Digital pictures and sound, beamed to your home, sure beats cable!
Written: Dec 12 '01 (Updated Nov 04 '02)
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Pros: Digital quality sound and picture, optical outputs, RF remote, Interactive menus, Dual LNB
Cons: Package prices, local channels extra, cloudy days and/or obstructions, "professional installation"
The Bottom Line: If you're tired of being rooked by the cable company, step up to DirecTV for better service, picture and sound.
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| magnatran's Full Review: RCA DS4280RE DIRECTV System Dual LNB |
At the time of my purchase, DirecTV and Amazon were running a deal, where if you bought a DirecTV system from Amazon you would get free installation. On top of that, DirecTV was offering a $200 rebate for activation on certain viewing packages (I think it was $35 or greater) and one year of service. So it turned out that I was able to get the system for free and have free professional installation, so the deal was hard to turn down. Plus, at the time, I had standard cable (our town hadn't been upgraded to digital service yet), so I was paying $65 for, basically, poor reception and an endless number of religious channels that tied up my bandwidth.
So needless to say a change to digital satellite service was a very nice change. There were three reasons I chose DirecTV over cable:
Service for the money. I was paying a lot for cable, and I didn't have all of the channels I wanted, like Cartoon Network and MTV2. For less than what I was paying ($59.99 to be exact) I got more channels and more pay-per-view choices.
Picture quality. Digital picture quality can't be beat. Some of the channels on my cable service looked fuzzy or snowy. You will definitely see the difference.
Digital audio. Dolby Digital sound is available on some channels (like HBO and Cinemax). If you have a Dolby-capable receiver, then you can get DVD-quality sound that beats movie theater sound.
So with these new features it was obvious, I upgraded to DirecTV. Now, the receiver was, at the time, near the top of the line, sporting some nice features:
Optical Digital Output. With an optical cable, you can connect the satellite receiver to your stereo receiver (if equipped) so that the sound is not affected in the way that it can be with standard A/V cables. Essentially, noise can be generated within the wire of these A/V cables, which can affect output from your receiver. But, with a Digital signal through a fibre-optic cable, you get true Dolby Digital sound. You wouldn't think you could hear the difference, but it is unmistakable.
S-Video Output. Like the Optical cable, S-Video allows crisper, cleaner pictures over the before-mentioned A/V cables. These cables are specially shielded to prevent the typical "noise" within the A/V cables.
Interactive Menus. This is a really neat feature. When you're watching a channel with Interactive Menus, an "i" will appear on the screen. When you press the OK button, additional content that you can browse will appear on the screen. For example, you're watching ESPN and you want to find out how Boston College did in men's college basketball today. Instead of waiting for the scrolling scoreboard to come around, you press the OK button when the "i" appears and you can browse through the up-to-date scores from all sports, using the navigation buttons. I once saw real-time statistics for a college football game that was showing on ESPN. Channels like Headline News, E!, and Discovery Channel give headlines and upcoming programs. Some commercials display the "i" when there is a free offer or "for more information..." available. This is constantly expanding, so more and more channels are added with this feature.
Dual LNB. This dish, only 18" in diameter, comes with a Dual LNB (Line Noise Blocker), which allows you to hook up to two satellite receivers to one dish. So you can have two receivers for your house, or one for you and the other for your neighbor. Billing for the service comes from the "smart card" in the receiver, so you won't be paying for your neighbor's DirecTV.
RF Remote. This remote allows you to change channels through walls or floors. You don't need to be in direct line of sight of the receiver to operate it. There is a small 5 inch antenna that attaches to the rear of the receiver that allows RF frequencies to change the channel. This is nice because you can hide your receiver in a drawer or behind something and still use a remote.
On-screen Menus. These on-screen menus help you setup and point your dish, change settings and colors, and check on previous pay-per-view orders, and more. The menus are easy to navigate, and are very descriptive.
On-screen Channel Guide. You can browse through the channels while watching a channel, then jump to a different one without entering. You can also search in advance and setup your receiver to jump to a station very week at the same time without remembering which channel your favorite show was on.
Remote Recording. I wasn't sure this was going to work, but it did nicely. A small wire with an IR (infrared) transmitter sticks to your IR port on your VCR, with the other end connected to the rear of the receiver. Through the satellite receiver you setup the type of VCR you have (like you would a universal remote control). Then you can scroll ahead in the Channel Guide, select the shows you want to record, and the receiver automatically changes the channel, turns on the VCR, and records the show for you. Missing Days of Our Lives for a week while on vacation? No worries, just program the receiver to record for 1 hour at the specific time and on the specific channel and you won't miss an episode. Or if you can't stand to miss Jerry Springer while you're at work, you can set it up to record every weekday at the same time until they cancel the show.
Caller-ID On-screen The epitome of laziness. You can see who's calling when a small black bar appears across the bottom of the screen, naming the phone number and ID of the caller. Of if the inlaws call during the Sopranos, let the machine get it. This is also helpful if you screen your calls. (Note: you have to have Caller ID service enabled through your phone company to use it).
Parental Controls If you've got rugrats that you want to keep from seeing too much skin, this receiver has a feature that can limit what types of shows and channels they can watch, based on the show's ratings. Also, by creating "users", you can limit weekly or daily viewing times and block certain channels. For example, when Jimmy comes home, you want him to do his homework. So you block the viewing time for user "Jimmy" until 5pm which is when he should be done with his studies. He finishes his project, so he logs in as user "Jimmy". But you also think that he shouldn't watch more than 2 hours a night (I'd hate to be Jimmy), so you can program the total time he watches to 2 hours each night. It can also prevent pay-per-view movies from being ordered (DirecTV says that you still have to pay even though Jimmy wasn't supposed to watch WWF Summer Slam).
There are a few items on the downside for DirecTV:
Package Prices. Total Choice Platinum, with more channels than you'll ever get to watch, goes for about $85/month. The one I have is the HBO/Cinemax/Starz package, which runs my monthly bill to $59.99. Packages above the one I have get pricey, but I don't think it's much more expensive than digital cable.
Local Channels (if you can get them). The local channels cost extra, about $5 per month. These channels are not available everywhere, so if you live in the sticks, don't dump your old-fangled roof antenna any time soon. In Boston, we get ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS. No WB. No UPN. And no local stations, like in NH or RI. So it's kind of limited. We decided to keep "basic" cable, where you don't need to rent a cable box, which gives us all of the local stations, for about $11/month. You can also get one of those dish antennas that slip over your dish to get local stations. I've haven't heard how well that works.
UPDATE! Within the past year a win in courts by the satellite providers allowed them to provide more local channels... so now they offer ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, UPN, and WB, including some regional channels (since I'm in Boston, I believe they offer a RI channel and one or two NH channels). So I've cancelled my cable service all together!
Cloudy Days and/or Obstructions. Before you run out and buy a DirecTV system, step outside and look around. You should be able to see the southern sky from your vantage point (check the DirecTV website for the precise location of the satellite for better results). There shouldn't be any tall trees in the way either - the signal doesn't pass through brush or branches. You'll be SOL if you don't first check your location. As far as weather goes, we've only had one time in the 8 months of service that the signal was lost, and it was a violent thunderstorm. Depending on the signal strength you get, you may be more susceptible to lost signal during cloudy days.
Professional Installation. I found this to term be an oxymoron when getting my satellite system installed. First, two separate cable/satellite installation companies call me to schedule the installation. Once I straightened that mess out (and after taking a day off from work), the crew shows up at 7:30pm, a full 2 1/2 hours past when they were supposed to arrive. Not only that, but their breaths were flammable. So then it's also getting dark, and we broke out some flood lights for them. Then, one of the three "contractors" has a seizure in my driveway in the middle of the installation. What a mess. They had to send someone a few days later to finish the job. I was beside myself - it was such a joke. My advice - make sure you're standing over the contractor's shoulder when they're doing the installation. I wouldn'tve paid for this installation if it wasn't free.
Overall DirecTV is a good bargain. Superb picture and sound quality, at a price comparable to digital cable. Also, this satellite receiver would be a good choice for those with a Dolby Digital or DTS ready receiver.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
magnatran
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Location: Millbury, Massachusetts
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Gators are ornery cause theys got all those teeth and no toothbrush...
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