Purchased a Sony 55 inch 4k TV and have to move from ATTUverse to Direct TV.........

SemolinaPilchard

The only negative I have had with Directv is the occasional signal loss during a storm. When that happens, if you flip to the standard definition channel you usually have a picture. It has to be a hellava storm to knock out the standard def. I agree with installers being a crap shoot. Before switching to directv all the cable in my house was the old RG-59. They were going to install RG-6, not the RG-6 quad shield. Not wanting them in the attic smashing down the insulation, and wanting the quad shield I changed it all out before the install. For each tv to be able to be on a different channel every tv will need its own dvr or box. The tv in the kitchen and the one on the patio are usually on the same channel, so they are fed from one. If you will do a similar set up for two or more tv's you can get a remote that works by radio frequency which does not need line of sight like infrared remotes. The nfl sunday ticket package is a game changer. Aside from being able to watch any game, when the early sunday games are almost over you can flip to the channel that shows em all and almost always find some games that are coming down to the wire. Not so much for the late afternoon games because there are so few games at that time.

GregW

HofstraJet said:

If possible, get the earliest appointment window of the day. The installers generally run late and for a new install, there is a fair amount of work to do so you don't want them showing up at 4:30.

Speaking of installation, when I had Directv, I used an independent installer that was not paid by Directv. The advantage was the guy was working for me and was obligated to install everything the way that I wanted it done. Not the cheapest fastest way it could be done. Yes it cost me a few hundred dollars more, but my dish was installed on the top of my chimney chase and conduit concealed all the wires. All wiring in the house was fished through the walls, rather than holes drilled in floors.
In contrast to what I've seen the Directv installers do, to me this was well worth the extra expense for the quality and not having to deal with a bottom dollar subcontractor.

DuckDogDr

I had a great experience with Direct Tv when I lived out west. Guys showed up on time. Did and excellent job.. Only service problems I had was when snow had accumulated in the dish... Go take it out and I was done .

have them scheduled to come install in my new house next week.

Reddogwood

Nothing to offer on 4K, but I hate ATT.... had Uverses then moved and they "had my account transferred". Three months later no uverse available. So direct tv now for 5 years and very pleased. Not cheap, but nobody else has there DVR capabilities (that I know of). Apples to apples,  I think any others cost about the same.

YEMTrey

I can't add anything as far as Direct TV, but I can tell you that you'll love the 4k TV.  I've had mine for a few weeks now and the picture is outstanding. 
Tested the picture with The Revenant on UHD and it's beautiful.  Loving bowl season and can't wait to drop some cheese on all the 4k UHD movies I can get my hands on!

Mikee

From my understanding, 4k viewing will be done by data streaming. While the human eye is not precise enough to tell the difference between 1080 and 4k at longer distances (say 10'), the 4k offers better color. Most people will choose 4k TV's not for clarity, but for overall feel they see.

NC_Egghead

Hey Robin. When I purchased my Sony 4K a couple years ago, the salesman at the a/v store told me DirecTV had the best signal with Dish coming in 2nd and all cable providers coming in last. I switched from Dish to DirecTV. I've been extremely happy with my TV and the switch to a different provider. When I called to inquire about the 4K package they have, the rep actually talked me out of it. Said there really wasn't enough content to justify the cost. My house was prewired with coax so no worries there. I also ran Cat 6 throughout the house so I have a hard wired gigabit LAN which also plugs into the back of the set. Makes for a better connection to the media server. Make sure you get the faster hdmi cables for your new set. Check out monoprice.com for the best prices. Best Buy will rip you off in a hurry. Enjoy your new setup!

Ozzie_Isaac

HofstraJet said:

The installers are the wild card - get a good one and you are in great shape. Get a poor one, and you end up with an experience like @stv8r ....or worse. Installing on a wooden post, tree, or anything mounted in dirt is a no-no, as is installing anything on the roof (eaves are OK, but not through the roof). It's terrible what some of these installers do.

Here's a thread of some horrible dish installations (may want to go towards the end of thread for more recent pics): http://www.dbstalk.com/community/index.php?threads/the-shame-thread-just-how-bad-can-it-get.146704/

Just burned 2hrs.  Thanks for the link

northGAcock

@HofstraJet  @Doubleegger  @Hotch @Kl8ton and others who responded.....after looking into this further, I have decided to sit tight with what I have until the day comes that they start broadcasting live TV in 4K. For those who wished for the referral credit.....sorry your consolation prize will be along shortly in the mail. I do appreciate everyone's input as it had a definite impact in my decision to site tight for now. Thanks again all.

Raymont

northGAcock said:

@HofstraJet  @Doubleegger  @Hotch @Kl8ton and others who responded.....after looking into this further, I have decided to sit tight with what I have until the day comes that they start broadcasting live TV in 4K. For those who wished for the referral credit.....sorry your consolation prize will be along shortly in the mail. I do appreciate everyone's input as it had a definite impact in my decision to site tight for now. Thanks again all.

+1.. I have DirectTv and like it, but wouldn't recommend switching just for 4K which is very limited in channels/offerings. 

Much like 3D when it came out, it would seem the TV manufacturers are way ahead of the broadcasters. Seems like all you can buy today is a 4k TV, yet what you can actually watch is extremely limited. With TV prices basically dropping 50% every 6-12 months, I'll wait to buy a TV until there is actually something to watch on it.. 

fishlessman

 i have direct and comcast, direct in my area works maybe 90 percent of the time. near a lake, heavy rains and snow, tall trees etc. now granted my dish is OLD, squirrels eat the knob or whatever you call it, i find parts on old dishes for replacement etc.  comcast is just obnoxious to do business with, they missed maybe a dozen appointments to set it up before i gave up, the last time im talking to an indian from pakistan saying his name is dave from rhode island telling me a guy would be there before noon on sunday in the woods of maine

HofstraJet

@fishlessman As I'm sure you have realized, once you know how to replace/aim a dish, it is pretty simple to do - I often set up a dish in a parking lot for tailgating. Parts are cheap on eBay. I wonder if there is something unpleasant tasting yet non-toxic that you can coat the LNB (the "knob") with that will deter squirrels - will have to withstand rain. Hmmm....

As for 4K, I agree there isn't much to watch now. However, one suggestion to all: when you buy blu-rays, if there is a 4K version, spend the extra $5 and get it - will save you from having to repurchase the movie in the future. Cheap insurance policy.

YukonRon

northGAcock said:

@HofstraJet  @Doubleegger  @Hotch @Kl8ton and others who responded.....after looking into this further, I have decided to sit tight with what I have until the day comes that they start broadcasting live TV in 4K. For those who wished for the referral credit.....sorry your consolation prize will be along shortly in the mail. I do appreciate everyone's input as it had a definite impact in my decision to site tight for now. Thanks again all.

We are getting FO here right now. ATT has installed a panel in the UROW, behind our house, and we are waiting for the service to start. We bought a 4K earlier last year.

fishlessman

HofstraJet said:

@fishlessman As I'm sure you have realized, once you know how to replace/aim a dish, it is pretty simple to do - I often set up a dish in a parking lot for tailgating. Parts are cheap on eBay. I wonder if there is something unpleasant tasting yet non-toxic that you can coat the LNB (the "knob") with that will deter squirrels - will have to withstand rain. Hmmm....

As for 4K, I agree there isn't much to watch now. However, one suggestion to all: when you buy blu-rays, if there is a 4K version, spend the extra $5 and get it - will save you from having to repurchase the movie in the future. Cheap insurance policy.

right now im on the lookout for the newer oval dish style,  its time to upgrade trash pick....i mean roadside shopping is on mondays

HofstraJet

Oh my - you still have a single LNB round dish? Didn't realize those were still out there.

Yeah, time for an upgrade.

If you are a DirecTV customer, they should upgrade you for free, though that would restart your commitment if you are not under contract.

dstearn

northGAcock said:

For anyone who has made this change.....what have been the upsides and downsides (other than the 4K quality of the stations broadcast). Have there been issues with the dish / picture impact from weather conditions? Price up or down?

Also any general thoughts on the 4k? Right stoked about it myself.

Thanks in advance.

Can you get cable as an alternative? My DTV contract is up next week and I plan to go to Comcast due to weather related outages. Unless your dish is covered by a deck you will experience outages in heavy rains our snow accumulation on your dish. I have been a DTV customer for many years but since they were acquired by AT&T the prices have gone up to the point that I need to switch to cable. Be aware that any time you upgrade your receiver they will demand a 2 year commitment.

JRWhitee

dstearn said:

northGAcock said:

For anyone who has made this change.....what have been the upsides and downsides (other than the 4K quality of the stations broadcast). Have there been issues with the dish / picture impact from weather conditions? Price up or down?

Also any general thoughts on the 4k? Right stoked about it myself.

Thanks in advance.

Can you get cable as an alternative? My DTV contract is up next week and I plan to go to Comcast due to weather related outages. Unless your dish is covered by a deck you will experience outages in heavy rains our snow accumulation on your dish. I have been a DTV customer for many years but since they were acquired by AT&T the prices have gone up to the point that I need to switch to cable. Be aware that any time you upgrade your receiver they will demand a 2 year commitment.

I just switched from DTV to Comcast, I agree since AT&T took over the prices have skyrocketed. I am saving $120 per month for virtually the same thing.

DoubleEgger

You are making the right call. 4K isn't worth it right now. Need more programming to make it worthwhile. I bought 4K a few years ago and I know I haven't gotten my money's worth. 

WeberWho

I'm dumping Comcast in two weeks. I can't wait. We only have high speed Internet and they get $75/month. CenturyLink just layed fiber for $44.99 for the first year. Keep your account on autopay and you can keep that rate locked in as long as you're a customer with them. Comcast doesn't even let you get high speed Internet anymore. You have to bundle and the cheapest bundle is $103/month. See ya Comcast. Don't let the door hit you on the @$$ on the way out! 

OneNole03

I wish we has some options. Only internet options we have is bright house which is now spectrum or centurylink and centurylink speed caps at a pathetic 8 Mbps. 

I have had directv in the past but they are just ridiculously expensive compared to bright house. 

Wolfpack

Botch

WeberWho said:

CenturyLink just layed fiber for $44.99 for the first year. Keep your account on autopay and you can keep that rate locked in as long as you're a customer with them.  

This, would be a game-changer for me!  I've switched providers every 3 or 4 years my whole adult life, as the price keeps going up until its triple what the other guys are offering the "newbs" (customer loyalty counts for nothing I guess).
I actually cut the cable (except internet) 6 years ago and stuck with OTA, I could live with that until a huge test facility was built on Hill AFB.  That hanger wasn't in direct line-of-sight between my antenna and the mountaintop transmitter, but it somehow screwed up my signal and I wasn't able to get OTA anymore.  Finally went with Dish's lowest-feature program, they threw in a programmable DVR (which I love) but now the price is once again creeping north.  
 
Regarding rain/snow on your dish, anyone ever play with Rustoleum's "NeverWet"?  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZrjXSsfxMQ&t=193s
I've used it on my motorcycle tankbag but haven't gotten around to spraying my dish with it, bet it'd repel the snow well.    

Toxarch

I installed most of the low voltage wiring in my house. Cat5/6 and quad shield RG6. That way I know it was done right and can tell an installer where everything is if they really need to see it. Installers in the past have wanted to mount dishes on top of the shingles and run wires outside the house and through the rock exterior. I flat out told them no and to leave if they couldn't install it properly. 

DuckDogDr

Direct Tv is coming next week (had to post pone installation from last post)
sitting here watching charter and can't wait for satellite ..
have had nothing but problems.. It cuts out every other scene
charter customer service sucks too