DTV and ondemand

[joeker]

Hello

I want to drop TWC and switch back to DTV.....I was just wondering what the deal was with ondemand programming on DirecTV?  Do they have VoD and the same selection as TW cable?


Thanks in advance

[Jack 1000]

Hello

I want to drop TWC and switch back to DTV.....I was just wondering what the deal was with ondemand programming on DirecTV?  Do they have VoD and the same selection as TW cable?


Thanks in advance

I don't have DTV. But I recall reading that they do NOT have the VOD service that TWC has.  (One of cable's advantages.)  They have PPV movies and events, but with preset start times.  DTV also does not have the free VOD services.  I would think that they would work to offer this service in the future.

Jack

[kevbeck122]

They do have it: http://www.directv.com/dod/dod.html

It's in beta and only works on the HR20s apparently.  It uses your internet connection and downloads content to the hard drive, so it may take longer to view the content than with TWC depending on how fast your internet connection is.

[Dan the Man]

I have my HR20 hooked direltly into my wireless router (via a hard connection) and have Turbo RR. I have downloaded a few movies and shows already. I am not sure there is HD content available yet. It downloads fairly fast. I think the service will be great once more content is available. I downloaded an episode of the Closer that I had missed. It wasn't HD but at least I got to see it.

I like the service and am looking forward to it getting better.

I will be conencting a 1TB external hard drive next week to my HR20 to increase my storage capacity:rock:. I can hardly wait!

[joeker]

Darn....that's the kicker.  The one thing I really like about cable is the OnDemand

And then downloading movies via the Internet?  Wouldn't they have enough bandwidth to send it via the signal and just use the internet for ordering? :huh?:

[AndrewP]

D* has OnDemand, it works fine, right now only few HD features. SD works fine - you select it and then click start - you will not notice any diff. with regular SD channels. I am not big fan of OnDemand, like DVR feature more. Maybe when HD on demand will appear, I will be interested more.

[kevbeck122]

Darn....that's the kicker.  The one thing I really like about cable is the OnDemand

And then downloading movies via the Internet?  Wouldn't they have enough bandwidth to send it via the signal and just use the internet for ordering? :huh?:

This is a guess, but to do that I think they would need dedicated bandwidth for every on demand user.. so around 14Mbps per user if it's HD.

While I have not used DirecTV on demand, XBOX marketplace uses the same concept for their movies/tv shows... it's not long after you start downloading that you can start to watch.

[picopir8]

If your primary goal is to drop TWC, then you can still do that and have on-demand.  Uverse has a pretty good on-demand system.

[basshive]

While we are on the subject. Friday I hooked my father in laws HR20 up to the internet. Works great but I cannot find a way to make the box update so he can do On Demand. I see On Demand in the menu but clicking it does nothing. Should we just wait a few days for it to happen or is there a way to manually activate it/update the box?

[Matt Heebner]

Did you try rebooting the box from the menu ?
Restarting sometimes "updates" the box.

[basshive]

I did not but I will run up the street in a few and give it a try, they live almost TOO close

[joeker]

If your primary goal is to drop TWC, then you can still do that and have on-demand.  Uverse has a pretty good on-demand system.

Yeah .... if they ever installed it in my neighborhood

[Bebop]

ATT seems to be active lately. I have seem them all over my neighborhood for the past few weeks.

[AndrewP]

While we are on the subject. Friday I hooked my father in laws HR20 up to the internet. Works great but I cannot find a way to make the box update so he can do On Demand. I see On Demand in the menu but clicking it does nothing. Should we just wait a few days for it to happen or is there a way to manually activate it/update the box?

It will take at least 24 hours to get DOD activated on D* servers.

[basshive]

Right on. I went over yesturday and sure enough after having the box connected to the internet for 24 hours the On Demand feature works now. I gave it a whirl and I have to say I am quite impressed. I only tested a SDTV show but it was ready for watching after a minute or two. I will do some more testing but so far it seems pretty nice. I am sure HD will take a bit longer to queue up but I am ok with that.

Joeker, I would certainly say DirecTV VOD is there and soon should be ready for primetime!