If you’re one of the many considering the switch from traditional cable and satellite TV tostreaming apps, DirecTV has a new feature that might make you stick around. It’s calledSignalSaverand will help you keep watching your favorite shows, movies, or sports, even during reception issues and disruptions.
There’s nothing worse than watching the final two-minute drive in an NFL playoff game only to have reception issues. And if you’ve ever yelled curse words at your TV after missing a big play, you know what I’m talking about.
With DirecTV’s new SignalSaver feature, the satellite TV provider can fall back to a broadband stream during storm interference or any interruptions to your program. If DirecTV detects an issue, lag, or stuttering, you’ll get a prompt to switch from satellite to an internet-based broadband connection, as long as you have an internet-connected set-top box.
As you can see in the example above, users will get a popup asking if they’d like to switch to broadband to keep watching. It sounds like DirecTV will need a few seconds to calibrate, and as long as you have an internet connection, you’ll get a 720p HD stream of whatever you were watching.
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However, there are a few caveats here. For one, this isn’t available on all networks, but all the major ones will have support. Thepress releasestates that “SignalSaver is available for 83 national networks, including but not limited to CNN, ESPN, FOX News, and The Weather Channel,” to name a few. It’s only for residential customers, sadly, so commercial accounts at a restaurant or sports bar won’t get this nifty new feature.
Popular options like DVR and others are missing for now, but DirecTV hopes to add those later. Your TV won’t quickly switch back to the satellite once connection issues clear up, so you’ll have to switch back yourself. However, it will revert after four hours to save your broadband data usage.
Either way, this smart feature totally makes sense and could help DirecTV keep customers from switching to the YouTube TV and Sling TV competition.
viaThe Verge
