DirecTV: Which receiver? (web site and customer service USELESS)

Jeff Rife wrote:
) wrote in rec.video.satellite.dbs:
I recently received a Phillips refurb, shipped directly from DTV.
No digital audio.

*Every* DirecTiVo built has an optical digital audio output. If yours
isn't working, you should complain about the broken product you received.

I suggested that the original poster might want to get a DirecTivo, since
they have Digital Audio, and are as cheap as the "normal" DTV units that
have Digital Audio.

The Philips 5500 that I received was a non-Tivo unit, and does not have
digital audio.

In checking the Internet, I see that there are new customer packages that
include the DirecTivo and the Philips 5540 as a second receiver. The 5540
does have digital Audio. There are packages that include one 5540 and
multiple 5500. Plenty of options. I don't know these folks, but here's
one web page: http://www.digitalcommandcenter.net/


--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

) wrote in rec.video.satellite.dbs:
Jeff Rife wrote:
*Every* DirecTiVo built has an optical digital audio output. If yours
isn't working, you should complain about the broken product you received.

I suggested that the original poster might want to get a DirecTivo, since
they have Digital Audio, and are as cheap as the "normal" DTV units that
have Digital Audio.

The Philips 5500 that I received was a non-Tivo unit, and does not have
digital audio.

Sorry, I missed your first suggestion. Must be some news server issue.

I also did not know that DirecTV shipped refurb non-TiVo units to people.
I hope it didn't cost you anything.

As far as I am concerned, the DirecTiVo is the *only* non-HD receiver to buy
now. For just $4.99/month more, you get a receiver that does so much more
than standard receivers, it's pathetic.

--
Jeff Rife |
SPAM bait: | http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/OverThe...ricaOnline.gif
|
|

With the Tivo boxes, there is really no difference between brands,
except for the front panel. They are all made in the same Mexican
factory.

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:49:24 -0500, Campbell Freeman wrote:
I recently signed up for an additional IRD and subscription for a second
room. That was this past July. The installers installed (and I paid for),
a Philips DSX 5350 and I was not satisfied at all. Terrible alaising & poor
audio. When DirecTV offered a TIVO upgrade for $99 and an additional
discount last month, I went for it and requested a Hughes box. I was told
by the installers that they only had Philips and refurbed RCA's. I told
them to bring the Philips. Lo and behold, they showed up with a Hughes
(manufactured April 2K4; don't recall the model number), and the picture
quality and sound is immeasurably better. No alaising and if there is, it is
imperceptible to me. Much, much better pictures now. The guide is a little
slower, but there is "a lot more going on" inside this box. And the TIVO
features are amazing. Additionally it is much more "user friendly" to
operate compared to the Philips...remote control wise. Still some "mosquito
noise" and compression artifacts, but that is inherent in any large
multi-channel compression scheme.

CFreeman


wrote in message
...
Carl Keehn wrote:
The installer will bring what he has in stock at the time. Basically
DirecTV is going to their own branded receivers, you may still find a
few of
the older Philips, RCA or Samsung receivers in the pipeline, but the
DirecTV
base receiver is now the D10. I was browsing BestBuy and Circuit City
and
the D10 is the only non Tivo, non HD receiver that either store now
carries.
As far as the DirecTivo receiver, they are all built in the same factory
by
the same installers and are for all intents and purposes the same unit
sold
under different nameplates.

I recently received a Phillips refurb, shipped directly from DTV.
No digital audio.

---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

Jeff Rife wrote:
I also did not know that DirecTV shipped refurb non-TiVo units to people.
I hope it didn't cost you anything.

I bought a DTivo, and moved an RCA to the bedroom. Then the RCA died. The
refurb Philips was a free replacement for the RCA. I didn't have any
desire to pay $99 for a second DTivo.

As far as I am concerned, the DirecTiVo is the *only* non-HD receiver to buy
now. For just $4.99/month more, you get a receiver that does so much more
than standard receivers, it's pathetic.

For a new customer, $49 verses free in the upfront costs, to get a DTivo,
is an easy answer. I would get the DTivo. A second DTivo for $99, without
any networking, isn't as attractive.

--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 20:28:22 +0000 (UTC),
wrote:

snip
For a new customer, $49 verses free in the upfront costs, to get a DTivo,
is an easy answer. I would get the DTivo. A second DTivo for $99, without
any networking, isn't as attractive.

actually, that's exactly what I just did, and I think it's positively
great. My original Tivo is modified with a 2nd hard drive, for 160 GB
total, and I'll mod the second one as soon as the warranty runs out. I
have the original in the Den, the second in the bedroom, and using IR
repeaters, can now view anything from either Tivo in either room. I
nearly filled them both with the recent free "Premier" weekend.
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/

Charlie wrote:
have the original in the Den, the second in the bedroom, and using IR
repeaters, can now view anything from either Tivo in either room. I

Before we got the DTivo, we had a standard receiver in the living room, and
fed the RF to the bedroom. We could watch the same thing on both sets.
Typically, I would be watching a tape-delayed sporting event in the living
room, and my wife would be watching DTV in the bedroom. Our "IR repeater"
was a loud voice down the hallway ;-)

Now we have the Tivo in the living room, and a standard receiver in the
bedroom. I had thought about running the RF from the Tivo to the bedroom
(somewhere in there, the TV moved away from the old cable), but now that we
can watch shows when we want to watch them in the living room, we just do.

If I'm working on the computer, with CNN droning on in the background, I do
miss the ability to do an 8-second rewind, though ;-)


--
---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

I have heard that, but yet I have a much better quality picture with the
Hughes Tivo as compared to the Philips w/o Tivo, so there must be some
difference. I didn't change anything but the boxes. This was a comparison
of a non Tivo (Philips) IRD to the IRD/DVR I have now: Hughes w/ Tivo.

Cfreeman
"Bob Nielsen" wrote in message
...
With the Tivo boxes, there is really no difference between brands,
except for the front panel. They are all made in the same Mexican
factory.

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:49:24 -0500, Campbell Freeman wrote:
I recently signed up for an additional IRD and subscription for a second
room. That was this past July. The installers installed (and I paid
for),
a Philips DSX 5350 and I was not satisfied at all. Terrible alaising &
poor
audio. When DirecTV offered a TIVO upgrade for $99 and an additional
discount last month, I went for it and requested a Hughes box. I was
told
by the installers that they only had Philips and refurbed RCA's. I told
them to bring the Philips. Lo and behold, they showed up with a Hughes
(manufactured April 2K4; don't recall the model number), and the picture
quality and sound is immeasurably better. No alaising and if there is,
it is
imperceptible to me. Much, much better pictures now. The guide is a
little
slower, but there is "a lot more going on" inside this box. And the
TIVO
features are amazing. Additionally it is much more "user friendly" to
operate compared to the Philips...remote control wise. Still some
"mosquito
noise" and compression artifacts, but that is inherent in any large
multi-channel compression scheme.

CFreeman


wrote in message
...
Carl Keehn wrote:
The installer will bring what he has in stock at the time. Basically
DirecTV is going to their own branded receivers, you may still find a
few of
the older Philips, RCA or Samsung receivers in the pipeline, but the
DirecTV
base receiver is now the D10. I was browsing BestBuy and Circuit
City
and
the D10 is the only non Tivo, non HD receiver that either store now
carries.
As far as the DirecTivo receiver, they are all built in the same
factory
by
the same installers and are for all intents and purposes the same
unit
sold
under different nameplates.

I recently received a Phillips refurb, shipped directly from DTV.
No digital audio.

---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

What I said was that there should be no difference between the
different brands of the boxes with Tivo. There is a difference between
Tivo boxes and non-Tivo boxes, as well as between the different brands
of non-Tivo receivers, although it looks like brands other than DirecTV
may disappear soon. The Hughes Network Systems web site says they no
longer manufacture DirecTV systems. Of course Hughes=DirecTV, so that
probably is really just a branding issue.

On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 13:05:36 -0500, Campbell Freeman wrote:
I have heard that, but yet I have a much better quality picture with the
Hughes Tivo as compared to the Philips w/o Tivo, so there must be some
difference. I didn't change anything but the boxes. This was a comparison
of a non Tivo (Philips) IRD to the IRD/DVR I have now: Hughes w/ Tivo.

Cfreeman
"Bob Nielsen" wrote in message
...
With the Tivo boxes, there is really no difference between brands,
except for the front panel. They are all made in the same Mexican
factory.

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:49:24 -0500, Campbell Freeman wrote:
I recently signed up for an additional IRD and subscription for a second
room. That was this past July. The installers installed (and I paid
for),
a Philips DSX 5350 and I was not satisfied at all. Terrible alaising &
poor
audio. When DirecTV offered a TIVO upgrade for $99 and an additional
discount last month, I went for it and requested a Hughes box. I was
told
by the installers that they only had Philips and refurbed RCA's. I told
them to bring the Philips. Lo and behold, they showed up with a Hughes
(manufactured April 2K4; don't recall the model number), and the picture
quality and sound is immeasurably better. No alaising and if there is,
it is
imperceptible to me. Much, much better pictures now. The guide is a
little
slower, but there is "a lot more going on" inside this box. And the
TIVO
features are amazing. Additionally it is much more "user friendly" to
operate compared to the Philips...remote control wise. Still some
"mosquito
noise" and compression artifacts, but that is inherent in any large
multi-channel compression scheme.

CFreeman


wrote in message
...
Carl Keehn wrote:
The installer will bring what he has in stock at the time. Basically
DirecTV is going to their own branded receivers, you may still find a
few of
the older Philips, RCA or Samsung receivers in the pipeline, but the
DirecTV
base receiver is now the D10. I was browsing BestBuy and Circuit
City
and
the D10 is the only non Tivo, non HD receiver that either store now
carries.
As far as the DirecTivo receiver, they are all built in the same
factory
by
the same installers and are for all intents and purposes the same
unit
sold
under different nameplates.

I recently received a Phillips refurb, shipped directly from DTV.
No digital audio.

---
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5

"Bob Nielsen" wrote in message
...
What I said was that there should be no difference between the
different brands of the boxes with Tivo. There is a difference between
Tivo boxes and non-Tivo boxes, as well as between the different brands
of non-Tivo receivers, although it looks like brands other than DirecTV
may disappear soon. The Hughes Network Systems web site says they no
longer manufacture DirecTV systems. Of course Hughes=DirecTV, so that
probably is really just a branding issue.

No, although it is a branding issue, I understand that it won't involve
Hughes, If I understand correctly, the Directv brand is manufactured by
Thomson (RCA)

"Carl Keehn" wrote in message ...

"Bob Nielsen" wrote in message
...
What I said was that there should be no difference between the
different brands of the boxes with Tivo. There is a difference between
Tivo boxes and non-Tivo boxes, as well as between the different brands
of non-Tivo receivers, although it looks like brands other than DirecTV
may disappear soon. The Hughes Network Systems web site says they no
longer manufacture DirecTV systems. Of course Hughes=DirecTV, so that
probably is really just a branding issue.

No, although it is a branding issue, I understand that it won't involve
Hughes, If I understand correctly, the Directv brand is manufactured by
Thomson (RCA)



Thomson acquired HNS’ set-top box manufacturing assets.
Details are he
http://www.thomson.net/EN/Home/Press...s/PR040512.htm

note the end of third paragraph:
"Thomson will be the lead supplier of DIRECTV System set-top receivers
accounting for half of its needs."
....