for free.

The $5.99 fee is to use THEIR DVRs with THEIR technology and THEIR features, fully integrated with two of THEIR tuners and THEIR guide data.

It's a pefectly legitimate question, it's just hard to believe that someone can be so totally obvlivious as to the rather common nature of a service fee in this century as to find it worth commenting on.

ApK


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

apk said:


> ... it's just hard to believe that someone can be so totally obvlivious as to the rather common nature of a service fee in this century as to find it worth commenting on.


:soapbox:

I find the idea of service fees and licenses worth commenting on, even if they are both increasingly common. Today, for the most part, when you buy a software product, you're not actually buying the product; you're buying only a right (license) to use the software in certain ways. Some of these licenses prohibit transferring one's rights or making more than two backups that contain copies of the software.

This is getting ridiculous and probably wouldn't have begun to occur if anyone actually read the licenses on, or inside, the boxes containing such products. Many courts have agreed by refusing to enforce the terms of licenses that can't be read until the product is purchased and the box is opened.

:rant:

This is all about the greed of suppliers who attempt to sell less and less of the bundle of rights normally conveyed in a sale. That's one thing when the sale occurs in the context of a negotiated contract. But, when a consumer buys a shrink-wrap product, the consumer shouldn't have to spend half a day reading the license, and another week working to understand it, merely to know what he/she has actually bought.

I strongly support collective action of various types undertaken by consumers intent on communicating their displeasure with vendors who sell their products by means of complex licensing. I am an enthusiastic fan of free markets. But, when little or no competition exists, a market isn't free. No vendor should be allowed to maintain a monopoly position by means of a claim that the monopoly has been "earned." In the long run, a monopoly is not often in anyone's interest--not even that of its shareholders.

What's this got to do with the R-15? Have you read your terms and conditions lately? Did you purchase an R-15 only to be coerced into signing a lease? Do you have a real choice of providers of TV programming? Are you satisfied with the quality of services you're receiving? All these issues are strongly related to the structure of the subscription TV market and with the use of contracts to restrict the interests transferred from seller to buyer.

Cheers,


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I have never tried this but if you dont pay the $5.99 can you still use the R-15 or even a DirecTivo as just a receiver and guide ?


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## ApK (Mar 6, 2006)

wbmccarty said:


> :soapbox:


I'm with you on the hidden licensing concerns, but this is apples and oranges.

DTV pretty much shouts "DVR SERVICE: $99 EQUIPMENT LEASE FEE PLUS $5.99/MONTH SERVICE CHARGE" in big bold letters just about everywhere you look. That's not hidden, predatory, or hard to understand, and the CONCEPT of hardware that only works when you pay a monthly fee is also not unusual, complicated, deceptive or hard to understand.
There's power in the grid all the time, and you own the lightbulb, so why should you have to pay an electric bill every month? Well, you don't, you can put solar panels on your roof. The bits flow through the net and you own the PC, why pay an Internet provider every month? Well, you don't, you can go to school or the library or become a ham radio operator and do packet radio. 
Why should you have to pay the DVR fee? Well, you don't. Go build a MythTV or a FreeVo.
But we choose to pay those things because someone is offering a particular service you want and has set up a revenue model that you agreed was worth it for the service.


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

Bobman said:


> I have never tried this but if you dont pay the $5.99 can you still use the R-15 or even a DirecTivo as just a receiver and guide ?


Yes. Without the $5.99 fee, both the R15 and the DirecTivo will work as a standard non-dvr receiver. With the DirecTivo, you can still pause, rewind, and ffwd live tv. The R15 won't let you pause, etc. without the dvr fee.


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## wbmccarty (Apr 28, 2006)

ApK said:


> I'm with you on the hidden licensing concerns, but this is apples and oranges.


DTV does clearly announce that their product is a service. In that sense, I will side with you against the OP.

But, exactly what are the boundaries of that service? I doubt whether 5% of R-15 owners have read their service agreement. Actually, I myself don't recall receiving a service agreement. So, important elements of the sales/service contract do remain hidden, even in the case of DTV. I know that I pay money. I'm not sure just what it is I'm supposed to get.

Cheers,


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