Satellite TV

[corwin]

SO I'm about to move into my new house and turns out cable hasn't been run to my area yet and they can't say when it will be available, so I'm basically stuck getting satellite service now, and Clear internet service:hmm: So, anyone have a compeling reason to pick Dish or DirecTV? Do they still require an analog phone line to be hooked up to the receivers?

 

[A5]

If you have internet service in your home, the modern boxes connect to your home network when needed.

As for choosing between Dish and DTV, it kind of depends. If you're into the NFL, DTV is running a deal with free NFL Sunday Ticket this season on top of their other offers. (Details: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2924837 )

 

[corwin]

If you have internet service in your home, the modern boxes connect to your home network when needed.

As for choosing between Dish and DTV, it kind of depends. If you're into the NFL, DTV is running a deal with free NFL Sunday Ticket this season on top of their other offers. (Details: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2924837 )

Well I'm glad you don't need a phone anymore...and no I'm not interested in sports of any kind so that's not a deciding factor at all...seems they both give you a nice price break for the first year (of a two year contract) then hose you for the rest of it...just not sure if their receivers or service are distinctly any better

 

[Abel007]

I recently purchased a house and had the same decision as you do now. I am a big sports nut so DirecTV was an easy choice. Don't let the channel numbers fool you. They pretty much are a useless gauge to measure with. DirecTV for example, has 15-20 SALES channels. Think QVC for every damn product under the sun. Quite annoying. Luckily, the DVR makes up for it with playlists. Can create any kind of playlists that you want and view them in any other room where you get the HD receiver.

That leads me to the DVR that I received. If you get the Whole-home DVR option from DirecTV you will get the HR24-500 DVR receiver. It is very slick. The menus are smooth and setting up recordings is a breeze. If you record your favorite show in the living room, you can access that recording from any other HD receiver in the house. It will let you continue the show from wherever you stopped at as well.

The HD receiver was just released and is a mandatory installation for the whole home DVR installation as well. The model number on it is, I believe, H25-500. It is a very small black box with an external power brick to keep the size down. This little box handles the menus/guides as well as the DVR does, but there is a slight lag when fast forwarding/skipping ahead 30 seconds if watching a recorded show. It is to be expected but shocked me the first time I saw it.

The installation was done very professionally. They will add charges for using poles for the dish, adding outlets, that kind of thing. Just make sure you are present and try to help them with an easier solution.

Obviously, my statements here are pro-DirecTV but so far I've been very happy with my service. The 2 yr agreement was an annoyance but, just like cell carriers giving deep discounts on phones, they have to make up some money for the initial cost involved with giving away this nice equipment. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Some resources I've found very helpful:

http://www.dbstalk.com
http://www.satelliteguys.us

 

[gar655]

I had Dish for quite a while until I bought an HD TV. I had an issue with their service and their customer service sucked ass.

Went to Directv and am SO glad I did. Best HD channel selection. Better on demand, customer service has been stellar. I have zero complaints.

My vote of course is for Directv.

Gene

 

[soulcougher73]

I just signed up for Direct TV. Wish i had seen the slickdeals thread for that $180 Costco deal first though. But getting the free 2011 NFL season ticket was pretty sweet.

Actually they are coming tomorrow to set it up.

 

[corwin]

Thanks guys that's exactly what I was looking for, very informative...and to top it off I just found out that the Dish whole home DVR is actually only two rooms and only one of them can be HD...who would really want to not have HD everywhere anymore? As much as it pains me to drop cable I'm reasonably certain now that DirecTV is my best alternative, thanks again for all the help.

 

[bearxor]

I think I'd like DirecTV better but the integrated SlingPlayer that Dish Network offers so you can have full control over the receiver without IR blasters is really appealing to me.

 

[bearxor]

I just found out that the Dish whole home DVR is actually only two rooms and only one of them can be HD...

That's not really "Whole Home DVR". DirecTV receivers will talk to each other on the network and share recordings with each other. One thing I find odd about this, back when I was actually watching LiveTV, is that they won't sort guides out amongst themselves. I needed four tuners for my viewing purposes and the only way to get it would have been two receivers. But I was told by DTV that I would have to schedules the shows on each DVR separately but once they were recorded, could just watch on one receiver. What I really wanted to do was put the second receiver in the garage and schedule everything on the one I watch on and let them sort out which one records what.

But the Dish Network boxes you're talking about are really meant for things like 'I have a HDTV in my living room, but just some old crappy TV in the bedroom. What they do is they output one tuner over the HD output and the other tuner over the SD output, which is meant to just run a coaxial cable to your other room from the receiver itself. They give you a RF remote for the SD tuner so you can control the box from the other side of the house.

There is nothing stopping you from getting two single-output HD DVR's, like the Solo 612. That SlingPlayer is so tempting though...

 

[corwin]

That's not really "Whole Home DVR". DirecTV receivers will talk to each other on the network and share recordings with each other. One thing I find odd about this, back when I was actually watching LiveTV, is that they won't sort guides out amongst themselves. I needed four tuners for my viewing purposes and the only way to get it would have been two receivers. But I was told by DTV that I would have to schedules the shows on each DVR separately but once they were recorded, could just watch on one receiver. What I really wanted to do was put the second receiver in the garage and schedule everything on the one I watch on and let them sort out which one records what. But the Dish Network boxes you're talking about are really meant for things like 'I have a HDTV in my living room, but just some old crappy TV in the bedroom. What they do is they output one tuner over the HD output and the other tuner over the SD output, which is meant to just run a coaxial cable to your other room from the receiver itself. They give you a RF remote for the SD tuner so you can control the box from the other side of the house. There is nothing stopping you from getting two single-output HD DVR's, like the Solo 612. That SlingPlayer is so tempting though...

Yeah I meant to put that in quotes since it's so limited, and my wife is very happy about being able to watch recordings in any room but would be pretty pissed to not have them in HD since we don't have any old SD sets anywhere That kind of sucks about using dual DVR's as it would be nice to have 4 tuners to work with in a simple manner but I've lived this long with two I'll find some way to manage...and using two single output DVR's would break the ability to watch recordings in any room so I don't think that's an option...but I'm curious what's so great about SlingPlayer in 50 words or less?

 

[bearxor]

but I'm curious what's so great about SlingPlayer in 50 words or less?

For me...

The ability to watch any channel or recording off the STB on any device regardless of where I am. The iPad in the bedroom, my computer at work or whatever...

EDIT: It's basically at the point where I want to switch to Dish Net or DTV... I really WANT DTV but that damn SlingPlayer option on DishNetwork is holding me back. But I don't really want DishNetwork. I'm almost set to switch to DTV and keep my basic cable around so I can at least stream those around the house. We only have 1 TV and I like the option of sitting my iPad on the kitchen table and being able to watch the news in the morning without turning my projector on.

 

[corwin]

For me... The ability to watch any channel or recording off the STB on any device regardless of where I am. The iPad in the bedroom, my computer at work or whatever... EDIT: It's basically at the point where I want to switch to Dish Net or DTV... I really WANT DTV but that damn SlingPlayer option on DishNetwork is holding me back. But I don't really want DishNetwork. I'm almost set to switch to DTV and keep my basic cable around so I can at least stream those around the house. We only have 1 TV and I like the option of sitting my iPad on the kitchen table and being able to watch the news in the morning without turning my projector on.

Sounds cool but not something I'm likely to put to use, the other features of DTV would be better for me...and I'd be willing to bet they'll have something similar before long, seems their overall tech is a little ahead of Dish with that small exception