Ready to Drop Kick DirecTV

I have had cable, Dish Network and most recently DirecTV. Of the three, I have been least impressed with the service from DirecTV. They go offline due to weather or other conditions more often than Dish ever did and their customer service is mediocre at best. The only reason I'm still with them is they have the lowest priced package that includes the channels we most often watch.

That may change soon.

I have two ReplayTV DVR units. I have had them for about four years and never had a lick of trouble with them until recently.

Problem #1 - Somehow the channel guide data coming from DirecTV causes the ReplayTV units to reset (reboot) when you hit the right key combinations (like, the up key) while browsing the channel guide. This started about 3 months ago. I've managed to change my browsing habits to avoid this... but it doesn't always work.

Problem #2, which may be the proverbial 2-ton lead weight that broke the camel's back (yeah, it's that big of a deal), my ReplayTV may turn into a boat anchor on August 2nd.

What does that have to do with DirecTV? Well, if you go to replaytv.com, you're presented with a page saying ReplayTV is now part of DirecTV. The problem is that even though a recent payment has been made (7/25 in my case), the activation only reads good until 8/2. When the RTV unit tries to connect to the mother ship to update the activation, the mother ship doesn't answer - it has apparently left orbit.

Positive speculation is that it's a DNS issue or some delay related to the transfer of assets.

Negative speculation: "We're Boned!"

I'm gonna be REAL PISSED if my DVRs go belly up with no notice - especially since they just took my money.

-----------------------------------------------

UPDATE 7-29-2008 3:33pm - It appears that ReplayTV is answering the phone, is aware of the problem, and is working to fix it.