To Jump or Not To Jump . . . ?

[cjwct]

Today's news from Dish looks absolutely bleak. Charlie shows that like a dog, he is continuously chasing his tail and trying to drag us along.

I was wondering how many people after today's news, are now seriously considering jumping ship? I, for one, have one foot out the door but am hesitant because of the DVR reviews. Anyway's, anyone else looking at deals from Direct and giving it serious consideration

 

[chrisd_az]

I have had both D an E in my life time an I must say its all the same!!! I give E the edge due to the great DVR. I tell people if u want the sports packs like MLBEI or NBALP go with D. I want MLBEI on E an I know I will never see it cause my owner of E is a ****H!! An it seems like E is dragging butt right now, I sure hope he does something exciting soon. If not I don't know where E might end up next year. Come Feb09 price hike if there is 1, they better show us some huge improvment, or I hate to do it but go back to cable...Unless D dvr's get better.. I think D needs to improve there on screen menu also..

 

[JonE]

I'm not going anywhere. E* is the best provider I've ever had up to this point, I've been on comcast and D* when Sunday ticket was still a reasonable price. I'm no longer a sports fan so all the packages like Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings mean nothing to me.

I'm not a VOOM evangelist, but if they wanted to trade VOOM for NBALP and NHLCI I wouldn't be upset, there's a lot more programming I would watch on all the VOOM channels than anything I would watch on either of the sports packages. Looks like they're already doing it with NBALP.

If Dish somehow doesn't survive, and with the economy in the state it's in, it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't, I would look at other options (not Comcast) that would include D* or something along the lines of Apple TV since I have everything else Apple makes. But even in it's current state I don't see it.

Maybe they do need a change at the top, and a lot more communication as to what's coming, other than 'SOON' would be nice and would give me something to plan for. But beyond that I have the HD Absolute and all the premium channels for around $65 a month, which I'm thrilled with. And the 722 is nice, too. So I'm not leaving unless I have to.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

I'm not going anywhere untill D* gets about 5 more cinemax channels. Then maybe! ,But if that doesn't happen and E* closes up shop, Most likly Fios if available,Or Cable. My cable company has all the premiums and about 55 HD channels including locals.

 

[cjwct]

JonE you raise a good point . . .. who made up the February rule for TurboHd for current customers is not thinking . . . I am sure some, not all, but some customers would have stayed if they could have switched to all HD but apparently Dish is content on acquiring new customers and let older ones go . . . unfortunately, new ones aren't coming, old ones are leaving and oh yeah you have those numbers from today!

 

[8bitbytes]

Now that it looks like the DTVPal DVR is going to be available, OTA and Netflix is looking like a realistic move come Feb 2009.

 

[Slamminc11]

just as I said in the last thread about "are you leaving..." I'm just fine with the programming, package, DVR, price... I'm not going anywhere

 

[Islandguy43]

Now that it looks like the DTVPal DVR is going to be available, OTA and Netflix is looking like a realistic move come Feb 2009.

The tr-50 will run you 299 to buy.

 

[8bitbytes]

The tr-50 will run you 299 to buy.

Which is a lot cheaper than the $900 Dish will extract from me next year for what I paid $600 for this year.

$300 for the TR-50
$200 for the best Netflix plan
Which leaves:
$400 for whatever else I want

If I'm going to spend $900, I want to enjoy it and not hand it to a company that is oblivious to their customers or reality.

 

[KAB]

With D* I would need three boxes (2 HD DVR) as opposed to the two I now have. I won't spend the money it would take. Don't knee-jerk yesterday's news.

 

[cparker]

I keep looking at D*, but several things hold me back. The DVRs are not as good (that's a subjective call, I think. Not sure what the definition of "good" is and I've not used a D* DVR). The up front costs are just too crazy. I'd need 2 of the D* HD DVRs. The new D* HD DVRs apparently don't come with a built-in ability to receive or record OTA. So you have to add another device for.... I think it was $129 each). I know D* now has some kind of single cable implementation, but if I had to have 2 cables to each DVR that means running more cables (PITA factor). Right now my main focus (for whatever reason) is that I'd like a single DISH solution. I'm not in an official EA market (yet). D* could give me a single dish solution.

I won't leave due to the channels available unless it gets REALLY slanted. The channels I watch are on E*. We have WAAAaaay too many channel choices now in the "I'll never watch that" category. The number of HD channels is going to continue to see-saw back and forth I think until it all evens out in HD anyways. Jump to D* now simply because they have more HD channels and then jump back to E* when they're ahead? ..... no thanks.

I keep looking.... but I also keep staying with E*. Do I agree with the management decisions? (EA and Turbo HD for new customers only and.... well you know the rest).... no I don't agree. If all I had to do was worry about TV, I might get pi**ed off enough to jump. But I have lots of other things to think about and this just isn't that high on my priority list.

Go out and play catch with your kids. Walk teh dog. Go fishing. Do something..... but stressing over TV just seems like a big fat waste of time. I'm almost considering just going back to OTA. Look at all the extra money I'd have! hehehhe

 

[Islandguy43]

Which is a lot cheaper than the $900 Dish will extract from me next year for what I paid $600 for this year.

$300 for the TR-50
$200 for the best Netflix plan
Which leaves:
$400 for whatever else I want

If I'm going to spend $900, I want to enjoy it and not hand it to a company that is oblivious to their customers or reality.

Its up to you, however imho; OTA network tv won't do it for me; regardless of how many movies I get from netflix. It is sorta like going back to having a pager, landline phone, and dialup internet after having a cell phone and broadband for ten years

The TR-50 is a great little dvr and I am sure you will enjoy it.

 

[abk2753]

If you have Fios in your area, I think it is a very good alternative to Dish. I switched from Dish to Fios about a month and half ago and I am happy with Fios.

First and foremost, the picture and sound quality of Fios TV is better than Dish. I've been reading all this info about Fios using no compression (or less compression), but when I saw the picture quality improvement with Fios, it was clear that (for me) the satellite has lost the battle. I switched from cable to satellite more than 10 years ago because of the lousy cable PQ. I was with DirecTV, then VOOM, then Dish. Now it came back full circle with Fios providing better picture than satellite. And it has more channels in HD. And it is cheaper.

I keep wondering how Dish or DirecTv can compete with Fios? The only advantage I see is the coverage - Fios coverage is limited, while you can get satelleite everywhere.

 

[toto]

DwreckTV Friday 11-21. Dish since January '95. Current bill $140.

 

[rad]

I keep looking at D*, but several things hold me back. The DVRs are not as good (that's a subjective call, I think. Not sure what the definition of "good" is and I've not used a D* DVR). The up front costs are just too crazy. I'd need 2 of the D* HD DVRs. The new D* HD DVRs apparently don't come with a built-in ability to receive or record OTA. So you have to add another device for.... I think it was $129 each). I know D* now has some kind of single cable implementation, but if I had to have 2 cables to each DVR that means running more cables (PITA factor).

In the name of accurate information:

- The current deal from D* is a free HD DVR so you'd have to pay for the 2nd one.
- True, the new HD DVR's don't have ATSC support. You can add that feature with the AM21 which adds two ATSC tuners for $50 per AM21. Many people have reported getting D* to throw them in for free for new installs.
- Yes, D*'s now installing the SWM LNB which allows for up to 8 tuners to connect to it via a single wire.