Soon-to-be E* cust. trying to decide

[Fishpig]

hey guys.. as they say, long time browser, first time poster.

so, i've got a friend who game me one of those club dish discount cards and i'm ready to use it. my plans are to order a 2-room system with a 510 and 301. my question is, who should i order it through? dish direct? local retailer? online retailer? keep in mind i want to use the club dish special.

thx

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

First bet is call your local retailer, and find out if they accept Club Dish. If they do then that will be your best route as your local dealer can provide you better service. If you ever have problems it will be the same people who come to help you out.

If you local dealer does not participate in the Club Dish program then call the number on the card.

 

[mini1]

before you get tied into a contract just to save a few $'s why don't consider the DirecTV or Voom. If its a DVR you want, I would stay away from Dish Network. a DirecTivo is far better than a 510. not only does it has 2 tuners, it also has names based recordings and much more.

 

[Fishpig]

thx scott.

mini1, no locals with directv, no dvr with voom and their channel selection is kinda

i just don't think hdtv is worth buying yet, but my tv is ready

 

[awax]

thx scott.

mini1, no locals with directv, no dvr with voom and their channel selection is kinda

i just don't think hdtv is worth buying yet, but my tv is ready

What DMA are you in??

 

[happymister]

If u are TV is HDTV ready.. and u have a club dish gift certificate.. and u r ok with
signing up with Dish AT60 package and HD pack for 1 year.. then do what i just did.

sign up for the 2 room 811/311 package. for $35/month.
after a week, call them upgrade ur 311 to a 510 for $79.99 (I did it.. and it went thru.. although i haven't yet received it.. they should've mailed it out yesterday)

then u have a 811/510 combo for a year + 2 weeks commitment.
and if u have an antenna, u can get locals OTA.
otherwise, pay them $5 extra.

The best thing about the club dish certificate is that u can get the
Free Dish promotion as opposed to free-dish-for-all promotion.
sounds the same.. except former plan.. costs u $49.99 + tax for installation
which is reimbursed (without tax) in ur 1st bill.
free-dish-for-all plan - u have to pay for equipment upfront.. and
comcast will give u credits per month.
so former plan is better.

I went to Dish for their international programming.
end of the season for most shows.. and getting tired of comcast high rates.

 

[Fishpig]

What DMA are you in??

i thought i had all the acronyms down.. what's a DMA again? i live in owasso, ok if that's what you mean.

 

[bcshields]

Direct market Area... the TV stations you watch are from what city?

 

[tonyp56]

Direct market Area... the TV stations you watch are from what city?

Designated Market Area!

I would think right of hand you would be in the OKC DMA (I am)

If you like the Tulsa stations, and you are in the OKC DMA, the only choice you will have is to get the OKC channels, Dish legally can't give you the Tulsa Stations (or if you are in the Tulsa DMA, you won't be able to get the OKC channels through Dish, this is not Dish's fault, its the law), so you would probably be better off getting a antenna for your locals, especially if you get the 811, because then you will want to watch your locals in HD, and you can't get them through Dish (in hd)
Who you should order it from, when you call that number ask them for local retailers in your area, tell them you want to go through a local company.

 

[KyDave]

Fishpig, if you don't mind another suggestion......

If you are wanting to serve 2 tv's, you might consider a 522. It is a two tuner 100 hour pvr that can serve 2 separate tv's.

That way both tv's can 'share' the PVR recordings from a single machine.

It would also be $5 cheaper per month, or $60/year. (A 510/301 would have a $5 pvr and a $5 extra receiver fee per month, while a 522 would only have a $5 dvr fee if plugged into a phone line.)

 

[rad]

According to the zip for Owasso your local DMA is Tulsa. Dish has the Tusla locals now, DirecTV gets the Tulsa locals up on 6/10/04 (and the first two months are free for existing customers from what the slide on D* channel 999 says). You'd need a phase III oval dish for D*. E*'s wed site says that there's two channels in Tulsa, 47 and 53, that would require that you install a 2nd dish if you want to view them. Hope that helps.

 

[Fishpig]

great info folks.. a few questions.

regarding sharing the 522, i want to feed 2 tv's but they are in separate rooms. any suggestions?

i am in the Tulsa DMA, the channels we are missing i don't care about.

for directv, if they have locals soon, do most folks think that they are a better value? i noticed they want $100 or so for the DVR. i'm into the free deals. would i need 2 dish's on my house to get directv's locals?

thx

 

[KyDave]

regarding sharing the 522, i want to feed 2 tv's but they are in separate rooms. any suggestions?

This is what the 522 is currently designed for.

It has 2 remotes - one that is IR (infrared, line of site) that is used in the room that the 522 is installed. The other is a UHF (or radio frequency) remote that is used wherever the other tv is.

The second tv is hooked up with via coax and can be sent on any UHF channel (setup on the 522). For what it's worth, that coax connection is also stereo.

And rememer that these are separate tuners, you are not sharing one tuner. Both can record, and all recordings can be shared on either tv.

So your installer would have 2 lines from the satellite to the 522, and then one line from the 522 to wherever the second tv is.

 

[rad]

for directv, if they have locals soon, do most folks think that they are a better value? i noticed they want $100 or so for the DVR. i'm into the free deals. would i need 2 dish's on my house to get directv's locals?

thx

I don't want to get into the E* vs. D* argument. It comes down to what service has what channels you want and a price you're willing to pay.

For a new system you might want to check out: http://www.valueelectronics.com/Hughes_tivo.htm

You can get a DirecTivo (35 hour) and two other receivers and a phase III dish installed for $60. The DirecTivo is limited to recording space but it has one advantage over the E* boxes, you can upgrade them yourself with a larger drive or add a 2nd drive, E* doesn't let you do it. Also, E* charges $4.95 per month for each 510/522/921 PVR (unless you have the AEP package). D* charges $4.95 per month no matter how many PVR's you have on the account for the Tivo function. Hope that helps a it.

 

[SimpleSimon]

... regarding sharing the 522, i want to feed 2 tv's but they are in separate rooms. any suggestions? ...

That's the installer's problem - but thanks for thinking about us.

 

[boba]

The 522 is a piece of junk bad software and many operation problems just read the forums. The 510 and 311 have relatively good software from DISH's questionable IT dept. DirecTiVo will cost you about $50-99 as a new customer, but it has two tuners and works very very reliably. Any of the basic Directv receivers will run circles around the 111,301 or 311 from DISH. Check out the poster that recommended the 522 KY(as in gel) Dave.

 

[Fishpig]

yea.. the 522 has its fair share of issues which makes that decision a bit scary. i'll look into the d* package a little more closely. thanks for all your help.

 

[KyDave]

Check out the poster that recommended the 522 KY(as in gel) Dave.

Geesh. Whatever.

You try to help someone that says SOON TO BE E* CUSTOMER......

 

[Charise]

You shouldn't let the anti-Dish Network guys get to you. There are many very happy Dish customers, of which I am one. I recently got locals, so now I can use my DVR for those channels too. It will be some time before DirecTV gets around to adding locals here!

I love my 508 which has been extremely stable--one minor glitsch that resolved itself within 3 minutes (not interrupting any recordings) in the 1.5 years I've owned it.

Perhaps D* might be better for you based on which channels you prefer. Just don't let the bashers make up your mind for you. Some of the folks who have responded to your original post are consistently knocking E*, and if you are new, you might not realize that.

If you aren't looking at an HD-DVR for a year or so, there is little difference between the two, and you might very well be happy with Dish Network.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Yeah, I think they may be a little threatened.... The D* boys have been a little cranky since we added Sirius Music channels and TNT-HD last week.....

Fair warning though, D*'s PVR receivers are less buggy and more polished. If you are NOT comfortable wrestling with occasionally misbehaving technology, then you might consider going there.

E* does have the advantage with local channels, Sirius, Superstations, and a few channels that they carry that D* doesn't (HBO Comedy, Showtime Beyond, and a few other channels.... D* has PBS Kids, Trio, and a few others that E* doesn't but E* has the channels that watch much more often). Good luck.......