For those that have had Dish & Direct........need honest opinion please

[bnewt]

I have been a dish customer for 10 years, but am considering switching to Direct.
I have read that with Direct, the hd will be better quality because they do have less channels per transponder.........
With Direct whole home system, with the ota module added, will each individual tv be able to tune to a different local channel or is it the same as the hopper with only 1 ota channel available?
How is the speed of the guide and changing channels with the genie vs the hopper?
I assume each client will have to have a cable run to them from the genie, correct?
Finally, is there a difference in rain fade, I am presently on EA & have rain fade.

thanks

 

[secfreak]

i want out of directv the hd pic isnt that great compared with my local cable provide you can tell hd is very compressed. they are crazy expensive you have to pay to lease they equipment pay for installation and they still lock you into a two year contract even if you upgrade and you dont like receive and return.. i just called tonight about getting he genie premier customer have everthing for over two years they want 299 than 100 for coversation and 79 for installation.. take or leave it off... wtf....

 

[bb83]

I have been a dish customer for 10 years, but am considering switching to Direct.
I have read that with Direct, the hd will be better quality because they do have less channels per transponder.........
With Direct whole home system, with the ota module added, will each individual tv be able to tune to a different local channel or is it the same as the hopper with only 1 ota channel available?
How is the speed of the guide and changing channels with the genie vs the hopper?
I assume each client will have to have a cable run to them from the genie, correct?
Finally, is there a difference in rain fade, I am presently on EA & have rain fade.
thanks

I had hoppers with dish and a hr34 with direct. The picture quality is very good on both. One channel may look better on the hopper and a different channel looked better on the hr34. I do not know how the picture compares to other dish receivers. Hopper is faster with the guide and changing channels. The client does have a cable run to it. I did not notice any difference in rain fade. I do not have the ota installed.

 

[Chris36]

I have both Direct and Dish I would say the locals seem better with Direct in HD that's just my opinion. But the Hopper is faster I think going through the guide.

Chris

 

[3HaloODST]

The AM21 has two tuners, however the tuners take place of the sat tuners. So you can record 2 OTA and 3 SAT on the HR34.

 

[oldengineer]

I was with D* for 4 years and have been with E* for 1+. Both services have advantages. D* has more HD sports and premium movie channels, while E* has more regular HD channels. D* HD Xtra pkg is 5.00 (I think), while E* BB@Home is 10.00 but offers more channels and 1 disk BB service. D* transmits with a higher bit rate than E* and therefore PQ, IMO, is a little better, but it also means that E* DVRs can store more programs. The D* receivers older than the HR-24 are a lot slower than any E* receivers I've had (211K, 612, 722K, Hopper, Joey). One place where E* has a big advantage is EHD capability. D* receivers need an eSata interface, work only on 1 receiver, and can't be used simultaneously with the internal HD. With E* the EHD works with any similar receiver in the account, use a USB2 interface, and can be active with the internal HD. I have an Eastern Arc setup and I think I get better bad weather performance than I had with D. My home is at 75W longitude and I get a better look at the E* 61.5 and 72 sats than with D* 99, 101 and 103 sats. All in all I think both services are good. I've been getting "come back" letters from D* biweekly almost since I left and would definitely return to save money but I would make sure that all of my equipment was HR-24 or newer if I did.

 

[ScottChez]

I have had both. The picture quality is the same for HD. SD on dish is better but most don't care about SD.
. Dish used better compression software which requires a faster box, this software code I think makes HD the same as Directv on the newer HD boxes like the Hopper. This better compression software allows more channels per transponder. Think about it, if HD was bad 12 million customers would
Leave.

I switched three months ago I left my Directv account going for a week so I could compare side by side, no one could tell the difference in HD quality on the Hopper vrs the Directv HR2x dvr

I left directv because it was so slow and I could not stand the guide or menus. I could not find things
Before you switch I would go to a directv installer store and try it out before you switch and get into a two year contract.
Some like the guide some don't.
Also try the new Hopper guide. Also make sure the channels you want are in the low price package you are willing to pay they are not the same.

I also left because the directv home media app was not very good. On the hopper it works with everything like playon

 

[JSheridan]

Don't forget about Dish's sling adapter. It is very cool to be able to watch your own DVR anywhere where there's cell service or WiFi.

 

[BrianB]

I left directv because it was so slow and I could not stand the guide or menus. I could not find things
Before you switch I would go to a directv installer store and try it out before you switch and get into a two year contract.

I did the same. The only thing the Genie has over the hopper is 5 tuners, but the guide is terribly slow, does not have channel logos (making scrolling for a channel hard), and searching for programs and movies is frustrating. I would only switch if you are wanting the programming or sports offered and know what you are getting into on the Genie.

 

[Skytrooper]

Had both and to me picture quality was the same. The one thing that's bad with the Hopper is the FF/Rew problem of pixelating and skipping to where you dont want to go. The only thing I miss about DTV is the Cast and Crew info. I used to like this info when watching a movie. A lot of people complain about Dish's Guide, to me, it's fine. Overall, I think the Hopper System is fine. MOCA freed up a lot of Cat5E connections in my wired home. I'm staying with Dish.

Dish: PLEASE GIVE ME CAST AND CREW INFO!

 

[JerseyMatt]

Genie doesnt require cat5. Neither did standard MRV. Both use MoCA (DECA). Cat5 is an unsupported DIY method.