kick me hard, switched to directv and HATE it

[donberry]

I had dish for a few years. I kept getting things from Directv and recently compared them and saw that for pretty much the same programming, plus free NFL games, I would save about $800 over a 2 year period by the time they gave me all of the discounts.
Great, figured it had to be about the same.
I was very, very wrong.
With Dish I had 2 722 dvr's, which gave me 4 rooms, all with dvr's.
Ordering my equipment from direct, I got the highly touted home media center, which can record up to 5 programs at a time, and then 3 HD receivers.

The comparison.
As far as equipment, that was pretty much my bad as I did not think it thru, but only having the 3 receivers means if I am watching tv in any other room beside where the HMC is, I have to 1st record it to get the dvr functions. Yes, I can now record more shows at once, which is handy at times as I don;t have to record the shows in different rooms as I did with dish, but I guess I am lazy but it is a pain when I am watching something and I first forget it is not recorded so do not have dvr functions, so then have to record it and then watch the recording.
Not a big deal at all - but combined with the rest....
The really, really bad.
Watching tv on my computer. I work in the garage quite a bit and with dish, often had the tv going to listen to sports. With Dish, is as easy as pie. Go to Dish, log on and watch whatever you want. Could not be easier.
I thought it would be about the same with direct since they go on and on about directv everywhere.
Not even close.
You can not watch live tv on the computer with direct. If for example I wanted to watch/listen to the football game in my garage today (which I did), I 1st have to go to the direct tv guide and record it - on the computer you can only watch recorded programs or the programs they have available for streaming - NOT live tv.
So what's the big deal you say, just take a moment and record it and then watch it......sure sounds good. Now I have a pretty fast home network. I use a Asus Black Diamond router, which is rated very fast, and my laptop has a wireless n card in it and my desktop has a black diamond usb adapter - it is very, very fast when I transfer large files - not so with directv.
Pretty much every time I am trying to watch a game, I 1st record it, then start the directv app to watch it and a very large part of the time it stutters like crazy. I usually put it on pause for a few minutes and sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.
I have no dog in the fight, but watching/listening to the alabama /lsu game just now, I go to the garage in the 4th quarter, and about 8-10 minutes later I end up coming back in the house because of the stuttering and it was an interesting finish.
I never once had a problem with dish.
If you want to stream LIVE tv within range of your receiver, there is absolutely NO comparison, Dish wins running away.

The highly touted Home Media Center - I hate it.
With the Dish 722 receiver, the dvr kept the programs in MUCH better order. Again there is absolutely no comparison. Directv does group them together, but it also moves the entire group up when recording - is hard to explain, but I record a bunch of shows for my grandkids. With directv, now I always have mickey mouse etc at the top of my list and always have top scroll down a lot, with Dish, it kept them in more orderly groups........I can not explain it without sitting in front of the receivers, but I do not like the way directv does it at all.

Having had dish for a few years and now having had directv for 2 months or so, it definitekly feels as tho I have taken a HUGE step backwards.
Every day I just keep reminding myself that I am saving xxx amount of dollars this month (is like $70 for a few months, then $40, then for the last year it is about $10).

I can't understand how anyone who has had Dish can compare directv to it. Dish could be idiots to deal with and it was a bummer watching the great deals new people would get, but I am sure the same thing happens to direct customers - like me getting the free nfl package and they do not.

I am contemplating whether I want to just go ahead and pay the penalty and go back to dish.........I hate directv. I do not understand why dish can be so easy to watch live tv on my computer and directv is really, really bad. Oh yea, when i did have dish and watched/listened to the games in the garage, not once did it stutter etc........and I did not have to record it to watch it.
Don;t let them fool you about directv everywhere....that just means streaming tv....the shows they pick out...not live tv.

Do yourself a favor if you are deciding between the 2 - go with dish..........you will have a much easier, pleasant experience...and won;t have to run into the house just to catch a game.......
I am biased tho as I obviously hate directv now......is like the difference between a prius and a new corvette........prius is pleasant enough and saves you money, but I'd rather drive the vette anyday

Oh, also, the 722 receivers had more audio out options....line out, optical and coax....not so with directv hd receivers........not a big deal, but the little things add up when you actually despise the trying to watch live tv on your computer part.....I think if Dish can insure I do not record live content on my computer and still allow me to just log on and watch, it surely can't be that complicated....instead, I get stuttering galore.......and my networked blazed along just fine with dish.....

another thing, the dvr controls - with dish, you hit the skip button and voila, you are 30 seconds ahead. With directv.....it fast forwards it....you watch it go. Not nearly as fast as Dish. When trying it from a different room,.,,,,there is a BIG network lag........with the 722 receivers, the tv's in the other rooms worked just as fast as if I were in the same room as the 722. With directv,is slooooowwww (relatively speaking of course). Again, little things that add up to a 2nd tier performance..

 

[KAB]

Can't address much except I'm pretty sure you can set up D* DVR's for 30 skip forward...though not there by default.

 

[Fred Derf]

Thanks for the info. I always wondered if the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. I'm happy with Dish, and it sounds like I've got the better of the two.

 

[Tyralak]

Thanks for the info. I always wondered if the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. I'm happy with Dish, and it sounds like I've got the better of the two.

Of course the grass is greener on the other side! There's a broken septic line over there.

 

[satjay]

Without turning this into a war zone post, You bring up some good points with equipment, as I was someone who had Direct as well in the past. As a Hopper system owner, I love the system and I know from when I had a 722 that is a nice receiver as well. Main thing for folks is programming, and even when Dish had there dispute with AMC I personally thought they proved great customer service/credits as well and continue to do so. Having the five tuners I can see how five tuners comes in handy but with the two hopper/Joey set up I have it's not a problem for tuners.

 

[rapidturtle]

I just switched and have the same setup as you do. I really like it though. For streaming, I sold my sling adapter for Dish for $45, and picked up the Vulkano Flow for $99, which works really good with D* so far. My son uses it to get T.V. while away at college. You might be able to pick one up on the cheap on or around Black Friday which would solve your viewing problem in your garage. As far as having to hit record to pause T.V., I have no problem doing this, and prefer it over have a C31, which would take away a tuner from the HR34. Having 5 tuners on the DVR, and 3 independent tuners on the HD boxes = no recording conflicts.

 

[donberry]

actually, I forgot, that is why i switched from Dish. I think it was the AMC channel they were no longer airing.....was a stupid reason I started checking into directv and saw I could save a decent amount of money....but it never dawned on me that there was such a huge difference in technology/software.
In my opinion - Dish gave me 21st century hardware/software/viewing experience.
Directv is like I went back to the early 90's.

Now if I never had Dish, I would guess I wouldn;t notice, but I still would not be happy about usually not being able to watch stuff on my computer because of the stuttering (lag). But I would have just thought it was something that would be worked out with time. Like when I went to cable internet, one of the 1st and there were quite a few down times. But over the years it got worked out and it never goes down now. Only now I do know how Dish works and it is at least a decade ahead of directv.

Obviously is just my opinion, but if anyone is deciding between the 2, do not even think about it, even if it cost more. I only have satellite as I wanted the B1G channel as I am an Ohio state fan living in Tn, but knowing what I know now, I would go with cable over directv - tho maybe I would find out it was just as bad - tho I doubt it.

I guess I need to check into if I can use a slingbox with direct since tv everywhere is about as big an over statement as one can make if you happen to want to watch live tv (sports).

It's sunday - normally I would be working out in 2nd garage (I am remodeling), listening to various nfl games. With dish, I could switch between them just like I was sitting in front of the dvr (a free slinbox - they charged me $99 but gave me a $99 rebate)
With Directv - you log on to the guide, if you want to switch between games, like a normal person, you have to decide which game you want to watch and record all of them (thank goodness for the redzone, tho I had that with dish also ). Then to watch them, you have to do it thru the app which is the recorded game. At least for me, when watching via computer, the recorded programs never seem to stop where I left them and always start back at the beginning (if I go into a tv, I can use resume), so to switch between games, go back to the menu, choose new game, fast forward to the end to get back to live - which by then the team had an unbelievable play for a game winning score in the last 3 seconds and I missed it.....
Dish - you watch it streaming thru the slingbox so it is just like sitting in front of the receiver....just use the guide and flip back and forth at will.
Tho lucky me, I guess with Directv I do get to see wayyyyyyyyy more commercials as it is such a hassle........of course I have basically said screw it and if I can not find any games on the internet to listen to, i just stream music out there.
As for the stuttering, I can stream movies from my computer with nary a hiccup since going to the asus black diamond......I will give that a 2 thumbs up. I could not be happier with the speed and range of that thing.

Rapdturtle - everything given is just my opinion and I have no doubt that many people like directv.....me, I feel like I went backwards 10 years in my viewing experience.
I am goiung to check into buying a slingbox or whatever it takes as tv everywhere , imo, is one of the most overhyped misnomers I have had in a while. I thought it actually included LIVE tv........not recorded tv or whatever streams they think i want to watch.
I seriously doubt I will pay the $440 cancellation fee (24 - 2 months), but when I get it down to 220 - I am out in a heart beat.

 

[lucky86]

I wonder why so many people have issues with the Sling Adapter. Granted I have had a few issues here and there over the last 3 years I've been using the sling services but for the most part I have no issues . I do have a really fast Internet connection and my receiver is hard wired but all these issues people talk about cant all be related to the product since there are a lot of us that don't have all these issues. Which makes me think that most of these issues that come up have something to do with the specific situation or other equipment in the installation or maybe router settings or slow connections or intermittent connection problems. I have two sling adapters and a sling box solo hd and they all work just great.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I tried the DIRECTV hd dvr back in 2003, while I kept DISH for just the HD absolute pack for $39.99. I did this because my wife was working at TSA for that year and we had an extra $500.00 a month to use in our budget. Well I hated the DIRECTV dvr , the guides, the software . I did like the pq on the hd channels and they did have more hd channels back then ,than DISH did . I called after 6 months to cancel DIRECTV and asked how much to pay off my contract and they said $240.00. So I paid it ,because we had the extra money. Well next thing I know I got charge for $440.00 on my credit card, not $240.00. Called the executive department at DIRECTV to discuss and gave the guy the name of the CSR and the badge number : Carlos #309. He told me that there was no rep with that name or number and that I was wrong on the amount . He looked into it and said the amount charged was wrong and it was only $410.00 not $430.00 , so he would credit back to my credit card the $30.00 ,but it would take up to 90 days to receive it. I of course argued and told him how they shouldn't lie to their subs about the amounts they would be charged and that I wouldn't of cancelled if I knew it was going to be in the $430.00 range. He of course said sorry , nothing he could do. He didn't even offer to turn my account back on and take the charge off my card. So I told him that I would NEVER go with DIRECTV EVER again ,nor would I ever recommend to ANYONE I knew to sub to them. He said ,Sorry about that. HE didn't care one bit. I was just another stupid sap who got trapped in their little web of deceit . I did finally get my $30.00 credit after several phone calls and a full 90 days had expired. Will NEVER ,EVER sub to DIRECTV EVER again.

 

[brad1138]

You are a very good example of why we sell Dish about 20-1 over DTV. My boss switched to DTV after having Dish for 10+ years, he wanted to be more familiar with their product to hopefully be able to sell it more. Well, it hasn't helped and he is counting the days till he can switch back to Dish. (Don't take this personally) We have seen so many people over the last few years switch from one to the other because of channels being down (Mostly Dish to DTV over Local ABC take down a few years back) At first we tried to explain, Dish was fighting the "good fight" trying to keep your bills down, but eventually we just said, screw it, and switched everyone that wanted it to DTV. Then a little later ABC was back, and most were pissed they changed. Some were even mad at us for letting them change (to be fair it has gone both ways).

One thing you need to be very careful about is DTV is horrible about extending your contract 2 years, w/o telling you, for anything and everything you do with them. My boss hasn't called them once, he want's to make sure he doesn't get screwed into extending his contract. Examples; go buy a receiver at say a Radio shack, or anywhere, call in to add it to your acct, 2 year extension (and remember they won' tell you that on the phone). Have a receiver replaced under warranty, 2 year extension ( I will have to check that that is still the case, I know it was a couple years back). In some cases, changing your programming... Anyway, be careful.

In the last few years, DTV finally, fore the most part, caught up to Dish in the quality of their receivers. They used to be way behind. They are both good products, but I have had Dish since 2000 and wouldn't think of switching to DTV, if for no other reason, their underhandedness on the contract extensions. They were sued by several states a few years back, over that. DTV won, because once a year they send out a letter that states about the contract extension. The problem is, it is just another letter that no one reads, looks like a bill/advertisement and it was buried in 10 pages of legalese crap.

Anyway, sorry and try to enjoy it till you can switch back.

 

[rapidturtle]

Look into the different sling tech. Vulkano, Belking@tv, and of course Sling. The Vulkano Flow is much better than the Sling adapter that I had for Dish. You actually get a on screen remote which looks just like a regular D* remote, and can work the box just as if you were in front of it. It really is pretty slick, and with selling the Sling Adapter, the total cost was only $55. People buy used Sling adapters on Ebay for $40 to $50. (I don't know why when you can get them new from Dish for around the same price)
Good luck with it all. D* just works better for me, and I do realize that isn't the case for everyone.

 

[lparsons21]

Just for info, replacing a unit that craps out doesn't extend the contract and never did. What did happen was some CSR's screwed up, and that happens on occasion now.

I've had both and at any given time I could switch and be happy with either, but they are different in operation and approach. I see it as pretty much six of one, half dozen of the other. These days D* works hard to keep me around. I have Premium and every time I call to drop down and just keep a couple premium channels, they always have given me discounts that usually end up costing me less than the drop down package would have. When/if they stop doing that I might be shopping again!

 

[stardust3]

If Directv is that bad.........pay the penalty & go back to dish.

 

[Mr Tony]

another thing, the dvr controls - with dish, you hit the skip button and voila, you are 30 seconds ahead. With directv.....it fast forwards it....you watch it go. Not nearly as fast as Dish. When trying it from a different room

30 slip is the default. You can change it to 30skip

Here is how to do it
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=235339#post2393384

 

[donberry]

I do just want to say, since a Dish employee responded - I am in no way shape or form affiliated with dish. This is strictly my opinion and experience and I guess the actual intent of this post is if there happens to be anyone who is trying to decide between the 2. Even if that is so, I would strongly urge them not to base their decision solely on my opinion or experience and to research it further, tho I would put my opinion down as one tick against.
Actually tv is not that "important" to me and my use is now mainly sports as I am one of those weird guys who tends to think we are bombarded with propaganda, but there are a few shows, 5 actually, that I do watch regularly.....now my wife is a different story and luvs her tv.
But, when I do watch and especially when I want to listen to games on my computer, I do not want to have to "work" at it and like to feel that I am in the 21st century and not using , what seems to me, software that seems like it is from the mid 90's...........
so I am seriously contemplating breaking down and spending the $400 bucks to cancel Directv.
The dilemma is as I could use that money to grab an NBA league pass - BUT then I would end uop just getting pissed off because I would be in the garage and it would start to stutter.............and the circle goes round......
Guess I am just venting and seriously am very, very surprised at the difference in quality and ease between the 2............directv needs to spend a little money and join the 21st century....maybe hire a few dish engineers......

 

[Mfinchv1]

Dishs recivers are awesome. People that have dtv...comcast..wouldnt know that though..they are happy with the bs they have. The cable customers dont venture off to dish...due to comcast constintenly telling there customers.....when it rains.. u have no tv..lol..or if theres a cloud out

 

[Tampa8]

The cable customers dont venture off to dish...due to comcast constintenly telling there customers.....when it rains.. u have no tv..lol..or if theres a cloud out

That's the very first question someone with cable asks me... don't you lose the signal when it rains?...

 

[KAB]

Lost mine two or three times this year...for three minutes or less. My Mom was without her beloved cable in the summer, 48hrs, for no good reason. Had to take an antenna to her. She now leaves it in place as a stand-by.

 

[Mike_H]

Dish and DirecTV technologies have completely different origins. Dish picked one path, and has sprouted off a few different branches. In general their best system has survived. DirecTV has tended to go which ever way whoever was in charge of DirecTV felt like, in particular their DVR's. Thus the cream hasn't really risen to the top at DirecTV, instead it's been a more generic lineage. Both tend to be way ahead of the cable companies.

sorry to hear about some of the shortcomings in the latest DirecTV equipment, Dish will only get better through strong competition.

 

[Mfinchv1]

That's the very first question someone with cable asks me... don't you lose the signal when it rains?...

I was at a friends that had comcast. There was actually a constant banner on the program guide..that talked bout dish...rain fade signal. My girl...was totally agaissnt. Dish..due to her cable friends...sayin a cloud was out...no signal. I finally got her to get dish...no signal lose...unless its pouring.but comes right back on. Ive made videos as well...during storms..to prove cable wrong. On youtube..under Mfinchv1...check em out!!!