Stick with Dish?

[jgags6]

I'm currently looking into options about staying with Dish or going with Direct.. Right now I am completely happy with Dish except (and this is a big except) that I am a huge sports fan and not having my RSN in full-time HD and not having Goltv and some other sports channels is really starting to push me towards Directv. What is keeping me with Dish at the moment is the DVR (which I love my 922) and some other channels we watch (History International, Style, E!). My question is do you think I should stay with Dish and just hope that eventually they will add the sports channels I want? Or do I go with Direct and hope that they add the regular HD channels and the new interface of the receivers will come?

Thanks for your help guys!

 

[mdram]

I'm currently looking into options about staying with Dish or going with Direct.. Right now I am completely happy with Dish except (and this is a big except) that I am a huge sports fan and not having my RSN in full-time HD and not having Goltv and some other sports channels is really starting to push me towards Directv. What is keeping me with Dish at the moment is the DVR (which I love my 922) and some other channels we watch (History International, Style, E!). My question is do you think I should stay with Dish and just hope that eventually they will add the sports channels I want? Or do I go with Direct and hope that they add the regular HD channels and the new interface of the receivers will come?

Thanks for your help guys!

you have to look at all the channels, see what you must have and go from there
also look at the tech of each one
would mrv be a plus?
is sling preferred?

maybe wait a bit and see the new systems both are bringing out.
dish will not add the sports you want, they dont seem to be interested in sports, ask any new yorker
dont go by what anyone may have, go by what they have

 

[lparsons21]

Solely my opinion, but I think that you have a better chance of Direct adding some basic HD sooner than you have of Dish adding the sports you referenced. And I think that is a conscious decision on Dish's part.

As to the new interface for Direct, I've seen pictures and it does look better than the current, but really, how much time do you spend looking at the interface compared to the shows? The one thing I don't like with Direct's interface is the 1.5 hour window the guide shows. Other than that, it ain't pretty but it gets the job done.

The DVR with D* works fine and offers some features that E* doesn't, especially in the search and ease of setting up a new series link. But the use of an eSATA HD as a replacement of the internal one, and the fact that the HD (internal or external) is married to a specific receiver are both negatives for Direct.

At the end of the day, you'll have to decide if the sports are more important than the basic HD. The rest of the differences are all not a big deal, imo.

 

[jgags6]

MRV would be a plus.... and right now I think I am leaning towards going with Direct... Ive just been with Dish for so long and I am really familiar with it. I am pretty good a troubleshooting Dish when things go wrong, how similar is Direct when compared to Dish with that?

 

[mdram]

no clue, i havent had any problems with directv and never had one with dish
but iirc the swm is a simpler install

 

[jbernardi]

Don't forget about the Blockbuster streaming and DVDs by mail starting October 1st if you have Dish Platinum.

 

[lparsons21]

MRV would be a plus.... and right now I think I am leaning towards going with Direct... Ive just been with Dish for so long and I am really familiar with it. I am pretty good a troubleshooting Dish when things go wrong, how similar is Direct when compared to Dish with that?

MRV is very nice, although for the most part in my house I use it so I can view either of the 2 HDDVRs I have in my man cave, I used to have a 722k with Dish and need 4 tuners to make me happy. Both Direct and Dish have talked about upcoming new HDDVRs that will do MRV better than the current model with D* does. If that is important to you, you might want to wait. But then the NFL season is in full blossom...

The SWM setup that D* uses for new installs of MRV (now called whole home DVR) is very easy to expand if you find yourself needing more equipment later. After I had my install in place for awhile, I found that I really did miss having 4 tuners for my personal use and added a 2nd HDDVR to my man cave. I put the new one right on top of the original one, got a 4-way splitter from a local dealer (about $10), and connected it up and all was good. From box to getting software upgrades was about 5-10 minutes tops.

 

[lparsons21]

Don't forget about the Blockbuster streaming and DVDs by mail starting October 1st if you have Dish Platinum.

That is certainly something to take into consideration.

 

[KAB]

My 2 cents, chill until February. We know there will not be any programming price changes, but I have a feeling by then, there will be some notable equipment/tech advances. IOW, be patient, you might like it...but would have to pay D* an ETF.

 

[jgags6]

thanks for the info guys. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do yet... so i guess for right this second Im going to stay put.

 

[oldengineer]

I'm in the opposite situation. I'm a D* sub out of contract who almost switched to E*. If you're a sports fan and RSNs in HD are more important than regular channels then D* is a good choice. Other posters gave good comparisons but note that they all have HR-24 and H24 receivers which are D*s latest. If you go with D* and get Whole Home (MRV) installation you may get HR-24 receivers but you may not. D*s older HDDVRs are notoriously slower than E*s but D* has a new GUI coming soon which is supposed to improve performance.

I was going to switch for $ reasons. Both D* and E* give good first year discounts for a 2 year commitment.

 

[Jhon69]

So you say you love the 922?,well if you can live without the 922 interface,$7.Red Zone and Multi Sports package,then a switch maybe in your future because D* has nothing to compare to that.Good Luck!.

 

[castle rock kid]

I would agree that Dish seems not to be big on sports then out of the blue we get MLB which I thought we would never have on Dish and is a great channel.

 

[harshness]

Solely my opinion, but I think that you have a better chance of Direct adding some basic HD sooner than you have of Dish adding the sports you referenced.

The chances that DIRECTV adds more than a handful of channels (SD or HD) in the next three years is pretty thin. DIRECTV 14's launch date has been moved to 2014.

While DISH Network is in the process of adding an Eastern Arc satellite and has another (also Eastern Arc) scheduled for next summer, they won't necessarily increase their carriage of properties that they haven't gone after in the past.