Scott's DirecTV Review (DirecTV -VS- Dish)

[boston area dtv]

I'm curious to see the side by side comparisons of DirecTV's and DishNetworks MPEG4 national HD channels. This will be the true test....

I can care less with the locals, since I live in an area that has excellent OTA coverage.

Obviously that is what is important to you. I can respect that.

But even now you cant just drop the hatchet. You have to define a test that are important to you. If D* wins side by side you may just narrow down your test to just one channel and then if E* is better declare the winner.

See thats ok digi because thats whats important to you. Choosing your provider should be about whats important to you.

So if you could care less about the locals that means you care about it.

If you couldnt care less then that means you dont.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ok since a few folks asked, here are the MPEG4 channels I get from DirecTV.

WFSB CBS Hartford
WVIT NBC Hartford
WTIC FOX HARTFORD
YES-HD
SNY-HD

 

[Senz]

You should note that when you watched WWE last night on USA, that the severe pixelation was a result of WWE and not USA. if you watched longer then 10 minutes . you would have seen the USA commercials fine, and then the WWE ones and the broadcast horribly choppy. at about 30 minutes into the show, they reset the video and it was perfect the rest of the night.

It was not a USA or Directv issue. simply a problem from WWE trucks.

 

[digiblur]

Obviously that is what is important to you. I can respect that.

But even now you cant just drop the hatchet. You have to define a test that are important to you. If D* wins side by side you may just narrow down your test to just one channel and then if E* is better declare the winner.

See thats ok digi because thats whats important to you. Choosing your provider should be about whats important to you.

So if you could care less about the locals that means you care about it.

If you couldnt care less then that means you dont.

What are you talking about?

 

[TheForce]

rad- actually the VIP 622 was a completely new design from the ground up. I can't speak to the 942 I recall it was because I never had one of those apart. But the 921 and the 622 are about as different as a Volkswagen and a Corvette.

Scott, thanks for that MP4 comparison. I was particularly interested in your commentary on that. But I agree with rockymountain. Your number rating system may be mood driven. When you get that close, it is hard for me to understand the difference. 9.5 vs. 10 vs. 8 ? Suggest you try the blind test for an unbiased result, otherwise I'll just have to assume they are really the same.

Also on the HR20, I was thinking about moving into one of those later in the year but until D* actually keeps its promise and shows it will do what it is bragging about and the equipment works as well as the VIP 622, I'll just keep my HDTivo and have D* as a backup additional DVR. I have reduced my subscription on D* to the bare minimum with HD Net package. Maybe in a couple of years D* will have the additional channels like E* has today.

Oh you mentioned Cinemax. Does D* now have Cinemax HD? Didn't know that.

 

[bonscott87]

Scott,

Nice review. I was surprised that you called the HR20 slow. In what aspects is it slow for you? The HR20 is about the fasted responding receiver or DVR I have ever used. Menus, guide, playlist are all super quick.

 

[bonscott87]

Oh you mentioned Cinemax. Does D* now have Cinemax HD? Didn't know that.

No they don't. But it's one of the ones that will be lit up this fall along with TMC HD and the Starz HD 5 pack. Right now movie channel wise it's just HBO and Showtime.

 

[Jhon69]

Ever since I switched to Directv. I have noticed that I have had to run the display on widescreen for the best PQ on my 50"4:3 SD RPTV.

 

[rad]

rad- actually the VIP 622 was a completely new design from the ground up.

I understand the hardware is a new design but how much of the software was ported from the prior HD DVR's or did they also have to start from a blank slate on that to?

 

[Jimbo]

Bill Johnson
AVS Special Member


Join Date: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 1,162 Quote:
Originally Posted by branchbouncer
I was having serious doubts about continueing my service with D*,even though I didn't have them side by side(the services) memory was telling me that Adelphia was the clear winner.


Yes, Adelphia HD PQ beats D* by a mile and even the SD PQ is better. I would drop D* immediately and expand my Adelphia Internet to include TV, except for the NFL, Not having ST but with a big help from D* DNS, I can see a total of 8 games today with 6 in HD.


Quote:
Have you watched channel 9 (WUSA)news,my Adelphia feed seems much better than D*


Yes, I have and agree Adelphia Cable WUSA HD is equal to OTA. 9.1 local news is my favorite because of HD. Those newscasts have unbelievable HD PQ! Can't imagine how good it would be if they didn't multicast

Cable here blows D's service away on PQ,I hope Scott is right though I would go back to D* (had them for 8+ years) if they get the new channels in HD AND the MPEG4 together

The problem with this , is that cable companies picture and service varies from city to city.
I don't know what cities Adelphia is in, actually it use to be in the outskirts of my town.
What I'm trying to say isAdelphia cable sub in Boston may love it and it looks great, but the A* sub in Kansas may find it to be not very good, same goes with Comcast and TW thruout the country.

Jimbo

 

[Jimbo]

I install direct and dish... Dish is at my house,enough said

Well, that tells us your NOT a sports fan is all.

 

[Ramy]

Actually Adelphia cable is not more. It was split up between Comcast and Time Warner.

 

[branchbouncer]

The problem with this , is that cable companies picture and service varies from city to city.
I don't know what cities Adelphia is in, actually it use to be in the outskirts of my town.
What I'm trying to say isAdelphia cable sub in Boston may love it and it looks great, but the A* sub in Kansas may find it to be not very good, same goes with Comcast and TW thruout the country.

Jimbo

Thats very true, it is where you are located and how packed the nodes are. When we lived in Alexandria you had the option of Cox or Satellite, thats where we had Directv for 8+ years because the Cox feed in the Mt Vernon area of Alexandria/Fairfax county was terrible. My brother is still there and when I go up there I can not belive how lifeless the Cox HD feed is at his house and it looks the same on all his HD sets, no matter if it is displayed on either of the DLP's or the LCD

Adelphia is gone it is now Comcast in our area

 

[Proc]

Scott...nice review (so far). I look forward to the ongoing comments as the months go by.

The MPEG4 channels on D* are outstanding. We still have issues (some of us in the Detroit are that I know of) with audio dropout for ten seconds once an hour, but otherwise, the local MPEG4 feeds look identical to the OTA.

The SD content is virtually unwatchable on my 46 inch Sony Bravia (as it was on my smaller 30 inch Olevia before that). I find if I want to watch MLB EI games (the ones in SD), I'm better off watching them on the older, 27 inch Sony Wega or even the 13-inch TV in the garage.

I look forward to the new HD channels. They can't get here soon enough.

 

[JohnH]

I would be a little more gungho on the MPEG4 conversion if I would not lose the New York Distant HDs when I make the conversion.

 

[mlb]

You should note that when you watched WWE last night on USA, that the severe pixelation was a result of WWE and not USA. if you watched longer then 10 minutes . you would have seen the USA commercials fine, and then the WWE ones and the broadcast horribly choppy. at about 30 minutes into the show, they reset the video and it was perfect the rest of the night.

It was not a USA or Directv issue. simply a problem from WWE trucks.

I watched the show on Dish and didn't notice any of the issues mentioned above... seems to be a D* issue. I have it on DVR and will review tonight to be sure. I don't remember any pixelization during the whole opening segment with Vince and John Cena...

 

[David_Levin]

rad- actually the VIP 622 was a completely new design from the ground up. I can't speak to the 942 I recall it was because I never had one of those apart. But the 921 and the 622 are about as different as a Volkswagen and a Corvette.

Yes, but the software base came from the 942. I think that allowed the 622 to be a lot less buggy then most of Dish's initial releases (from a guy who has been here since the Dishplayer).

HR20: I've gotten a bit spoiled by the 622's ability to simultaneously record from 3 tuners. With HD locals from Dish and OTA this makes overlapping channels with pads much easier.

Yep, the HR20 has 2 OTA, but it's not as useful for me since only 2 are useable at a time. OTOH, the 2 OTA could be a lot more useful to those who are only getting HD Locals OTA (probably will not be many of these once the next two Spaceway birds are launches and Direct have room for 1500 local channels).

For me, the axe would swing in favor of Direct if they have my HD locals and Dish doesn't (since the 622 only has 1 OTA tuner).

 

[rad]

Yes, but the software base came from the 942. I think that allowed the 622 to be a lot less buggy then most of Dish's initial releases (from a guy who has been here since the Dishplayer).

That was my point I was trying to make, the HR20 is a completly new box, hardware and software, compared to the 622 which gives the 622 an edge in performance/relability since they could work out some of the bugs in prior boxes.

 

[grydlok]

I watched the show on Dish and didn't notice any of the issues mentioned above... seems to be a D* issue. I have it on DVR and will review tonight to be sure. I don't remember any pixelization during the whole opening segment with Vince and John Cena...

The problem was on Comcast also. It lasted the entire 1st hour. The 2nd hr it cleared up.

 

[mobilewiring]

RACING whens speed ch going HD...Ill switch to direct if its gets it first