DirecTV On Demand now available across the country
Filed under: Satellite
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
skirge01 @ Jun 30th 2008 2:53PM
Out of beta, but still--to quote DirecTV--"slim pickins" in the HD arena. 14 programs in HD, consisting of only 6 free ones, which include 4 Snoop Dogg music videos, 1 Pussycat Dolls concert "clip" and 1 Christina Aguilera concert. Everything else is apparently "new" and costs $4.99.
SD, you do have a decent amount of choices (311 currently listed on their website), but there's still a large portion (104) that cost between $1.99 and $4.99. That leaves 207 which are free.
But, my little complaining aside, I have high hopes that it'll get better and I'm looking forward to more HD content.
skirge01 @ Jun 30th 2008 2:58PM
Sorry... need to correct my "311" number above. That consists of ONLY the movie listings. There are quite a bit more (2804 in all) when you include all categories.
Achilles @ Jun 30th 2008 3:08PM
Do you have to have your system connected to the internet to get on-demand??
Ryan @ Jun 30th 2008 4:00PM
Yes, your DVR has to be connected to the Internet, as on-demand titles are not delivered over the satellites. This also makes it pretty slow, at least on my 1.5 Mbps DSL. I find stuff to download then watch it later. The HD choices are pretty slim, but the selection is slowly improving. The SD selection isn't bad. At least all the commercials are cut out. Also, some content is free, but others, like NBC shows are rentals.
James @ Jun 30th 2008 3:27PM
I watched Factory Made earlier today. I like that there are few interruptions (commercials), but seems a little painful finding anything.
James T @ Jun 30th 2008 4:12PM
Unfortunately, if you download multiple shows from a series they aren't listed under an expandable title like other series.
NotATreoFan @ Jul 1st 2008 8:29AM
I've been using DirecTV on Demand since February when I managed to get it enabled on my HR21, and overall I am very satisfied with it.
Hopefully now that it is out of beta, they will allocate more bandwidth to the service and speed up the downloads. I have Verizon's 20/20 FIOS package, but just as Ryan said above, the download speeds are less than ideal.
HB @ Jul 20th 2008 10:56AM
Sorry: forgot to mention another observation. Eventhough I have HBO as a premium service on my DIRECTV account, there is no HBO On Demand available on DIRECTV On Demand service. Showtime is there but not HBO.
DIRECTV Customer service says that they do not carry HBO On Demand and she did not know if they had plans to do so.
HB @ Jul 20th 2008 6:39PM
I just got DIRECTV On Demand service. I am not happy so far.
I had to upgrade my DVR to the HR20 model. This costs $199 plus tax. The upgrade has not been easy. DIRECTV failed to send the B-Band boxes with the DVR and it has taken 5 slow calls to their 800 number to get the kinks ironed out (they did not "turn on" DVR service automatically at installation, for example).
The chief disappointment is the download speed. About 45-60 minutes for a single episode of "Weeds" (a 30 min Showtime episode). At that rate a full length movie would take 3-4 hours!
My connection is broadband/cable modem and a speed test immediately after the Weeds download showed 1.2 mb/sec on my end.
By contrast my brother-in-law has Cox Cable On Demand and his speeds are astonishing: he starts an Cox On Demand movie and he can fast forward thought the credits!!!
I am not impressed with this DIRECTV On Demand service. It is expensive, difficult, and slow.