Questions...

[dsnow0819]

...I am considering getting Dish Network. I hate my local cable company.

First, what is the best deal going? I have heard about the club dish program, but I am not sure what is.

Also, what is everyone's opinion of Dish? I have heard good and bad.

How does the dual tuner receiver work for two TV? Do I have to lay a cable to both TVs all the way through my house?

Finally, some have said that I should go through a local dealer? Does it make a difference with pricing and service?

Thanks for the answers.

 

[Ilya]

Welcome to the forum, dsnow0819!
You can check current pricing and promotions at www.DishTV.com
It all depends on what you are looking for.
Any forum member here can give you a Club Dish referral number which basically gives you an extra $50 off installation costs, I believe. Just send a Private Message to anyone you like. The person who gives you the referral also gets some discounts.
The dual tuner usualy has a cable (RG6) output for the second TV, so you need a cable running from the tuner to the second room.
Local dealers might be able to give you extra discounts, especially if you are willing to buy equipment, rather than lease it.
Good luck!

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys ... Yes you would have to run another Cable for the other TV... Go to this page for an example of what you will get... https://www.dishtv.com/order.jsp you can order from this page but give it a look... or check out the dishstore.net one of our site sponsors...

 

[Dish Dude]

if you have centralized wiring, you can make the dual tuner both UHF, no need for extra cabling just bring it into the utility room, enable UHF pro on the #1 side and use your existing cables to the TV. Receiver is out of site and with your structured cabling you can feed more than just 2 TV's(still only 2 tuner though, so you would be watching the same thing on TV3 as TV 1 for example) but if you have a TV such as your bedroom, which could be the same channel as your master bathroom in wall LCD. no big deal

 

[wobbie]

If you have good existing RG cable to the rooms with the TV's in them you should'nt have to run any new cable. I have had Dish for over three years and no problems. The dual tuner lets you get independent veiwing on two TV's off of one reciever. As long as the reciever is continuosly connected to a telephone line there is no additional reciever fee. The Club Dish gets you an additional $25.00 credit when you sign up and the person that referes you with the Club Dish gets a $5.00/mo. discount for 10 months from Dish. I would go with a local retailer, call one and see if they offer site surveys. They may come to your house and walk you thru the install before you sign up ( I do with all my customers) usually better service after the sale too, should you ever need service, plus these are the guys living in your community and supporting the community. You would'nt call a 800# or shop the internet for a plumber or electrician would you?? If you need a ClubDish card pm me.

 

[BearcatScott]

I am moving into a new house with centralized cables so I am interested in getting the 322. So from what I gather from the posts above, you can enable the receiver so that both tuners can be controlled by UHF remotes. Is this correct and does the 322 come with two UHF remotes?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Dish Dude]

yes you can enable it to be both UHF but it only comes with one UHF remote, the second may cost you $30 to upgrade to

 

[jergenf]

First, what is the best deal going? I have heard about the club dish program, but I am not sure what is.

Dish Club program allows present customers to make referrals to new customers. The new customer typically saves money on install cost while the present customer receives $5 a month (12 months max) credit for each month the new customer remains subscribed.

Also, what is everyone's opinion of Dish? I have heard good and bad..

Can't give you evryones opinion but satellite companies generally offer better prices on a channel to channel basis compared to cable. And usually a wider selection of channels as well. Understand no matter what you choose there will be pros and cons.

How does the dual tuner receiver work for two TV? Do I have to lay a cable to both TVs all the way through my house?.

The dual mode receivers (322, 522/625, 942) allow the two tuners to be split so that two TV's have indendant control. Basically when using dual user mode it as if you have two boxes. The second TV will require a coax line from the receiver to the location of the 2nd TV. The 2nd TV receives the signal as a UHF channel (which is not at HD quality in the case of the 942).

Finally, some have said that I should go through a local dealer? Does it make a difference with pricing and service?

If you go through a local dealer or except 3rd party offers then make sure you understand all the conditions of that agreement. Also compare that to whatever offers are on the dishnetwork web site. Offers from others may contain comitment agreements or different installation terms. Dish Club referral may or may not apply so ask many questions if anything seems vague.

 

[wobbie]

Jergen, the ClubDish rules have changed... $25.00 credit to new customer... existing customer that referred...gets $5.00/mo. credit for 10 months max 5 credits.

 

[bunnyville]

The best deal going depends on your perspective. I just did a butt-load of research and found several things. You've got to look at what programming you want - if putting up an additional $180 for NFL Sunday Ticket is worth it to you, then you should probably look at DirecTV. I don't think I could watch that much football in a season myself, but... there aren't a lot of other programming differences otherwise. They've both got a limited number of HD channels.

Second, you've got to decide if you want to buy or "rent" the equipment. DirecTV wants $500 up front for the HD-DVR Receiver and you end up owning it. Dish wants $250 for the HD-DVR and you basically rent it, which means that they'll upgrade the equipment for free when things change.

I looked at a bunch of online retailers and found that clearly half of them have their sales people headquartered in India. There is a page in the Dish Network site that will refer you to local installers. I Googled for local installers and found one here in Houston. They came out and did a decent job - I got my dish faster than I would have with certain online retailers, and they set an actual appt time instead of a 5-hour window.

The other thing I found is that you eventually end up with the same deal as everyone else and the monthly costs end up being very comparable between satellite providers and retailers.

The only thing I've found so far that was a problem is that the apt complex where I live has some rinky-dink cable outfit that no one's ever heard of and they don't offer HD service, so if I want HD I have to get some kind of dish. That said, you really need to have a direct line of site or you're not going to get a good signal. I don't know if there's really a difference between the OTA, dish and cable signals because I've not had cable with this TV, but I don't see an appreciable difference between OTA and satellite HD PQ.