|Zach|
01-12-2007, 05:10 PM
http://www.pvrwire.com/2007/01/12/directv-not-looking-after-its-customers-directivo-problems-fau/
Despite some good news and announcements coming out of DirecTV CES camp this week including 100 new HD channels, the possibility of cheaper PVRs due to improved satellite receiver chips, and an interesting but confusing OnDemand service that could be a Slingbox idea or some pseudo IPTV VoD service, DirecTV is still getting a sharp stick in the belly over the issues with its PVRs and HD service.
Faulty HR20 HD PVRs
There's the ongoing issue of the faulty HR20 DirecTV Plus HD PVR which is reportedly plagued with problems. While not everyone is getting the problems a huge chunk of people are and DirecTV seem to be nothing about it.
Tom Starner of HDTV Magazine goes into detail about these HR20 issues (nice work Tom!) and the conclusion is "there's little doubt a significant number of subscribers will hit the boiling point (of course, some already have) if the HR20 isn't fixed real soon."
DirecTiVo users
Since DirecTV decided to use NDS to make its PVRs and dropped TiVo, many DirecTV subscribers really began to miss the more reliable and functional DirecTiVo.
TiVo was dropped because NewsCorp's Rupert Murdoch, who owned a substantial chunk of DirecTV, also had a stake in NDS so decided to let NDS manufacturer the DirecTV PVRs from then on. Now NewsCorp has traded its share of DirecTV to Liberty Media to regain 16.3% of its own shares.
But even DirecTV users are not left out of the DirecTV's bullets of bad customer service. A post over on TiVo Lovers explains how DirecTV has "deliberately crippled" the feature set on DirecTiVo units.
DirecTV has disabled features such as Music, Photos, HME, and online scheduling which normally work on regular TiVos and can be re-enabled on DirecTiVos through hacks.
HR20 Home Networking Issues
It doesn't stop there. The HR20 has a network port allowing you to connect it to your home network. However DirecTV has only recently enabled home networking for just Intel Viiv PCs, announcing it at this weeks CES. Unfortunately they are leaving everyone other PC owner out of the loop.
This is partly to do with the benefits of the Intel technology making DirecTV PVRs the first digital set-top box with integrated digital media adapter (DMA) functionality verified to work with Intel Viivtechnology. But I'm not sure why DirecTV felt it necessary to leave out every other PC user.
Inferior HD Quality - "HD Lite"
While DirecTV promises to increase its lineup of channels it is still receiving plenty of complaints about an inferior HD service which has been nicknamed HD Lite.
Ben Drawbaugh of our sister site EngadgetHD questioned Rômulo Pontual, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of DirecTV, about the whole HD Lite issue (nice work Ben).
To sum up Rômulo Pontual denied that the DirecTV HD service was reduced and that when you compare screens side by side and look at the quality DirecTV HD is the same and denied that the lower bitrate and lower resolution of DirecTV HD was an issue.
This doesn't change the fact that many DirecTV HD subscribers feel that it is not true HD quality and that they can visually tell the difference, or the fact that DirecTV still has a pending court case from an unhappy subscriber over the issue.
To Sum Up
With all these issues I'm surprised DirecTV is continuing to increase its subscriber base. Maybe the company should focus a little less on advertising for new customers and make the ones it has now a lot happier. After all research shows it's a lot more expensive to gain a new customer, than keep an old one.
Despite some good news and announcements coming out of DirecTV CES camp this week including 100 new HD channels, the possibility of cheaper PVRs due to improved satellite receiver chips, and an interesting but confusing OnDemand service that could be a Slingbox idea or some pseudo IPTV VoD service, DirecTV is still getting a sharp stick in the belly over the issues with its PVRs and HD service.
Faulty HR20 HD PVRs
There's the ongoing issue of the faulty HR20 DirecTV Plus HD PVR which is reportedly plagued with problems. While not everyone is getting the problems a huge chunk of people are and DirecTV seem to be nothing about it.
Tom Starner of HDTV Magazine goes into detail about these HR20 issues (nice work Tom!) and the conclusion is "there's little doubt a significant number of subscribers will hit the boiling point (of course, some already have) if the HR20 isn't fixed real soon."
DirecTiVo users
Since DirecTV decided to use NDS to make its PVRs and dropped TiVo, many DirecTV subscribers really began to miss the more reliable and functional DirecTiVo.
TiVo was dropped because NewsCorp's Rupert Murdoch, who owned a substantial chunk of DirecTV, also had a stake in NDS so decided to let NDS manufacturer the DirecTV PVRs from then on. Now NewsCorp has traded its share of DirecTV to Liberty Media to regain 16.3% of its own shares.
But even DirecTV users are not left out of the DirecTV's bullets of bad customer service. A post over on TiVo Lovers explains how DirecTV has "deliberately crippled" the feature set on DirecTiVo units.
DirecTV has disabled features such as Music, Photos, HME, and online scheduling which normally work on regular TiVos and can be re-enabled on DirecTiVos through hacks.
HR20 Home Networking Issues
It doesn't stop there. The HR20 has a network port allowing you to connect it to your home network. However DirecTV has only recently enabled home networking for just Intel Viiv PCs, announcing it at this weeks CES. Unfortunately they are leaving everyone other PC owner out of the loop.
This is partly to do with the benefits of the Intel technology making DirecTV PVRs the first digital set-top box with integrated digital media adapter (DMA) functionality verified to work with Intel Viivtechnology. But I'm not sure why DirecTV felt it necessary to leave out every other PC user.
Inferior HD Quality - "HD Lite"
While DirecTV promises to increase its lineup of channels it is still receiving plenty of complaints about an inferior HD service which has been nicknamed HD Lite.
Ben Drawbaugh of our sister site EngadgetHD questioned Rômulo Pontual, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of DirecTV, about the whole HD Lite issue (nice work Ben).
To sum up Rômulo Pontual denied that the DirecTV HD service was reduced and that when you compare screens side by side and look at the quality DirecTV HD is the same and denied that the lower bitrate and lower resolution of DirecTV HD was an issue.
This doesn't change the fact that many DirecTV HD subscribers feel that it is not true HD quality and that they can visually tell the difference, or the fact that DirecTV still has a pending court case from an unhappy subscriber over the issue.
To Sum Up
With all these issues I'm surprised DirecTV is continuing to increase its subscriber base. Maybe the company should focus a little less on advertising for new customers and make the ones it has now a lot happier. After all research shows it's a lot more expensive to gain a new customer, than keep an old one.