WetLeather Motorcycle Rider Information

Mark Morrissey [markem] wrote:
>I know about the need to be careful about getting the right "tivo" type
>recorder so that you can record what you aren't watching, etc.

Below are the parts that were important to *me*. Hope this helps.
Merry New Year!

Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 11:04:55 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
Subject: DishPVR

Seeing an ad for Circuit City's DirecTV promotion that mentioned
"upgrade any existing receiver to TiVo for $99", I thought I'd just call
up my long-time satisfactory satellite provider, Dish Network, and ask
them if they'd match it. (Well, actually, I spent a couple of hours
slogging around their incredibly ill-designed, confusing, broken-linked
over-Javascripted website and see if I could find anything about an
upgrade policy. Nyet; nothing that looked even remotely current. So I
called them.)

Turns out, they'll do the same. $99 total, "installed", for a Dish PVR
510. Not the greatest gizmo, by the looks of the PDF brochure, but seems
serviceable. Some online user fora seemed to say it works OK. One year
commitment to a basic minimum of programming required, no prob. So I told
'em to go ahead and send an "installer" over. No monthly "on demand"
program-guide-and-semi-steerable-feed fee for us, since we already have
the "oh, baby, give me ALL of it" channel packag (America's Everything,
IIRC); otherwise $4.95 extra per month for the "service".

I have to give 'em our current receiver "to avoid a $50 fee". Hunh? I
didn't buy that receiver from them; I got it at Costco IIRC. So they're
actually giving me a $50 trade-in on the new receiver, and have
pre-computed it into the upgrade price. Except if I wanna keep the
receiver as a second outlet. Well, I considered it, but don't really
need it - and if I did, I'd rather have a NEW 2nd receiver - this one is
5? 6? years old, occasionally flakes out, and doesn't ave any more
features than the new ones that sell for - you guessed it - around $50.

Installation scheduled for morning of December 26. "What, not before
Christmas?" - who cares, nothing that makes my DVR-trigger-finger twitch
is on during Christmas week anyway.

Anybody else have one of these gizmos besides Martin? He likes his fine;
I asked him many moons ago.

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 08:37:33 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
Subject: Re: DishPVR

Tim Keane [timk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] wrote:
>Terry Bort wrote:
>>Kathy Gill wrote:
>> >we make good use of Replay's "create a channel" feature[...]
>> >We have Babylon5, Farscape, etc all set up [...]
>>
>> TIVO has a similar feature - the Wish List and season pass manager.
>
>So it looks like DishPVR is the only braindead one of the three.
>Maybe that's why they give it to me for free, but it sucks even
>at that price. How they could go to the effort of writing the
>software routines to search the online guide by string and then
>not add the much simpler routines to save those searches and run
>them automatically, I just don't understand. It makes the whole
>thing pointless. If I was a software engineer at Dish I'd be
>embarrassed to tell anybody.

I just cancelled my order with Dish based on the feedback here.

Maybe I coulda done without the smart search, but I need two tuners so's
I can watch one and record another. I didn't think about the
implications of single-tuner until the discussion here. Dish doesn't
currently offer a two-tuner box directly as an upgrade.

Looks like I can get a comparable price ($99) with a two-tuner TiVo
from DirecTV. I have to hassle with switching vendors, but that's not
so terrible.

Only bummer is DirecTV doesn't have locals in this area. I have locals
on Basic Cable, partly because Dish didn't used to offer 'em and partly
because the cost is about a wash since dropping Basic Cable raises
the price of my Cable Internet, plus I run other TVs in the house off
cable. I wanted locals on the satellite PVR box so I could have a single
integrated recording solution. Looks like they're promised "early 2004"
for Spokane area, so I guess I'll just switch to DirecTV.

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 12:26:02 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
Subject: Re: DishPVR

Ted Timmons [ted] wrote:
>At 11:19 AM 12/23/2003 -0800, Jack Tavares wrote:
>> > The standalone tivo only has one tuner. For two tuners, you need directv.
>> > The directv tivo can only record from the dish. In other words, it's
>> > useless without a satellite feed.
>>
>>And 2 wires yes? I currently one have one cable going from my dish to the tv.
>>It was there when I bought the house (used for cable tv). I plugged into that.
>>That is routed to a couple of places in the house, through the walls.
>
>Yessir, 2 wires. There are some expensive workarounds, but generally, two
>wires.

Fortunately, the DirecTV-bundled "professional" installation includes
running a cable to each receiver and making one hole in an exterior
wall. OK, so I'll drill a hole for the other receiver, which will be
located far away from the currently-connected Dish Network unit on a
different level and actually much closer to the dish mounting location.
So they pay for the cable and do the hanging, and can use my in-place
Dish cable for one of the two that have to go to the TiVo.
Scheduled for January 2nd.

Kathy, I am not a fan of Comcast, and their prices are higher by nearly
$20/month for the programming I actually use. Yes, I figured the combined
total(s) both ways. DirecTV AND Comcast Basic Cable AND Comcast Cable
Internet is $20ish cheaper than substituting Comcast Digital Cable for
DirecTV and slightly ($8ish) more expensive than substituting Dish
Network for DirecTV, all numbers of receivers, and programming packages
else being roughly equal. DirecTV pulls more even with Dish when they make
local channels available here next spring, as their price goes up only
$2 while Dish charges $4.95. Plus I pay only $123.47 (including tax and
"handling fee") for the TiVo to DirecTV and it gives me 2 tuners.
One-year commitment. So in a year, if Comcast offers an integrated
2-tuner TiVo package, maybe I'll switch again. Competition is working
pretty good in this niche, from this consumer's point of view.

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 12:53:21 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
To: John Jennings
Subject: Re: DishPVR

John Jennings [johnje] wrote:
>Kaffrun and I get everything but the porn. Our bill is around
>$80-$100/mo depending on whether we order Pay movies or boxing events.
>(We're both pretty big boxing fans.) As a result we don't pay any extra
>for our tivo service or for the extra boxes.

I had that package with Dish, but often considered cutting down - we
very rarely watch Starz, Skinemax, or several others. So I ordered a
DirecTV most-of-it-without-movie-channels and added HBO and Showtime.
Comes out to $70.98 a month, including second-receiver and TiVo fees.

Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 07:11:39 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
Subject: Re: DishPVR

Steve Powers [steve] wrote:
>We've got a couple of Hughes DVR II's over here. They're DirecTV's TiVo
>offering. Dual tuner, can record two and watch a prerecorded program
>at the same time. We bought our second recently with the $99 deal. You can
>feed cable into the box to get the locals if they're not coming via the
>bird.

True, but it won't record the cable feed, per the manual on DirecTV's site.
:-(

Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 15:59:34 -0800
From: Carl Paukstis
Subject: Re: Which dish should I buy

Steve Powers [steve] wrote:
>Steve:
>> I've been happy with DirectTV. Don't have the TiVO option
>> yet, but I'm working on it. :)
>no worries, the $99 offer ends 12/31/04
>http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/NewHardwareHome.do?offer=WDDSDVR1&OHO_ATTR
>_SERVICE_ZIP_CODE=unknown&VID=DS

Must be popular, too.

I got a message today (after receiving TWO calls YESTERDAY to confirm my
installation for this Friday morning): "Sorry, we're out of TiVo equipment,
and aren't expecting our shipment until next Wednesday. Please call us
to re-schedule your appointment." Their local phone number is being
answered by a modem or fax machine

Not a good start.

But when I phoned the DirecTV national number, they did get it
re-scheduled and, after I asked for a credit, gave me a free month
of Showtime. They said they were having trouble running out of TiVos in
some areas, and trying to track it.