primestar: does the mpeg2 shutoff affect east/west feeds? [Text View]

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newsposter

09-03-2008, 07:41 AM

i'm recalling this from years of conversation, so all may not be accurate

My friend only has SD, no HD. Over the years i bugged her to get tivo because she misses her shows. She has told me she is an old primestar customer and gets free service calls and her equipment is rented and if the lightning fries it they get it all new free. She also gets philly locals as well as east and west coast feeds (i just found this out yesterday)

I told her i just saw the announcement that the mpeg2 feeds will all be gone in little while but directv will likely call her with free replacements. She said she may want a dvr but she's worried of losing her primestar status

1. so is it true that she gets free service calls and free equipment for breakdowns?

2. since philly locals are available, will they just shut off the east/west coast and let her have her current equipment or will they upgrade her to mpeg4 and let her keep east west (i assume some primestar agreement let her have all these channels?)

3. if they will just upgrade her standard receivers free, and she decides to pay for a dvr, will that 'unprimestar' her account. For some reason she greatly fears losing that status. I dont know her bill so i dont really know what kind of deal she is getting etc. And will the dvr kick in a commitment (she's not going anywhere though)

anything else i should know about the situation...let me know.

shibby191

09-03-2008, 09:05 AM

If she just has SD then she is unaffected. It's MPEG2 *HD* that is being shut off. And actually West coast HD DNS feeds have already been MPEG4 only since last spring. Looks like East coast DNS will follow next spring.

So she should be just fine and doesn't need to do anything. However they have been getting aggressive in auditing DNS feeds for those that do not qualify and since she gets her locals she doesn't qualify so she shouldn't be surprised to find the west and east coast DNS shut off because legally she isn't supposed to get them. When they get to her is a mystery. Could be tomorrow, could be 2 years from now. :)

newsposter

10-06-2008, 08:24 AM

i finally got a look at her bill

54.99 for total choice plus
3.00 for something that could either be for the 2nd receiver or for a protection plan of sorts..the wording was ambiguous

11.99 for distant networks.

I h

sjberra

10-06-2008, 12:45 PM

newsposter

10-06-2008, 01:02 PM

is it possible she has free 2nd receiver? there were no other charges on the bill.

sk33t3r

10-07-2008, 03:20 PM

So my hr10-250 is goign to loose any mpeg2 HD channels? Thats means I must upgrade them to a HR20/21??

newsposter

10-07-2008, 03:36 PM

So my hr10-250 is goign to loose any mpeg2 HD channels? Thats means I must upgrade them to a HR20/21??

thats what others have posted on this forum yes. (assuming you still want your HD of course)

sk33t3r

10-07-2008, 08:56 PM

thats what others have posted on this forum yes. (assuming you still want your HD of course)

Well actually dad has my old hr10-250, so i need to upgrade his, which means teaching him the new menus and crap.

oh joy what fun that will be

Da Goon

10-07-2008, 09:05 PM

3.00 for something that could either be for the 2nd receiver or for a protection plan of sorts..the wording was ambiguous

it's a legacy "protection plan" for ex-primestar customers.

newsposter

10-08-2008, 09:07 AM

ok so she'd have 2x the cost if she came out of that plan (6 a month)

plus i have no idea the difference in total choice and the new tiers..if she would lose or gain channels.

RS4

10-08-2008, 12:16 PM

So my hr10-250 is goign to loose any mpeg2 HD channels? Thats means I must upgrade them to a HR20/21??

If you are using an antenna to get your local channels in HD, you won't be losing that signal.