Yes. Made the switch about seven years ago (at a guess), when DirecTV offered a free TiVo for new customers.
If so, what do you think of it? Who are you with?
I've never regretted switching, even though it meant paying for two lifetime accounts (original TiVo, then DirecTiVo). I'm with DirecTV.
Do you find it better than cable?
Yes. Better picture, and the DirecTiVo (and now the TiFaux) record at higher quality at lower memory than I ever got with the original TiVo.
Do you think of it as a better deal (right now, I'm paying for expanded basic cable and my TiVo service separately, so I'm curious about people who have different types of services)?
Probably about the same amount of money, except that the cable company annoyed me no end when they offered a free month of digital cable, and when I didn't see an improvement, didn't want to give my old service back.
Are you happy with your DVR if it's not the TiVo?
I'd rather have a real TiVo, but the DVR is acceptable. The most annoying lack-of-feature is that the TiFaux doesn't have a "skip to the next tick mark" feature. It takes forever to fast-forward through long things, even though the TiFaux has four levels of fast-forward, not just three.
Do you get HD, any of you, either through cable or satellite?
Yes. Switched about a year ago.
Do you think the service people are better with satellite than cable (I'm asking this because if they are, maybe I'd be lucky enough to get someone who can help me get my strange setup to work).
Maybe. I've had a couple of very patient tech support people from DirecTV, where it took an hour-plus phone call to get things working, but where we were ultimately successful. I don't remember having comparable problems with cable, but I didn't have as complicated a system then, either.
And just overall, what thoughts would you share with someone who's considering the move?
I was really leery about making the switch originally to DirecTV. If it hadn't been a combination of a wonderful deal (free TiVo) and TimeWarner pissing me off at the right time, I might never have made the jump. And the only problem I've ever had is very occasional weather-related issues. The DirecTV customer service has been quite good, too.
On a related note, I have an HD DirecTV TiVo (a real one, not a TiFaux -- got it from my parents when they moved to a condo that only had Comcast) that I ended up having to give up using because it's not compatible with an oval satellite dish, and that's the only way to get local channels other than over the air. I bought an HD antenna and got great HD reception over the air, but for some reason the TiVo refused to recognize the over-the-air inputs.
If you don't need an oval dish, I could pass on the TiVo to you.
no subject
Yes. Made the switch about seven years ago (at a guess), when DirecTV offered a free TiVo for new customers.
If so, what do you think of it? Who are you with?
I've never regretted switching, even though it meant paying for two lifetime accounts (original TiVo, then DirecTiVo). I'm with DirecTV.
Do you find it better than cable?
Yes. Better picture, and the DirecTiVo (and now the TiFaux) record at higher quality at lower memory than I ever got with the original TiVo.
Do you think of it as a better deal (right now, I'm paying for expanded basic cable and my TiVo service separately, so I'm curious about people who have different types of services)?
Probably about the same amount of money, except that the cable company annoyed me no end when they offered a free month of digital cable, and when I didn't see an improvement, didn't want to give my old service back.
Are you happy with your DVR if it's not the TiVo?
I'd rather have a real TiVo, but the DVR is acceptable. The most annoying lack-of-feature is that the TiFaux doesn't have a "skip to the next tick mark" feature. It takes forever to fast-forward through long things, even though the TiFaux has four levels of fast-forward, not just three.
Do you get HD, any of you, either through cable or satellite?
Yes. Switched about a year ago.
Do you think the service people are better with satellite than cable (I'm asking this because if they are, maybe I'd be lucky enough to get someone who can help me get my strange setup to work).
Maybe. I've had a couple of very patient tech support people from DirecTV, where it took an hour-plus phone call to get things working, but where we were ultimately successful. I don't remember having comparable problems with cable, but I didn't have as complicated a system then, either.
And just overall, what thoughts would you share with someone who's considering the move?
I was really leery about making the switch originally to DirecTV. If it hadn't been a combination of a wonderful deal (free TiVo) and TimeWarner pissing me off at the right time, I might never have made the jump. And the only problem I've ever had is very occasional weather-related issues. The DirecTV customer service has been quite good, too.
On a related note, I have an HD DirecTV TiVo (a real one, not a TiFaux -- got it from my parents when they moved to a condo that only had Comcast) that I ended up having to give up using because it's not compatible with an oval satellite dish, and that's the only way to get local channels other than over the air. I bought an HD antenna and got great HD reception over the air, but for some reason the TiVo refused to recognize the over-the-air inputs.
If you don't need an oval dish, I could pass on the TiVo to you.