Dish HD?

[slacker9876]

OK, as we all know I am a long time loyal D* sub, mostly because of NFL ST. I have been thinking about subbing to DISH the last few days and have a couple of questions for those that already have the service. I would be a one room, one TV sub since I already have TiVo and ITVN in the bedroom.

1. Is DISH HD the same bitrate starved crap the D* offers?

2. Do I have to commit? If Yes, how long?

3. Do I get an HD Receiver for free?

4. Do I get and HD DVR for free? If no, how much?

Yes I am sorry to be lazy but since I am considering subbing for FoodHD, NFLHD and NHL HD Games ... I don't want to read all night. Thanks all!

 

[BFG]

1. No, Dish is better

2. No, commit is optional, but you wont get a $49 credit on your first bill

3. Yes

4. You have to pay $199 upfront, but dish is currently offering 10 $20 credits for new subs which would make this upgrade free

 

[Turd Fergeson]

BFG, watch out, you will get a good scolding for saying Dish is better (even though it really is)

 

[MikeD-C05]

Mustn't hurt the Directv customers feelings. They are still waiting till next year to even get any national hd channels added ,without losing another one in its place. OH and the company is getting sued for hd lite by a customer too. Their owner Rupert Murdoch is trying to unload the company to LIberty media-John Malone as well and even refered to the company as "The Turd Bird" so they are really touchy right now.

 

[bgsmallwood]

I just switched from D* to E* a week ago.

Dish PQ is better on both SD and HD.
Vip211 receiver is far superior to H20.

I wish I had switched months ago!

 

[Poke]

Well Dish might have some kind of NFL Plan like Sunday Ticket you might ask about it.. But overall Dish blows Direct out of the water there is no way I would go with Direct. Yes they have NFL Sunday Ticket but too me thats not that big of deal your paying to watch one game even though you might have access to several. Then if you want to do HD then Dish is the HD leader and everyone of my friends that went from Direct to Dish wished they had done it a long time ago..

 

[slacker9876]

BFG thanks for the info, I never noticed the links in your signature, pretty nice to know. But if brought up another question. Do I need 2 dishes for HD? Also form your resolutions and bitrates link it appears they are hacking all the HD too. However, the qwest is for more channels

bgsmallwood how long have you been on board? I a just curious becuase for a 2 week period I thought the Comcast DVR (8216) was as good or better than TiVo but soon changed my mind.

However ... for $29/mo I think it is worth another try ... as long as I don't need two dishes. The wife will not stand for e turning the house into an AFB looking structure.

 

[bgsmallwood]

I switched to E* a week ago because I had it with D* turning off HD channels one day a week and that lousy H20 receiver that wanted to reboot if I even looked at it the wrong way. Also, I wanted more HD content and all I ever heard when I was with D* was just wait another year or two. I geuss D* is the way to go if all you watch is football but gee, how much football can you watch? Even if I tried I wouldn't be able to watch even half of the NFL games that are on for free.

I have the HD Gold Package with a Vip211 receiver using one dish which it is very similar to the
3 lnb reciever I used to have with DirecTv so you shouldn't need more than one dish. The installer even mounted the new dish on the same mount and mast as the old dish.

As I understand it, only the voom channels are downrezzed. They still look better than D* IMHO. Watched Fleetwood Mac concert on Rave and was pretty good.

National Geographic HD is my favorite channel now both for the PQ and the great content that NGC always has. FoodTV-HD is good too ( favorite is "Good Eats") HGTV-HD looks very good as well (favorite is "Assembly Required")

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

OK, as we all know I am a long time loyal D* sub, mostly because of NFL ST. I have been thinking about subbing to DISH the last few days and have a couple of questions for those that already have the service. I would be a one room, one TV sub since I already have TiVo and ITVN in the bedroom.

1. Is DISH HD the same bitrate starved crap the D* offers?

2. Do I have to commit? If Yes, how long?

3. Do I get an HD Receiver for free?

4. Do I get and HD DVR for free? If no, how much?

Yes I am sorry to be lazy but since I am considering subbing for FoodHD, NFLHD and NHL HD Games ... I don't want to read all night. Thanks all!

I have had E* for a week after D* for 8 years. The HD is better. I don't get near as many blocks on the screen. Even Wife noticed diff. ON down side I can't use the HDMI on the 211 HD box and the 622 has issues with theirs too I believe and now audio blips with new software. I am not saying I am unhappy, but, it would have been nice to having a fully wokring box as the component cable with 1 HD tv is nowhere near the HDMI. I would do it. The HD is worth it alone IMHO.

gl

 

[slacker9876]

More good to know info! Does E* carry VS in HD? That is the old OLN so I might do this and move my NHLCI over there ... it will be the hockey / HD receiver

 

[slacker9876]

OK, I just went to DishStore, does someone have a "promtional code" I may use?

 

[slacker9876]

One more question too, do I need a land-based phone line for sports packages? I ask becuase I have AT&T CallVantage (VoIP) and that could be a show stopper even though it supports fax and modem. It does not work with my TiVo.

 

[PowerCommunications]

The $20/10 months is only if you commit for 18 months, in which case you also get your $50 install fee back.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Well Dish might have some kind of NFL Plan like Sunday Ticket you might ask about it.. But overall Dish blows Direct out of the water there is no way I would go with Direct. Yes they have NFL Sunday Ticket but too me thats not that big of deal your paying to watch one game even though you might have access to several. Then if you want to do HD then Dish is the HD leader and everyone of my friends that went from Direct to Dish wished they had done it a long time ago..

There is no NFL Plan on E*; even though half of the last Charlie Chat was about the NFL on Dish.

E* has NFL Network, and that provides weekly re-airs of several games (kind of a fun way to watch actually, no pause between plays, and interviews with players and coaches after important plays); plus they have 96% of local markets in SD, and what, 46 markets (I might be wrong with that number) in HD.

But there will be a lot more HD sports for multi-sport subscribers once the RSNs go HD soon...

 

[mrhph]

I have had E* for a week after D* for 8 years. The HD is better. I don't get near as many blocks on the screen. Even Wife noticed diff. ON down side I can't use the HDMI on the 211 HD box and the 622 has issues with theirs too I believe and now audio blips with new software. I am not saying I am unhappy, but, it would have been nice to having a fully wokring box as the component cable with 1 HD tv is nowhere near the HDMI. I would do it. The HD is worth it alone IMHO.

gl

Yes, the HDMI problem is well known. However, I urge you to call E* tech support (not CSR) and ask for a replacement 622/211, in my experience they will have no problem sending you a replacement. Some box's hdmi works while others don't, so it is definitely worth a try.

 

[slacker9876]

I would rather pay the 49.99/mo than commit. At least I can drop them on a whim if I don't think the HD is better.

Damn, another question ... do I get HD Locals (Denver) in the Bronze HD Pack? Or do I have to order the locals to get the HD locals?

 

[slacker9876]

Well too late now ... I ordered it and will login to order my NHL Package after installation. I was not bale to order from DishStore buecuase the website was a PIG to be kind, so I had to order directly from the E* web portal.

Thanks for your help all, looks like I'll be a "triple sub" until I make up my mind.

 

[slacker9876]

OK, Well I am installed and I been reviewing the equipment and service today. I gotta say, even though I still need the NFL ST, the DISH HD is better than what D offers. The hardware and menus are much improved over what I had back in the days of the 301 and 501. I do not have a DVR as I did not want to pay 199.00 in case I hated it.

The wife is literally creamy with FoodHD, I gotta say, I do get hungry just from watching

My locals in HD (Denver) are worse then the MPEG4 offered by D*, but since my HD TiVo will record my HD on NBC ... I do not care ... we all know OTA is superior to cable or satellite.

The installer was clean-cut professional and did the install in about 2 hours including the cable runs through the basement (I helped) and holy crap if he didn't ground the system.

I think I could be happy with E* and pulled my NHLCI subscription from D* to give to them since they are the Colorado based company. If anyone has any good info about the HD NHL line up on E* with I would like to hear it.

 

[bgsmallwood]

Glad to hear your install went well! Keep an eye on NGC-HD. Some nights they have one show after another so good that I just can't tune away for fear I will miss something.

I hear you on the OTA locals. I love getting my locals OTA.

 

[slacker9876]

Yeah I don't get NGC-HD ... I only need the Bronze Pack. I'll bet that would be a nice channel. Guess I could go to the top package from a month just to check it out. Not like I need two providers ... OOPS ... yes I do.