Dish Network or Direct TV ?

[AZ Greg]

I recently purchased a HDTV and my local cable company (Cox) does not at this time supply true HD programming. Therefore, I have been trying to determine whether Dish or DirecTV is better. I have thoroughly explored both websites and it is a "dizzying" task to compare the two.

However, current users of HD satellite programming might be able to assist me, as well as others, as to which company to go with. (In the spirit of full disclosure, when I lived in VT, we did have DirecTV, but not for HDTV purposes.)

The assistance and advice from esteemed membership is greatly appreciated!

[Bfish]

i selected Directv. am mostly happy. more HD channels shorlty i'm told. love the NFL ticket. when we get a serious storm and the sw is clouded up the sat signal is disrupted. i really have no complaints. :p

[ltljohn]

I ordered Direct TV HD, the installer came out and looked at my 70 to 100 foot trees south of my house, did a signal check and said"no HD for you" :doh not enough signal. I only have regular tv but I am happy with their programming.:D It only gets fuzzyfor short periods during severe rain and electrical storms but comes back quickly.

[Bfish]

I ordered Direct TV HD, the installer came out and looked at my 70 to 100 foot trees south of my house, did a signal check and said"no HD for you" :doh not enough signal. I only have regular tv but I am happy with their programming.:D It only gets fuzzyfor short periods during severe rain and electrical storms but comes back quickly.


i actually had to move my new HD dish to a better site in one of my pastures to get a clearer skyview. funny thing, but with all the storms we've had my neighbors trees were "reconfigured" which required the move. the installer did w/o any problem.

[Belquar]

We have Direct TV at work. GOOD LORD DOES IT SUCK. Rainstorm and our signal is toast. I have never understood how a company can market a product that fails when it is most likely going to be used. JEEBUS.

We are switching to cable.

We have comcast up here.

COX.....probably the crappiest cable company I have ever experienced. THEY JUST PLAIN SUCK TOO.

[osbornk]

I have Dish Network and HD. I get about 30 HD stations which is far more than Direct. Direct promises 150 HD stations "soon" but they have promised this for months. Dish has assured us that they will not fall behind other providers with the number of HD stations. I would suggest Dish with the model 622 HD receiver and DVR. It will record 200 hours of digital programing or 30 hours of HD programing or any combination. It has a program guide that goes for 8 days (usually between 10,000 and 12,000 movies). It will work on 2 TVs at once (one HD and the other SD), you can record two things at the same time while watching 2 sepatate previously recorded programs on the 2 TVs. You can set it to record a particular show every time it airs or only new episodes (if they change nights or times, it knows). It has Dishpass where you can put in a favorite actor or subject and it will record everything that has your request in the title or description. It will also pick up any local HD programing you can get on an antenna. Most amazing machine I have every used and it does a lot of stuff I don't even know about.

Car racing, football games and other sports are truly amazing in HD. Part of the NFL package includes TNT, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network, RUSH (extreme sports) and some other sports oriented stations. Some areas have the local HD stations on the satellite but is is a gradual thing.

[RTRandy]

Greg,

Maybe this will help answer your questions:

http://www.dish-network-vs-direct-tv.com/dish-network-vs-direct-tv.htm

[Rebus]

I have Dish Network and HD. I get about 30 HD stations which is far more than Direct. Direct promises 150 HD stations "soon" but they have promised this for months. Dish has assured us that they will not fall behind other providers with the number of HD stations. I would suggest Dish with the model 622 HD receiver and DVR. It will record 200 hours of digital programing or 30 hours of HD programing or any combination. It has a program guide that goes for 8 days (usually between 10,000 and 12,000 movies). It will work on 2 TVs at once (one HD and the other SD), you can record two things at the same time while watching 2 sepatate previously recorded programs on the 2 TVs. You can set it to record a particular show every time it airs or only new episodes (if they change nights or times, it knows). It has Dishpass where you can put in a favorite actor or subject and it will record everything that has your request in the title or description. It will also pick up any local HD programing you can get on an antenna. Most amazing machine I have every used and it does a lot of stuff I don't even know about.

Car racing, football games and other sports are truly amazing in HD. Part of the NFL package includes TNT, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network, RUSH (extreme sports) and some other sports oriented stations. Some areas have the local HD stations on the satellite but is is a gradual thing.

+1 for Dish Network. In the past 10 years I have had both Satellite providers and local cable. I just moved back to Dish Network after a disappointing year on cable. I compared both Direct and Dish, and selected Dish on the strength of the 622 receiver which I anm totally impressed with, for all the reasons Osbornk has pointed out.

If you are a real NFL addict, you will want Direct TV with the Sunday Ticket package. But it is expensive and and beyond my football watching abilities. I get the Raiders in HD on Dish Net on my local network station so I am satisfied.

[OfficerImpersonator]

I have DirecTV because I grew tired of hating the cable company.

Long story:

I got digital cable because I presumed it would provide a cleaner (digital is better, right?) signal. It turns out my signal got worse with digital cable as it permitted greater ghosting of the over the air channels. I called the cable company to complain and they told me that digital cable allows them to cram more channels through a smaller wire and in no way was designed to provide an improved signal. With this revelation, I requested that they convert me back to analog cable.

The next day I came home from work to discover they had cut off my service completely. After speaking to seven customer service reps over the course of the next 90 minutes, I was able to get them to send someone out the next day to reconnect my cable - but the decision to go with satellite had been made for me by the cable company's incompetence.

DirecTV (and maybe Dish Network) is the ONLY way to get surround sound with all programs that have surround sound. Cable (at least Comcast here in the Seattle area) strips all the good stuff (fat audio surround sound signals, for example) from their programming to squeeze more through their digital pipeline.

I have a friend who has the Dish Network. He's always complaining about horrible customer service and a less robust than DirecTV channel line-up.

As far as weather interruptions, I guess heavy rain storms can scatter a signal, but we don't have heavy rainstorms here in the Pacific Northwest so I've never experienced the problem. The only weather problem I have is when I have to go sweep the snow off the dish a couple of times during the winter.

I'll never go back to cable.

[DarthWader]

Greg,

Having been a former DirecTV subscriber and now a present user of Dish Network, I feel both companies offer the same quality of services. I do, however, object to the false promise made to me by Dish Network when I agreed to switch. At that time, Dish Network offered a $100.00 rebate to be appied to the first year of service if I completed a survey on line and sent in the proper form. I did so within the time required, and when my monthly bill showed no evidence of the rebate being appied, I contacted the company and their written response two months later was that I had provided the wrong registration numbers. After finally reaching a "live" operator at Dish Network, I was told that I had sent the correct information. However, by that time, the promotion had long expired. I'm sure you will be happy with the quality provided by either company's HD service but I will switch back to DirecTV as soon as my committment to Dish Network has ended.

[The_Veg]

For almost three years I have had Dish Network repackaged as AT&T (nee SBC) Home Entertainment. The reason is because it is the only programming beyond rabbit-ears that is available in my apartment complex. It's usually perfectly good, but in the almost three years I've had to have the receiver changed at least twice due to mysterious problems that techs couldn't figure out. It goes through periods of wonkyness in which I have to re-download the program-guide every time I turn it on, and often during these periods this means unplugging the receiver for five minutes and starting over. It's usually reliable in bad weather, but with exceptions now and then. I do not know where the antenna is; apparently there is one for my building or maybe the entire complex. Install was just a matter of bringing in a receiver and wires and hooking it up. The problem with the repackaging I mentioned earlier is that when there is a problem, AT&T tells me to call Dish Network and Dish Network tells me to call AT&T. :banghead

Generally I have been much happier with cable in the past, but all forms of pay-TV had made me scream and blow steam at times.

There is an HD-out socket on the receiver, but I have yet to hook up to the TV set because there is also HD-out on my DVD player and no HD-in on the receiver and the two devices use physically different sockets for the HD out and I have yet to decide which I want to use more and buy the appropriate cable. I hope that makes sense, and if you can diagram that long sentence I'll buy you a beer at the next rally.

[osbornk]

[QUOTE=motomanjim;231479I do, however, object to the false promise made to me by Dish Network when I agreed to switch. At that time, Dish Network offered a $100.00 rebate to be appied to the first year of service if I completed a survey on line and sent in the proper form. I did so within the time required, and when my monthly bill showed no evidence of the rebate being appied, I contacted the company and their written response two months later was that I had provided the wrong registration numbers. After finally reaching a "live" operator at Dish Network, I was told that I had sent the correct information. However, by that time, the promotion had long expired. I'm sure you will be happy with the quality provided by either company's HD service but I will switch back to DirecTV as soon as my committment to Dish Network has ended.[/QUOTE]

I've been a Dish Network subscriber since 1999 and I found you have to get things resolved while you are on the phone (with any company). I have called at all time of the day or night and I don't give up until the problem is resolved. They can credit your account while you are on the phone. If I call and get someone who doesn't understand the issue or gets difficult, I get "cut off" and have to call back. They have service centers all over the country and you always get someone far from your prior call. I always find someone who understands the problem or resolves my problem to shut me up and my end result has always been good.

I have a friend who has Direct with a DVR and he is amazed at the things I can do and get than he cannot. My daughter has digital cable (Comcast) and it is a poor substitute. My other daughter has Cox cable with HD and DVR and it is only slightly better.

[BMWDEAN]

I have had DirecTV for several years. I carry the receiver back and forth between Tucson and Madison. I like that. I assume Dish would be the same. DirecTV is o.k., but I think the NFL ticket is way too expen$ive, so I dropped it after two years. All I would want is the Green Bay Packers, but you cannot buy one team at a reduced price. You mu$t get everything or nothing.

In Tucson, because the weather is sunny virtually every day all winter I have no loss of signal. In Madison I lose the signal occasionally when the weather turns cloudy or rainy. Usually I lose the signal near the end of a drama when the conclusion is about to be revealed.

I have no experience with Dish.

[RandallIsland]

You mu$t get everything or nothing.

out

[eljeffe]

Been a DirecTV customer since 1990. If you have a football FANATIC in your household, DirecTV is the only way to go.

[ian408]

Been a satisfied customer of DirecTV for some time. But I'm going through the choices
for HD programming as well. Since I also have a TiVo box, I'm a little concerned about
the availability of TiVo and HD as well.

By now, you probably know that TiVo and DirectTV had something of a falling out and
replaced them with their own rather poor quality DVR. And they want to sell you
the box then lease it back to you. Rather than month-to-month, it's a two
year contract. If you have a moderate selection, your bill is likely over $100/mo. For
a contract, that could be worth upto $3000 with a premium package. WTF is up with
that?

I'm seriously considering going the cable route. But I really do like the convenience
and quality of satellite.

[hlothery]

I'm a TVholic. I have a 60" Sony HD TV. The quality of the picture is what matters most to me, and secondary to that is the availability of HD programming. I have had Dish, my son has Direct, and I have cable. I have extensively researched all of them. In general, I believe the quality of the signal is best on cable. The number of channels is a little better on Dish, but cable is catching up fast. From an expense perspective, cable is a little more expensive, but worth it, IMHO, due to the quality of signal and the fact that it is available during rain storms. YMMV.

[AZ Greg]

Thanks for making my inquiry into a most interesting thread. I know many prefer to talk about BMW motorcycles exclusively, but with the NFL season upon us . . . you know . . .

Keep the posts coming and I'm sure we will all learn more.

Thanks again!

[wmubrown]

I have DirecTV because I grew tired of hating the cable company.

Long story:

I got digital cable because I presumed it would provide a cleaner (digital is better, right?) signal. It turns out my signal got worse with digital cable as it permitted greater ghosting of the over the air channels. I called the cable company to complain and they told me that digital cable allows them to cram more channels through a smaller wire and in now way was designed to provide an improved signal. With this revelation uncovered, I requested that they convert me back to analog cable.

DirecTV (and maybe Dish Network) is the ONLY way to get surround sound with all programs that have surround sound. Cable (at least Comcast here in the Seattle area) strips all the good stuff (fat audio surround sound signals, for example) from their programming to squeeze more through their digital pipeline.

I have a friend who has the Dish Network. He's always complaining about horrible customer service and a less robust than DirecTV channel line-up.

As far as weather interruptions, I guess heavy rain storms can scatter a signal, but we don't have heavy rainstorms here in the Pacific Northwest so I've never experienced the problem. The only weather problem I have is when I have to go sweep the snow off the dish a couple of times during the winter.

I'll never go back to cable.

I've had similar experiences. I had Dishnetwork for 3 years and was quite happy with it. I never had a problem, so I never called tech support but have heard that is their weakpoint. I grew fed up with AT&T's DSL service, lies on their pricing and ever increasing rates without corresponding increases in speed. So I called Comcast. They sent someone out, hooked up three boxes and highspeed internet. LOVED the speed (8MB/sec) I received and the picture looked good. Within a month or so, my picture degraded, the internet connection dies regularly (typically midnight until...??), the internet speed slows to a crawl at peak times (between 4 and 7 PM) because cable network speed is SHARED with your neighbors, which they don't tell you (but which I was aware of before signing up, I just didn't think it would get worse than DSL speeds of 700KB/S in my area) and then they offer NO, ZERO, NADA HD channels and admit they have no plans to add them in my area. My TV signal dies regularly, the boxes lock up so I hear audio but see no video, their customer service is terrible, the service guy has been out three times to my house and finally re-ran all wires and then left my bedroom disconnected! I fixed the bedroom connection myself, it wasn't worth waiting days for another service call when, in 10 minutes, I tracked down the correct wire and reconnected it to the block myself.

I'm going back to Dishnetwork. I've had them twice in the past 10 years, never and issue. I'll keep the cable internet feed, it's still (overall) better than DSL, which is my only other option here.

[Layton]

i dont know how it is where you are but here dish is on one side of the building and direct is on the other side of the building.i think it's all hughes owned.we live in the country so sattelite was the only choice we had for cable.rain lightning storms all that stuff wreaks havock on the sattelite reception.

[GeneT]

Direct TV has a problem, they don't understand the replacement converter box does not work. You wind up talking to some idiot who has the mentality of a 4 year old. Should you call back you get another idiot that wants to walk you through a bunch of try this crap. All the time not understanding the unit will not power up. Customer service, I think not.

No such problems with Dish Net Work, they have local contractors, meaning real live people to help you or come to your house if necessary.

:dance

[osbornk]

Turned on my TV this morning and found that Dish Network had added 6 new HD channels since yesterday. I have about 40 HD channels now and I don't have any premium channels (top 250 though).

[AZ Greg]

Thanks to one and all for your input on my original question . . .

I have more information with which to make an informed decision.

[BMWDEAN]

Re: internet connections (aside from TV).

In Wisconsin I used to get cable internet, which was great. Then I switched to AT&T DSL because it was the same speed, was cheaper, and provided wireless connection in my house to my laptop. My wife can work on the desktop and I can use the laptop simultaneously. Could not do that with cable.

In Arizona, all that is available to me is satellite internet. Compared to DSL or cable, it is slooooow, though faster than dial up. Customer and technical service is utterly abysmal. I understand a new service in town (http://www.simplybits.com/) may offer much faster service with local support. I will investigate this fall. I yearn to dump HughesNet.

[sjbmw]

Anyone tried Verizon's FIOS TV service?