DirecTV On-Demand / Cinema / PPV / etc, etc, etc

I'll give it a shot since I use both DirecTV and Netflix...

1/ On-demand. Not positive on how DirecTV marketing department has branded this but generally fairly self-explanatory, this is a service to watch something on an individual showing basis "on demand". Some is free and downloadable to your dvr (rather than watching live), some is "free" if you subscribe to that particular premium channel, some others are watching live at a given time on a pay per view basis.

2/ DirectTV Cinema. Think this is the fairly current movie selection on a pay per view basis (which generally can be done by starting to watch at a given start time or recorded to your dvr for you to decide later when to watch (or even if you want to watch it, you can later delete it without buying it if you choose not to view it after recording).

3/ Pay per View. Speaks for itself again.

4/ DirecTV Cinema w/connection kit. Not sure I've seen that phrase, but might be aimed at non-customers or for their whole home dvr service....check their website

5/ DirecTV ACtive. See number 4

6/ DirecTV Showroom. See number 4.

7/ Check out their whole home hd dvr setups.

Don't know what the initial setup cost is, it's probably on their website, though and there are probably promotions to knock it down to $0 regularly even if there is a charge on the schedule. I inherited a DirecTV setup in the house I rent, just transferred account from previous housemate when he moved out. I've paid up to $150 a month for the full HD/premium package but have cut back. Pay about 85/mo now for HD with two premium channels (TMC and Encore), including one dvr and one receiver with the whole home setup. Think individual pay per views, range from $5-$7 mostly (believe most are viewable for 2 days?). Overall the quality of pic and sound is pretty good, much more reliable than an internet connection and generally better quality except perhaps for VUDU service. Netflix is decent, but doesn't have 5 channel sound for many offerings, decent pic quality but subject to your interrnet connection basis. I had to upgrade my cable internet to a higher level to eliminate some start/stop issues with streaming apps like Netflix. The on demand selection of DirecTV vs Netflix will partly depend on the plan you take out with DirecTV, but I think Netflix will still have the wider selection at any given time except for the latest and greatest, where the PPV of DirectTV exceeds their streaming service by quite a bit, and even exceeds their disc rentals...

Hope that helps.

You can browse their selection HERE. As the previous poster said, all that stuff is just different names for 2 basic offerings: PPV and On Demand.

One new release is essentially the same price as an entire month of Netflix. So I personally won't touch PPV with a 10 foot pole. Much like the movies you rent in a hotel, cable/satellite PPV exists to extract as much money as possible from their subscribers who either don't care about the cost, buy on impulse or have no other means to get the programming. A buck at Redbox for new releases and Netflix/Hulu for most everything else works just fine. If it's not at redbox, I can wait a few more weeks. Some justify the high cost by saying it's still cheaper than taking a family of 4 to the movies. That's true, but a $1 disc works just the same, although it may take an extra half hour to pick up and return.

PPV doesn't require an internet connection since it's delivered via satellite. But On Demand does. There are a myriad of ways to connect: wired, wireless, powerline, gateway, bridge, you name it. The installer will usually give you what you need for free.
Edited by mdavej - 10/3/12 at 2:24pm

I think the DirecTV Cinema (if I have that marketing phrase right) offers both an on demand type by downloading to your dvr but still via satellite, or at least I was able to do that before I got the whole home service and the additional on demand channel offerings that resulted; the newer on demand selections of the myriad "channels" outside of DirecTV's, work in connection with your internet connection. Gotta love marketing people to make it sound as confused as they are...

PPV isn't going to happen for me--too exensive. I do use the On Demand primarily because it will download to the hard drive at very high quality for later viewing. This is of importance to me because we have a fairly slow dsl connection. Netflix via my PS3 will work most of the time but at pretty low resolution. A BD quality episode of Game of Thrones takes 6+ hours to download but looks fantastic when played back--I just have to plan downloads for times when nobody else in the house is using the internet. The SO forbids any dealings with Comcast, hence our lousy dsl.

You are correct and they are now doing the same with local commercials. "local cable inserts"

The DirecTV Cinema Connection Kit (available in wired and wireless versions) are DirecTVs DECA (a version of MOCA) adapter. This allows all of your compatible receivers to access the internet without having to hook them up to ethernet or have a WiFi access point at each one. Instead they all network together over the same coax cables they use to get the DirecTV programming. Then the CCK is used to bridge that network to your home ethernet/wifi network to get them all internet access for On-Demand, Pandora, Web Apps, etc.

You originally queried pre-install or?

Over my head When I look at my network and devices on my pc I see two DirecTV mediashare renderers and one Directv2pc media server. When the guys connected my bedroom to the whole home thing (CCK?) I asked if they needed a better signal from my wireless network (it doesn't cover that wall of the bedroom well) they indicated it was actually using the directv feed (coax feeds is how I took that but I dunno....I'm an old fart when it comes to networking setups)

I think the directv2pc is identifying my bedroom DirecTV receiver (HR20) that I've got hooked up by ethernet from an extender router (I think, set that up before the whole home install). I'm assuming the mediashare units are the two small boxes that enable the whole home thing. I just looked at the DirecTV website and the CCK unit they picture I don't have. One other thing, when I got the new HR24 dvr/receiver it doesn't output YbPbPr but rather RGB which makes me tweak settings on my tv more to approximate the picture I had with the older HR21.