# Any switch to Direct TV?



## trener1 (Jan 22, 2004)

*Anyone switch to Direct TV for Universal?*

I have Cable TV which got rid of Universal sports, so I already missed Tirenno Adriatico and Milan San Remo, I am thinking of switching to Direct TV so that I can catch the rest of the classics plus the Giro etc.. 
I am wondering if any of you have done that, and if you have how is Direct TV service overall?.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Yes, I switched from Comcast over to DirecTV back in January. Nice to have Universal Sports back, even though it is still only the SD signal.

So far service has been great, a bit different channel lineup, you do lose a few of the local channels but pick up some other ones. The new home media center DVR is great, has 1 TB storage and does the whole house DVR function, so you can record all those late night cycling broadcasts. Also, unlike Comcast, DTV seems to charge many fees only once per house instead of once per cable box. With Comcast, I paid per box over 1 box, DTV gets up to 4 boxes for no extra charge and HD service is one charge instead of per box, etc. 

If you switch, you can use my acct. number to get $100 off ($10/mo.) with the referral bonus, drop me a PM if interested.


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## mtbykr (Feb 16, 2004)

Highly recommend DTV over Comcast. I personally much prefer how they function, and once you get used to the channel lineup it's great. I will never switch back.


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## AJL (Jul 9, 2009)

I didn't like DirectTV, had reception problems, but that may have been due to my location. I thought that Comcast owned Universal Sports - so why don't Comcast subscribers receive it?

I am tempted to switch though, I've moved and I'm missing some good cycling


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## jnbrown (Dec 9, 2009)

I have Dish Network and recently stumbled on Universal Sports.
I think it is a preview channel so it won't be permanent unless I pay extra for it.
Watched Tirenno and now Volta Catalunya.
They kept raising my rates so I called and threatened to switch to DirectTV so they knocked off $10 per month for a year.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

So far have had good reception with the new dish, they set it on a post anchored in concrete down between the side of my house and the fence, so it is not likely to get blown around. Good view of the sky to the south. Only had a couple of drop outs in heavy rain, but far better signal than I used to get on Comcast. I fought with them for several years to get me a decent signal and it was always Universal Sports that was my problem channel. Seems it was relegated to the highest freq. on the cable (like 625MHz) and my local cable segment had poor signal quality up at the high end. And it was intermittent so was always fine when the tech. would finally come out to check.

Yes, Comcast does own 51% of NBC and thus NBC Sports (formerly Versus) and NBC Sports owns Universal Sports (USN). USN went from free-over-the-air to a fee-based channel last year. SO DirecTV pays a fee to carry the channel and that is why it is probably part of their "Sports Pack" channel lineup. I think Comcast either does not want to carry USN or is having trouble figuring out how to carry/offer it. I guess they need to pay USN for the channel or else the other providers would cry foul to the FCC. But if they have to pay for it, they want to figure out how to stick that cost to the customers. And since they don't really do single channel packages, they would probably stuff it in some bigger package like they do with Speed Channel. I think you need to get the full sports (NFL/NBA/MLB/etc.) package to get Speed.

I could never get a straight answer when I was considering leaving Comcast. I was a 20+ year customer and told them I would leave if I could not get USN and all I got was the run-around. I figure if they wanted to carry USN, they could make it happen, since as you say, then own 51% of USN via NBC. So I could only conclude that since they don't yet carry it nor have any firm date by which they plan to carry it, they don't plan to carry it.

Funny thing was I heard that Comcast spent tens of thousands of dollars upgrading the cable segment to my house (and maybe half a dozen other customers) because I was having trouble getting USN. Then it is them dropping USN that caused me to leave, sort of ironic. I recall speaking to one of the phone support folks after he looked up the service call history on my account and he commented that there was no way Comcast would ever make back the money they spent on the line to my house. I guess he was right


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## Roadrider22 (May 24, 2006)

I am a long time DTV subscriber and was excited when they added Universal Sports. I was disappointed with the non-HD format last late season but I would have to say that the 3 races on so far this year have had pretty darn good resolution for non-HD. I also am growing to like the two announcers for Universal. Lets just hope that DTV hangs with Universal long term.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Yes, it looks like they are down converting the original HD signal to something like 480P in letter box format. So you can zoom and crop the picture to fill the screen and it still looks decent. It is better signal quality than I used to see on Comcast last year, though. Not sure if they will ever upgrade it to the full HD signal like on NBC Sports. It is nice when you can actually read the numbers on the jerseys


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## ericTheHalf (Apr 5, 2008)

I had DirecTV a few years back and they stopped carrying Versus, so I swtitch to Dish. not long after that Direct brought VS back. I think what happened was Comcast, owner of Vs, increased what it charged Direct so Direct pulled Vs while they negotiated. There were ads running at the time to tell your satellite provider to give you what you paid for. Those ads were paid for by Comcast. The content providers play games with the satellite providers and we get stuck in the middle.

As someone else pointed out, Dish recently added USN to the lineup. It has been great. They have been showing world cup cyclocross and track racing. I just wish they would show some mass start track events.

With all of the channels adding access to content online I am considering pulling the plug on Dish.


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## turbodogs02 (Oct 24, 2011)

So are Dish and DTV the only available outlets to view USN now? 

And any insight as to why they downgrade the signal? Glad to hear that it's better than when it was free...but still...


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

turbodogs02 said:


> So are Dish and DTV the only available outlets to view USN now?
> 
> And any insight as to why they downgrade the signal? Glad to hear that it's better than when it was free...but still...


I think that is the case, heard that Comcast is talking about being in negotiations and they might have USN in about 12 months. I think for Comcast, the issue is they can't figure out how to charge (themselves and the subscribers) for the channel. If they get the signal for no cost from USN (which they own half of via NBC) then all the other carriers cry foul to the FCC. If they pay for the channel, then they aren't going to give it away for free like they used to when USN was tacked onto the NBC over the air signal. So if they charge for it, do they bundle it with all their other sports stuff (like NFL/NBA/MLB type sports)? They do the same with Speed Channel and I never found it worth paying for the sports/entertainment package just to get Speed, probably be the same with USN. And they are not big on offering channels by themselves, everything is part of a bundle, so I guess that is their quandry.

As far as the signal, I suspect it is a bandwidth issue. They do broadcast NBC Sports (Versus) in HD. The USN signal quality does appear to be better this year than last year when it was a purely SD. This year at least it appears to start as an HD signal then it is down converted to a lower bandwidth. Not sure on the DirecTV boxes as to whether the non-HD set top boxes can display the HD-only channels or not. On Comcast you can only get the HD channels on the HD box. If that is the case with Direct, then they may be keeping USN available to all subscribers and not just the HD subscribers.


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## turbodogs02 (Oct 24, 2011)

4Crawler said:


> I think that is the case, heard that Comcast is talking about being in negotiations and they might have USN in about 12 months. I think for Comcast, the issue is they can't figure out how to charge (themselves and the subscribers) for the channel. If they get the signal for no cost from USN (which they own half of via NBC) then all the other carriers cry foul to the FCC. If they pay for the channel, then they aren't going to give it away for free like they used to when USN was tacked onto the NBC over the air signal. So if they charge for it, do they bundle it with all their other sports stuff (like NFL/NBA/MLB type sports)? They do the same with Speed Channel and I never found it worth paying for the sports/entertainment package just to get Speed, probably be the same with USN. And they are not big on offering channels by themselves, everything is part of a bundle, so I guess that is their quandry.
> 
> As far as the signal, I suspect it is a bandwidth issue. They do broadcast NBC Sports (Versus) in HD. The USN signal quality does appear to be better this year than last year when it was a purely SD. This year at least it appears to start as an HD signal then it is down converted to a lower bandwidth. Not sure on the DirecTV boxes as to whether the non-HD set top boxes can display the HD-only channels or not. On Comcast you can only get the HD channels on the HD box. If that is the case with Direct, then they may be keeping USN available to all subscribers and not just the HD subscribers.



Gotcha....

I'm just super basic cable right now, but thinking of going back to the DTV thing here real soon...

Thanks for all the good info! :thumbsup:


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## merckxman (Jan 23, 2002)

It frosts me to no end to have had USN on COMCAST, and then COMCAST gets ownership of NBC and drops USN. It's crazy. I've called repeatedly to complain, and they promise that someone will call back and no one does. They stink in this regard.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Agreed, Comcast seems to have dropped the ball on this one. I think it was independent things going on. USN decides to drop the free-over-the-air model and go for a fee-on-cable model. Then NBC Sports buys USN and of course Comcast has part ownership of NBC. So before, Comcast never really chose to carry USN, it just got picked up for free off the NBC feed. But at the end of 2011, that signal was shut off.

Now they just can't figure out what to do with USN and figure out some way to get the subscribers to pay for it. I sent in multiple complaints and said I would be cancelling my account if they could not offer USN and when I repeatedly go nothing but vague and conflicting responses, I just followed through and dropped Comcast. So far DirecTV has been great, only thing that could make it better is if they would carry the HD version of USN.


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## SFTifoso (Aug 17, 2011)

Dish network is cheaper and has more hd channels, including universal sports. The only reason to get Dtv is for NFL Sunday Ticket.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

SFTifoso said:


> Dish network is cheaper and has more hd channels, including universal sports. The only reason to get Dtv is for NFL Sunday Ticket.


Is _cycling_ broadcast in HD on Universal on Dish?? 
I know they carry Univ, was not aware of an HD option..
IMHO, the resolution (non-HD) is as bad as ever. I'm thankful for the channel, but livid about the picture quality.

I've had Commiecast, Verizon/Frontier FiOS (w/ and w/out TiVo), DirecTV with and without TiVo.
I have to say, DirecTV has always been good for me, although it seems to be better than every now. (No rain issues w/ latest gen dishes).


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## austincrx (Oct 22, 2008)

DTV + Sports pack is the only way to get Universal Sports. But it's great, never any technical trouble. It may go out in a bad storm, but not usually, only if it's got alot of lightning.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

austincrx said:


> DTV + Sports pack is the only way to get Universal Sports. But it's great, never any technical trouble. It may go out in a bad storm, but not usually, only if it's got alot of lightning.


Apparently not the "only way" to get Universal Sports- SFTifoso is right; Dish offers it with their Multi-Sports Pack.


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## PMC (Jan 29, 2004)

I love my DTV (other than price) as my reception is real good. It's way better than the Comcast signal we had with cable and a number of the things I watch were not in HD on Comcast. The "digital" channels on Comcast didn't look good at all. My wife watches a lot of tennis and at times you could barely see the ball on Comcast, not an issue on DTV in HD.

As others have noted the non HD picture on Universal has been really quite good. I still haven't warmed to the anouncers but will probably buy the package to get it for the Giro coming up.


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## gusmahler (Apr 7, 2012)

SFTifoso said:


> Dish network is cheaper and has more hd channels, including universal sports. The only reason to get Dtv is for NFL Sunday Ticket.


That's a pretty big reason, though. 

Been with DirecTV since 2006. Been very happy and will never switch back to cable. As for Dish, if you're a sports fan, there's no reason to even look at Dish. DirecTV exclusives include NFL Sunday Ticket, NASCAR Hot Pass, GolTV, MLB Extra Innings. 

As for number of HD channels, both channels claim to have the most, I have no idea which is actually true.


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