Dish switching to directv good choice?

[rad]

My contract with Dish is up in two weeks so I am also considering switching to Directv. The only thing that is holding me back is that I have heard the Directv DVR is slow and buggy. I like the Dish 722 so I am reluctant to give it up.

Yea, it can be slower then the 722 but don't know about it being any more buggie then Dish hardware. You can see posts from both camps saying their DVR's are a POS. I have H20/H21/HR20/HR21/HR22/HR23 receivers and they're all working just fine for me.

 

[efbrune]

The reason, LOS. Indy locals coming on Dish soon, but on Sat 129 which I cannot get a clear shot of. House is heavily tree'd to the south. But with D* higher elevation, I would be in good shape. My question for any Indy subs...is there any reason for getting the AM21 tuner? Are the locals quality good enough? Thank You!!

If you are asking about the quality of the Indy locals from D*, then yes, IMO the quality of the picture on the local channels are good.

I'm assuming your TV does not have a ATSC tuner, is that correct?

 

[Hemi 6.1]

. The only thing that is holding me back is that I have heard the Directv DVR is slow and buggy. .

If you do switch to D*, Just keep us updated on how the equipment compairs.:up

 

[Ergo]

I recently switched to D* from Dish, due to their fight in my area with Fischer Broadcasting (I'd been without ABC for 2 months). So far, I've found the D* DVR to be flashier than the Dish 622, but a heck of a lot slower. Annoyingly so at times.

 

[jokeworm]

The slow channel change was a little annoying for the first 3-4 days ... once i got used to it it was fine ... I actually prefer the software on the Directv DVR's ... the DVR I have now has been more solid than the 622 I had with Dish.

If you don't need the second room output or the PIP there really is little to choose between the two DVR's .. I never used either of those features with the dish DVR, but I do use the On-demand and Media player on the Directv DVR .. so for me the Directv DVR does more than my Dish DVR did (or at least more of the things that i want it to do) ..... on the whole however they both do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it for the most part

 

[cband]

Welcome to the forums Dishguru25! I'm a Dish subscriber, so am I going to be attacked to? Some of you guys need to take a Midol or something. If I switch to Direct I will save $30. so if Dishguru25 wants to post in this forum about a service he had whats the big beef? It had something to do with him having D* and switching to E*. I'm in the same boat but on the other side. If all D*s subscribers are this miserble I just might stay with E*

Jeff

 

[KAB]

If you are asking about the quality of the Indy locals from D*, then yes, IMO the quality of the picture on the local channels are good.

I'm assuming your TV does not have a ATSC tuner, is that correct?

No, my TV does have ATSC. I asked because I do alot of recording. Just wanted to be sure the locals quality was comparable to OTA.

I did call to switch to D* yesterday. Install will be a week from today. Will be happy to be able to stop fussing with the antenna to get Ch. 4.

 

[Cabletech43]

Just wanted to say I had the system installed and so far I love it! Got a HR20, R22, and a D12. The only thing is the lagging a bit when changing channels but its not bad. Also the channels will take a bit to get used to. But so far I love it and glad I switched. Thanks everyone for the help/advice

 

[skyking49]

I use to have Dish and will go back to them when my contract with Directv expires. I had an issue with customer service that they decided to resolve in my favor but I had already switched to Directv. I liked Dish and got the Starz package included in the channel lineup.

 

[bluetrue]

This is going to sound like a DirecTV commercial but I just switched from Dish last Friday and could not be happier. I was with Dish for 6 years. Switched in order to get the MLB extra innings, which Dish used to carry. For me, the picture quality seems better. HD pops, which it used to do when I first got HD with Dish. I also like the receiver (HR22). While it is slower to change channels, I like the many ways you can slice and dice the programming data to find what you want. I also like all the free on demand programs and movies. Dish now seems archaic. More inportantly, it got the seal of approval from my kids, who did not want to change.

I did, however, have issues with the install. I had to wait three weeks, took a day off, and then the installer called me that morning to tell me he did not have any equipment and could not tell me when it would come in. Then I got charged for a SD DVR that was supposed to be free. I cancelled my rescheduled install and fired off an email to the CEO. Got a call within a few hours from corporate Customer Advocacy. They were very apologetic and offered to credit me for the receiver and work with the installer to get me set up. After, that everything went well and they just called me a few minutes ago to make sure I am happy. I highly recommend switching to Directv.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

Just wanted to say I had the system installed and so far I love it! Got a HR20, R22, and a D12. The only thing is the lagging a bit when changing channels but its not bad. Also the channels will take a bit to get used to. But so far I love it and glad I switched. Thanks everyone for the help/advice

D* is still installing HR 20's?

 

[Rey]

D* is still installing HR 20's?

that would be rare.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

that would be rare.

Really Rare!. I friend of mine Installs D* service , and His Truck seems to always have HR-22's, I have even seen an HR 21 in quite sometime

 

[Rey]

Really Rare!. I friend of mine Installs D* service , and His Truck seems to always have HR-22's, I have even seen an HR 21 in quite sometime

for sure they must be refurbs.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

OH well, I just thought the HR22 had a larger Hard drive. Thats the one I would want.

 

[rad]

D* is still installing HR 20's?

There was a post from an installer at the other site that said they had received a bunch of HR20's at their warehouse for doing installs. Isn't that one of the reasonse for going to a leased model, they can redeploy returned hardware to keep the SAC costs down?

 

[Jimbo]

I HOPE they have HR20-700's still, refurbed or not ....
I think mine is starting to go bad, seems like it is taking a lot longer to change channels , mainly from OTA channels to sat channels.
Takes a lot longer than normal when I just turn the unit on as well.
It use to come right on, now it takes about 5 sec before I see a picture.

IF I need to get a replacement, I will hope for a HR20-700, otherwise they better be ready to send me a free AM21 as I cannot do without my local channels.

Jimbo

 

[Cabletech43]

Yep the HR20 i have is a refurb but no problems yet unlike our insight refurb equipment. (im a tech supv for insight). And yes very happy i switched to directv they even did a postcall with me

 

[teamw]

I've had both D and Dish since 1998 because they each had something that I wanted that the other didn't. Still true today, e.g., Dish has Travel HD, Dtv has FXHD. So check to see if the channels you want to see are on one service and sign up with them.
But if the programing is the same, then you have to look at hardware. Same story here, each has features the other doesn't. If I had to choose 1, it would be Dish - I LOVE their DVR because of the PIP POP feature. I can watch one program, freeze it, switch to the other tuner, watch a program on it. Freeze it, swap back to program one, jump through commercials until I catch up to live TV, freeze it, go back to the other tuner, play it and skip commercials until it catches up, freeeze and switch back Etc, etc. Eliminates "dead time" such as half time, commercials, etc. Basically "live" dvr without scheduling a recording. this is much better to me than trying to watch 2 channels at once using PIP/POP. And, probably unlike your TV's Pip/pop feature, both pictures can be HD. D has two tuners, but no PIP/POP and can't do the above.

Also if you want to watch your programing online, Dish's purchase of slingbox is producing some really interest capabilities in using the internet and computers to view or manage you programing, but this is not of interest to me.

John W

 

[Hemi 6.1]

There was a post from an installer at the other site that said they had received a bunch of HR20's at their warehouse for doing installs. Isn't that one of the reasonse for going to a leased model, they can redeploy returned hardware to keep the SAC costs down?

Sure But Question is , How many times are they making a customer pay $199 for an HD DVR and they are giving customers HR 20's?
I'd be pissed if E* showed up at my door step with a 921 HD DVR.
I guess thats the only HD DVR D* is giving out for free ? HR20's??