Dish Network or DirecTV

[cmckenney]

I think most people are unhappy in some way, shape or form with their cable provider. But are you unhappy enough to roll the dice with satellite? I'm a huge NFL fan, but not even Sunday Ticket can sway me to leave my safety net - cable. Guess I'm afraid of losing service to crappy weather (I live in New England.)

Electronic House is comparing both services:

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/dish_network_or_directv/

 

[Midcow2]

DishNetwork experience

I think most people are unhappy in some way, shape or form with their cable provider. But are you unhappy enough to roll the dice with satellite? I'm a huge NFL fan, but not even Sunday Ticket can sway me to leave my safety net - cable. Guess I'm afraid of losing service to crappy weather (I live in New England.)

Electronic House is comparing both services:

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/dish_network_or_directv/

I have had DishNetwork for about 4 years now. I have two DVRs 622 and 722 into four TVs ( two HD and two standard) and the 250 channel package and the cost is about $98 per month.

I am connected HDMI satellite receiver to AVR to 1080i LCD and the picture is very crisp and clear even on non HD channels.

The signal does occasionally go out during heavy rain, but not for long. Actually after hurricane Ike, I had satellite back before phone lines or power; was watching TV via generator. Comcast ( local cable) is still 38% down.

If you are primarliy interested in the NFL, I would make sure that you look at the best sports package that provides the coverage you want.

For what it is worth I have been very pleased with DishNetwork. I will never ever go back to cable. AT&T uVerse has been available in our area but it still has some glitches: (1) software lock-ups requiring 10 minute reboots, (2) one HD recording, (3) single DVR but with 4 recording streams).

Also about cancellation; there is a $240 cancellation charge prorated at $10 per month. There is also a service contract for $5.99 per month( DO NOT GET). A normal service call without a service contract is $49 and with it is $29. I have had 2 maybe 3 service calls total. In order to pay out you have to have 3 or more service calls a year; I average less than one a year.

 

[bandphan]

iff the FCC approves it, you might have a combined service

 

[WmAx]

I have used Dish Network for around 6 years. For the last 1 year I have used DirecTV. I will say this: when my DirecTV contract runs out I have every intention of going back to Dish Network. I don't like anything about DirecTV except for the large selection of HD channels. I don't like the crappy receiver(it draws high power and stays hot very warm even when turned 'off', and I despise it's menu and channel guide system structure) and I have had poor customer service experiences as well. I have had more negative experience in 1 year of DirecTv than in the total accumulated 6 years of experience with Dish Network.

-Chris

 

[Wandering Man]

I made the switch from CableOne to DirecTv at the first of the year. I verified that I would get the local channels before making the switch.

What I DIDN'T verify was that I would get the locals in HD.

Comparing my Internet Service (still Cableone) and TV bills, I pay about $15 less a month than what I was paying for just the Cable. Plus, I just installed an Off-Air antenna to get the locals in HD. The basic line-up on DirecTv does not include some of the channels I enjoyed with CableOne.

DirecTv does allow me to pick up those channels ala carte for $3 or $4 each, but then I'm back to where I was when I thought I paid too much for CableOne.

The new menu system is a bit confusing, as mentioned above.

There are a lot of HD channels, but I was getting the HD channels I wanted when I was with Cable.

Overall, I think for the way I watch TV, I probably made a mistake.

Right now, I'm thinking about pulling the plug on all of it next year (when my contract expires), and just going with the locals and Netflix.

Anyone got any advice on TiVo?

WM

 

[ivseenbetter]

I had DISH for the past 2 years. I finally gave it up because we would lose signal during rainstorms. It wasn't all the time but it was often enough that it annoyed the crap out of my wife. Heck, when it is raining out what do you want to do...watch TV. Well, can't enjoy that with the satellite. We even had two dishes configured so that if rain was coming from one direction the signal was supposed to go to the other dish (pointed at a different satellite) that would make us slightly more "rain-resistant". Oh well, we had too many rainstorms here in Virginia to keep putting up with it. I'm back with Cable. However, as soon as FIOS makes its way to our doorstep I will jump on board. I think that will be the best service.

 

[allargon]

The guy that runs satelliteguys.us (Scott G.) lives in Conn.

I live in Austin, TX. I only lose service from Dish during heavy thunderstorms. This year I've seen very few. Time Warner Cable would go out on me when the sky was clear on the weekend. TWC despite being across the street from where I lived told me they couldn't get to me until Monday. I switched to Dish and never looked back. I have U-verse, DirectTV, C-band and TWC available to me. The only other one I would consider would be Direct as C-band costs too much.

 

[Exit]

I have had Dish Network for about 10 years now and I am happy with the service. I have snowstorm or thunderstorm blackouts about twice a year for about a half hour each. I am in St. Louis and we get rain a good amount of the time but the satelite receiver still works in all but the severest storms. I get the basic SD package and 10 channels of HD for about $53 a month. Dish has been very good about upgrading receivers and antennas for free or a small amount so I can't complain. In the past, Direct TV had an advantage in having more sports channels available to buy, but I don't know if this is still true. I don't watch sports enough to be interested in more channels so I don't keep track of it.

 

[Phil Taylor]

Count me in among the Dish Network fans. I've had Dish for 8 years now and love it. I prefer the menus, ease of navigation and variety of receivers over Direct. With a properly aimed and securely mounted dish the rain outages are few and far between during the heaviest of downpours. Actually the signal goes out for a brief moment before the severe stuff and we know the rain is really going to come down then. Outages usually only last :30 to a minute tops - used to be worse but I tweaked my dish and now they are few and short. If anyone is having numerous long outages you may want to check your signal level strength on your receiver and re-aim your dish if needed - since tweaking mine I'm at 125% on 110 (pegging the meter) and 121% on 119.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I have Direct now, I liked Dish better but when their installer stole my PS2 and they wouldn't do anything about it, I had to change service!

 

[randy98ss]

I see a lot of Dish Network loves, so I will stand up for Direct TV. I have had Direct TV since '98 and I have not had any problems with the service. As far as outages go, I have never had a problem. Any interrputions of service are from severe snow and rain, which only last from 10-15 minutes. Plus the Sunday Ticket is a huge advantage.

To be fair, I do not have any experience with Dish Network, and I do not know the differences in resolution and signal compression and widget production .

 

[Hi Ho]

I have had Dish since last November and the only time I ever had service disruptions was when my dish got buried in snow. Rain-X solved that problem. I have never had an outage due to rain. Those of you who lose signal due to rain might want to get your setup checked out. Last December we had a major storm here that involved hurricane force winds and unbelievable rain that put city streets under 5+ feet of water and I never lost signal once.

With that said; I am very happy with the service overall. I like their DVR better than Tivo and the Comcast DVR isn't even in the same league. The picture quality is top notch. Even SD stations look great. I find it quite amusing that some of the SD channels on Dish actually look as good or better than some of the "HD" channels on Com(pression)cast.

 

[Chitown2477]

I have DirecTv and I LOVE it!!!! 4 years and running.

Drell

 

[fox]

I had Directv for several years and it was problem free. I finally did switch to DISH because they offer local channels which meant better reception than what one would sometimes get off a rooftop antenna. Also, Directv last I heard did not offer a dual tuner for 2 TV's. Yes there can be times of losing the signal due to rain fade or snow, but Directv would have that too. All in all, I've happy with DISH. Whatever looks good to you can be your answer.

 

[Warpdrv]

Dish Network all the way.... they might be a little slower adopting the HD channels but they get there eventually.... but I have yet to have a problem with them.... Had a receiver go out, and it was replaced promptly with no issues. HD and SD quality is awesome.... I love it... I just which they didn't charge for local channels in HD, but I gots me and antenna.

Had Direct a while back and I will never go back to them again...
Plus those RIAA type lawsuits that were going on a while back was another reason for me to hate them... They would sue anyone that had Direct and bought a smart card reader even if it was for legitimate purposes. Cost my buddy $5000.00 in lawyers fee's to prove his innocence..... No different then the RIAA scandalous behavior....

http://www.directvdefense.org/index.shtml

 

[Nomo]

I'm looking to make the move to Dish Network myself and cancel my Time Warner package. Probably tomorrow.
The dual TV receiver is the deciding factor for me. Most people I know with satellite have Directv and have relatively few complaints other than occasional weather related signal loss. But they don't have 6 TVs in their home as I do.