# To all former Directv TIVO owners..



## felickz (Jul 21, 2006)

I am almost certian i am dropping D* as soon as my contract is up..

What will you do.


My wife and I were thoroughly happy with D* when we had our D*/Tivo unit.


Now i own the H20 and R15... I dont think i could be more UNHAPPY! D* really seemed like they were taking things in the right direction.... but lately i just dont know... Did they fire all their programmers ??? How long does it take to release software fixes??? COME ON!!! 


AND WHEN DO I GET MY DUAL TUNER WATCHING BACK (misses TIVO)


----------



## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Those are tough questions. I went with #1. But honestly NFLST will make me put up with alot of crap from DTV. I've got a stash of HDVR2's (3 without HDs) and 2 R10s full. ith My other two HR10s, I can go a while without dumping DTV. It all now depends on when all HD is going MPEG4.


----------



## MikeW (May 16, 2002)

If you were happy before, why did you get rid of your Tivo?


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Out of those three options... I had to select #3...
I guess technically, I am not a "former" DirecTV TiVo owner...
I still own two of them...

For me... Cable is not an option, as the Comcast service here in my area... to me, is not a viable alternative to what I get with DirecTV..

Simply isn't... to me it has been, and always will be... the carrier is the primary concern... it's contents, it's prices, and it features...
The technology that is used to view it with... 2nd.


----------



## nyzorro99 (Aug 29, 2006)

I went to D* and will stay with D* for one reason,I'm a Packer fan living in New York.


----------



## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

I can't vote since I still have a DTiVo in my primary location (and two inactive boxes that could take over at any time). But if suddenly those three died and my only DirecTV alternative were the R15, I'd be gone.


----------



## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

I did not vote. None of the options are valid. I live where cable is an option, overall a pretty good option. I have one Tivo (R10) and two R15's. I am choosing to not go to cable, as I prefer DirecTV. If they shut off the Tivo (R10) tomorrow (and replaced it at no cost to me with an R15), I would still stay with DirecTV.

The wording of your questions, and the options you provide, are heavily biased and can't possibly provide an accurate sampling of customers.

Carl


----------



## rtstephn (Feb 11, 2006)

I agree with Carl6.

I am staying with DTV. Cable is an option for me here, but DTV is still the better choice, even without Tivo. I just replaced my HR10 wiht the HR20 and 6 months ago replaced the R10 with the R15. It's a learning curve for me and my wife, but I am not unhappy with DTV. 

I can't vote with the only options you have listed.


----------



## blong579 (Oct 3, 2006)

if D* doesnt get its act together I will be going back to cable. i already get internet threw them and now they have a dvr of there on. if the r15 sill remains my only choice suddenlink will have a new cable cust. i went to my cable company
and cked there prices and was going to drop D* contract or not but i bought a D*
tivo on ebay for 39.00 shipped so well see how that goes.


----------



## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I can't vote. I now have a HR10 and a HR20. They are different animals but I am happy with both of them.

The only way I could be forced to cable is by Qwest. I have bundled my phone, DSL and DirecTV through them. I live in an older area and am always having phone/DSL issues. I am also having billing issues with them. Not sure my bundeling with Qwest was such a good idea.


----------



## TheRatPatrol (Oct 1, 2003)

Do you think the only way D* would go back to Tivo is if Rupert sold D* to Liberty Media? There was talk about that.


----------



## Gary Toma (Mar 23, 2006)

Your poll is missing a several meaningful options. Some folks delight in being negative, I guess.


----------



## Clint Lamor (Nov 15, 2005)

gct said:


> Your poll is missing a several meaningful options. Some folks delight in being negative, I guess.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

theratpatrol said:


> Do you think the only way D* would go back to Tivo is if Rupert sold D* to Liberty Media? There was talk about that.


There was talk by Forum Boards, Some Analysts, and Other "blog" type reporting.

It is going to take a LOT more then just going over to Liberty to bring TiVo back......


----------



## redram38 (Dec 7, 2005)

The ONLY reason I am with DTV is NFL Football, and I also cannot get The Cinn Reds games on Cables MLB Ticket. The Football is about 90 % of that. If DTV loses Football they will be in BIG BIG trouble


----------



## jwilson (Sep 24, 2006)

With the poor picture quality, the only thing keeping me with DirecTV is Tivo. Tivo has some problems, but the alternatives are much worse.



felickz said:


> I am almost certian i am dropping D* as soon as my contract is up..
> 
> What will you do.
> 
> ...


----------



## mtchamp (Nov 24, 2005)

I already left DirecTV in August. Back to cable after 12 years. All because of a little company called TiVo and the new HD CC S3. DirecTV calls me often to get me back and they just don't understand; it's not the money, it's their arrogance; worse outfit than cable to have had the best of everything cutting edge and then went looney under Murdock's rule. I might even put an antenna back on the roof.

DirecTV should have at least kept TiVo as a choice, but I guess they don't care if customers leave. As slow as the FCC has been at protecting the consumer, we finally have a choice of purchasing our own digital settop box. The S3 is causing a giant sucking sound over at DirecTV. Just wait until the S3 prices come down and as awesome as the HD quality and PVR functionality is now, wait till a few software upgrades are completed and more features are enabled; DirecTV, Dish and the huge cable settop box rental service are all going to suffer. 

The only winner here is cable subscriptions are going up. Good thing Verizon is rolling out a competing TV service called FIOS that's also compatible with the new TiVo Cable Card Series3 High Definition Digital Media Recorder to keep prices down. For all I care, DirecTV and Dish can now merge. They both stink.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mtchamp said:


> I already left DirecTV in August. Back to cable after 12 years. All because of a little company called TiVo and the new HD CC S3. DirecTV calls me often to get me back and they just don't understand; it's not the money, it's their arrogance; worse outfit than cable to have had the best of everything cutting edge and then went looney under Murdock's rule. I might even put an antenna back on the roof.
> 
> DirecTV should have at least kept TiVo as a choice, but I guess they don't care if customers leave. As slow as the FCC has been at protecting the consumer, we finally have a choice of purchasing our own digital settop box. The S3 is causing a giant sucking sound over at DirecTV. Just wait until the S3 prices come down and as awesome as the HD quality and PVR functionality is now, wait till a few software upgrades are completed and more features are enabled; DirecTV, Dish and the huge cable settop box rental service are all going to suffer.
> 
> The only winner here is cable subscriptions are going up. Good thing Verizon is rolling out a competing TV serive called FIOS that's also compatible with the new TiVo Cable Card Series3 High Definition Digital Media Recorder to keep prices down. For all I care, DirecTV and Dish can now merge. They both stink.


Yah sure about that?
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51

Sure looks like a BUCH of seriousl pissed off customers that spent $800+ for the T3... and their cable company (which they are now dependent on)... is not working for them.

Show me the mass defection that is occuring, that is causing the "sucking sound"...

Or take a look over here:
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112
On how many people are joining this forum, with their HR20 installation... sure looks like a lot of people are trying the HR20 (The closer comparison to the T3 then the R15)... for on average $700 less...

But hey... Cable may be perfect by you... and perfect for your situation.
But if you think DirecTV is worried about the mass defection to T3's? they would have to take time from filling the backorders for the HR20 (that in some areas are already into November)..

So if anything they are netting each other out at this point.
It is going to take more then the initial release of both of the products to show the long term effect on either platform.


----------



## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Yah sure about that?
> http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=51
> 
> Sure looks like a BUCH of seriousl pissed off customers that spent $800+ for the T3... and their cable company (which they are now dependent on)... is not working for them.
> ...


Gee Earl,

I thought you'd be a little kinder to a new unit, just released to market, that should be given time to get the bugs out. 

The S3 and Hr20 could be neck & neck. But if DTV fixes the HR20 like they have the R15, that ain't gonna last long.....not a year.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Wolffpack said:


> Gee Earl,
> 
> I thought you'd be a little kinder to a new unit, just released to market, that should be given time to get the bugs out.
> 
> The S3 and Hr20 could be neck & neck. But if DTV fixes the HR20 like they have the R15, that ain't gonna last long.....not a year.




Actually I have stayed away from saying anything bad about the TiVo Series 3... as I don't have one, and simply have no basis on it.

However... What I said many months ago, about the biggest problem the TiVo Series 3 is going to have, is something out of TiVo, Inc's control... is it's dependence on the Cable Cards.... the technology that the Cable Co's desperately want to squash...

That is very apparent in a lot of those threads...

As for the HR20... I think the tide is going to turn... really quickly.


----------



## gimme5 (Jan 28, 2006)

You need more options in your poll. I'm probably staying with DTV whether Tivo is on board or not. I have a Directivo box in my bedroom and an R-15 in the family room. The DirecTivo works flawlessly, and the R-15 isn't 100% perfect, but still works OK.


----------



## Jasen (Mar 21, 2006)

I would never drop directv just because they dont use tivo directv dvrs . Here in reno/sparks nevada cable is very expecive.


----------



## cybok0 (Jan 5, 2006)

Even though i still have my DTIVO i voted #2, I am hoping they will improve a lot of things, I like D* a lot and don't want to leave but equipment is a high priority.


----------



## Capmeister (Sep 16, 2003)

I came from DishNetwork where I had the 501. I liked it, but it could be glitchy. When I got an HDTV I decided to move where the best HD-DVR existed--since I was going to be spending a lot of $ on it. I did reasearch--mainly here--and dropped E* for D* and got myself an HD-Tivo--the HR10-250. I love it, despite it being slow. I got an SD tivo for my bedroom, and another for my brother's room (he rents from me). He's deaf so CC is very important and the Tivos do well with CCing. 

Yesterday I got an HR20 for my homeoffice. It's not replaced a Tivo, but my H20, so I can test out the new HD DVR without losing any functionality.

After a day here are the findings:

I won't miss Tivo at all if D* can solve some glitches (and give me OTA) , increase the speed of the 30 second slip, give me dual life buffers, and make sure the closed captioning is perfect. 

I like the HR20. I see no reason to leave D* just because they're replacing the tivo.


----------



## RCY (Nov 17, 2005)

Don't meet the qualifications since I still own two SD DTIVOs. As far as I know, they will continue to work with D* for the indefinite future. As long as the H/W holds out, I get access to D* programming, 30 second skip, dual live buffers and the ability to add more storage space myself. (already have 250+ hours on one, 350+ on another) I'm in no hurry to go anywhere. I've seen the forum rumblings of the HR20 pains and the S3 TIVO pains and am willing to wait for the dust to settle to see where the HD future lies. I'd guess we're a year or two away from that.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that, barring failure/end of D* support of my DTIVOs, I'll never lease/own/whatever an R15. Of course, YMMV.


----------



## mrb (Sep 14, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Simply isn't... to me it has been, and always will be... the carrier is the primary concern... it's contents, it's prices, and it features...
> The technology that is used to view it with... 2nd.


How do you view the carrier's contents and features when their "technology that is used to view it with" works half of the time at best? I agree that D* content, price and features are far superior to cable, but come on...dropped recordings, hangs, restarts on a daily basis?? I wasn't watching anything much at all until I got a used R10 and trashed the R15. Suddenly I am enjoying television again. 
If D* dropped TiVo support and only had the R15 or similar ilk to watch tv I would be gone in an hour. I'd wager quite a few folks would. TiVo got it right. 
Capmeister: "I won't miss Tivo at all if D* can solve some glitches (and give me OTA) , increase the speed of the 30 second slip, give me dual life buffers, and make sure the closed captioning is perfect." 
R10 fulfills all these requirements flawlessly. Blessed TiVo.


----------



## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Actually I have stayed away from saying anything bad about the TiVo Series 3... as I don't have one, and simply have no basis on it.
> 
> However... What I said many months ago, about the biggest problem the TiVo Series 3 is going to have, is something out of TiVo, Inc's control... is it's dependence on the Cable Cards.... the technology that the Cable Co's desperately want to squash...
> 
> ...


I hope so, cause I really would like to get one someday, but didn't you say the samething about the R15 in December...and january...and Feb..and.....


----------



## dodge boy (Mar 31, 2006)

my R15 is out as soon as my contract is up, I have 2 TiVos as well but I'm not going to go and relearn them when they don't have all the features available from D*, maybe I'll give DishNOTwork a shot at my wallet for a while, if they fail I'll go back to C-Band 4DTV.


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mikewolf13 said:


> I hope so, cause I really would like to get one someday, but didn't you say the samething about the R15 in December...and january...and Feb..and.....


Your right... I did... And the R15 has gotten bettern since then.... just not good enough..


----------



## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

mrb said:


> How do you view the carrier's contents and features when their "technology that is used to view it with" works half of the time at best? I agree that D* content, price and features are far superior to cable, but come on...dropped recordings, hangs, restarts on a daily basis?? I wasn't watching anything much at all until I got a used R10 and trashed the R15. Suddenly I am enjoying television again.
> If D* dropped TiVo support and only had the R15 or similar ilk to watch tv I would be gone in an hour. I'd wager quite a few folks would. TiVo got it right.
> Capmeister: "I won't miss Tivo at all if D* can solve some glitches (and give me OTA) , increase the speed of the 30 second slip, give me dual life buffers, and make sure the closed captioning is perfect."
> R10 fulfills all these requirements flawlessly. Blessed TiVo.


There are other receivers out there that can Tune DirecTV signals.
HR20, H20, D10, D11, DTivos still work, Ultimate TV still works, Flip Top, Humax LCD, the upcomming DirecTV Tuner Card for Media Center, The upcomming Home Media Center

TiVo eventually got it right, but they are still not perfect...


----------



## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

I didnt see the option for: I replaced all my DirecTiVos with R-15's and am content for now and DirecTiVo or not plan to stay with DirecTV ?

I must have missed that.


----------



## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

Earl Bonovich said:


> Your right... I did... And the R15 has gotten bettern since then.... just not good enough..


My point was given the "Not good enough" admission and the 10+months since release.....What qualifies as "tide turning" and "really quickly"?

Some people (cause this isn't about Earl) seemed to really like the product and minimized it's issues...saying that there will be an upgrade soon to fix that know issue...yet 10 months later it's still "not good enough"?

If after all the upgrades it's not good enough how is it that 10 months ago it was such a great product?

This colors my decision to risk (i think that's a valid word here) getting a HR20. Many of the same people that praised the R15 many moons ago, still admit that although they like the product it still has issues that should be fixed soon.

That does color any reccomendations I read about the HR20.


----------



## samo (Nov 9, 2002)

Bobman said:


> I didnt see the option for: I replaced all my DirecTiVos with R-15's and am content for now and DirecTiVo or not plan to stay with DirecTV ?
> 
> I must have missed that.


How about "I subscribe to DTV because of the content and don't give a f**k about TiVo" option? I have to admit that when I subbed to DTV I dumped two SA TiVos and bought 2 R10s and only reason I have R-15 is because it was free. But by now I'm seriously considering replacing my R10s with R-15s. I will definitely dump at least one R10 if I get HDTV and HR20. After years of using Dish DVRs, TiVo interface gets on my nerves with it's stupid guide layout and no PIP or FSI (and that comes from the guy who been using SA TiVo since 1999). I couldn't care less about problems people report here on R-15s - the way I use my DVRs I personally have none of them. I don't like 30 sec slip, but TiVo's 30 sec skip is an abortion compare to Dish implementation anyhow. R15 has superior UI and allows me to setup my recordings faster than TiVo. Last time I needed to reboot R15 was about 4 months ago and it doesn't annoy me with a stupid message that I need to make a call. Overall, I'm happy with R-15 and DTV almost as much as I'm happy with Dish and Dish DVRs.


----------



## Radio Enginerd (Oct 5, 2006)

jwilson said:


> With the poor picture quality, the only thing keeping me with DirecTV is Tivo. Tivo has some problems, but the alternatives are much worse.


Poor picture quality? I just came from Dish and I happen to think DTV's SD picture quality is better!

I guess PQ is subjective so what do I know. However I've encountered several other previous Dish customers that agree.


----------



## BattleScott (Aug 29, 2006)

samo said:


> How about "I subscribe to DTV because of the content and don't give a f**k about TiVo" option? I have to admit that when I subbed to DTV I dumped two SA TiVos and bought 2 R10s and only reason I have R-15 is because it was free. But by now I'm seriously considering replacing my R10s with R-15s. I will definitely dump at least one R10 if I get HDTV and HR20. After years of using Dish DVRs, TiVo interface gets on my nerves with it's stupid guide layout and no PIP or FSI (and that comes from the guy who been using SA TiVo since 1999). I couldn't care less about problems people report here on R-15s - the way I use my DVRs I personally have none of them. I don't like 30 sec slip, but TiVo's 30 sec skip is an abortion compare to Dish implementation anyhow. R15 has superior UI and allows me to setup my recordings faster than TiVo. Last time I needed to reboot R15 was about 4 months ago and it doesn't annoy me with a stupid message that I need to make a call. Overall, I'm happy with R-15 and DTV almost as much as I'm happy with Dish and Dish DVRs.


I don't think this was an option on the poll...

Sub-Poll: "Would you watch the 'Anger Management' channel if available?" :new_cussi


----------



## wakajawaka (Sep 27, 2006)

mtchamp said:


> DirecTV should have at least kept TiVo as a choice, but I guess they don't care if customers leave. As slow as the FCC has been at protecting the consumer, we finally have a choice of purchasing our own digital settop box. The S3 is causing a giant sucking sound over at DirecTV. Just wait until the S3 prices come down and as awesome as the HD quality and PVR functionality is now, wait till a few software upgrades are completed and more features are enabled; DirecTV, Dish and the huge cable settop box rental service are all going to suffer.


Whenever the government (FCC) gets in the way of good 'ol competition the consumer loses, everytime. CableCard will always be behind the latest consumer demand because the government simply cannot react as quick as the open market.


----------

