DirecTV Now pushes out a bunch of new upgrades, including a new cloud DVR. I'm Rich Demiro. This is Rich on Tech Daily. DirecTV Now is kind of like DirecTV but without the hassle of installing a satellite dish or signing up for a two year contract. You sign up online, you download an app to your phone or set top box, and you're good to go. I've been a subscriber since day one of DirecTV Now. It launched back in November of twenty sixteen, and it's been a pretty rough go
up until now. And the only reason I kept the service this entire time is because I pay thirty five dollars a month for one of their top packages, including just about every channel, and they've been promising a cloud DVR since day one. Well, that day has finally come and DirecTV Now has relaunched their service with lots of new features, including that cloud DVR that so far seems very impressive. So for starters, the apps have an entirely
read his look. Think about it. For years, the cable companies got to have a pretty big say on what everything looked like and worked like on screen menus, the boxes they deliver to customers, and of course the remote controls. But now they really only get to control the app that has to be installed on an Apple TV, Roku or fire TV, and of course the remote control that
goes along with it. So it's a bit trickier for these companies to design a user interface when they don't have a dedicated channel up or down button or a DVR list button on their remote, so keep that in mind. This was very evident in the original design of direct tv Now, but I'm happy to say the new app looks and feels a little bit better. Your most watched channels and favorite programs are right front and center when you log in, Plus the video you're currently streaming stays
playing as you browse around the service. The program grid has also changed. You might like it, you might not. It has much more colorful station logos and more information about a program that you want to watch when it comes to on demand. This was a really sore point of the service, especially for my wife, who basically gave
up trying to watch any shows on demand. DirecTV Now says they have twenty five thousand shows on demand, but now they should actually work because in the past there have been lots of problems, like when you'd get to a commercial break, it would just skip back to the beginning of the show every time, which was very annoying. DirecTV now says they've added more capacity to on demand, so if you've had problems with it before, presumably it
should work better now. Plus they also say they're going to get new episodes of shows on select channels added right after they air. Arguably the biggest new feature is the true Cloud DVR, which AT and T is quick to point out is still in beta. This means that they're just not going to take responsibility for any errors you might encounter. So if you lose your entire season of Legion, no worries. It's in beta, we warned you.
Now I've sampled the DVR for just a bit on my Apple TV and my iPhone, and I can say it seems like AT and T did their homework here. It is legit. Recorded shows load super fast, and you can skip to any part of the recording instantly, and you can also jump ahead in fifteen second increments, which is really handy if you're one of those commercial skippers. Everything is stored in the cloud, all of your recordings
and customers get twenty free hours of recording time. Shows are kept for thirty days, so if you do the math, that's really not that much. These are not amazing numbers, but what it does allow is AT and T to upsell us so you can get more recording time and more storage time that is already in the works. You can pay to get one hundred hours of cloud DVR and ninety days of storage for an extra ten dollars
a month. There's also another add on they're offering. If you need an extra stream, you can now get that for an extra five dollars a month. DirecTV now has a limit of two simultaneous streams, so if you want to watch in three rooms at the same time, you can upgrade for that. One more new feature, you can watch local channels while you're on the road. Now. Previously, I learned this the hard way. I was in a hotel room. I go to look at ABC or NBC
and guess what they were not even on the program grid. Previously, you can only watch your local channels when you were at home. If you were traveling, you were just out of luck. But now when you're traveling you will get access to the local channels in the city that you are in, So keep this in mind. It's not the same channels that you have at home, but it will be the Fox, NBCABC or CBS station that's just broadcasting
to the area you're in. The local channel Now. This is kind of a sore topic for me because the TV station I'm on KTLA Channel five in Los Angeles still isn't on direct tv now at all. But I'll gladly watch other local stations when I'm traveling. In fact, that's one of my favorite things to do when I'm on a trip is tune in and see what all the local news stations are like. It's kind of fun. So how does DirecTV Now compare to the other cord
cutting services out there? Well, I think it's now the best since it offers the most channels and the most DVR features. YouTube TV they have the great DVR feature, but kind of a lesser channel selection. Sling as a limited DVR and limited local channels, and Hulu has good locals the DVR but not so great for user interface and PlayStation view still hanging in there and that's a
solid offering as well. Directorv nows new features are available right now on iOS but you do have to update your apps to get them, and as usual, I don't know why this happens all the time, but they are coming soon to Android, Roku and fire TV. No timeframe was given for that, but hopefully it's sooner than later.
Thanks so much for listening to the podcast. I would love it if you left me a rating and review in the Apple Podcasts app if you like what I'm doing here, that helps spread the word and get the podcast in front of more eyeballs and I guess more ears too. I'm Rich damiro links to everything I talk about here on my website. Just go to richon tech dot tv. I'll talk to you real soon.