New satellite purchase - help needed

[chuckswigg]

I am tired of my cable provider, but I can't see how I can get a good deal for either satellite services up front. Can anyone help me here?

My needs:
2 HD DVRs needed
3 Standard Def / no dvr needed
DSL via AT&T or other

I know that the monthly costs will be about $20 cheaper, but all I the cheapest deal I have found is over $300 for the hardware and install - mostly because of the 5th room. Does anyone have any recommendations? I am not really parshal to either company...

TIA for your help!

-Chucky

 

[Claude Greiner]

Call the Dishstore...
800-807-0837

see...

DISHSTORE.Net Best Dish Deal Ever!

 

[gadgtfreek]

If hd matters and you are going to get a plan other than HD only, Id recommend you walk right on past Dish and sign up with Directv.

 

[chuckswigg]

If hd matters and you are going to get a plan other than HD only, Id recommend you walk right on past Dish and sign up with Directv.

Thanks for the suggestion! Can you tell me what DirecTV has better HD?

 

[gkjdc24]

Thanks for the suggestion! Can you tell me what DirecTV has better HD?

It's not that it's better, but rather they have more channels.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Thanks for the suggestion! Can you tell me what DirecTV has better HD?

You can look at this list:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/1322348-post241.html


The dvrs are both great. Dish's 722 is marginally better than the HR21 of Direct, but the HR21 is a good dvr too. The HR21 however does not have any OTA tuners so you need to think about that if you need them.

As far as National HD's, Direct is the man and Dish is not attempting to knock them off the podium.

 

[gadgtfreek]

It's not that it's better, but rather they have more channels.

Buzzzzz, wrong answer. Direct's PQ is an improvement.

This post might be better suited in the war zone if he's comparing both.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I wouldn't say DirecTV HD looks better, while sometimes it does look better other times it looks worse. It seems its all based on the encoders and what it is encoding at the time.

I have been doing a lot of side by side looking at Dish and DirecTV as of late and PQ is almost a 50 - 50 split between each.

But that being said DirecTV does have loads more HD channels then Dish, however Dish is the only one to offer an HD only package. So choose whats best for you. Take a look at the programming packages and see who has what you want.

 

[gkjdc24]

Buzzzzz, wrong answer. Direct's PQ is an improvement.

This post might be better suited in the war zone if he's comparing both.

Best I can tell, is that's a matter of opinion. Seems a bit biased to me

 

[gadgtfreek]

I wouldn't say DirecTV HD looks better, while sometimes it does look better other times it looks worse. It seems its all based on the encoders and what it is encoding at the time.

I have been doing a lot of side by side looking at Dish and DirecTV as of late and PQ is almost a 50 - 50 split between each.

But that being said DirecTV does have loads more HD channels then Dish, however Dish is the only one to offer an HD only package. So choose whats best for you. Take a look at the programming packages and see who has what you want.

Maybe Im just seeing the encoder differences at times. Dish's A&E and Hist look on par with D*, but Nat Geo hasnt looked great to me.

Id go with Scotts word on PQ comparison because he has both and can view them.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Best I can tell, is that's a matter of opinion. Seems a bit biased to me

Well, when you have one, then a week later you have another, and the latter appears worse, its not biased. From the moment I fired up the 722 it seemed like Dish had lost a step, but maybe I need glasses.

 

[gkjdc24]

Well, when you have one, then a week later you have another, and the latter appears worse, its not biased. From the moment I fired up the 722 it seemed like Dish had lost a step, but maybe I need glasses.

Seriously...I can't imagine having better PQ than I have now, but then again...I came from the land of cable, so anything is an improvement:up.

 

[JH1949]

chuckswigg:

Are you going to have 5 different people using all 5 receivers at the same time ?

The Dish 622 HD DVR can feed different channel outputs to 2 TV sets at the same time(one HD and one SD TV) and comes with a remote control for each one.

So you might be able to reduce your costs by having only 2 Dish 622 HD DVR's and 1 SD receiver instead.

 

[chuckswigg]

I just spoke with an installer that does dish and directv who stated that it would be a lot more expensive to do the directv install as they don't cover as much on the HD DVRs as Dish does...

Any suggestions?

 

[oldford]

It is probably true that Direct will cost a little more upfront. Scott gave the best advice: pick the programming package that fits your needs/wants and go with it. Having said that - don't be surprised if 6 months or a year down the road, you find the other guys have something you want. It's a crapshoot to predict that far out in this business. Do what looks the best for you today.

Good Luck, Eric
(Dish since 1996, on the fence a few times)

 

[kstuart]

New satellite purchase - help needed

I hope it wasn't AMC-14 !

PS Seriously speaking, does your 5th TV need to be a different channel than the other 4 ? Or is just that someone goes from one room to another and wants the TV there ?

The Dish 722 HD-DVR has 1 HD output and 1 separate SD output with its own remote (with the cool feature that the SD tuner can tune to HD channels). So, two of those can give your 4 different channels (or recorded programs) at once. (And, as mentioned, they include a 3rd OTA HD tuner as well.)

The two outputs of the 722 each have multiple connectors, so your 5th TV could be connected to show the same channel or program as one of the other TVs, and you can buy a 5th remote for that room.

If that is acceptable, it's way simpler and cheaper than 5 TVs that all have to be showing 5 different things...

 

[charlesrshell]

I think the PQ is about equal between the two. If you are in to quantity of HD channels then Direct is ahead right now. Dish will catch up. When I researched I was more interested in the DVRs more than anything. Quality, performance, reliability, etc. Is one wire technology important? How about size of the hard drive, TV2 modulated out capability to view different channels on the remote TVs? How about built in OTA antenna that allows recording three channels at the same time. You need to research these things too if it interest you.

 

[rad]

I think the PQ is about equal between the two.

I didn't think you had D*, how can you compare HD PQ between the two???

 

[gadgtfreek]

Seriously...I can't imagine having better PQ than I have now, but then again...I came from the land of cable, so anything is an improvement:up.

D*'s new mpeg4 stuff is top notch. Ill defer to scott since he can view them side by side.

It might be that Im just overly irritated by the nat geo pq on Dish(one of my fav's). The few recordings Ive done look like crap.

 

[charlesrshell]

I didn't think you had D*, how can you compare HD PQ between the two???

I have just compared between neighbors and relatives that have Direct.