What have I done !!!!!!!!!

[flytank]

Well, In a nutshell, I was a Dish customer for 14 months. I had just about everything they offered (HD,All movie channels, Playboy, etc.). After some "common sense" thinking I figured that I was paying too much for what I had, $160 per month. I'm entitled to basic cable which is included in my homeowner's association dues, plus I also have excellent high speed internet as well also provided by cable (Comcast/Adelphia). I gave comcast a call to figure how much would I pay if I switched to them. In all, High Speed internet, HD, all movie channels, etc would be just under $130. Considering that I was paying $160 for Dish AND $60 for high speed premier internet, I could save about $100 every month !!! Not to mention the fact that I was paying twice for something since basic cable is provided to me as I explained above.

Well...I switched and I am extremely dissapointed with the dismal decrease in signal quality. Even the HD's dont look as bright as they did with Dish. Some channels cant even be seen with wavy lines and much distortion. I am in extreme suffering as I have both, plasma and DLP tv's with HDMI connections and all the works and am unable to appreciate them.

Dish says that I need to wait at least 6 months before they treat me as a new customer again and be able to get the free installs and free "leased" equipment.

I dont think I can wait that long with the poor image quality I'm getting so I am strongly considering going the DirecTV route.

Thoughts ?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Do you still have the equipment in your possession?

 

[flytank]

No, I returned all the equipment and the LNB's, had an installer come and take all the dishes out and the multiswitches and helped me pack them and they are already recieved by Dish, and they already issued my refunds. The only thing left in my roof was the bases for the dish arm as the installer said I would surely return to either DirecTV or Dish and therefore putting any dish there again would be a snap !!! This guy could be a prophet for all I know (LOL).

 

[boba]

Welcome to Directv.

 

[flytank]

Thank you boba, however I havent taken the plunge yet, just soliciting inputs to make an educated decision. Dish and DirecTV are very much alike, however, I'm very interested in DirecTV's plans to significantly increase their HD programming later this year. Just hope that their plans dont get affected by that recent explosion with the SeaLunch platform...

 

[charper1]

If I read correct the next of DirecTV's two birds (DirecTV-10) is not being done by Sea Launch, but by ArianeSpace; the 2nd one (DirecTV-11) is SeaLaunch. I think of only Dish & DirecTV scheduled launches, that Dish's EchoStar-11 would have been the next SeaLaunch.

If sports and networks are your "bag" like mine and the HD future (like you said) rolls outs as planned; even if delayed by a month or so; then DirecTV might be you bet. If you do not need the sports, or networks, then Dish may be your bet now.

 

[Jimbo]

Thank you boba, however I havent taken the plunge yet, just soliciting inputs to make an educated decision. Dish and DirecTV are very much alike, however, I'm very interested in DirecTV's plans to significantly increase their HD programming later this year. Just hope that their plans dont get affected by that recent explosion with the SeaLunch platform...

Fly,
D*'s first sat launch is a ground based launch, the potential sea based launch will not be till fall and they are expected to have no problems with having a sea launch at that time.

Jimbo

 

[flytank]

Guys, thank you very much for your inputs. It looks like I'll be paying about 25 dollars less with DirecTV for the same channels that I had with Dish. Dish does have more HD channels (at this time) but most of that are the VOOM channels that I hardly ever watched anyway. I'm big time into movies though, but, as I said Dish wont take me as a new customer again till 6 months have elapsed but DirecTV's upcoming HD expansion looks very appealing. I have a very good association with a local satellite retailer (they did a superb job with my Dish install in 2004) and they promised to take good care of me whether I go with DirecTV or back to Dish, they do subcontractor work for both. I can get them to set me up within next week, will post about how everything went, once again, thanks everyone.

 

[vurbano]

Well, In a nutshell, I was a Dish customer for 14 months. I had just about everything they offered (HD,All movie channels, Playboy, etc.). After some "common sense" thinking I figured that I was paying too much for what I had, $160 per month. I'm entitled to basic cable which is included in my homeowner's association dues, plus I also have excellent high speed internet as well also provided by cable (Comcast/Adelphia). I gave comcast a call to figure how much would I pay if I switched to them. In all, High Speed internet, HD, all movie channels, etc would be just under $130. Considering that I was paying $160 for Dish AND $60 for high speed premier internet, I could save about $100 every month !!! Not to mention the fact that I was paying twice for something since basic cable is provided to me as I explained above.

Well...I switched and I am extremely dissapointed with the dismal decrease in signal quality. Even the HD's dont look as bright as they did with Dish. Some channels cant even be seen with wavy lines and much distortion. I am in extreme suffering as I have both, plasma and DLP tv's with HDMI connections and all the works and am unable to appreciate them.

Dish says that I need to wait at least 6 months before they treat me as a new customer again and be able to get the free installs and free "leased" equipment.

I dont think I can wait that long with the poor image quality I'm getting so I am strongly considering going the DirecTV route.

Thoughts ?

If you are looking for HD PQ Directv is the last place you should look.

 

[chewy]

If you are looking for HD PQ Directv is the last place you should look.

Nice,,,,way to greet a FNG..

 

[Newshawk]

Nice,,,,way to greet a FNG..

You'd expect anything less of V?

 

[flytank]

Thanks for your feedback, both positive and not so positive (LOL). Actually, I've been a member for about a year now and do read the posts almost daily. I did not post much because I never really had a problem with Dish, except a horrible experience when I switched to their new MPEG4 receiver (622 & 211) in Feb/06. They came through in the end though.

In regards to Directv so far I haven't been too impressed with their CSR's, I tried ordering via the phone and they are charging me top dollars for the equipment (DVR's, HD DVR's), I remarked that Dish was not charging for their equipment and their answer was that they where charging for their equipment because it was top of the line. Isn't the HR-20 having all kinds of glitches and bugs?

Anyway, just waiting on Monday to see what kind of offer my acquaintance/satellite retailer can get me. They do both Directv and Dish.

Thanks again to everyone.

 

[tds4182]

Well, In a nutshell, I was a Dish customer for 14 months. I had just about everything they offered (HD,All movie channels, Playboy, etc.). After some "common sense" thinking I figured that I was paying too much for what I had, $160 per month. I'm entitled to basic cable which is included in my homeowner's association dues, plus I also have excellent high speed internet as well also provided by cable (Comcast/Adelphia). I gave comcast a call to figure how much would I pay if I switched to them. In all, High Speed internet, HD, all movie channels, etc would be just under $130. Considering that I was paying $160 for Dish AND $60 for high speed premier internet, I could save about $100 every month !!! Not to mention the fact that I was paying twice for something since basic cable is provided to me as I explained above.

Well...I switched and I am extremely dissapointed with the dismal decrease in signal quality. Even the HD's dont look as bright as they did with Dish. Some channels cant even be seen with wavy lines and much distortion. I am in extreme suffering as I have both, plasma and DLP tv's with HDMI connections and all the works and am unable to appreciate them.

Dish says that I need to wait at least 6 months before they treat me as a new customer again and be able to get the free installs and free "leased" equipment.

I dont think I can wait that long with the poor image quality I'm getting so I am strongly considering going the DirecTV route.

Thoughts ?

Call Comcast and have them send an experienced tech out to troubleshoot your entire system (cabling, connections, receiver, etc, etc). It won't cost anything and might help/solve your problem.

It's worth a try, at least. If it doesn't work, you're no worse off.

 

[chipvee]

Have you called your cable operator to see if they can fix your problem. There is a number of things that could be wrong. This does not sound normal and I would see if they can fix the problem before I would make another switch.

 

[flytank]

Thanks guys, I did call and had a comcast technician come over. He installed a signal booster at the outside box and basically said that the channels 01 to 99 are esentially analog and therefore the image would not be as great as digitalized satellite streams. In the end that didn't do much, as in fact the local channnels and channels like TWC, CNN, CNN Headline News, Disney, they all look very bad. The movie (non HD) channels all are basically fine, the HD's quality is far inferior to Satellite. Basically what the Comcast technician said is that they are aware of the decreased quality and are working to improve it. Be advised that here where I live in Orlando, FL my company is Adelphia, which is slowly transitioning into Comcast as Comcast purchased Adelphia last year. But all the trucks and tech's ID's say Comcast. Thanks again, right now I'm trying to watch the Discovery Channel and the signal quality is killing me !!!!

 

[Denver User]

Call Dish back and ask to talk to winback and they should let you came back as a new customer without the waiting the 6 months. They did for me when I made the same mistake by thinking I got a better deal with the cable company.

 

[stck4evr]

I suprised you cable company picture quality is so bad - I have dish, but I also subscribe to comcast HD local channels, because they look so much better than local channels in HD from Dish. Same with analog channels - they look much better than the Dish compressed digital version. The digital channels (not hd) are obviously as bad as dish... But since I mostly watch HD, or channels that are analog, i"m thinking about switching to back to comcast after my contract is up few months from now...

 

[Digital Dude]

Isn't "Borat" launching DirecTV's new satellite?

 

[iceturkee]

flytank, have you thought about bright house?

 

[vurbano]

Nice,,,,way to greet a FNG..

with honesty. Yes that is the best way