I just signed up for Direct TV and have a few questions.

What is the difference between the MPEG2 and MPEG4? I keep seeing this brought up alot. Which equipment will I have?

I also keep seeing people on here mention leasing fees. The sales rep. never mention leasing fees except that the first reciever if free and additional are $4.99 per month. Will I see another fee when the bill comes. I have sigined up for 1 HD reciever and 2 standard.

The equipment will be installed on Saturday is there anything I should know or make sure they install it a certain way?

Sorry these are probably really dumb questions but I've never had anything but cable or an HDTV so all of this is new to me. But my cable company is horrible and where I live my only options are Dish or Direct.

Thanks

The lease fees are the 4.99 per month, nothing extra.

MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 are different methods of compressing/delivering the signal to you. Since you are getting new boxes, you will get equipment that is able to receive both. The new/improved method is MPEG 4

The $4.99 for the additional receivers is your fee and you never own the equipment.

As far as the install goes that's kind of a tough one because different things are important to different people. To be general I think you'll want to check on them when they're installing the dish and running the coax to make sure the work isn't sloppy. Beyond that I'd say just make sure they don't leave until everything is working properly and all of your questions have been answered. Do all of your receivers work? Are your locals, standard, HD's and premium channels coming in? Are the remotes working properly? That kind of thing.

Both my neighbor and I just had Direct TV installed last week, mine went smooth as silk, his was very problematic. I heeded the advise many here have given and had all my interior wiring ready to go so the installer only had to mount the dish and do a very simple drop of 4 wires to my equipment closet with me helping.
Took him all of about 90 min. for 2: hi-def dvr's and 2: of the std. units.

My neighbor on the other hand wanted the installer to fish and run new coax to each location. The installer couldn't finish and has yet to return. These guys are not paid much and receive minimal training. The more you can have ready the better. I think well worth a little time a effort.

My suggestion is to have everything inside "ready" as far as good coax, phone line and power to each of your locations . That way the installer can concentrate on getting a good proper mount and signals in the 90's :) .

I should be good then. Everything is already pre-wired to each location and I have all cables ready to go. The only thing the guy will have to do is mount the dish and run the cable from it the equipment closet.

Hello everyone. I'm about to sign up for Direct tv using their hd dvr and I need some help.


My question is do I really need to plug in an ethernet cable into the receiver? Unfortunately, I do not have an extra slot in my cable modem for this. What's the purpose of that? Does it effect getting hd channels? I know that I couldn't access DOD by not having internet hooked up and I'm ok with that. I've googled and still can not find any answers. I'd figured I'd ask here before I call direct tv and get a csr that doesn't understand me.

Can Direct TV tap into the cable system that was being used for CABLE TV?

Hello everyone. I'm about to sign up for Direct tv using their hd dvr and I need some help.


My question is do I really need to plug in an ethernet cable into the receiver? Unfortunately, I do not have an extra slot in my cable modem for this. What's the purpose of that? Does it effect getting hd channels? I know that I couldn't access DOD by not having internet hooked up and I'm ok with that. I've googled and still can not find any answers. I'd figured I'd ask here before I call direct tv and get a csr that doesn't understand me.

Right now DOD is the only thing an ethernet connection is used for. You don't have to hook it up if you don't want to.

Can Direct TV tap into the cable system that was being used for CABLE TV?

If it's disconnected from the Cable box at the pole and not being used for anything else, Yes.

Can Direct TV tap into the cable system that was being used for CABLE TV?

They will need a direct run to each TV (no splitters) and it will need to be RG6. Also if you are getting a DVR you will need two runs so you can watch one show and record another.

Right now DOD is the only thing an ethernet connection is used for. You don't have to hook it up if you don't want to.


Thank you!!! :D