The MMO Notebook

I grew tired of Comcast’s high prices and lack of HD channels so I decided to make the switch to DirecTV. DirecTV has some great deals going on, including $20/month off your monthly bill for 12 months and free installation. I pulled the trigger on it a little over a month ago, and overall, I’m glad that I made the switch.

I went with the Choice Xtra with HD & DVR package that gives me over 200 channels with about 40 of them being in high definition. That is 40 HD channels compared to the 10 that Comcast offered in my area, and the DirecTV package is less expensive. I also got a bunch of premium movie channels free for three months. Being a true geek, I am very happy to finally watch the Sci-Fi channel in glorious HD.

Installation went just fine and no issues were encountered. I had the HD DVR installed in the living room and a standard box placed in the bedroom. Since I didn’t want to pay for a third box just to watch television in the office, I had the installer “mirror” the signal from the bedroom to the office. Whatever channel is on in the bedroom is on the office. This, of course, makes changing channels a pain, since I would have to walk across the house to the bedroom to change it. I got around this issue by purchasing a “remote control extender” made my Terk. You place one little receiver next to the satellite box, and put the other in the office. I point the satellite remote control at the Terk receiver in the office and it magically sends the remote control signal into the bedroom and changes the channel for me. Brilliant.

I only had one problem with the DirecTV service but it was a big pain. The first HD DVR that I received had a very loud hard drive. It would make these “clink” and “clunk” sounds that I could hear three rooms away. They sent me a new one at no charge but the replacement had a problem as well. The hard drive was silent but the box kept losing my HD channels. I had to reset the box several times a day to get them back. Thankfully, it seems the third time is the charm, as the latest box is both quiet and I have had no channel problems with it.

The picture quality is excellent and I am really enjoying the large number of HD channels as compared to Comcast. As I said, I get about 40 HD channels, but they offer many more if you get the higher packages. In my opinion, if you have a high definition television, you owe it to yourself to get a service that offers you the most HD channels. DirecTV turned out to be a perfect match for me.

–Wolfen