When you board the aircraft, if you look to your right , right before entering first class you will see a headset distribution box that says "free headsets, please take one." Once you sit at your seat, you are free to activate your system---6 dollars in the main cabin and free of charge in first class.

Most of our IFE is activated when the aircraft takes off. On the AVOD equipped aircraft (757-200, 777), the system is activated automatically and is based on weights off wheels and the elevation. Our flip down monitors (737s, 757-300)posses a safety hazard when on the ground in case of an emergency, therefore that system can only be activated once airborne. The Directv system however, has been tested and certified to be operational from gate to gate. Therefore, you can start watching live programing as soon as you take your seat. The movies, however, are activated based on door closure. We dont push any buttons to activate the system, the door itself is the trigger. Once it is closed, movies automatically begin 15 minutes later; they run to completion, there is a 15 minute break, and then start again. In the near future there will be a countdown timer available on screen as well as a moving map ( plus a few more channels).

Currently, we have to do a manual safety demo, but very soon that will not be the case. Until then, we need to push a pause button to black out the screens in order to perform the safety demo. Many crews are new to the concept of gate-to-gate programing and are keeping the pause button pressed until after takeoff and then pause the system again when decending. The problem with that is that the movies are not on demand and they do NOT pause, they continue going. So, if this happens on your flight, just diplomatically remind the crew that the pause button should not be kept pressed for longer than the demo. If you get resistance, just tell them to read their tip card in front of the front jumpseat or to reread one of the numerous company memos regarding the directv system.^

In regards to previous comments, there are NO free channels. I think Frontier had a free Inflight video magazine channel before and what they found was that customers were content watching that channel instead of paying for the other channels. They ended up removing the free channel and saw that sales of the directv system went up. Based on that alone I am pretty sure that Continental will not have any free channels. i deadheaded on one of these planes the other day, and there isnt even a price break for US. I payed up the $6 so that I could learn more about the system from a customer standpoint. Like the OP stated, the system is pretty intuitive. Where I disagree is that the OP stated that the system took a while to start. That shouldnt be the case if the crew prepped the system for boarding. It should be ready to go as soon as you take your seat, and it should NEVER be on pause (aka, blank screens) unless there is a demo being performed or there is an actual need for urgent attention from the cabin.