Posted here because it’s too long to Tweet and I dislike serializing Tweets. I’ve been a DIRECTV subscriber for around twelve years. Through all that time I’ve almost always been pleased with both the actual TV service and their customer service people. There has been the occasional hiccup, as you’d expect, but overall it’s been [...]

Posted here because it’s too long to Tweet and I dislike serializing Tweets.

I’ve been a DIRECTV subscriber for around twelve years. Through all that time I’ve almost always been pleased with both the actual TV service and their customer service people. There has been the occasional hiccup, as you’d expect, but overall it’s been great and I wouldn’t hesitate to strongly recommend the service. (In fact, if you’re considering it, click the “Contact Me” link on this page for a $100 referral credit.)

DIRECTV recently, some would say “finally” introduced their whole-home DVR service- essentially the same as the local share ability built in to TiVo since the beginning- and since I have two of their HD DVRs (one upstairs, one downstairs) and an ever-growing list of subscribed series, I decided to order it. Unlike TiVo networking, which is free except for customer-provided equipment, the DIRECTV service costs $3 per month plus installation. I have a very strong wireless-N network but apparently HD signals require more bandwidth so they install a hardwire network for the DVRs.

I called last Friday and had one of the single best customer service experiences in my life. The rep was friendly, knowledgable and very helpful. She got the service ordered, gave me a break on the installation charge and took care of a few other unrelated issues on my account. We scheduled the service installation to take place a week later, today, between 4 and 8 pm. All would be well and I was quite pleased.

This morning, I received a call from someone who, almost completely unintelligably, claimed to be the DIRECTV installer and said he wouldn’t be coming today because he “has no equipment.” That’s a direct quote. He’s a DIRECTV installer and he can’t make it because he “has no equipment.”

I didn’t know what to say to that so I agreed to wait for his call next week when, presumably, he’d have some equipment. Then I got on the phone to DIRECTV customer service to find out what the hell was going on. The rep could only tell me that the appointment was still scheduled and she didn’t see anything to suggest that the installer wouldn’t be there as scheduled. She said she’d have “Dispatch” call me back shortly to confirm it.

Well, “Dispatch” never called and no installer ever showed. I blocked time for this today and it was wasted. I’m surprised and disappointed.

I’ll call back tomorrow, I guess, and try to reschedule. I will insist on a different installer because I will not allow the one I talked to this morning into my house.

Updates as events warrant.

Buried in AP article about DirecTV’s quarterly results is this nugget of information: [CEO Chase] Carey said DirecTV will roll out a ‘whole-home’ digital video recording service starting in the second quarter that will enable customers to record programs on a DVR in one room and watch them in other areas of the house on [...]

Buried in AP article about DirecTV’s quarterly results is this nugget of information:

[CEO Chase] Carey said DirecTV will roll out a ‘whole-home’ digital video recording service starting in the second quarter that will enable customers to record programs on a DVR in one room and watch them in other areas of the house on TVs hooked up to linked non-DVR set-top boxes.

Well, it’s about time. TiVo (not DirecTiVo, just regular old TiVo) had this ages ago. Finally I’ll be able to record on the upstairs DVR and watch it downstairs or vice-versa. This should help with scheduling conflicts–I hope there is some sort of auto-conflict manager included with the new service.

10:10 Already hot. Left a big bowl of ice water for cats. # 12:18 Mac apparently thinks it’s a PC today. Crash city. # 13:15 Lunch: buffalo chicken pizza & watermelon. # 14:51 Just found out that "Countdown" has apparently been airing this week even though it’s not on the schedule, so TiVo didn’t pick [...]

• 10:10 Already hot. Left a big bowl of ice water for cats. #
• 12:18 Mac apparently thinks it’s a PC today. Crash city. #
• 13:15 Lunch: buffalo chicken pizza & watermelon. #
• 14:51 Just found out that "Countdown" has apparently been airing this week even though it’s not on the schedule, so TiVo didn’t pick it up. Grr! #
• 14:55 Or maybe not. ::confused:: #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

10:03 At work. Wednesday is bagel and donut day! (It’s the little things that keep us going…) # 10:04 Attn Internets: How do I turn off local echo in Mac OS Terminal on Telnet connections? # 12:36 I heart the Internets: tinyurl.com/5jgtdc # 12:39 No matter the problem, SOMEONE else has already experienced it and [...]

• 10:03 At work. Wednesday is bagel and donut day! (It’s the little things that keep us going…) #
• 10:04 Attn Internets: How do I turn off local echo in Mac OS Terminal on Telnet connections? #
• 12:36 I heart the Internets: tinyurl.com/5jgtdc #
• 12:39 No matter the problem, SOMEONE else has already experienced it and found a solution. #
• 20:36 Re-hacking DirecTiVos with latest script. #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

From Ars Technica this morning comes word that DirecTV and TiVo are finally back together and will have a new HD DirecTiVo late next year: Unfortunately for TiVo fans that are itching for HD action, the hardware won’t launch until the second half of 2009.While this is great news for TiVo fans and DirecTV users, [...]

From Ars Technica this morning comes word that DirecTV and TiVo are finally back together and will have a new HD DirecTiVo late next year:

Unfortunately for TiVo fans that are itching for HD action, the hardware won’t launch until the second half of 2009.
While this is great news for TiVo fans and DirecTV users, one wonders whether late 2009 will be too little too late. DirecTV’s aggressive ramp-up of MPEG-4 HD programming has left owners of the original Hughes DirecTV TiVo with a scant handful of high-def options to choose from. As a result, many TiVo fans have moved on.

The DirecTV HD-DVR software works, but it’s just barely good enough and compared to TiVo it’s not even in the same ballpark. I wonder if there’s any chance that existing machines will be updated with new TiVo software? I don’t really want to buy another box.