I don’t know when this happened, but I just discovered that Directv has moved The Golf Channel from the wilderness at channel 605 to better real estate at 218.
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Directv Moves The Golf Channel
Hopefully, they won’t screw up the HD version of the channel in this move. Not everything DirecTV does comes out right in version 1.0.
That said, I have been underwhelmed by HD DirecTV DVR service for 2 years until the last 4 months or so, when the firmware and signals finally seem to be straightened out. Then they moved Golf HD to it’s own channel instead of a shared channel with VS. I am eagerly looking forward to HD LPGA now. (I also just upgraded my DVR to 1tb, so I can keep more than 3 sports events in HD on it at a time. I used to wipe out all other recordings with a weekend of golf coverage)
Upgraded to a terrabyte?! How did you do that? Do you need a new box? I have the old Directv box from when they used TiVo, and I’m not willing to give that up. I hear it’s superior to Directv’s own version
With the DirecTV HD-DVR, you can, with varying degrees of success, plug in an external drive of up to 1.5 or 2 Terabytes. I don’t know if this is an option on the new DirecTV DVRs which are not HD. (look at dbstalk.com forums for info).
The HD-DVRs have an eSATA port on the back, which when you plug a drive in there, it disables the internal drive and uses the external. It is not a supported feature, but it is one that DirecTV silently turned on about 18 months ago. My first attempt was not successful, I had glitches on some HD channels if I was recording two at the same time. I changed the external enclosure (I made my own drive), and used a better insulated eSATA cable, and it appears to be working now – I won’t really know full reliability for some time probably after I get more than a couple hundred hours of HD on it.
If you have the older DirecTiVo units, those really were best for a long time, but the DirecTV DVR software has finally gotten reliable. But you can also upgrade the older DirecTiVo units by adding/replacing the internal drives. Email me if you want further details.
I know that when you don’t have a channel that can be frustrating. DISH where I work offers the golf channel and it’s in HD. You can get all the channels SD or HD for the best rate and better yet when you go HD you can get it for free. DISH provides the best value for consumers find out more at the DISH website.