interesting how that number gets thrown around yet most charts I've seen its around 10-12 max...and to each its own as if you want those missing channels.
Was about to leave DISH for Direct. I'm not sure after doing more research.
- Thread starter Ozma
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interesting how that number gets thrown around yet most charts I've seen its around 10-12 max...and to each its own as if you want those missing channels.
simple.... (I don't know the specifics, but the general principles apply)
a) they don't power ALL the way down (something has to be watching for the next command from the remote)
b) or they write this info to the HD (or flash) which can be read when the system power back in to ON mode
Same principle as your mp3 player.
Not the same as an MP3 Player. MP3 players are dealing with static files, not buffering live content. Buffering a channel requires that the receiver be powered enough to keep the switch on and the transponder tuned and signal coming through the LNB ... the only thing not requiring power at that point would be the outputs on the back of the receiver ... hardly worth any real power savings..
and the "without using power" was because the OP says they looked into Directv's receivers and they are energy star, etc. etc. etc. which would presume the receiver significantly reduces power during "off" mode ...
As to "remotes" ... standby power on many TV's is in the range of 1 to 3 watts ... and they too have soft power ... because they watch for the command from a remote to "turn on" etc... So you would then expect a dish or directv receiver could go that low except for intervals where it comes up, checks for updates ... goes back down ... comes up.. records according to your timer, goes back down... *that* would be a power savings if they'd work it all out..
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10-12 could be the delta. D* has some HD that Dish doesn't and vice versa. Dish has several that D* doesn't, around 30 at my last count, certainly more than 12. I see that the number has gone down due to some recent additions by D*. Just wanted to make the point that the OP loses a lot more than just BBCA HD. Please follow up with any corrections:
BBCA
Centric
Cooking
DIY
E!
Fashion (removed?)
G4
Gala
GSN
Hist Int'l
HLN
ID
LMN
Logo
Mav
Nat Geo Wild
NFL Redzone (not sure?)
OWN
Pixl
RFD
Sportsman
Style
Tru
Veria
Epix
Epix2
Indieplex
Retroplex
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8 of those channels D* doesnt even carry
G4, Mav, Pixl, Veria, Epix, Epix2, Indieplex, Retroplex
Fashion TV is gone
Red Zone with D* they have been offering it in without ST in alot of cases
And these Directv has but Dish doesnt
ABC Family, Disney East, Disney XD, ESPNU, ESPNNews, GolTV, Smithsonian
Not including premiums.....so I guess it comes back to what channels you like in HD. While I would like TruTV in HD I'm not giving up ESPNU and my RSN in HD 24/7. But maybe your tastes are different
G4, Mav, Pixl, Veria, Epix, Epix2, Indieplex, Retroplex
Fashion TV is gone
Red Zone with D* they have been offering it in without ST in alot of cases
And these Directv has but Dish doesnt
ABC Family, Disney East, Disney XD, ESPNU, ESPNNews, GolTV, Smithsonian
Not including premiums.....so I guess it comes back to what channels you like in HD. While I would like TruTV in HD I'm not giving up ESPNU and my RSN in HD 24/7. But maybe your tastes are different
and correct me if i'm wrong.. but from what I read, you have to have a DVR unit ... (HR24-100 is 22 watts) and then you'd need a receiver at the second TV location ... which is another 10 watts ... so you're still doing 30 watts, 24/7 ... and when off. they drop less than 1% power ... so sure ... on the surface they use *less* 24/hrs a day 7 days a week .. but of the USE time to NON-Use time.. they still waste 90% (or more) of the energy doing nothing for you ... except that they buffer the last channel you were on .. is there an option to turn *that* feature off so that they don't waste the energy recording when I'm not there? or have an option for scheduling when they auto power up to start recording an hour before my normal use times? (ie prebuffer before my normal 8pm watch times, or say 4pm for my arrival home at 5pm?)
Those energy star numbers are for many purposes full of bullsh*t ... just like my "energy star compliant" clothes washer... they trim for energy savings.. but in the long run.. I have to wash my dogs blankets 3 or 4 times to get the cleaning power I had in *one* cycle through my OLD washer which wasn't "Energy Star" ...
In this case the energy star BS is that these devices aren't rated from ON to OFF power consumption.. look at EVERY sleep number.. wow.. Funai has a box that goes from 5.64 watts to .68 watts .. now *THAT* is an energy savings worthy of "energy star" .. 90% less power when off. The next closest one is Apple.. also at about 90% less energy in the off state.
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The ONLY reason I considered switching to D* is because of the 3D programming that they have available. Now that I've found a resource for renting 3D Blurays online (3dblurayrental.com) and my Sony Bluray player has 3Ds available for steaming I'm staying with Dish. The Blockbuster deal is icing on the cake as well.
In my personal experience Dish customer service has been outstanding for me lately as well. Would NOT have said that a year or so ago. GREAT having DIRT here also!
Ed
In my personal experience Dish customer service has been outstanding for me lately as well. Would NOT have said that a year or so ago. GREAT having DIRT here also!Ed
Dish IRT wouldn't be necessary if Dish were doing things right in the first place. So far I've seen Dish IRT has been more involved in stuff that *could* be just as easily done by their Techs on the phone, or in chat, but because the front lines are so frustratingly pathetic, the people that would come to a place like SatelliteGuys, aren't getting helped because they wouldn't bother until it was higher dollars and cents, a customer loss issue.. or because they knew someone (Scott sending emails to a contact inside dish) or someone was secretly paying attention from Dish and realizing their name was getting worse and worse in the industry for how poorly conceived their support is.
Don't get me wrong the people with Dish IRT have done quite a lot of good ... but again, much of what they have done, wouldn't be necessary if not for Dish proper being loaded with incompetent people.
I'm going to partially disagree. There are things that the phone CSR's could get right that they don't, that's for sure. But I think the DIRT team has an advantage for some things from being on the boards and not only learning, but understanding problems. Maybe part of the training for CSR's should be spent on Satellite Guys......
I agree with you about Dish IRT .. but again the simple fact is that they would not need to be, if Dish were doing *their* job right .. part of that is that Dish's training is inadequate. Their internal communication is clearly in chaos when it comes to technical support, and from all accounts from outside dish, it seems that Dish is still not learning from their greatest available tool (namely Dish IRT).
mfoster711 said:
Even when it is "off" the 722 still is on. It has been reported that th 722 draws the power of a 60 watt ligjt bilb 24 - 7.
Ventilation of these uniys was an after thought. If the unit is not out in the open, nothing on top, it will be ok. Put iy in an enclosure and u have serious potential for failire due to heat. Hence the fans
Ross
Sent from my DROIDX using SatelliteGuys
I guess the best thing to do is take the info that has been posted above and look to see what provider meets your needs. Both companies are not perfect, and both seem to move toward an area of focus with Direct being out of market sports and Dish with movies and now with the Block buster movie pass. One thing though is I do like is the concept of the Blockbuster movie pass it a out of the box conept I think for future growth as you will now be able to stream
This is absolutely false. All HD DVRs (both DISH and DIRECTV) are spinning their hard drives 24/7. DIRECTV HD DVRs probably consume a little less power unless you use an external hard drive in which case both hard drives are spinning at all times.
Programming cost will almost always be higher with DIRECTV. Equipment will be lower, but it may not balance out with the slightly higher DVR fee and the $4/month Whole Home DVR Service (peer-to-peer viewing).
NFL Red Zone with DIRECTV is not the same channel as NFL Red Zone with everyone else. Several DIRECTV subscribers have lamented the DIRECTV version in comparison.
dish top 250 after all promos 69.99
directv choice ultimate 70.99
ok $1 higher
there is 1 dvr fee per account, and any reciever after is $6 a month, dvr or not
the difference is each unit feeds 1 tv, so you would need 2 units possibley, for $12 a month
but they could both be dvrs and hd
Note of correction : Whole Home DVR is $3/month, not $4
And yes, programming cost with D* will almost always be a little more than with E*, but equipment costs can certainly make the total bill less or nearly so.
Currently I have Premier with 3 HR24 and Whole Home DVR and with no discounts that would be $136.99
If I had E*, I would need 2 HDDVRs, which would make the HW bill not so much. When I had E*, I had one 722k and one 612, hardware was $10/month
With E* my bill would be $127.98
A difference of $9.01, $3.00 of which is for whole home DVR which is not available now from E*. For the other $6.01 I'm getting more sports, including more boxing and football all in HD and more of the premium movie channels in HD. I'm losing some basic HD.
Overall, I believe I'm getting more for more money, which is what you would expect...
I appreciate my WD green drive which works well with my Dish receivers and spins itself down rather aggressively, yet comes back when the receiver accesses it. My Seagate greendrive and my WD Caviar Blue, by comparison, never spin down.
