Are you sure? I just went to their site and they want $199 (after $100 rebate) for an HD DVR for new customers. The only lease option is for the regular non-HD receiver. I think whoever told you that was misinformed. See below, they even say you can "upgrade your elase"....

Upgrade your lease to a DIRECTV® HD DVR for just $199 after $100 instant rebate when you order online at DIRECTV.com.
Two-year programming commitment and activation of DVR service ($5.99/mo.) required. Rebate offer ends 1/31/08 and is for new lease customers only. Activation of the DIRECTV® HD Package ($9.99/mo.) also required to qualify for rebate. Limit one rebate per account. Customers receiving mail-in rebate(s) from DIRECTV are not eligible.
Get the latest and greatest television high-definition viewing experience possible with the DIRECTV® HD DVR (digital video recorder). Combining the look and feel of the home theater experience, the DIRECTV® HD DVR lets you control how and when you watch TV.
You can go from ordinary to extraordinary in up to 2 million pixels of phenomenal high-definition. That's up to 10 times the picture quality of standard-definition.
DIRECTV® HD DVR is easier than using your VCR — and ten times as cool!
• Record, store and play back up to 200 hours of standard-definition programming or up to 30 hours of high-definition programming*
• Digital-quality picture and sound
• Record two shows at once**
• Pause, replay and watch in slow motion
• Automatically record your favorite shows
• Record shows that match your interests

They will give you the regular DVR or regular HD receiver but not the HD DVR.

 

I'll be one of the few who say they are happy with cable. I know Comcast over charges me and I complain about the lack of competition. However, I won't switch to satellite because I have to have a receiver for every TV or share channels, I don't want to deal with the weather issues, I hate the look of a dish plunked onto my house and the costs weren't that much cheaper. I have 15 or so HD channels and tons of kids stuff for the rugrats.

I'm waiting for AT&T to get FIOS in my area. They are close but not quite here. Then I'll take a look at what they offer but I'm sure I'll need a receiver for that too and it will mess up my Kitchen TV and den....

 

i love my directv about it going out in the rain the installers get paid bye the job. all you have to do is get up there and fine tune the dish in it is not that hard then it wont go out that much in the rain

 

The weather issues were a deciding issue for me, too. I live in Central Florida and we have tons of large thunder storms. I would lose my signal with any storm that had large clouds.

 

Still leased, if you leave them they collect all the equipment. You are upgrading your lease not deleting it.
I have been with DirecTV since launch. No complaints.

 

Do you have HD? Or an HD-DVR? I believe you that you are leasing but the way it is written it is still $200 out of your pocket for an HD DVR.

It is right there in black and white Upgrade your lease to a DIRECTV® HD DVR for just $199 after $100 instant rebate

 

Happy Comcast customer here. Solid line up of HD channels and they keep adding, zero upfront equipment cost, blazing fast Internet, I'd say I've had five nine reliability for as long as I've been a customer, and that started 8 years ago when I moved back to the D. Other cable providers are cheaper in the area but suck ****. And to boot I've always had a pleasant experience dealing with customer service.

I've thought about DirecTV but their equipement costs are BS, they haven't delivered the flurry of HD channels as promised two years ago, and I'd pay more since my cable Internet costs would go up (no longer a bundle) - And I'll be damned if I'm giving up my cable modem for some slit-my-wrists-slow DSL crap.

 

I was a beta tester for Comcast Internet in the Baltimore area.

They sent out their techs to do the install. I told them to let me do the PC part (add a NIC) but NOOOOOOO...some chick sat there for 3 hours and couldn't figure it out. Finally I walked in and said "May I?"...done in 5 minutes. Techs suck but...

WOW! back then before they put the bandwidth limits in place and there were just a few users it was smoking, much faster than today...I downloaded 60-70 meg files in seconds...It slowly came down but it still blows DSL away.

When we were looking for a house I told the agent don't show me a house without comcast internet...not DSL...comcast.

 

Ha! That's funny. I've been a member since the "@Home" days. When the tech showed up and looked at my office, I looked at him and said "Just get the cable modem powered up, I'll take care of the rest 'cuz your not touching this stuff". He laughed and said "No problem!". We were done in a jiffy.

I remember the unrestricted, few user days. For me that lasted a good year or more. I feel, however, in the last year or so they have once again matched those blazing speeds. I think a more robust network and smarter QoS policies have helped out.

 

Yep.... @home.net was my first email address.

They are getting close to those days. 6MBs with this powerboost crap that is suppose to scale up to 12 to 16 mbps...I'd like to see DSL touch that.

 

Some areas do, some areas you have to have a second dish or arial to get locals. We are in an area that with Direct we have to have the second dish, with dish network we only had the one and got locals.

 

EVERYONE (just about) has satelite. If I didn't work for the cable company and I wasn't getting a discounted rate on data service and video services (I have every channel, PPV's are 50% off, and I have a 6meg down, 1 meg upload on my data)...I'd go with satelite too.

Cable TV is outrageous, and the service isn't what it SHOULD be.

 

More about DirecTV's leasing program:

http://tv.about.com/b/a/248335.htm
DirecTV Begins Leasing HD Equipment
Before you get too excited, this lease isn't the same deal that DISH Network offers. For starters, current and new DirecTV customers have to pay an installation fee when upgrading to the HD equipment. The fees can range up to $549 for the HD DVR unit. This doesn't include a likely but not confirmed monthly service fee for each receiver.

I talked with a DirecTV sales rep last night about the lease deal, and she wasn't able to confirm an official monthly fee for the receiver. I am speculating that the lease fee will be around $4.99 a month. DirecTV also requires a two year programming committment.

My Thoughts: It seems like DirecTV is giving their customers a little bit of the cell phone business service these days. Maybe they should take notice of their competition, sat-rival DISH Network - a company that doesn't charge outrageous prices for installation and upgrades.

Another issue with the DirecTV high definition service is the $10.99 monthly charge for a whopping 7 HD channels. And, where are those local channels they promised a year ago? So, I must ask you, "Deal or no deal?"

So you have to pay an "installation fee", which is at least $200 then pay a monthly leasing fee for an HD DVR? No thanks!

 

i love my directv but what ever you get get a dvr i love mine

 

talking about internet i have cable for that i love it i have 10 mbs down 1 mbs up $40 a month from insight but i dont like insight cable tv