Newbie From Dish - Just Switched & Having Doubts

[memnoch_thedevil]

Hi all, this is my first post here. I was looking for a knowledgeable site to ask some questions, and this one seems to fit the bill!

I just switched to Direct Tv today, mainly for sports. The installation went smooth, but so far I am not in love with it.

There are a lot of little things about Dish that just seemed to function and run smoother. I do not like the remote or controls, and it seems especially complicated to do anything with the guide and finding channels.

The worst drawback for me is the dual tuner dvr's we no longer have. We have 4 tv's in the house, 2 Hd and 2 standard, but the way we had it setup, was perfect. My wife was able to watch tv in the bedroom and record shows she wants, while the Hd content was in the living room.

The other Hd tv is in my sons room, and the secondary is in my daughters, and again they are both able to watch what they want and record/pause live tv. We could all record our own shows, and have no conflict or time constraints.

With Direct Tv, we now have 4 boxes instead of 2...the HD Dvr, 1 Hd receiver and 2 standard. But now we only have the living room to record shows. I can't fathom shelling out an additional $600 just to have Dvr capabilities in all 4 rooms...Did I make a mistake in switching?

Is there any way to get the Dish vip 922 to function with Direct Tv, that would be the greatest thing, or is Direct planning on doing anything like that with any of their equipment? I was a little misled on the whole 4 room Dvr, by the barely English speaking rep I had set all this up with.

I don't like that we are being locked into a 2 year contract either. We haven't signed anything as of yet, I think the installer forgot to give us the paper work to sign, do you think it's possible to get out of this and stay with Dish?

I'm open to any feedback at all lol

Thanks for the time!

Michael

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

I still have both of the Dish satellites as well...would taking the LNB off of the dish satellite and putting it on the direct tv dish enable the dish dvr's to work...is there some way to get them to function with direct tv?

 

[belawrence]

E* and D* receivers are not interchangeable.

 

[Ronnie-]

I don't like that we are being locked into a 2 year contract either. We haven't signed anything as of yet, I think the installer forgot to give us the paper work to sign, do you think it's possible to get out of this and stay with Dish?

I'm open to any feedback at all lol

Thanks for the time!

Michael

I am sorry to tell you, but signing or not, you are locked into a 2 year commit and most likely the only way out is to pay the termination fee.

That being the case I would simply give it time. I have been most pleased with my service with them, and you may find that you like it better in the long term.

Also, as the other poster stated, the equipment is not interchangable.

 

[xBoUHg95]

Unfortunately, your problem is the equipment you selected will not give you the same functionality you had with dish. The best option for you would have been to get 2 HDDVR's and 2 HD receivers with multi room view.

 

[raoul5788]

First off, welcome to the site, memnoch_thedevil. I hope you like it hear as much as we do! As to your question, you can get additional dvrs for at most $200 each, perhaps less. Why not call Directv and explain why you need more and what sort of deal will they give you? Also, all outputs on the dvrs are live so you could connect another room to it, but they only have one tuner available at a time.

 

[RandallA]

If you ordered MRV, the HD receivers can watch recorded shows from the HD-DVR. The SD receivers cannot watch recorded shows. Replacing the SD receivers with HD receivers might be your solution.

 

[bbixler]

If you call in to customer service you might be able to get a change on your initial setup for free or at a reduced price. Just let them know you didn't realize what you really needed for your set-up and since you just got installed they might allow you to switch some thing around. It never hurts to ask/try.

 

[jlfarris]

If you call in to customer service you might be able to get a change on your initial setup for free or at a reduced price. Just let them know you didn't realize what you really needed for your set-up and since you just got installed they might allow you to switch some thing around. It never hurts to ask/try.

They were pretty helpful to me when I goofed and got 2 regular HD receivers and a DVR instead of 2 DVRs and a regular HD receiver. Sent a DVR to replace the H24 quickly. They sent an HR21, but that DVR is only recording my wife's crap she likes on TLC anyhow.

 

[memnoch_thedevil]

Thanks for all the replies guys...I had a horrific affair with Direct Tv yesterday trying to get in touch with the right department for the multiple problems we had.

To start, I was under the impression that 1 Dvr controlled 4 tv's, the rep I spoke to spoke very broken English, and did not explain things properly. Fortunately I looked over the site after the initial setup call, and realized that you needed 4x Hd receivers to have functional DVR playback on the 4 tv's.

I called back and told them I needed to change my order, because we had 4 tv's and that 1 receiver would not be enough all of us in the house. The rep I spoke with at this time (again very bad broken English), told me that if he changed my order now, that they would most likely have to cancel my install appointment and reschedule, and that I would be better served to just notify the Installer when he came of the changes, and he could do it then. It seemed rather odd to me, but I went along.

The installer came 2 days later, and I explained things to him, he called Direct Tv again, and they finally got everything sorted out. Or so I thought. The only deal I could get was 1 Hd Dvr + 1 Hd Receiver +2 SD receivers at no cost. If I wanted to have full playback in all rooms I would have had to cough up an additional $200 right there for 2 Hd receivers instead of the 2 Sd, and worse $300 if I wanted 2 Dvr's w/ 2 Hd Receivers.

I just got the standard, I figure I can always add them later on, just didn't want to have to pay for anything extra right now, we have a lot of things going on that need the money more

So all was installed and setup, then after he left, I noticed that half of the programming I ordered wasn't there. I called Direct Tv again, and come to find out they put the wrong promotional package on our new account. I then was transferred 5 times, yes 5. I had to reexplain the entire thing each and every time, only to have each and every rep I was transferred to tell me First that they could help, then after I explained it to them, that there was nothing they could do, and they would have to pass it on to someone else...Very frustrating to say the least.

Finally one helpful rep, escalated it to the next tier, noted everything, and said they would be in touch with me sometime tomorrow (today), so I let it go for now. Well, it's going on 6pm the next day, and still no programming, and still no phone call.

How am I supposed to want to stay with this company when the first 24 hours have already been horrific? And the equipment is miles behind, costs more too, I got both my hd dual tuner dvr's from dish for free.

I'll give it one more day, but it doesn't look good at all.

 

[scoop8]

Sorry to hear about the issues but if you weather the early storm, you're going to look back soon and realize that you made the right decison.

I think that will be the case since you mentioned sports as your main reason for coming to DirecTV.

Dish can't match us there.

 

[JUCJ85]

I agree with everyone else, give it time.

I was anxious to get mine in, and had to pay over 300 for boxes/receivers, so I feel ya on that one.

But I actually have no issue paying for a receiver, even if it is leased.

Anyway, just give it a few weeks. and then see how things go.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You should have 3 days to cancel if you choose.

Again welcome to SatelliteGuys!

 

[eddieras]

i was told by one rep you have 14 days to cancel after install = but then a second one said there was no cancelation after install - without the fee of course.