Damn The NFL Network

[Bleu Star]

If people think they cannot live without high priced football, then it has become an addiction.

Sadly it became an addiction for me long ago. I'm joined to the NFL Season Ticket package at the hip.

 

[Jarv]

oooooooooh. Let's not even start talking about FIOS!!! I start drooling every time I think about having it. It's not available in my area yet but with this DSL my speeds are a consistent 6 Mbps down/512 Kbps up. So I am well pacified for now.

I have both cable and DirectTV. Since I've had directTV for 10 years I'm grandfathered into just Sunday ticket for my DirectTV (Which includes the NFL channel). It cost me $200/year (Sunday ticket) here in CT to se all of the Dallas games.

Funny thing tho, is that I was able to get all of the games this year on cable (Cabelvision, I get Fox< CBS in NY and Hartford, CT...Which helped), with the exception of the Sat. night game on the NFL channel which Cabelvision does not carry (5 miles down the road is my GF's house, with Comcast, which has the NFL channel tho...Plus she has the 55" Hi Def set).

So...$200 a year gurantees all Dallas games and I will not miss one.

I have cable for all of my TV and cable internet service (Optinum online is 15 MB down and 2 MB up and where I live with 2 acre zoning it is very consistant due to total lack of people here...lol). I have an outbuilding in my back yard for an office for my company and I have an apartment I rent out in the bottom of my house. Both use cable for internet and TV. I need that bandwidth for my business use, I distibute radio content over the internet for Fox broadcasting.

By the way, I have 3 vonage lines, Vonage rocks ! When my daughter went to Europe on vacation last Summer I called her every day for free. I pay $65/months for 3 lines unlimited use and long distance.

Every service has their pros and cons. My Satelite has never really given me a problem, not that I use it too much. My cable modem service is faster than the T1 line I used to lease for $550/month. My GF's Comcast is great, I love the NFL replay and she gets the NFL channel.

I don't have Hi Def yet, so the pictures are all about the same quality here.

The one question I have is, I like the on-demand service from cable, being about to pause movies and watch them whenever you want, with the PPV for my satelite you have to watch the movies at a certain time and there is no pausing, FF, rewind and the such. Anybody know if that is in the plans for Satelite ?

 

[Mr Cowboy]

I just recently ran out of patience with TW, and got Direct TV. I'm glad I did.

My biggest concern was my cable internet service. I didn't want to go back to DSL, the lines are bad in my neigborhood and it caused too many problems.

What I did, I got an offer in the mail from Earthlink. I called them and got cable internet, and phone service from them, for a better price than I was paying TW. The funny thing about it was that Earthlink gave me a number to call to set up an appointment to get the phone and internet installed. When I called, it was TW and after they tried to convince me not to drop their service, they told me all they had to do was switch the service in their office and no one would be coming out.

 

[Bleu Star]

The one question I have is, I like the on-demand service from cable, being about to pause movies and watch them whenever you want, with the PPV for my satelite you have to watch the movies at a certain time and there is no pausing, FF, rewind and the such. Anybody know if that is in the plans for Satelite ?

DirecTV, and all Satellite companies, are all over the DVR world. One of my requirements about 9 months ago when I finally got rid of any trace of Mediacom in my house (had DTV and Mediacom together for years) was to have DVR. Well, they came out and setup the DVR box for me in my living room. At the time I had a 53" letterbox tv in the LR. My wife immediately fell in love with the DVR.

I then went out about 6 weeks ago and purchased an HDTV for the living room and moved the DVR +53" tv into my master bdrm. DirecTV set me up with one of their new dual tuner HD DVR boxes (HR 20-700) and gave me the forst 4 months of DVR service free. I'll start paying for it in March but I can already say the dual tuner HDDVR box is a hit in this house. I cannot say enough good things about it. I can watch, record, pause, commercial skip, HDTV or SDTV. I love the one feature where, with the touch of a button, I can backup 5 seconds to replay a missed play.

Don't worry about that. The Satellite companies are already on top of that technology and, at least from my perspective, it works great.

Now my wife has a single tuner DVR in the bedroom and a dual tuner DVR in the LR. I hear zero complaints from her.

There are those who think that DTV should not have parted company with Tivo and attempted to make their own DVR box (the HR-20-700). I'm a believer in what I have in my house.

 

[FLcowboy]

Competition is the only thing keeping me sane and now giving me people who at least act like they care...however, listening to those of you talking about DSL is making me consider dropping comcast altogether and going with directTV and DSL....the only reason I was holding back was I didn't think I could stand going back to slower internet after being spoiled by cable.

DSL isn't that bad, IF you can get it. There still limitations on distance from the phone company serving central office. But, if you can get it, you'll find the speed very satisfactory. I have Embarq DSL, at the 1.5 mb download speed, and was told on the last service call, that I have the lowerspeed service, with 3.0 now available. Since I don't download movies or tv programs, 1.5 is okay with me.

I have had service problems up the yingyang though. They just replaced the splitter on the line, and that seems to have fixed the latest problem.

 

[LaTunaNostra]

I've had it with the freakin' NFL Network this year...tonight, I don't get to see the Skins/Giants game because I don't have the digital program with Comcast.

Everyone said this was coming, but I didn't really think the NFL would let their product become so exclusive...This makes three games I've missed this year due to the NFL Network...what will the future bring? I'd imagine it can only get worse.

Wayne, I know it's no consolation at this point, but I think it's more on cable companies than NFL N.

The NFL is trying very hard to see that the Network does not become a 'special subscriber' service...does not go 'exclusive'. They want it offered ths same way ESPN is..as part of the base cable package. I get it as part of the base Direct TV package, and a second outlet thru a paid hd program. But if it were taken out of the basic package, Id raise a stink.

Comcast and the cable companies need to comply - make NFL N basic, or inevitably we will all be paying special subscriber fees for NFLN.

 

[Kevinicus]

DirecTV, and all Satellite companies, are all over the DVR world. One of my requirements about 9 months ago when I finally got rid of any trace of Mediacom in my house (had DTV and Mediacom together for years) was to have DVR. Well, they came out and setup the DVR box for me in my living room. At the time I had a 53" letterbox tv in the LR. My wife immediately fell in love with the DVR.

I then went out about 6 weeks ago and purchased an HDTV for the living room and moved the DVR +53" tv into my master bdrm. DirecTV set me up with one of their new dual tuner HD DVR boxes (HR 20-700) and gave me the forst 4 months of DVR service free. I'll start paying for it in March but I can already say the dual tuner HDDVR box is a hit in this house. I cannot say enough good things about it. I can watch, record, pause, commercial skip, HDTV or SDTV. I love the one feature where, with the touch of a button, I can backup 5 seconds to replay a missed play.

It's still far far better than Comcast though. Evil evil company that they are.

Don't worry about that. The Satellite companies are already on top of that technology and, at least from my perspective, it works great.

Now my wife has a single tuner DVR in the bedroom and a dual tuner DVR in the LR. I hear zero complaints from her.

There are those who think that DTV should not have parted company with Tivo and attempted to make their own DVR box (the HR-20-700). I'm a believer in what I have in my house.

I've heard there are sometimes handshake issues with the new HD-DVR and using the HDMI. And Directv refused to replace my old HD-DVR with the new one even though they told me when I signed up that I would get it for free once they were available. Now they want me to pay $100. And now my antenna, that I purchased from them to get local HD since the other one wasn't ready at the time, has become misalligned on my roof and I have troubles with my CBS reception. I need it fixed before next weekend's games, and before the TV seasons start back up again. I'll have to write a letter to Directv I think. Not that it really helps.

 

[Bleu Star]

I've heard there are sometimes handshake issues with the new HD-DVR and using the HDMI.

I haven't had any and I am hooked up via HDMI.

Directv refused to replace my old HD-DVR with the new one even though they told me when I signed up that I would get it for free once they were available. Now they want me to pay $100.

I would tell them you want to cancel your service and be very stern about it. They have a whole department dedicated to "retention" and they'll go out of their way to keep ya.

And now my antenna, that I purchased from them to get local HD since the other one wasn't ready at the time, has become misalligned on my roof and I have troubles with my CBS reception. I need it fixed before next weekend's games, and before the TV seasons start back up again. I'll have to write a letter to Directv I think. Not that it really helps.

I'm having that same problem. The (DB-8?) antenna they put on my roof isn't picking up the locals in HD although I get the channels filled into my channel guide. I've been reading around on some boards and found out I need add another antenna on top of it to really get the locals due to the town in which I live. Here's a really good board for geographically specific reference for HDTV and HD locals. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

 

[BlueStar22]

My folks had DTV for several years. They recently switched to cable. Much better quality picture. The difference was obvious because my dad has a 50+ inch HDTV. Also, the idea that DSL is superior to cable is laughable, unless it's just really really low quality cable internet. DSL is almost universally slower the cable.

I can attest to that. I've had SBC now ATT DSL for the last 4 or 5 years and never a problem with it. We moved around the first of december. I requested that they transfer the dsl to the new house on 11/21. So we move December 1st. I immediately call to see when the DSL would be up. I was told 2-3 weeks. I'm like, ok, I'll try to be patient. I call two weeks later, I'm told it would be up 12/15. That date came and went, still no DSL. I called them that Monday morning, and was told they just disconnected it from the old place on 12/15 and it would be 2-3 more weeks. I was pissed!!! Earlier the week prior, I had contacted Time Warner about cable internet and had them all set to come out the Wednesday before my DSL was to be back up. They called that morning, I cancelled because I said I would wait two more days til friday the 15th to get my DSL back. Anyways, after AT&T screwed up again, I called Time Warner, bundled the internet with my cable, saving about $30 compared to bundling DSL with my phone service. Time Warner is in Irving, all I had to do is go by the office, pick up a self-install kit and be on my way. I think called ATT and told them how I felt about their customer service and told them to cancel their order. I ended up with at $40 credit from them since I knew I was being charged for the month and had no service.

I got it connected in about 15 minutes, and I am amazed how much better cable has been than DSL. My pages are loading faster, downloads much faster. I can now host 16 people in Rainbow 6 on Xbox Live without a hiccup. I could never do the latter with my DSL. I have had DTV before, and I prefer it to cable, however, in the war of DSL vs Cable, I think it kicks DSL's arse. Only thing better would probably be a T1 line.

 

[EastDallasCowboy]

The future will bring pay-per-view I fear.

I'd love no NFL sunday ticket and every game being PPV.

Everybody could get the games they wanted without being forced into a dish.

 

[eduncan22]

I'd love no NFL sunday ticket and every game being PPV.

Everybody could get the games they wanted without being forced into a dish.

Get the dish.

It's so worth it.

Don't listen to the cable companies hype about wind, rain, etc.

My DirecTV gear rocks.

 

[Kevinicus]

I would tell them you want to cancel your service and be very stern about it. They have a whole department dedicated to "retention" and they'll go out of their way to keep ya.

I would, but I am under a 2 year contract that just started in July. I tried to get the HD-DVR for free when I signed up, and couldn't manage that either, despite all the people on here being given one. I was able to get a lot of discounts and credits, but it still sucked. This is about the 5th thing they told me when I signed up that has turned out to be a lie.

I'm having that same problem. The (DB-8?) antenna they put on my roof isn't picking up the locals in HD although I get the channels filled into my channel guide. I've been reading around on some boards and found out I need add another antenna on top of it to really get the locals due to the town in which I live. Here's a really good board for geographically specific reference for HDTV and HD locals. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=453241

Mine works okay, it's just not aimed right. There were some strong winds awhile back, and it got knocked over a little so it's not aiming exactly where it needs to be. Most channels come in fine, it's mainly just CBS that is affected by this. If I had the new HD-DVR that gets local channels in HD through the dish, I wouldn't have to worry about it. I'd still like the antenna though since the picture is better over the air than through the dish.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

monday night football on espn... exclusive games on NFL network... fortunately I have all those channels... but for the people that don't, I say a big "@*#% the NFL!!" for you

Or tell people to get with the times and buy those stations?

 

[Bleu Star]

I would, but I am under a 2 year contract that just started in July. I tried to get the HD-DVR for free when I signed up, and couldn't manage that either, despite all the people on here being given one. I was able to get a lot of discounts and credits, but it still sucked. This is about the 5th thing they told me when I signed up that has turned out to be a lie.

I've heard people do it and DTV transfers them directly to the "retention" department. Even people with contracts.