Just got off the phone with a retention rep for D* and I am pretty happy. I told them that I was looking to cancel my years of service and switch to Cox Cable b/c of their better HD package. I asked if there was anything that they could do to off set the price of a HD reciever b/c with Cox I could rent it for ~$10/month. After a few key strokes they said that if I qualified I could get the $99 deal. Here is the scope:

To qualify:

1) must have >2½ years of service
2) have not been disconnected due to lack of payment
3) carry > $45 per month of service at time of upgrade
4) aggree to one year Total Plus w/HD service (else penilty)
5) pay the full price for the upgrade up front with credit card

The deal:

-One HD D* sat reciever (Hughes HDL-HD or Sam TS160)
-One 3 sat oval dish
-One OTA att ($49 extra)
-free prof. install (mandatory - just me I tried)

D* will refund/rebate the total cost up to $99 on bill.

So for those who are bad at math:
-total cost to card $500 w/OTA att w/Tax & S/H
-refund coming in the months ahead $401 (~8 months free programing)

***total cost to me $99***

The prof. install will come in one week to deliver and install the reciever. Could have been earlier (just 3 days) but had scheduling conflicts.

I thought that this was too good to keep to myself.

lol

I had heard about this offer before but didn't believe it. Last night I called Directv and told them I'm thinking about going to cable HD and asked what they could do for me. Without any hassle or lip the rep checked with his supervisor and came back with the exact same offer mentioned here. Receiver will be here faster than I can sell my old box on ebay. The credit on my account only took like 10 minutes! $271. I pray that it's the Hughes box.

Great deal!

Why are you so happy? There is no up front money involved with cable, nor do you have to sign a contract....and this is supposed to be a deal?

Mark that is twice today you have made me laugh. Keep up the good work! The other was in the Hk vs Sony thread.

I hate rebates!!!! Are you serious... your out $500.00? Up front? No way! Wait for the TIVO...and put the $500 towards that!!

Let's see.

$399 Up Front
-$350 Sold old HDTV receiver on Ebay (only paid $200 for it to begin with)

That leaves $50 on my credit card and 5 months of directv service for free because of the $271 credit. You do the math. Maybe I'll buy a new DVD player with my savings?

And the best part is that I didn't have to deal with greedy cable company for 4 HDTV channels. I haven't had cable for 10 years and plan on keeping it that way even if this wasn't a good deal.

Well it is about time you change to cable! Live in the dark!

What cable provider did you have that only has 4 HD channels? Time Warner in Charlotte has a similar line-up to any of the players. As far a s the greedy cable companies....JD Edwards has reported that there is less than a $2.00 diffferential between Sat providers and cable providers for similar broadcast packages. Shoot, I don't like paying my cable bill every month. but I'm not going to call them greedy for selling me a service that will cost me about the same price elsewhere. That would not be accurate or fair.

>>I hate rebates!!!! Are you serious... your out $500.00? Up front? No way! Wait for the TIVO...and put the $500 towards that!!<<

Right. Wait for the HD TiVo. I dumped my sat520 on audiogon for $450 last week, not bad considering I paid about $600 for it when it first hit the market.

About some of the comments in this thread:

Whoever called D* customer retention, you should have asked them to add 6 months free HBO or any other programming you enjoy. They do that as a matter of course on top of anything esle that they give.

Now as far as cable HD vs D* HD, it's no contest, at least if like me, you're dealing with Comcast in Monmouth County NJ. Hey, we won't even talk about the audio dropouts; I'd be happy just to get a picture everytime I hit the remote. I've seen their service people so many times that we're on a first name basis. I love when they say something like, "Yeah, we've been having a lot of problems with that." Trained comiseration drives me up a wall. Not to be crude, but Comcast SUCKS!!! They seem to be on the leading edge of proving HD content, but nothing works right. I can't wait to dump them when D* comes out with their TiVo HD box.

Steve I agree with a great deal of what you say. The truth is that there is no perfect HD delivery system yet. What bugs me is when people try to imply on this forum that unless you make the same choice they did than you are misguided or misinformed. I have no problems with people who choose to go the Sat route. If I had any problems with my cable provider I would do so in a minute, but TWC in Charlotte has given me years of great service, and they offer a great selection of HD channels with many new ones on the way.

Mark

Hey the way I look at it I just pre-paid for several months of D* service that I was going to pay for anyway. I have Cox cable in the Phoenix market. Right now they have a slight edge mostly to the fact that you can rent the hd box. Channels content is so-so. They have CBS, ABC, PBS, Starz, Discov, Espn, Sho, HBO and are thinking about Ind later this quarter. The cost is higher compared to D*. Digital pak. starts at $49/mo plus ~10/mo for HD plus $10/mo box rental compare to D* $39 w/ locals and $10/mo for HD. I crossing my figures and investing in the fact that D* will take the lead on channel content when their new sat goes up in April/May. I was gong to wait to get the Tivo box but I wanted the Superbowl in HD and Tivo hasn't given an exact date on the release. Honestly I would rather have a DVD recorder w/ hard disk then Tivo. I don't like the idea of having to pay a monthly fee to use their guide. Hopefully newer DVR's will have be able to burn hd-dvds then all will be good.