Customer Reviews

RCA DS4440RE DIRECTV PLUS Multi-Satellite System with Free Pro-Installation

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you have more than 2 TV's this is the system for you. I've got 4 DSS reciver boxes hooked up to mine and it's great. Also it is ready for the future. It points at 2 satellites, one gets you normal channels and the other gets the spanish channels, HDTV channels and some other stuff also. The price is a little high on this system, but the hardware required to enable a standard Dual LMB Dish to handle upto 4 TV's makes the price about the same. If you want to be ready for the future and you have more than 2 TV's then this is the system to get.

I'm not a big RCA fan in general, but after having Hughes, Sony and now RCA units, I'm pretty certain RCA is out in front in the DSS business. This particular dish & receiver were added because we subscribed to 'DirecTV Para Todos' service (DSS in Spanish) and that requires the slightly larger, elliptical dish. The bigger dish (which can 'see' 3 satellites vs the 1 seen by the smaller, 18" round dish) is also required for the growing number of local, network affiliate stations DSS is rolling out. The guts of the system are within the receiver box. Speed of the processors is now pretty much standard (32 bit) among manufacturers, so sound processing, menu styles and remote control options are the only notable differences, besides reliability and price. My experience leads me to believe RCA has the edge in the last two areas, making this unit my favorite.

I have had Directv for roughly three years, started out with the general single LNB and the Satellite companies weren't offering local channels yet, but I loved the on screen menus and features that Satellite has versus cable, I quickly went out and bought this dish, The new elliptical oval one that can shoot to three different Satellites and you can hook up four different receivers. I love this dish and I love Directv, before taking the plunge with this more expensive dish and buying two more receivers I researched the "Dish Network" offers they have...and personally I have two relatives who have satellite with them and their on-screen menus and other features just don't match up to RCA's and Directv's products. And also the free installation is wonderful, they call your home, set-up an appt and come over and install it and your done....it is so easy, you can't pass it up. We receive English and Spanish channels and we have the HBO package as well and we only spend 45 a month, with so many channels to choose from you can't go wrong, satellite is the way to go!

I debated a lot among the different TV satellite providers, but I decided to buy DirecTV for many reasons. I now have a very good equipment, free professional installation was GREAT! and in no time I had my system up and running. I have access to TWO satellites, I can get more channels, I have both English and Spanish available, in few words, this is the way to go and Amazon makes it very simple.

Directv are about the nicest people with the greatest programming. Over 225 channels if you wanna play 85.99 a month plus over 8 different sports subscriptions. NFL fans won't wanna miss out because NFL Sunday Ticket is only available on Directv, NOT cable. With this satellite you can hook up to 4 Recievers without using a satellite splitter. Directv Interactive is very cool as well. Directv is bar-none the best out there!

This is the DirecTV system for the future. The elliptical dish sees more satellites than the round ones, the receiver can service up to 4 TVs in your house, and the whole system is also ready for high-definition TV and digital sound. It comes with the familiar RCA remote, and we drive our TV, VCR and DirecTV receiver from the same remote. In terms of the remote there is a small glitch that pushing the DirecTV button will automatically send the TV to channel 39 (i.e. snowyland) if you point the remote at the TV as you do that (hence only 4 stars). After a few minutes of frustration the friendly people at DirecTV clued us in and straightend things out. The free installation was a great deal as well. Amazon contacted DirecTV, they contacted us a few days after the system arrived and a local contractor installed it completely to our satisfaction. So far we have been extremely satisfied with the system, picture and sound are 2 leagues above cable. We will never go back.

To save you reading time I'm just going to list my negative feedback on the system:
1. Can't watch one channel and record a different one at the same time.
2. Heavy precipitation will cause you to lose your signal.
3. Setup for timer recording (VCR) requires you to do some extra wiring (included) to the infra red sensor on your VCR (that's right!). Then it will only work as advertised IF your VCR is on their list of compatible devices.
4. Be sure and give yourself about an hour to program their remote. **smile**
5. Give yourself about 2 hours to block the channels you don't want the kids to watch.
6. Their manual is a little skimpy. Plan on learning the system the old fashion way-"on the job".
7. Their menu interface is a little slow (system needs more memory?).

I Seen the direct TV add on Amazons lets have it in AUSTRALIA PLEASE Lisa.......

Does anyone know if direct TV is available in Hawaii? How about the Big Island?

That's what it costs under my current dish (Not DISH) cable package. With it I get all of the HBO channels, all SHO channels, the MAX channels, DIS channels, and on & on. My local channels in the Anaheim, CA area are also included. In other words, as far as channel fare, I'm doing OK. Any service I would elect to replace the one that I have (and when I say "service", it appears that my current provider is still trying to learn the true meaning of that word) would have to include, at least, my current channel offering. It appears that DirecTV claims that but that information is not readily available at this site. Another part of the cost of my present service is the amount of equipment (also RCA receivers but, I'm sure they're not the same ones as used by DirecTV) that I have installed. I am currently able to view five (5) different channels simultaneously. (Five TVs in five different rooms with five VCRs as well.) Each of these five have their own remote and operate independently of the others. My reason for entering this "psre-review" is, how much would it cost me to obtain the equivalent setup with DIRECTV? (I believe I'm overpaying by at least 25%.) Would I also be able to get all of the same channels? I believe that my current service provider leaves much to be desired as, they don't follow their on-line or printed TV guides (currently owned by TV GUIDE) and channels can drop off or be interrupted during viewing. I would just like the service I decide on to provide service at a reasonable cost to me.