I love DirecTV. I've had their service for well over a decade. We had been discussing getting a new HD receiver and maybe the DVR so we could record Top Gear, early morning Formula One races and Later...with Jools Holland. I get up early to watch F-1 when I have to, but it would be nicer to watch it starting at, say, 9AM or 9:30. We used to be able to watch (er, listen to) 'Later' while we were cooking dinner but for whatever odd reason, Ovation moved it to 4AM. We're not doing much at 4AM except occasionally trying to get back to sleep after a neighborhood noise results in obligatory puppy barking. This "neighborhood noise" might be a car with an unusually loud engine, someone driving by blasting some serious bass-bumping, or a leaf falling two yards over.

At any rate, I called DirecTV to inquire about cost. They came out for free, installed a new HD dish for free, gave us a new HD/DVR receiver for free, re-hooked up all the other things we have attached to the TV (DVD players, PlayStations - yes, plural on both) and gave us the first three months of HD programming and DVR service for free. Once it's no longer free, our cost goes up by $17 per month. The HD channels are an extra $10 and the DVR is $7; to get all the equipment and installation free, we had to commit to keeping the HD package for two years but if we find we don't use the DVR feature, we can discontinue that and swap out the equipment at no charge.

It looks fabulous. Really, I did not realize how much a difference it would make and it's like the difference between a 78rpm record and a digitally mastered CD, only visual instead of audio. We watched a little bit of Rachael Ray and could (actually, literally, no exaggeration) see individual strands of her hair blow as she walked from the fridge to the countertop. I can't wait to see an F-1 race but I'll have to wait over a week for Hockenheim. Grrr.

I'm sorry this blog entry reads like an infomercial but really, I have so many friends who hate Comcast for one reason or another and I have been so happy with DirecTV over the years. I've called them maybe 10 - 12 times; this has only rarely been because of problems and primarily when making changes to my programming package, and every time, they are pleasant, unfailingly helpful and nice. They deserve a shout-out. Oh, and they have some sort of arrangement/partnership with AT&T so, because our landline and DSL are with AT&T, we get a $10 credit on our bill every month.

Here is my immaturity showing: another great thing about DirecTV is that they offer "adult" programming. We don't subscribe to any of the "adult" programming ourselves, but we love to surf past the channels and see the movies being offered. We laugh and laugh. There are the usual plays on the titles of mainstream movies like "On Golden Blonde" and "Forest Hump" but our personal favorite, at least to date, is "All Girl Lesbians". Really??? - all girl lesbians?!? Now, maybe I'm missing something here, having never been an actual lesbian myself (though I do know some personally) but do they come in any variety BUT girl? I kinda thought 'girl' was a prerequisite for 'lesbian'. Wouldn't a non-girl lesbian be, well, a heterosexual? And possibly Republican?

Anyway, I love me some DirecTV.