CMoore2004
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI
| reply to jimmiew
Re: [DISH] How about Dish Network HD vs. DirecTV?
I've read up on the subject in the past and came to two conclusions:
1) DirecTV uses less compression.
2) The difference in quality is noticable, with DirecTV being out front.
Every place I've read has said satellite was preferred over cable for HD quality, but now that cable companies are using SDV and FiOS has its unbelievable bandwidth caps, I'm not sure how long it'll be that way or even if it still is.
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Charter 5M | Windows XP MCE SP2 | Mobile AMD Athlon 64 4000+ | 1.5GB RAM | ATI Mobile Radeon X600 128MB | 120GB HDD |
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SinNombre
join:2004-09-16
Charlotte, NC
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to jimmiew
said by jimmiew  :Yep, I have DirecTV now but want to upgrade to HD. DTV packages are more expensive than Dish and plus they want $299 for the HD receiver upgrade. Dood - how long have you been with DTV? Don't play that game ... call them and when they tell you it would be $299 for an HD receiver, tell them "But it would be free from Dish..." Then see what they say! |
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Smuuth
Tanstaafl
Premium
join:2001-03-22
Aurora, CO
2 edits | reply to wreck
said by wreck :Maybe so! I would like to see the VERY latest HD line-up from each because like I said -- there is MUCH more HD content offered on Dish than even they advertised a month ago. I'm not "thrilled" having 2 HD receivers working 4 separate Tv's -- but so far, I have not had any "buggy" problems. Here is the best comparison lineup of HD programming I have seen: »www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthre···t=419472 |
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wreck
join:2005-06-04
Dallas, TX | Thank-you! Excellent comparison. Yes, Direct TV is "ahead" -- but personally, there are only a few channels I really miss not having in HD that D* has that Dish Network doesn't. |
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rjohn1015
@charter.com
| reply to jimmiew
I used to install dtv. If you are looking for just an HD I imagine with a promotion and HD upgrade the receiver and dish would run you about $100. Its the HD DVR combos that are the $300 units.
Also If you cancel w/ one of the providers with the intention of going to another, tell them that before you cancel and they will offer you all sorts of deals just to stay with their company. Request the retention department and bitch about your bill every 6 months with the threat of cancellation. Your bill will be cheaper than Dishs' in a year plus you will have an extra sports package or movie channel to boot. Be sure and threaten to cancel over the phone. Dtv makes all of its money on stock so they all in all don't give two shits about whether or not you (the customer) get a free HD DVR as long as you agree to pay for service.
If you do cancel and then try to go back under a new installation package like you are talking about, you will have to sign up under a different name. Maybe your wife's. Otherwise you will be listed in their computers as a former customer and that is a curse that you can not get rid of. You are right that they take far better care of their new customers than their existing ones. If all of your profits are in stock you definitely are going to care about quantity not quality. |
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Smokin Fool
@sprintlink.net
| reply to jimmiew
I have had Dish for 8 years now and have done the upgrade thing several times. This last upgrade with the HD DVR has not worked out very well for me. I have had to replace the receiver twice and still have trouble with the signal being lost quite often and then having to reboot several times. My other Dish DVR on my other TV keeps wiping out the channels I record even when I have them Protected. So after many years with DISH I have decided to give Directv a try. When DISH was working it was great especially the PIP but I get tired of rebooting all the time. |
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Go with DTV
@desertrad.com
| Okay Dish has the VOOM Channels, which to be honest is the reason why I stick with Dish. I watch quite a bit on FilmFest and the Equator channel. Also the have some local sports channels that DirecTV doesn't carry (yet) in HD.
I've had both. Quality wise I can't tell a difference.
When I switch to Dish 2 years ago their customer service was wonderful. Now they are horrible. They have lied to me, bill me extra charges etc... I should switch back, but I'm lazy. But I am tired of calling them every month to "correct" something.
Dish is fine for HDTV, but I don't trust them at all.
So be careful what you sign if you do with them, and don't believe what they tell you.
O |
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vlhgsd
@janegroup.com
| reply to jimmiew
I've had directv for 11 years. Old equipment. Got new HD tv a few days ago. Called last night to upgrade. Would only give me $100 off. Called again for retention, same thing. Even after telling them Dish was free for their hd dvr. Dish will be out in 2 days to install. All Directv had to do was provide the equipment. NEVER gotten free equipment, paid every single time. Last purchase was a DVR a couple yrs ago, never late on bills, yet they want to rob me even more money??!! Not like they don't already charge a monthly fee for the dvr, plus the hd programming. Bye bye directv. |
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scooby
Premium
join:2001-05-01
Schaumburg, IL
| reply to jimmiew
Can't go wrong with DirecTV. I just moved back after having Dish for two years. Dish really fee's you to death. Unless you have the highest package you pay a dvr fee for each dvr. Also you pay for each receiver not plugged into a phone line. Costs you money to hook a usb drive to the Dish hd-dvr. Just a couple examples.
Dish will not be adding much if any content for the rest of the year. They are waiting on two leased satellites to be put into space. Right now it appears DirecTV's next satellite will be up before either of two leased Dish sats.
Also have to give props to DirecTV for the nice one dish solution. Depending on where you live you might need multiple dishes with Dish. Just making this known. It bothers some people and does not bother others. Who knows where these two leased satellites are going and if you will need a new dish or not.
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iPhone + Installer.app - best invention since sliced bread! |
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np23
join:2005-10-28
united state | reply to jimmiew
Is it true on DISH you can't record 2 HD programs at once? Only 1 HD & 1 SD simultaneously? If so, wow! |
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scooby
Premium
join:2001-05-01
Schaumburg, IL
| said by np23 :Is it true on DISH you can't record 2 HD programs at once? Only 1 HD & 1 SD simultaneously? If so, wow! Not true. Thats output not input. You can output different content or the same content from one 622/722 that way. TV1 is hd and tv2 is SD. Dish does a bad job describing this. Its like two dvrs in one. An HD dvr and an SD dvr that share two satellite tuners and the HD dvr has access to the OTA.
The 622 can record 3 things simultaneously. Two of which from satellite (HD or SD) and one from OTA in HD. Numerous times while I had the 622 we would be recording three shows in HD at once while watching a recorded HD show on tv1 and a recorded sd show on tv2.
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iPhone + Installer.app - best invention since sliced bread! |
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fozngoof
Premium
join:2003-07-08
Temple, TX
 ·AT&T Southwest
| reply to jimmiew
I have Dish and have not experienced anything that would want to make me switch to DTV.
I can record 3 things at once. (as mentioned before)
I can dump everything to an external hard drive to watch later, or keep a full season (I'm hoping someone will crack it so I can watch on my computer too...but we will see.)
I can use my ONE receiver to output to my 5 tv's in the house (albeit only 2 different things may be watched.....but so far that has never been an issue)
I only have 1 cable coming into my house.
I LOVE the DVR functions of the Dish (especially the 30 second skip to skip all of the commercials)
They just added functionality to use my broadband connection to download content.
Unless DirecTV offers something substantial, I think Dish has more bang for the buck. Just my opinion.
Foz |
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redblkjck
Premium
join:2001-11-07
Sanford, NC
| reply to jimmiew
Had Dish for 3 years and now I have had DirecTV for 3 years. Picture quality is better on DirecTV. Dish can save you a few bucks mostly in access card fees. XM on DirecTV, Sirus on DISH. Dish gives you a few Starz channels. Sports, sports and more sports on DirecTV, cost ya extra though for most of it. You might find a difference in local channels being offered on both. If I remember right with Dish you could rent the equipment rolled in with the access card fee for a dollar more. So they replaced equipment when it broke. DirecTV wants you pay for the protection plan to replace it when it breaks. Though people have stated, renew the contract and they send out new equipment. Both send out replacement equipment 2 day overnight. Dish using receivers where you can run two TV's off one access card and using RF remotes. Both use contract installers so quality of the install depends on the contractor. HD channel line up on DirecTV is better and cost less per month.
Both of them are competing for customers right now. You can get a good deal as a new customer or customer retention. If you are not getting a good deal you got the wrong person on the phone. I don't think I could move back to Dish, the picture is more clear on DirecTV. On the larger TVs you can see the difference.
jack |
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armyvet
join:2006-10-24
Maceo, KY | reply to Tommmy
not true, dish offer's no contract plan, the only
differance is you pay the $50.00 install, and for
the protection plan if you want it. |
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np23
join:2005-10-28
united state
| reply to fozngoof
said by fozngoof :I have Dish and have not experienced anything that would want to make me switch to DTV. I can record 3 things at once. (as mentioned before) I can dump everything to an external hard drive to watch later, or keep a full season (I'm hoping someone will crack it so I can watch on my computer too...but we will see.) I can use my ONE receiver to output to my 5 tv's in the house (albeit only 2 different things may be watched.....but so far that has never been an issue) I only have 1 cable coming into my house. I LOVE the DVR functions of the Dish (especially the 30 second skip to skip all of the commercials) They just added functionality to use my broadband connection to download content. Unless DirecTV offers something substantial, I think Dish has more bang for the buck. Just my opinion. Foz Directv does everything you mentioned, except record 3 things at once. Plus, their PQ is better & they offer way more HD. To me, that's way more bang for the buck. |
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fozngoof
Premium
join:2003-07-08
Temple, TX
·AT&T Southwest
| said by np23 :said by fozngoof :I have Dish and have not experienced anything that would want to make me switch to DTV. I can record 3 things at once. (as mentioned before) I can dump everything to an external hard drive to watch later, or keep a full season (I'm hoping someone will crack it so I can watch on my computer too...but we will see.) I can use my ONE receiver to output to my 5 tv's in the house (albeit only 2 different things may be watched.....but so far that has never been an issue) I only have 1 cable coming into my house. I LOVE the DVR functions of the Dish (especially the 30 second skip to skip all of the commercials) They just added functionality to use my broadband connection to download content. Unless DirecTV offers something substantial, I think Dish has more bang for the buck. Just my opinion. Foz Directv does everything you mentioned, except record 3 things at once. Plus, their PQ is better & they offer way more HD. To me, that's way more bang for the buck. I might consider switching IF and ONLY IF DirecTV can come come in on one line. And I can run all the TV's in my house off of 1 receiver like I can now. (yes I know Dish only has SAT 1 and Sat 2 outputs, but I use it for all of my TV's)
They were working on it, but I don't know if DirecTV ever got it working correctly. |
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np23
join:2005-10-28
united state
| said by fozngoof :said by np23 :said by fozngoof :I have Dish and have not experienced anything that would want to make me switch to DTV. I can record 3 things at once. (as mentioned before) I can dump everything to an external hard drive to watch later, or keep a full season (I'm hoping someone will crack it so I can watch on my computer too...but we will see.) I can use my ONE receiver to output to my 5 tv's in the house (albeit only 2 different things may be watched.....but so far that has never been an issue) I only have 1 cable coming into my house. I LOVE the DVR functions of the Dish (especially the 30 second skip to skip all of the commercials) They just added functionality to use my broadband connection to download content. Unless DirecTV offers something substantial, I think Dish has more bang for the buck. Just my opinion. Foz Directv does everything you mentioned, except record 3 things at once. Plus, their PQ is better & they offer way more HD. To me, that's way more bang for the buck. I might consider switching IF and ONLY IF DirecTV can come come in on one line. And I can run all the TV's in my house off of 1 receiver like I can now. (yes I know Dish only has SAT 1 and Sat 2 outputs, but I use it for all of my TV's) They were working on it, but I don't know if DirecTV ever got it working correctly. It's called SWM, I believe, and many people use it. |
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guhuna
R.I.P Mike
Premium
join:2001-03-31
Brentwood, CA
·Covad Communications
·SONIC.NET
 ·PAXIO
| I've got dish, I just got done installing HD for my brother in-law with DirecTV. From what I've seen it doesn't matter who you get unless you've got a good HD TV!
So he has the service installed and he really hated the quality of the HD from DTV, So I said lets bring my plasma over and lets compare. Sure enough the HD went from shit to looking awesome!
So for shits'n giggles I brought his tv to my house with dish and it looked again like utter crap.
So in the end I'd (if you can) get a side by side comparison of them. I'm happy with my dish and he is happy with his DirecTV. |
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BananaBaptis
join:2007-11-25
Cedarburg, WI
·CenturyLink
| reply to jimmiew
I install DirecTV and Dish and from what ive heard from customers is that DirecTV has been a much better experience for them. Dish has horrible support lines, they promise you things and never follow through. They have shoddy equipment such as the Super Dish which has been bugged since it was released. DirecTV is going to be the leader in HD. Coming around December or January they will have over 200 channels broadcasting in HD all the time. |
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dbmaven
There's no shortage
Premium,Mod
join:1999-10-26
Sty in Sky
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
·magicjack.com
·Optimum Online
Host:
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No, I Will Not Fix..
Road Runner
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Computer Hardware ..
| said by BananaBaptis : DirecTV is going to be the leader in HD. Coming around December or January they will have over 200 channels broadcasting in HD all the time. Clarification - 200 or more will include every local channel in every DMA they currently have, or add - and that will be after DirecTV-11 launches and goes active (more likely March/April since it won't launch until January at the earliest).
There aren't 200 - there aren't even 100 - full time national HD channels available. Getting to 100 is going to be a stretch on the national level, and many of those will be broadcasting upconverted content except for prime-time. |
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