New Dish for the house....

[Nutcase99]

Hi I am currently looking at buying some new dishs and receivers for my house. My parents bought Dish Network like 3 years ago and they got a crappy reciever back then. Well since then we bought a HDTV and well I wanted a better receiver. I always look at Best Buys deals for 2 reciveres and what not with free installation for $99 with a $99 rebate. I was seriously thinking about going and buying those two receivers because 1) I want to be able to watch tv in more than once place in the house and 2) Those receievers have to be better than the one we currently have.

Thanks

 

[Howard]

I don't know about you but in my area you can't watch HDTV channels without an HDTV receiver.

 

[MrBond]

If you want HDTV, you're going to need a special dish to get the signal I think. I believe with DirectTV, it's an eliptical dish.

I'm guessing the deal at BB is for DirectTV, I don't usually see the big chains selling DishNetwork. I'm guessing that these reciever deals are with new service activation, so you'll have to switch DSS providers more than likly.

You might call up dish and ask them if they can get you a deal on a new reciever. If you've been a customer for 3 years, they might give you something

 

[Nutcase99]

Oh I don't need a HDTV receiver. I just wanted to get a new receiever, something that is better quality. The best buy deal is for DirectTV. Umm I am also now considering getting Digital Cable but I don't have any experiance with that. Any suggestions would be helpful.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Get a new PVR IRD, they're pretty good. Dish

 

[Nutcase99]

Do you guys think that DirectTV is better? or DishNetwork? or Digital Cable?

 

[LeStEr]

I like Directv but I have not used dishnetwork or any others.

 

[Nutcase99]

Does anyone else have any opinions?

 

[Parrotheader]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Get a new PVR IRD, they're pretty good. Dish

I don't know about HDTV receivers since I don't have one, but the PVR's what we ended up getting on our main TV. They display the DishPVR 501 on the site which only has 35 hours recording time, but when I got mine installed they went ahead and upgraded me to the newer PVR 508 which has 60 hours record time. So far I love it.

I asked about Dish vs DirecTV about a month ago when we were looking at making the change from digital cable. As my friend put it "it's 6 of one, a half dozen of the other." They're pretty similar as far as I can tell with only some differences in programming (DirecTV has more popular sports options being the biggest difference I could see.) The biggest difference from my perspective was rent/own. We went with Dish because we needed it on 3 TVs and it just made more sense finanically to rent all the equipment at only $5 a month with practically no startup costs and never have to worry about paying for repairs/upgrades rather than incur the startup costs we might have face with DirecTV for a 3-receiver system (plus a DishPVR for only $50 was icing on the cake.) I've got plenty of friends who love DirecTV though and it's the most popular of the two.

 

[Nutcase99]

So basically if I just go to BB and pick up the two receivers I own them but I decide to stay with DishNetwork I will have to buy another receiver for $199 and then rent another one if I want another one. Also another thing I didn't understand was the more TV's I want to hook up my dish too the more I have to pay per month? Argh. I wish they just made things a little simpler.

 

[Nutcase99]

Oh yeah about the HD Tv thing you guys can just forget I even mentioned it I dont want a HD TV reciever because a) they cost too much b) most things arn't broadcasted in HDTV format.

 

[vi edit]

I thought Dish Network bought out DirectTV or was it the other way around.

Anyhooo...I think they are one company now. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Parrotheader]

They didn't merge. Congress (or whatever gov't regulartory committee it was) didn't allow the merger. Still, for the average user the services are very similar for the most part.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: Nutcase99
Does anyone else have any opinions?

I have both, dish, and DTV.. I have a subscription to DTV and love the service. I bought a used dish setup off my neighbor and the sub is still active (even though they cancelled last week), and I watched some of it last nite. Quality wasnt as good as DTV, but basically, both are the same. The dish receiver I used was also the oldest one, a 1000 ird, so that may be cause of some of the picture issues, (mpeg 2 decoding), but in general, I think dtv looks better.

 

[Nutcase99]

So you think it is worth switching to DTV?

 

[slag]

Most definitely YES!

You can get free hardware for signing a year contract if you are a new subscriber.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: slag
Most definitely YES!

You can get free hardware for signing a year contract if you are a new subscriber.

Heh. I got paid $65 for my two receiver system & free installation.

Open box $70. 50% off open box special so they cost me $35. Then got the $100 rebate. Basically get my first two months for free.

 

[BooGiMaN]

with dishnetwork u can buy or rent, radio shack and sears carry Dish network recievers. they both have the same type of packages..i.e. buy one free instalation get a second free ect.
the diffeence is the programming packages, go on their websites and compare programming packages.


I got dishnetwork with their 90 hr PVR and i love the quality and service so far.

 

[Shelly21]

I like Dish. the only problem is that they don't have all NFL games...

They're pretty much the same with little difference. I just heard DirectTV is going to start offer locals for Richmond.