# DIRECTV forums reorganization



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Hi folks,

We are going to be making a few changes in the organization of the DIRECTV forums here @ DBSTalk.com. I'd like for you all to take a moment and review the changes here before they are made. Below is listed the new organization:


DIRECTV General Discussion
DIRECTV Tips and Resources
DIRECTV Extras
DIRECTV Installation/MDU Discussion
DIRECTV Programming (National and Local)
HD Locals Broadcast Issues


DIRECTV HD Receiver Discussion 
DIRECTV SD Receiver Discussion 
DIRECTV Cutting Edge Information
DIRECTV Cutting Edge
Cutting Edge Announcements
Cutting Edge Issues



The HD Locals Broadcast Issues (in green) may not be included once the changes are implemented. We are still trying to make a decision on that one. The items in red require you to opt-in to the Cutting Edge program by agreeing to the rules posted in the Cutting Edge Information forum.

If you have any thoughts, feel free to voice them here. I will be making the change in the next few days.

Cheers,
Doug


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Just a few comments...

Combining the general installation and MDU discussions will mean that DIY'ers looking for help will need to understand that a lot of the MDU info won't apply, and the MDU folks will need to filter out the self-install chit-chat.

How will you split the existing posts between the SD and HD discussions? For example, the current Legacy and Standalone forums will have discussions about both SD and HD in them.


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

HD receivers go in the HD area .. SD receivers go in the SD area. There is very little discussion about legacy receivers (SD or HD), there shouldn't be any issues.


----------



## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

So the idea is to combine DVR with receiver only STBs? You either had an HD or SD STB?


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

smiddy said:


> So the idea is to combine DVR with receiver only STBs? You either had an HD or SD STB?


Correct ...


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Doug Brott said:


> HD receivers go in the HD area .. SD receivers go in the SD area. There is very little discussion about legacy receivers (SD or HD), there shouldn't be any issues.


The exception to that is... R22 receivers. Because they are more closely related to the HR2x series, they will be in the HD receiver forum.


----------



## jeffshoaf (Jun 17, 2006)

Any chance of getting a seperate section for DirecTV Sports programming? I put a poll up a while back that showed a lot of support for breaking sports out from the general DirecTV Programming area.

Oh, and thanks for all the hard work making this one of my "go to" parts of the Interwebs!


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I think the Sports Programming forum we have : http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6

is probably sufficient for that. If there's a technical issue, post it in the programming forum. If you want to talk sports (who doesn't?) use the existing Sports forum.


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Doug Brott said:


> HD receivers go in the HD area .. SD receivers go in the SD area. There is very little discussion about legacy receivers (SD or HD), there shouldn't be any issues.


I was thinking about this in terms of existing and historical threads for searching. Are those going to stay in the existing structure, or are they going to be moved to the new structure?


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

rudeney said:


> I was thinking about this in terms of existing and historical threads for searching. Are those going to stay in the existing structure, or are they going to be moved to the new structure?


I'm hope to just move them all to the new organization ..


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

We did a forum reorganization last year and it did not end up being a problem.


----------



## Movieman (May 9, 2009)

I dont see the a problem and it looks well consolidated. I see a confusion for some with DVR and non-DVR STB's. But like anything else will take some getting used to.


----------



## BubblePuppy (Nov 3, 2006)

It looks good on paper (screen).


----------



## Vinny (Sep 2, 2006)

I like the proposed organizational structure. I think it will be less confusing for newbies which will make it easier for them to find answers to their questions.

Great job!


----------



## hdtvfan0001 (Jul 28, 2004)

Makes alot of sense.

We have *evolved*...


----------



## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> We did a forum reorganization last year and it did not end up being a problem.


Oh, I really I don't see any problems; I was just offering a few observations. Heck, if you just dumped it all into one great big forum, it would work for me. I usually keep up from the "New Posts" tab anyhow and rarely pay attention to the individual forums unless I'm searching, and then I usually just search all of DirecTV.


----------



## Scott Kocourek (Jun 13, 2009)

Movieman said:


> I dont see the a problem and it looks well consolidated. I see a confusion for some with DVR and non-DVR STB's. But like anything else will take some getting used to.


With the possibility of new features in the future, the HDDVR's and HD receivers will almost have to be in the same category. If they are not there will be new threads on the same subject started all over.


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

We're prepared to see a few bumps when the forums are consolidated, but I'm sure it's nothing we haven't seen before.


----------



## mobandit (Sep 4, 2007)

Looks fine to me...of course, my opinion isn't worth a whole lot!


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Looks good to me. The only thing I would say is I would not combine the MDU forum with the installer forum for the reasons rudeney stated. Seems to be no advantage and lots of disadvantage to combining them.

I also like the Installer forum being a main forum so that not so much installation talk gets created in the Receiver forums, but that can go either way IMO.


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Looks pretty good to me. All the various receiver forums is indeed confusing.

My only suggestion would be to leave the programming forum up at the top level, but not a big deal otherwise.

DirecTV Extras forum. I never understood the need for this one. It appears to get very little traffic. Any reason why this needs to remain separate and not just in with General Discussion? I think in general it was a decent idea but doesn't get a lot of use.

I also don't see an issue with a combined installation and MDU forum since the MDU gets very little use from what I can see. And if posters for MDU would put "MDU" at the beginning of their posts that will help them stand out.


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

I'd like to see the group of DirecTV forums placed before the DISH forums so I don't have to scroll down in the "Forum Jump" pulldown menu every time I want to jump to a forum.

Dish forums should be placed after DirecTV forums because the DirecTV forums have much more activity, and besides, DISH comes after DirecTV alphabetically.


----------



## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

cartrivision said:


> I'd like to see the group of DirecTV forums placed before the DISH forums so I don't have to scroll down in the "Forum Jump" pulldown menu every time I want to jump to a forum.
> 
> Dish forums should be placed after DirecTV forums because the DirecTV forums have much more activity, and besides, DISH comes after DirecTV alphabetically.


I've got the dish forums hidden, don't see them. For me, they don't exist.


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

cartrivision said:


> I'd like to see the group of DirecTV forums placed before the DISH forums so I don't have to scroll down in the "Forum Jump" pulldown menu every time I want to jump to a forum.
> 
> Dish forums should be placed after DirecTV forums because the DirecTV forums have much more activity, and besides, DISH comes after DirecTV alphabetically.


If you go here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/profile.php?do=editoptions

and scroll all the way down, you can choose forums to completely ignore.


----------



## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

well just a thought, since the install is germane to all receivers and is pretty specific, would it possibly be better to leave that out of the general forum?
I think combining mdu would be fine, possibly interesting too 

I'm thinking it might be easier for some installers that might always go to that forum first to assist.


----------



## azarby (Dec 15, 2006)

Make it so.


----------



## tonyd79 (Jul 24, 2006)

The restructure by itself looks good and subforums work well in the Forum Jump but they get hidden in the current configuration of the overall forums page. Can somthing be done so the subforums have the same impact as another main forum. All the subforums currently look like an afterthought or of less importance. If this is not addressed, the programming forum will look unimportant while the SD Receiver will get a big font. Yet we all know which is more frequented.


----------



## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Good luck with the reorganization gentlemen! Let me know if I can help in anyway.


----------



## Sgt. Slaughter (Feb 20, 2009)

It may be just me but I like the HD Locals seperate so that the people that have an issue with a certain locally broadcasted show can discuss it and handle the issue seperately away from all the other programming and all. 
If it was not for this section then I would not know about easily and be able to discuss the problems we had with our local FOX broadcast.


----------



## kevinwmsn (Aug 19, 2006)

I would like to see the HD locals issues separate from the national channel issues.


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> The exception to that is... R22 receivers. Because they are more closely related to the HR2x series, they will be in the HD receiver forum.


Well, according to DirecTV, the R22 is a STANDARD DEFINITION DVR whether it receives HD or is similar to an HD DVR. So you will be moving a lot of posts from folks who don't know this from the SD to the HD forum unless this is explained somewhere.


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

Stuart Sweet said:


> If you go here:
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/profile.php?do=editoptions
> 
> and scroll all the way down, you can choose forums to completely ignore.


That's not a good solution because it completely hides the forums from both the pulldown menu and the forum list page, so then there is no way to go to a DISH forum.... which I still do every once in a while.

I want to be able to see the DISH forums. I just don't want it to be at the top of the list, making me have to scroll down to get to the more used/more popular forums.

Because of that, I still say move the DISH forums below the DirecTV forums based on level of popularity, use, and activity (not to mention alphabetization) of those two major forum groups.


----------



## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> The exception to that is... R22 receivers. Because they are more closely related to the HR2x series, they will be in the HD receiver forum.





ThomasM said:


> Well, according to DirecTV, the R22 is a STANDARD DEFINITION DVR whether it receives HD or is similar to an HD DVR. So you will be moving a lot of posts from folks who don't know this from the SD to the HD forum unless this is explained somewhere.


ThomasM makes a good point.

Perhaps instead of a HD & SD receiver forum, go the other way and have DVR & non-DVR?


----------



## cartrivision (Jul 25, 2007)

While I'm nit-picking.... since the pulldown menu is labeled "Forum Jump" (and I assume that people mostly use it to jump to a forum), the forum lists should come before the Site Area list in the pulldown menu (or the site areas in the list be put in a separate pulldown menu).


----------



## ThomasM (Jul 20, 2007)

RobertE said:


> ThomasM makes a good point.
> 
> Perhaps instead of a HD & SD receiver forum, go the other way and have DVR & non-DVR?


I don't know about that one but I do know that a lot of people visit the current SD DVR forum (DirecTV Plus DVR) asking questions about the R22. Nobody in the HD DVR forum seems to know (or care) about the R22.

That's why I would like to see it left in the SD DVR forum....because that's really what it is. I don't have HD. I have an R22. The HD menus/functions are hidden from view. Why would I go to the HD forum where people will tell me to adjust the bar colors or the picture resolution or "unhide" the HD channels which I can't do??


----------



## JoeTheDragon (Jul 21, 2008)

Can we get a VOD sub forum?


----------



## Surveyor40 (Jan 5, 2006)

Looks good to me.


----------



## bb37 (Dec 27, 2007)

ThomasM, you make some valid points about confusing non-HD R22 owners with discussion of HD-only commands and features. However, I will offer up one voice that counters parts of your argument.



ThomasM said:


> ...I do know that a lot of people visit the current SD DVR forum (DirecTV Plus DVR) asking questions about the R22.


As an owner of an HR21 and two R22s, I never visit the SD DVR forum.



ThomasM said:


> Nobody in the HD DVR forum seems to know (or care) about the R22.


I have gotten a lot of good info about the R22 in the HD DVR forum.


----------



## msmith (Apr 23, 2002)

I'd prefer Programming to remain at the top level. It's hard to see what is posted there from the very top DirecTV forums menu when it's in a sub-forum.


----------



## ATARI (May 10, 2007)

cartrivision said:


> That's not a good solution because it completely hides the forums from both the pulldown menu and the forum list page, so then there is no way to go to a DISH forum.... which I still do every once in a while.
> 
> I want to be able to see the DISH forums. I just don't want it to be at the top of the list, making me have to scroll down to get to the more used/more popular forums.
> 
> Because of that, I still say move the DISH forums below the DirecTV forums based on level of popularity, use, and activity (not to mention alphabetization) of those two major forum groups.


I'll second that.


----------



## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

I think it might be beneficial to have SD HD and DVR as forums. With the software being almost the same I think that a lot of people find out the answer they need was posted awhile ago in the other forum. I don't have real data but there are mainly more questions that I remember being asked about DVR's in general compared to regular STB's.


----------



## SecureGuru (Feb 1, 2009)

Stuart Sweet said:


> The exception to that is... R22 receivers. Because they are more closely related to the HR2x series, they will be in the HD receiver forum.


This is the only thing that seems confusing. I'd argue to keep both DVR's in a separate DVR forum.


----------



## joe diamond (Feb 28, 2007)

I have seen mixed into most areas : ........ "dealing with: Directv (account status etc)
.........."dealing with installers (how much to pay & what to expect)
........"dealing with HOAs & landlords

The posts I think of are more inquiries for guidance in planning further action as opposed to DIY advice to operate the equipment.
Perhaps a list of links would direct these threads efficiently.

Joe


----------



## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

Stuart Sweet said:


> The exception to that is... R22 receivers. Because they are more closely related to the HR2x series, they will be in the HD receiver forum.


The R22 being used for HD has been described here as being a "loophole". I would leave it in SD to avoid confusion.


----------



## joe diamond (Feb 28, 2007)

David MacLeod said:


> well just a thought, since the install is germane to all receivers and is pretty specific, would it possibly be better to leave that out of the general forum?
> I think combining mdu would be fine, possibly interesting too
> 
> I'm thinking it might be easier for some installers that might always go to that forum first to assist.


+1

The last things installers want to get into is more customer interaction over what happens when you push the buttons. I read the general form & the others to discover new issues and how others solved them.

Joe


----------



## mreposter (Jul 29, 2006)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I think the Sports Programming forum we have : http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6
> 
> is probably sufficient for that. If there's a technical issue, post it in the programming forum. If you want to talk sports (who doesn't?) use the existing Sports forum.


Then shouldn't threads like these be moved from the Directv Programming forum to the Sports Programming forum???

New deal for CSN SportsNet New England
Versus on DTV
Nhl 2009-10 tv & nlc centre ice dtv thread
Hockey Night in Canada December 5th
Comcast Sports Northwest
Status of MSG HD?
Steelers @ Browns
Comcast-DirecTV Face Arbitration Deadline Over New England RSN
North Dakota hockey on DirecTV
MASN starting 2nd HD channel in spring
CricketTicket 2009 $299.00


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

mreposter said:


> Then shouldn't threads like these be moved from the Directv Programming forum to the Sports Programming forum???
> 
> New deal for CSN SportsNet New England
> Versus on DTV
> ...


But most if not all of these threads have to do with issues or questions dealing with DirecTV specifically. The only ones that could be argued might be the Center Ice ones but since Center Ice is not on Dish, that makes it a DirecTV only issue in terms of what this entire forum covers.

What is appropriate for the sports forum would be if I wanted to have a thread talking about the Bears/Packers game today as in the game itself. But if I wanted to ask why it looks like garbage on my Sunday Ticket feed then that is a DirecTV programming issue.

I don't know why some people have an issue with the sports threads, just ignore them, I ignore the ones I don't care about. Not that hard.


----------



## Sgt. Slaughter (Feb 20, 2009)

I really think there should be 2 sub-forums in the programing section, one for HD locals(which is already there and should stay), and another for National HD, and the two would be dedicated to the support of ISSUES with HD programing feeds if/when they arrise. This is a current problem for the local stations as I see break ups in them much more often but assume it might help to have one for national HD feeds. 
combining the local hd subforum with programing or something else would add a lot of clutter imo.


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

The Changes have been implemented


----------



## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Shouldn't the DirecTv software release notes be incorporated here somewhere as well?


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

RobertE said:


> Shouldn't the DirecTv software release notes be incorporated here somewhere as well?


Those are separated in the same way they are separated on the DISH side .. http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=109


----------



## Grentz (Jan 10, 2007)

Looks nice and streamlined. Will take some getting used to but overall nice.

Only negative I see is not having the installation forum more out in the open, but we shall see how it works out in time.


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

I moved the Installation forum to the top listing when on the General Forum list .. This should help.


----------



## Movieman (May 9, 2009)

Once you see the new look you get a good feel for it. Its getting easier and quicker to navigate at least the sections I go into often.


----------



## smiddy (Apr 5, 2006)

Nice, I think it flows very nicely!


----------



## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

It looks good so far. I agree that once you get used to it, it is very easy to navigate.


----------



## texasbrit (Aug 9, 2006)

I'm still concerned about merging the MDU discussion with installation. I think people with MDU issues would find their problems getting more attention if they are not lost in the general installation forum. Also I suspect we'll get a few more wayward responses, because with the old scheme people without MDU knowledge tended not to look at that subforum, whereas now I suspect that some of the MDU posts are going to get responses from people who can't even spell MDU


----------



## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Sooo much better this way.....


----------



## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

guess I'm a minority then. I like how hd and sd receivers sections are.
I do not like install (especially this one) and programming being subs of general.


----------



## Piratefan98 (Mar 11, 2008)

I don't like Programming being buried in General either. Seems like the Programming forum probably has more activity than any other (just guessing). Then again, lots of the discussion in that forum is critical of DirecTV, so it would be par-for-the-course to find a way to minimize that appearance. Closing certain threads, combining many others, and now burying Programming another layer deep all point to a particular intent, IMO.

Jeff


----------



## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Let me say this clearly:

*We did not put Programming in a subforum in order to hide any critical posts.*

If this site had nothing but lovers and fanboys, it would be quiet and boring, and probably die. We appreciate honest criticism, mature discussion and even the occasional rant.

In fact the programming forum is fairly quiet compared to the receiver-centered forums, and if you take out the designated HD Anticipation thread it's quieter still.

Our goal was to find a simpler, easier format for the forums which had become increasingly fragmented.


----------



## David MacLeod (Jan 29, 2008)

fwiw I do not think it had anything to do with hiding posts and I hope I (unlike others) did not imply that.


----------



## Newshawk (Sep 3, 2004)

I have noticed that a lot more programming topics are not making it to the Programming forum but are being posted in the General forum. I was wondering if this would happen-it appears that it has. People are just posting in the first forum they come upon and are not noticing the Programming sub-forum.


----------



## thumperr (Feb 10, 2006)

Sorry, but I don't like this, too much nesting. Computer people like things nice and hierarchical, and that is the configuration now.

I'm hoping you made the changes to drive page views in the DirecTV forums, not sure if I think this is the best option. I don't think this makes the site more usable. I also think this will reduce your page views because the users will not easily identify the content from the top level of the navigation.

I would think if this page http://www.dbstalk.com/index.php gets lots of views by anonymous users they will tend not to navigate to the sub forums as easily as before. You have to differentiate what you do for your dedicated users, who will just figure it out, and what the causal user will do.


----------



## oldbamaguy (Jun 1, 2009)

I can't find anything in the "new format". The search is ridiculous with a spam filter. Guess I'll go back to the direct tv site instead of trying to find stuff on this "thing".
KISS!!!!! (Keep It Simple STUPID!!!!)


----------



## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

oldbamaguy said:


> I can't find anything in the "new format". The search is ridiculous with a spam filter. Guess I'll go back to the direct tv site instead of trying to find stuff on this "thing".
> KISS!!!!! (Keep It Simple STUPID!!!!)


:scratchin .. The Search button above hasn't changed .. Heck, the names of the forums haven't even changed that much. If anything the changes made it more simple as we reduced the number of forums by 2.


----------

