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how much longer will my utvs get locals?

post #1 of 3
1/30/12 at 11:24pm
Thread Starter 
I was looking at some faqs on the new dvrs and one item said that local channels in some areas would have to get new equipment by 2012. I'm in Los Angeles and wondered how much longer I'd be able to still get locals on my UTVs.

I also emailed dtv about a website issue, and in their response they made an offer:

I see that you have been a loyal DIRECTV customer for many years ... after reviewing your account, I found that we can give you one of our best receivers absolutely free today. To learn more about the offer, please call us ...

I'm betting they're real anxious to convert this UTV straggler and might make a loyal user a pretty good offer.

However, I recall a couple of issues with dtv's newer dvr's that were kinda showstoppers for me:
  1. No way to "park" on something like the myshows channel so currently recording sports could accidently show up at "live" making for a spoiler if I was recording two events at the same time and was looking at the guide or trying to ping pong between the two events.

  2. It seems as of 2008 or so, theres something about 30skip vs. 30slip that can be enabled - has this finally been ironed out? Does it provide a true 30 second skip like a utv?

I see there's a new HD dvr coming that can record 5 things at once. Any thoughts? Do you think I could get them to give me one of these for free with a new dish with free install - since I'm such a "loyal" customer? Of course every new receiver they make has problems for a year or two. Not sure I want to be at the bleeding edge.

But If I dump my 2 utvs for a single 5 tuner hd, I'd save the $10 utv charge plus $6 for second receiver making the jump to HD at about the same monthly charge. I already have the hd tv.
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post #2 of 3
2/5/12 at 7:08am
My guess with LA as your local market, you'll likely see LA locals in SD mpeg2 for as long as DirecTV still offers SD mpeg2. Why, because LA is part of the SD broadcast package for users without local market access. I have had East & West Coast feed from NY and LA on the big three and Fox since summer of 1997. They pulled PBS National when my local PBS went bankrupt and challenged my waiver a few years ago, but I have valid sign-offs from Fox and CBS. NBC and PBS never initially challenged me in 1999 when DirecTV started offering locals. Probably not worth the $15 a month I currently pay but was way cheaper than putting up a TV tower when the package was $5.99 a month when we first started subscribing.

As far as cost savings, I think your $10 UTV charge will be replaced with at least a $5 PVR charge and probably a HD charge. Are they really saying the remote boxes slaved to a whole house DVR don't require seperate access cards (and fees)? Now that might be worth the consideration since I pay for three cards and UTV as well as the package offerings.
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post #3 of 3
2/6/12 at 8:18am
Thread Starter 
Oh, so that's how the whole house system works, there's one receiver with remote playback units. Good question as to how much each remote unit costs.

I figured HD and this new receiver would cost more, but maybe the savings difference of the $16 I pay now for UTV might offset. I'm in no hurry though, and this 5 tuner receiver isn't out yet.
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