Just Switched to Direct from Dish..Not Sure I made right choice

[zubinh]

I was Dish customer for 4 years and just decided to switch to Direct. The reason I did it was to get prepared for the arrival of my HDTV shortly. I heard all the good things about the HR10-250 and all the bad things about the 921. Also, The consensus is that Direct will have more future HD channels than Dish. I have a standard Tivo unit now and planned on getting the HR10-250 next month.

BUT, there are a couple of things that are irritating me about the TIVO and Direct.

1. The guide is no where near as user friendly as on the Dish 508/501 I had. You cannot watch a TV show while looking at the guide, because the guide takes up nearly the whole screen.

2. The guide is substantially slower that that of the Dish DVR's.

3. The Tivo list manager does not show you how many hours of space are available to record. Again, this was available on the Dish DVRs.

4. PQ. Although the Dish picture did pixelate at times (especially during dark scenes) it was a sharper picture. The Direct picture is also good but not as "sharp".

I'm not sure what to do right now. I heard nothing but good things about Tivo, but now that I have it, I kinda miss the Dish DVR.

I would really appreciate your thoughts. If I cant get used to Tivo I think in a few months I'll cancel the Direct and go back to Dish and get the 921.

 

[bucsfan]

I too was concerned about the slowness of the Tivo guide on directv and the fact that it blocked the whole screen. I then found out you can go into guide options by pressing the Info button and set the Tivo guide display from DirecTV format to Tivo format. Not only did this get rid of the lag, but the guide became clear again so you could see the shows through it. I cannot comment on your other issues, as I went from an old 13 hour Tivo with cable to the DirecTV with Tivo and mt picture is 100 times better on all counts.

Josh

 

[boba]

Zubinh patience learn your new toy before you complain about it. When you buy a new car do you complain because the windshield wipers have to be pushed down instead of up like your old car, no you adjust to the new car. TiVo is the same way it takes 48 hours to get the full guide loaded and for the TiVo to reach its maximum slow speed. We all admit it isn't as fast as a 508/510 but it works much more reliably. After you get used to the new toy you will find you use the guide less and "Now Playing list" far more. You really shouldn't be using the hard drive to archive programs, so time left really isn't important. I've had mine for 9 months and haven't run out of space yet, of course I never ran out of space on my 501 either. If you want more recording space upgrade your hard drive to a 160 gig., you can't do that on DISH. Be patient and learn the new toy you will love it.

 

[zubinh]

The Tivo Guide being too slow and no inlaid picture with the guide is a major annoyance.

I will give it some more time.

As a side question, I know the HDTivo will output both HD & SD thru a HDMI cable. But can the 921 do the same thru a DVI? Or will I have to switch between two different video inputs one for HD and the other for SD? Also, is the 921 getting more reliable? Are you able to see your OTA stations in the guide?

Thanks!

 

[mini1]

One thing is for sure, You still don't want the 921. you would have to crazy to drop DirecTV for the minor reasons you have listed, of which most can be fixed. What the 921 or any of Dish's digital VCR's don't give you is what you are missing here. I can tell you haven't explored the tons of features Tivo gives you over Dish, or otherwise you wouldn't be saying that. The picture quality between the two providers is almost always the same. I have taken polls to prove this point. get the HD DirecTivo and you will be happy!

 

[slacker9876]

I have found it not possible to live without DirecTV and my Tivo. I had the first DISH PVR on the market, the 501, I think, it was the biggest piece of crap I've ever had in my living room.

I love my DirecTivo (I have 2, both sleepered and drives upgraded) so much that I couldn't hang with Voom because there is no DVR and frankly, once you have a TiVo, no other DVR is as good.

Give it time, no one is happy when they switch from anything to anything right off the bat. As creatures of habit (humans) we do not like to have to change the way we do things. Rest assured, your TiVo and DirecTV are the best products on the market.

 

[zubinh]

Thank you for the reassurances. Somehow I just knew you would post Mini1.

I cant understand why Direct cant make a guide with the TV picture in it and make it FAST. (This is a feature on the other standard receivers why not the Tivo??)

Also, how do I know how much time is left on the hard drive?? Why should the Tivo delete stuff automatically unless I tell it not too??

These are all little annoyances I did not plan on.

I guess I'll tough it out and try and get used to it as you guys suggest. At least for my 1 year contract anyway. By then the Dish 921 or 942 should be working well.

 

[Chris Walker]

Rest assured, your TiVo and DirecTV are the best products on the market.

In YOUR OPINION they are. I have been with both providers, and I HATE the Tivo units. The 721, even though it doesn't have name based recording yet, is superior, faster, and more user friendly than the DTivo. The PQ on Dish is also better. I am not willing to give up the better PQ, faster guides, etc that I am getting with Dish just for a couple of perks that a Tivo has which I find to be useless.

 

[Madtown HD Junkie]

Had em both

Had 'em both and in my opinion Direct Tv rules the roost. The NFL ticket is just gravy....

 

[geneb11]

Also, how do I know how much time is left on the hard drive?? Why should the Tivo delete stuff automatically unless I tell it not too??

I go into the now playing and select the first show and hit scroll down and count the hour's. If I had more than 35 hour's I wouldn't bother.

Tivo uses priority's to set up it's recording history. You can set it as you prefer it. Having to many "keep until I delete " causes conflicts. If you like to store movies then upgrading the hard drive would be good for you.

I went through 3 7200 dishplayers and 3 501's (All defects) and I have had less problems with the 2 D-Tivo's that I have. I had 1 with a bad hard drive the first month and the optical dropouts come and go mostly on the downstairs unit,but all in all they have out performed any Dish PVR that I have had.

That directv guide is terrible,but the Tivo guide is much better.I don't spend much time watching live tv so this doesn't bother me. Once you get your thumb ratings and your season passes set up you won't be watching much live tv. If you are married or living with someone else I would suggest having 2 unit's like I do. NO ONE TOUCHES MY TIVO!!!

 

[slacker9876]

In YOUR OPINION they are. I have been with both providers, and I HATE the Tivo units. The 721, even though it doesn't have name based recording yet, is superior, faster, and more user friendly than the DTivo. The PQ on Dish is also better. I am not willing to give up the better PQ, faster guides, etc that I am getting with Dish just for a couple of perks that a Tivo has which I find to be useless.

Actually if you check the subscriber figures (TiVo vs. Other DVR, not just Dishes) TiVo is more than a 3-1 favorite in market share. I looked for the link to the SEC document on this but did not find it, it was posted either at AVS or TCF. That was 8 months ago. This will change I'll bet but it will me Moxi that makes the better product, not the Dish PVR which cannot even record season passes

... and to stay on topic, if you use the TiVO guide and not the DirecTV guide you can see the program FULL SCREEN and it takes less than a second to scroll 2 pages down which covers 18 channels total ...

When was the last time you heard of someone upgrading their 501, 721 or 9xx? Oh that is right, you CAN'T.

 

[geneb11]

Looking through the Best Buy flyer today and they have a 120gb 7200 seagate for $49 and a 160 for $99.

 

[Bowtieman]

In YOUR OPINION they are. I have been with both providers, and I HATE the Tivo units. The 721, even though it doesn't have name based recording yet, is superior, faster, and more user friendly than the DTivo. The PQ on Dish is also better. I am not willing to give up the better PQ, faster guides, etc that I am getting with Dish just for a couple of perks that a Tivo has which I find to be useless.

I have had both of them and their is no comparison, in my opinion, the TIVO wins hands down. Would never go back to Dish and listen to Charlie promise stuff in Charlie Chat that rarely comes to pass..

 

[Incaico]

The 721, even though it doesn't have name based recording yet, is superior, faster, and more user friendly than the DTivo. The PQ on Dish is also better. I am not willing to give up the better PQ, faster guides, etc that I am getting with Dish just for a couple of perks that a Tivo has which I find to be useless.

Faster guide? Maybe because you cannot see as many days in advance as you can with TiVo. Better PQ? How can you with more compression being used by Dish. Useless perks? In YOUR opinion.

 

[mini1]

In YOUR OPINION they are. I have been with both providers, and I HATE the Tivo units. The 721, even though it doesn't have name based recording yet, is superior, faster, and more user friendly than the DTivo. The PQ on Dish is also better. I am not willing to give up the better PQ, faster guides, etc that I am getting with Dish just for a couple of perks that a Tivo has which I find to be useless.

They DO NOT have better PQ!!!! This is NOT my Opinion, it fact. I have surveyed over 300 owners of both systems on multiple websites and it always comes up to be nearly 50/50.