Dish VS DirecTV

[TheMachineRNC]

Hi,

I used to subscribe to DirecTV. About to 2 years ago, I dropped DirecTV to switch to Adelphia cable so I could get broadband in my house with the PowerLink modem service. Well, Adelphia's digital cable service leaves a lot to be desired. The General Instrument boxes they have are old and slow... It can take 5 and up to 10 seconds for a full channel change - ie picture and sound to take hold. I'm thinking of switching back to satellite, because I really enjoyed my experience with DirecTV. Dish seems a bit less expensive, so I'm thinking of going with them because I'll be able to keep my cable modem as it will fit my budget better.

A couple of questions for the forum:

1. How is the equipment that Dish provides? Is it relatively new and how is the on-screen program guide that comes with it? <<Adelphia's was horrible and I really liked my previous DirecTV systems much better>>

2. What are your opinions of the DVR's that Dish uses?

3. How is Dish when it comes to billing and support? <<I never had any problems with the performance of DirecTV>>

I'm thinking about doing this during the holidays, so any info you could provide would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[chaddux]

1. Some of the new receivers have bugs in the software that are still being worked out. They are coming along nicely though.

2. The 522 dual-tuner DVR (providing independent viewing on two TVs) is one of those with some software problems. (I have a 522 and love it.) The latest software version has solved a lot of them but there are some left. The older models seem to be very stable.

3. I've had a couple of billing problems that are related to a software bug with the 522. They were both reversed with relative ease. Support people will always be support people. Some are stupid. Some are good. I'd give them good marks, though.

I switched from Cox Cable and absolutely love DISH Network. I tripled the number of channels and added two DVRs and my bill is just $5 more than what I was paying with cable.

 

[korsjs]

If you do a search on this topic, you will bring up many threads. Most who say direct tv is better have direct tv and most who say Dish is better have dish.

I would compare pricing and programing that you want and go from there.

More than likely, you will have some hard core directv supports see this post and bash dish network. I would discount what they say and compare for yourself.

 

[chaddux]

If you do a search on this topic, you will bring up many threads. Most who say direct tv is better have direct tv and most who say Dish is better have dish.

I would compare pricing and programing that you want and go from there.

More than likely, you will have some hard core directv supports see this post and bash dish network. I would discount what they say and compare for yourself.

DirecTV also has a higher up-front cost (but you own the equipment). If you want to sign-up with relatively no up front cost, DISH is normally better.

 

[rhasselbaum]

I'm also a DirecTV refugee who moved to Dish. No major complaints, and I'm happy to have made the switch. My 811 and 522 receivers behave nicely most of the time.

But yeah, try it and decide for yourself. For all you know, we could be Echostar plants.

 

[Neutron]

I had DISH and switched to Directv. In my honest opinion the Directv boxes are much more stable than the DISH hardware I had. The Directv DVR's are more functional as you can set up a season pass and name based recording. DISH has long been rumored to be getting name based recording soon.

 

[boba]

If you sign up with DISH DHA promotion there is no commitment. If you could survive with Adelphia you will be content with DISH. For cheap equipment and programming go with DISH and a DVR522.

 

[charper1]

DirecTV also has a higher up-front cost (but you own the equipment). If you want to sign-up with relatively no up front cost, DISH is normally better.

You can get both with no cost up-front, yet you still OWN D* after 12 mo.
With E* you send it back AND have a 99% chance of being charged back by the installer.

D* has superior hardware. I have both and prefer D*

They are 99.995% exactly the same programming. D* gets the nod if you want more sports/NFL.

 

[chaddux]

You can get both with no cost up-front, yet you still OWN D* after 12 mo.

You can't get a DirecTV TiVo for free which, if you have to pay for it up-front, usually means you can't sign-up with "no cost up-front."

 

[Mike_H]

The main differentiator that I like with the Dish equipment is their browse functionality. I understand that there are many DirecTV receivers that have similiar capability but not all. That may highlight the difference between DirecTV and Dish. There is more variation in reciever capability with DirecTV than Dish mostly due to Dish holding the design and sales of the receivers within.

This also tends to make some of the Dish interfaces look a bit dated as they, in general, halve to work within the lower common demoniator, i.e. old receivers with less technical capability. It's where Dish extends the capability that things get a little flakey. DVR's being the more frustrating of the units.

 

[Barry Erick]

3 weeks ago I changed from DirecTV to Dish. I had a mixture of old DirecTV receivers and new and, of course that might add a littel bias.

For my HD Tuner, I had the RCA DTC110, which has been replaced with a DTC210. That, I am sure, has better 8VSB (OTA DTV) decoding than what I had and on Dish I have the 811.

The 811 is much better on OTA than the 110.

Color and picture of locals and other SDV signals are much better on DIsh. Receiver technology is a mixture of better and worse. The messages for aquiring signal is worse. Hitting a interactive channel is worse... for instance when moving around and you hit their weather channel, it is like a information window in windows--- you have to use the GUIDE button to get out, not the channel change. Sofware issues will come up at times.. Nothing to keep stuff from working, but frustrating things that were not on Direct.

As far as the guide goes, I like it better than any of the guides I had on Direct (4 receivers had diferent ones each). Dish uses a PIP guide, so the current channel is in a window of the screen while you scroll. You can change that to a full screen of scrolling, but I like the 4 channel pip default scroll.

I liked the lineup order of DirecTV better, but that might be from all the years, since 9 channels of USSB, that I've had DirecTV.

Generally, all pictures are better as is the price.

 

[deezoneezo]

If you are bothered by the equipment working slow stay away from the directv dvr w/ tivo. It is S..L..O..W.. Not only that but it will only feed 1 television w/ it's dual tuner capabilities. I install both and overall the dish customers seem to be happier with what they are getting. With dish the new DHA (lease) option allows for upgrade of equipment in the future as well as no contracts. If you are worried about chargeback from local dealer put it back in their lap and order from 800333dish. Good luck.

 

[charper1]

You can't get a DirecTV TiVo for free which, if you have to pay for it up-front, usually means you can't sign-up with "no cost up-front."

No where in your comment that I quoted from, did it mention TiVo. My comments are directed at standard equip.

 

[chaddux]

No where in your comment that I quoted from, did it mention TiVo. My comments are directed at standard equip.

Obviously, since he is asking about DVRs, he is wanting a DVR. Therefore, your statement would be misleading since he CANNOT get a DVR from DirecTV with no up-front cost. You made no clarification as to whether you were talking about standard or DVR equipment.

 

[Neutron]

I would first visit Value Electronics and speak with Robert, who frequents Satelliteguys, and see what he could do for you.

 

[TheMachineRNC]

Thanks for all of the help in deciding. From the information received here and from other places on the net, I think I'm going to get the service. I'll save about $10 a month and get a much better product than Adelphia digital cable.

One final question. Can you hook up the units to a broadband connection or do you have to use a telephone connection? I know with DirecTV, you didn't need the phone line hooked up unless you wanted to do Pay per View. Even then, you just had to plug it in whenever you thought you might want to do a PPV.

Thanks!

 

[chaddux]

Thanks for all of the help in deciding. From the information received here and from other places on the net, I think I'm going to get the service. I'll save about $10 a month and get a much better product than Adelphia digital cable.

One final question. Can you hook up the units to a broadband connection or do you have to use a telephone connection? I know with DirecTV, you didn't need the phone line hooked up unless you wanted to do Pay per View. Even then, you just had to plug it in whenever you thought you might want to do a PPV.

Thanks!

I believe some have used Vonage with some success. Can't confirm it though. Unless you purchase PPV or have an x22 receiver, you don't need it hooked up to a phone line.

 

[Mike_H]

There is a particular brand of wireless phone jack that Dish has had sucess with their receivers and caller id. If you could get that jack to work with something like broadband phone lines it would work.

Dish doesn't require a phone connection for most receivers (but does for some to get a reduced fee). But there is an extra service fee if you don't use a phone line with the guide to order PPV. (typically $1.00)

 

[Barry Erick]

Thanks for all of the help in deciding. From the information received here and from other places on the net, I think I'm going to get the service. I'll save about $10 a month and get a much better product than Adelphia digital cable.

One final question. Can you hook up the units to a broadband connection or do you have to use a telephone connection? I know with DirecTV, you didn't need the phone line hooked up unless you wanted to do Pay per View. Even then, you just had to plug it in whenever you thought you might want to do a PPV.

Thanks!

If you get a 522, for example, hooking up a phone line will save you $5 each month as they do not charge for the second receiver unless there is no phone line.

 

[hhh222]

I've had both services and switched to DirecTV for the hi-def Tivo. While standard def dvrs with Dishnetwork may do some things faster, most people who have used both find the Tivo dvr's with much more functional once you get used to them. I could never recommend Dishnetworks dvr's over DTV's.