01-07-2009, 06:32 PM
I had Direct TV with a dvr that worked exactly like you described, Don. I had Dish network first, but the dvr I had with them was only a single channel. When I called to see if I could change to something that would record on 2 channels or record one channel and let me watch another. Dish told me they couldn't do that! Then a Direct TV salesman stopped by and he said they could do that no problem. My contract was up with Dish Network, so I ordered Direct TV. I later found out that my neighbor has a Dish Network dvr that works exactly like my Direct TV dvr did, so I came to the conclusion that once they got you signed up, nothing will ever get the company to come back to your house again. If what you want can be accomplished over the phone or through pay per view, etc. no problem. I discovered that Direct TV is the same way. Customer service is not a part of their business model! Verizon just put the fiber optic system into our neighborhood, so I switch over to Fios. I have the same sort of service with Fios, but I now have a better internet connection than the old dsl unit. Also with Fios I don't get weather interfering with reception. By the way I was having trouble with a dvr from Direct TV and kept calling in to complain because it would need to be shut off and rebooted about 2-3 times a week. Of course every time I called in to complain, they ran me through a reboot, which fixed it for 2 or 3 more days before it needed it again. I finally called in and when the tech person had me try to reboot it, I told him "Are you sure you want me to do that? I shut it off and unplugged it when smoke started coming out of the box! It is too hot to touch right now but if we wait a while for it to cool off, I can try to plug it in and reboot." They sent me a new dvr unit and the problems were solved.