Dan the TiVo Man
07-08-2006, 06:30 PM
I meant to put this in the HD Tivo forum...oops
After the last couple of days I'm thinking upgrading is more painful.
I decided to get the HR10 so I could watch my locals in Hi Def. Of course I didn't do any research otherwise I would have discovered beforehand that D* in Chicago is transmitting locals in Mpeg4. I knew they were eventually going to do this but I thought I had at the least several months. One reason I believed they hadn't done it yet is because my brother is receiving the locals on his HR10 and no, he doesn't have an OTA antenna. Of course he didn't mention that his local news was from New York and LA.
None of the CSR's would admit that D* did not shut off the out of area locals for customers that were already receiving them between the switch to Mpeg4 and the point in time that the FCC would not allow D* to provide the out of area locals. They swore up and down that my brother must have an OTA antenna or he didn't really have the HR10. If anyone knows the whole "locals" story please post it here or point me to the thread that already covered it.
My pain actually began while I was trying to tune in the dish to all 3 satellites. I could get all 3 seperately but never all three at the same time. Solution: Next day I moved the dish away from the roof-line and like magic 2 satellites were in the 90's and the 3rd satellite was in the 80's. Now imagine a fat guy running into the house all excited to see my Hi Def locals. Hmmm, no Hi Def locals. Now see me calling D* for 2 hours complaining that I just paid 400 bucks for an obsolete piece of equipment. I was disconnected 3 times and had to repeat the entire story 3 times. All I got was a guarantee that when the new DVR's come out, I will get a free upgrade. Do I believe it will really happen? Not really but I have a backup plan to get the free upgrade just in case...
The pain deepened the next morning when my wife called me and said there was no picture from the HR10. That night I disconnected the power for a minute, repowered, and after it booted I noticed the normally green power LED was turned off but I could hear the tell-tale sound of a hard drive and could also feel the fan blowing. Still no picture and no audio. Took it back to CC for a replacement. They had no more. Got a refund and stopped off at BB. They had none. Had to drive 25 miles to get a new HR10. The new unit is running smoothly for a whole 24 hours now. Ahh, my pain is fading.
Of course at this point I did some research in the TiVo Community Forum and I'm up to speed on the new stuff like: Mpeg4, AT9, H20 etc. and now I know precisely when the new DVR's will be ready...sometime in the 2nd half of 2006....maybe....
But the best discovery I made was finding the phone number for the Presidents office at D*. My wife called and was able to get a free AT9 dish, a free H20 receiver and free installation a week from now. And last but not least, free Showtime for 6 months. The best price I could find on the web for a receiver, a dish and shipping was 200 bucks so I think I came out of this situation bruised but no permanent damage was done. Ahh, the pain is all gone.
I won't be able to record my Hi Def locals for awhile but at least I can watch them live. I'll also have the new AT9 dish ready for whenever the new DVR arrives.
Was all this pain worth it? Of course it was, it's HD on a 103 inch screen :D
After the last couple of days I'm thinking upgrading is more painful.
I decided to get the HR10 so I could watch my locals in Hi Def. Of course I didn't do any research otherwise I would have discovered beforehand that D* in Chicago is transmitting locals in Mpeg4. I knew they were eventually going to do this but I thought I had at the least several months. One reason I believed they hadn't done it yet is because my brother is receiving the locals on his HR10 and no, he doesn't have an OTA antenna. Of course he didn't mention that his local news was from New York and LA.
None of the CSR's would admit that D* did not shut off the out of area locals for customers that were already receiving them between the switch to Mpeg4 and the point in time that the FCC would not allow D* to provide the out of area locals. They swore up and down that my brother must have an OTA antenna or he didn't really have the HR10. If anyone knows the whole "locals" story please post it here or point me to the thread that already covered it.
My pain actually began while I was trying to tune in the dish to all 3 satellites. I could get all 3 seperately but never all three at the same time. Solution: Next day I moved the dish away from the roof-line and like magic 2 satellites were in the 90's and the 3rd satellite was in the 80's. Now imagine a fat guy running into the house all excited to see my Hi Def locals. Hmmm, no Hi Def locals. Now see me calling D* for 2 hours complaining that I just paid 400 bucks for an obsolete piece of equipment. I was disconnected 3 times and had to repeat the entire story 3 times. All I got was a guarantee that when the new DVR's come out, I will get a free upgrade. Do I believe it will really happen? Not really but I have a backup plan to get the free upgrade just in case...
The pain deepened the next morning when my wife called me and said there was no picture from the HR10. That night I disconnected the power for a minute, repowered, and after it booted I noticed the normally green power LED was turned off but I could hear the tell-tale sound of a hard drive and could also feel the fan blowing. Still no picture and no audio. Took it back to CC for a replacement. They had no more. Got a refund and stopped off at BB. They had none. Had to drive 25 miles to get a new HR10. The new unit is running smoothly for a whole 24 hours now. Ahh, my pain is fading.
Of course at this point I did some research in the TiVo Community Forum and I'm up to speed on the new stuff like: Mpeg4, AT9, H20 etc. and now I know precisely when the new DVR's will be ready...sometime in the 2nd half of 2006....maybe....
But the best discovery I made was finding the phone number for the Presidents office at D*. My wife called and was able to get a free AT9 dish, a free H20 receiver and free installation a week from now. And last but not least, free Showtime for 6 months. The best price I could find on the web for a receiver, a dish and shipping was 200 bucks so I think I came out of this situation bruised but no permanent damage was done. Ahh, the pain is all gone.
I won't be able to record my Hi Def locals for awhile but at least I can watch them live. I'll also have the new AT9 dish ready for whenever the new DVR arrives.
Was all this pain worth it? Of course it was, it's HD on a 103 inch screen :D