Posted: 7/9/2006 7:47:38 AM EDT
| Anyone have any insight on which might be the better choice? I've been researching, and it sounds as if the menu in Direct TV is better and easier to use, but the picture quality is better in Dish Network, neither of which I care too much about. Guess I am more interested in service, is one better than the other when it comes to repairs, service, etc.? Comparing equitable packages, price-wise, they seem to be a tie. Any advice or wisdom anyone could provide would be appreciated. |
|
You might want to rethink your decision point. Neither company will fly people out of their headquarters for maintenance on your local dish. They hire local people to do local work so that's going to vary (greatly) between areas. I would think that even within crews there's more variation than between companies as a whole. I have firends that work at both uplink sites and I've visited/toured both plants. DirecTV is moving to MPEG4 which will allow them to either increase quality or quanity of channels. Running wires and pointing a dish isn't rocket science. For me it was a difference in the pricing and the channels that I wanted. |
|
i have had both. started with dish. then i moved and where i was i couldna see the dish satellite but i could see the directtv (higher in sky perhaps). for me there was no difference since both seem to carry the same stuff except there is more sports of directtv which i don't really care a lot about. my experience with installers is both companies contract out and contractors often do both companies. bottom line i guess if you want more sports go with directtv (if you can get both services). |
|
I have had both as well. Direct TV first. One day I came home from work, and they had disconnected the major network channels. Said that I wasn't autorized to have them. They said I could receive the networks locally. I said ladie, this is fucking Montana. The closest city is 280 miles away, and my attenna dont do it. Called Dish, and they said no problem. Been with them since. |
Dish has already moved to MPEG4 for a lot of their programming, especially HDTV. Basically, both are a bunch of criminals. Honestly, quality (except HDTV) sucks on both as they try to cram another 50 shopping channels one their already overcrowded satellites. However, for the average couch potato used to the traditionally crappy cable TV pictures, its quite acceptable. If you are interested in getting local programming via satellite, that might be your deciding factor -- which one offers it. |
DirecTV has 2 new Ka-band MPEG4 sats that have been operating since November, and two more will be launched and in place by next summer. These sats are virtually empty at the moment (only HD locals are on it right now), due to a lack of HD networks, but as networks transition to HD, they will come up on these new sats. There is a LOT of capacity on 128 transponders! HD is limited right now for everyone. This is a transition period. Analog broadcasting (and analog cable) goes away in 2009, so we've got a few years before there's a wholesale conversion. But DirecTV is already prepared. Also, note that DirecTV has joined a partnership with Intel and Microsoft to (as an option) integrate DirecTV programming with Windows Media Center (which will be integral in Vista, and not a separate version of the OS as it is now), and with portable media players. -Troy |
|
I've had DirecTV for many years now with no complaints. There is some bad juju going on between Rupert Murdoc of DirecTV and Tiv (they have gone their separate ways). So if Tivo is important (not just a DVR, but namebrand Tivo), check carefully. I already have fiber to my house with up to 30mb/s bandwidth and will be getting IP TV soon, so I'll probably be pitching the Direct TV then in order to get Video on Demand (thousands of shows on file to watch whenever you want) Ed |
Yeah, I was not impressed with the quality of Dish. The cable here is MUCH better quality. |
|
sure is strange no one has pointed out what i consider the most important feature of DISH, which i have had for 10 years !! THAT feature is that DISH uses RF signals to change channels whereas DirecTV is an IR system, the difference is that with DTV you have to point the controller at the box/receiver, with DISH you can be in any room and change the channel, thus our receiver is with all our other electronic eqpt. |
This is completely dependant on which receivers you get. Both companies have IR-only receivers, and both have receivers with RF capabilities. -Troy |
|
Question on Direct TV. I do not have a lan line in my house. Do I have to pay any extra other than when ordering special sports packages? I emailed Direct TV and this is part of thier response. In order to watch different programs in different rooms at the same time, you will need to have a separate DIRECTV Receiver for each TV that you would like to use. As long as your DIRECTV Receivers are hooked up to the same phone line, we can "mirror" your monthly programming to all of your receivers. Then, instead of charging you the full monthly price for each receiver, we charge the full price for the first set-top box, and bill each additional receiver at just $4.99 per receiver per month. Is that saying without an lan line that I will have to pay full price on both recievers? |
|
Both companies WANT *all* of your receivers to be connected to a phone line. They want this so badly that they are actually back-charging installers for every receiver they install that fails to call in. In the last year, they've really cranked up the pressure for phone lines. HOWEVER, as a customer, if you don't have land-line service, there's nothing they can do. They won't charge you, and they're not SO stupid that they'll give up a customer over a phone line, but expect your installer to "encourage" you to get a phone line. You will need to order PPV online (free) or via phone (a service charge for using the IVR, and a larger service charge for talking to a human operator), and you *may* not be able to get the big sports packages (NFL Sunday Ticket especially), due to the licensing agreements they have with the league. DishNetwork actually charges the customer $5/month if your receivers don't "phone home", and they've been known to cut off service to additional receivers if they suspect for any reason that all the receivers aren't in the same home. They regularly do audits of accounts with no phone activity, by calling you up and asking you to read info off your screen for each receiver. If you can't read what they send to the receiver, they assume it's not in the house, and they cut off the service to it. (This has driven some DN customers to DTV). -Troy |
|
I currently have Dish Network, with a HDTV reciever for my bigscreen in the living room, and a DVR for my three upstairs bedrooms. DirecTV kept sending me love letters to switch to them, so out of curiosity I gave them a call and an opportunity to convince me that I should give my business to them. I got a very young sounding hispanic gal on the phone, and while she was very nice she was dumb as a stone. Perhaps she was a trainee, or possibly they run an outreach program, I don't know, but the gal could do nothing but refer back to what was printed in the book she kept flipping through. It was obvious that's what she was doing, since every time I asked a question there was a long 'uuuummmm' followed by some pages flipping, followed by her giving me a perfectly positioned sales blurb that there is no way on this earth she came up with by herself. She was completely unable to answer even these simple questions for me: Why is DirecTV better than what I currently have, since your channel selection is essentially the same? (I don't do the NFL, NHL, Baseball or any of the other sports packages, so this wasnt' a draw for me) I heard DirectTV might be adding more HD channels, which definately interests me, can you tell me if the rumor is true, and if so when and what channels? I pay $XX.XX a month for my service, can you save me money? But the biggest thing that turned me off was that DirecTV makes you buy your HDTV reciever, and/or your DVR reciever, both of which I get for free from Dish Network when I have the HD and DVR programming packages. The monthly service fees for these are about the same between the two companies, so why in the hell would I pay $500 for what I currently get for nothing? In addition, I've had each of my recievers replaced for being faulty once in the almost three years I've had the service. All I had to do was call Dish, work with them on troubleshooting, and if they couldn't fix the issue they put another reciever in the mail to me, no charge. If I owned the reciever, like DirecTV subscribers, I'd have been SOL, and would have had to shell out even more cash. I'm happy with Dish, and unless DirecTV comes up with something better, I'm staying put. |
Tell him to get a different, universal remote, like the Harmony 659 or one of the newer models. You can adjust the pause time between signals when buttons are pushed, and go a lot faster than the stock remote will allow you to. I can scroll as fast as I can hit the button on mine. |
Dang I didn't realize that Direct didn't use RF signals for their remotes. That's a deal buster for me. I take the outputs of my decoders and run them thru modulators and mix them with my surveillance cameras' outputs. I can watch the dish signal any where in my house using the RF remote controls controlling the DVR's from different rooms. |
That's news to me. My phone line has never been attached to my reciever and I've never been billed for anything extra. As a matter of fact, they never even brought it up when they did the install. I know in their setup manuals they want you to have them connected, but my reciever is in a media niche, with no way to plug it in to the phoneline. I suppose I could connect the one upstairs, but that would be work, so I've put it off for a few years. |
DTV switched to a lease (vs own) program for their receivers, just like Dish and most cable services. And while they charge you $100 for either a DVR or an HD receiver, they will mail-in rebate you $100 for the first one of each. -Troy |
I remember her telling me there were rebates on the equipment, but I was going to be out $300 when it was all said and done. I still would have ended up paying for something I currently get for free. Do they warrant their recievers, or provide any support? |