Direct TV question.

[Gagnon39]

I just got Direct TV installed yesterday and I've got a couple of things that I'm not pleased about. I was wondering if anyone had any anwers or similar problems. First of all, I am not getting channels such as FOX, ABC, NBC or CBS in high definition. I am only gettint these in standard definition (which looks like total crap on a wide screen television). I spend a good 2 hours on the phone with customer service reps on their 800 number (one time I got cut off, so that was a lot of fun). To make a long story short they told me that my area (western Kentucky) does not receive an HD signal for those stations yet but they should get them by early February. They also said they were going to mail me some waivers that I had to sign and send back in to get the signal sent to my TV. All of this is rather confusing and a HUGE inconvenience. I now have to wait for these waivers that I fill out and send it and the whole process can take up to 45 days.

Second problem, my HD DVR is only capable of doing 1080i. Two customer service reps told me that they had receivers/DVR's that were capable of 1080p while the last guy I talked to said that they didn't have those available yet. This whole thing is already a huge inconvenience and I'm already thinking that I made a mistake by choosing Direct TV. The only, and I do mean ONLY reason that I chose Direct TV was because it has the exclusive deals for NFL Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings. Boy, do I love exclusive deals, not only do they screw up video games they screw up TV too.

If anyone has any answers I sure would appreciate it.

[fishepa]

Re: Direct TV question.

You probably should have checked to see if they offered local HD in your area before you got it.

No DirecTV DVR's support 1080p, no stations even broadcast in 1080p so you wouldn't get any stations displaying that anyway.

[Gagnon39]

Re: Direct TV question.

OK, so I guess the last guy I was talking to on the phone might know what he was talking about. He said that they are going to be getting those stations in HD in early February. But it just doesn't make much sense because Comcast has them and isn't there a way to get HD channels with a basic antenna (stations like ABC and NBC)? It just doesn't add up.

[fishepa]

Re: Direct TV question.

Yeah, you can get an OTA antenna and you should be able to pick up some HD locals.

You can check out http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx to see what HD channels you can pick up with an antenna.

[burnwood]

Re: Direct TV question.

Yup, just plug an antenna into your receiver and re-scan your channels. You will see the HD ones appear in the list. That is if your local stations broadcast in HD and your antenna is strong enough to pick them up.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: Direct TV question.

Yeah, you can get an OTA antenna and you should be able to pick up some HD locals.

You can check out http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx to see what HD channels you can pick up with an antenna.

Yep. I pick up all my local HD channels OTA. Had to go with a powered antenna ($28 at walmart) to pick them all up though.


To the OP, once you get everything squared away you will definitely be happy with DirectTV. If you're a HD enthusiast you definitely made the right choice. Don't know if you'll find more HD channels anywhere else.

[bkrich83]

Re: Direct TV question.

OK, so I guess the last guy I was talking to on the phone might know what he was talking about. He said that they are going to be getting those stations in HD in early February. But it just doesn't make much sense because Comcast has them and isn't there a way to get HD channels with a basic antenna (stations like ABC and NBC)? It just doesn't add up.

I know they are always adding HD broadcasts of local channels across the country all the time. There was a time here in San Diego, we couldn't get our locals in HD either. When you ordered there's a place on their website where you type in your zip code and it will tell you if you get locals in HD or not.

As far as the 1080p DVR's. None of the DirecTV DVR's are 1080p capable. No one broadcasts in 1080p anyway, so I don't know what the advantage of having one would be.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: Direct TV question.

I'm still trying to get an HD-DVR from them on the cheap!

[The Chef]

Re: Direct TV question.

In terms of the waiver paperwork they are sending you, its so you can get the network channels in HD from New York, they offer an Eastern feed (New York) and a Western feed (Los Angeles), so you still wont get your actual local news or things like that in HD but you will get anything else that is a national broadcast in HD. The problem isnt completely on Directv, its the local markets that control this, here in Oregon I can get ABC, NBC and Fox in HD but for some reason Directv cant get a deal in place to get me CBS so Im screwed completely. I tried to get the same paperwork your getting but because I have all of them except CBS they wouldnt approve it. The other downside is they told me it can take up to a month for it to be approved, so that sucks as well. Hope I shed some light on the paperwork angle though.

EDIT- FYI, if its approved your local channels will end up being channels 80-89.