Comparing DirecTV & Dish but need info on billing practices and reliability

[sundude90]

I used to have Time Warner and I can tell you that the Picture Quality is so much better on Directv than Time Warner. Also Directv has a lot more HD Channels. Directv is also improving their HD Channel lineup and their quality all the time.

The speed on getting it hooked up depends on where you live and how busy they are, but it usually within a week. 2 weeks max. Mine was 3 days after I called them.

 

[Turksat]

The equipment etc does not have any warranty, right? For example if the hard disk fails or if the box has problems, they won't replace it for free, right? (Unless I pay $5.99/mo for protection)

 

[toto]

Had Direct 18months Dish 11 years and now Direct for 2 months. I prefer Direct, sofar. What did you think I would say that my other service was better?

 

[Neilkn]

I switched from TWC to D* in July 2008 and could not be happier. The HD picture quality of D* is so much better than that which I experienced on TWC. I have not had any problems with my HR021 HDDVR since day 1. I enjoy being able to select programs to record while I'm at work, both from the regular TV schedule and from On Demand. If I hear that a show is going to be on that I forgot about or didn't hear about previously, I can just log in and set it up to record from wherever I am. And I like the fact that I do not have to have a phone line connected to any of the 3 receivers that I have, 1 HD and 2 SD.

With the DVR I had from TWC, a Motorola box, I could only have 1 output line. With the HR21 I have an S-Video line going to my DVDR so I can record from the hard drive or from the satellite onto the DVDR. And I have HDMI going direct to my TV, and optical to my home theater receiver for the best sound. But ALL of the outputs on the D* DVR are active all of the time as opposed to TWC allowing only 1 active video and 1 active audio output at any one time. I can increase the storage on the HD-DVR by adding an eSATA external hard drive. Be aware though that this hard drive can only be used/viewed with the DVR and not brought to a computer to save what is on it. Recording to my DVDR uses S-video as you cannot burn HD onto DVD's yet. So I can save programs I want onto DVD, but not in HD quality.

I have not been sorry that I chose D* over E*, but have to admit that I have no E* experience to relate to, only reviews on the web.

 

[Turksat]

Just when I thought I was out, you guys keep pulling me back in. I really like the customer service of TWC, never had a major problem, and small equipment/service problems were solved immediately. The problem with SAT providers are they do not employ their own service force.

 

[sundude90]

I am pretty sure that Directv puts a 90 Day Warranty on the receivers, if not more. It's unlikely that your Hard Drive will fail for a long time. If you start noticing problems then you can get the Protection Plan which I highly recommend. It takes 30 days for the Protection Plan to go into effect, but you'll notice problems before that.