directv woes

Two tweets from yesterday (Sunday, Dec 21).

First, at 8:30am Pacific:

DirecTV: Urgent NFL note: Late schedule changes to NFL games due to bad weather may not not be correctly list for your local FOX or CBS channel guide

Then, at 4pm we see:

DirecTV: @Ratdoggy the guide was not able to update in time to reflect the last minute changes from the NFL. The San Francisco game moved to 4PM ET

So why is it they can tweet but they can't update the Guide data? I guess we're suppsoed to applaud DirecTV for tweeting these updates - but it seems odd that they can't push it to the Guide too - I mean they own the infrastructure for it. What is the technical limitation and why don't they fix it?

Via Twitter,

http://twitter.com/directv/status/6501817838

New HD DVR w/ TiVo is scheduled for the first part of 2010. The best place to get updates when available is tivo.com/directv

http://twitter.com/directv/status/6540188328

TiVo Scheduled for early next year.

Via Tivo:

New and current DIRECTV satellite service customers will have the option to enjoy a next-generation HD Digital Video Recorder — sold and distributed by DIRECTV — that supports both DIRECTV's incredible High-Definition programming and the TiVo service, including features like Universal Swivel™ Search and TiVo KidZone.

This is cool news, Tivo as an OEM software provider:

In selected areas of New England, TV fans can now choose between a stand-alone TiVo^® HD DVR with a cableCARD™ and a Comcast DVR with TiVo^® Service.

The Comcast DVR with TiVo Service is delivered as a software download to a Comcast DVR and offers access to TiVo's award-winning interface and Comcast's On Demand content. The TiVo Service also provides exclusive features, including TiVo WishList^® searches, TiVo Suggestions, and Season Pass^® recordings and an easy way to find your favorite shows on TV or On Demand.

The key phrase being "TiVo Service is delivered as a software download."

As I recently noted, at least DirecTV is still trying to help, which is more than I could expect from Comcast or AT&T U-verse, the other choices in my area.

They came and relocated the dish. So far, pixelation and dropouts have decreased, so in that regard things are better. Still the same issues with the HR-XX (now an HR-22, in my case), but at least one problem has improved a lot.

This puts one "lesser of evils" credit in DirecTV's favor. I was 100% ready to switch to Comcast when I couldn't even get them to return sales calls or give me the same answer twice - that reminded me what to expect after I was a customer, if they couldn't even help me while trying to get me as a customer.

I think we'll all be happy if I don't have to call DirecTV for a while - that would be a good thing.

They wear me down. I pay them $150 per month. And, like a fool, I expect something for that.

The reality is the service is what it is. DirecTV is never going to make it work right, never going to give me what I'm paying for. They can't. They broke it when they went Mpeg4 HD. DirecTV will never again be as good as it was.

The problem is, they set the bar too high with the Tivo-based DVR. That experience was terrific. I didn't have to call DirecTV to complain (or write a blog to vent). It just worked.

Then they switched us all to their own DVR, the HR-21 in my case. And at the same time, their overloaded satellite feeds couldn't handle the quality Mpeg2 HD bandwidth, and so the Mpeg4 streams come along, with a bunch of new hardware that is not reliable. So we end up with choppy audio, breakups, video pixelation, and on and on.

And it's not that they don't want to help us - it's that they can't. They got themselves into this mess with bad technical and strategic decisions. Even if they answer a tech. support call, it doesn't matter, the tech. can't do anything about what is really broken, which is the entire DirecTV HD service - DirecTV works fine for standard-def (other than all the hardware and software bugs in the HR-xx series DVRs), but it is fundamentally broken for HD. The tech. on the phone can't fix that, even if they wanted to (nor can they fix, or even admit to, all the software bugs in the HR-xx series DVRs).

I think I might be able to get better technical quality from Comcast, because their system now (with digital etc.) is technically superior. However, it is a cable company. I know the support (customer service) is going to be terrible. I can barely get them to return a sales call, or listen to the questions I'm asking long enough to answer them. If I'm one of the unlucky ones where something does go wrong, I can't expect Comcast to be responsive at all, anymore than I can expect a "temporary tax" to go away someday. It's not in their DNA to provide customer service.

DirecTV is supposed to have a Tivo box for HD again next year, but due to the fundamental problems with their system, and given that DirecTV will hobble the machine and not support all the features of the normal Tivo box, I'm not sure that's enough.

Basically I'm screwed either way. Cable is a gamble. It might work, but if it doesn't I'll never get help from Comcast. DirecTV may have better customer service, i.e. they might try to help me, but they can't because their system is technically broken.

They swapped in another box. Of course that means I lose all my programs saved to the old box and I also have to "re-program" the new box with all my preferences and series and wishlist-equivalent recordings etc.

After a few weeks with the new box, it seems no better than the old one. Same problems. Missing recordings. Recordings that won't play. Etc. etc. just like everybody reports all over the net.

And the jitters, hiccups, pixelation, and audio breakups in recordings persist.