Should I switch from Directv to Dish Network

[RossMAN]

Are there any deals for NEW DirecTV HD customers?

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

Originally posted by: Mojoed

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
All of my TV options suck, I want HD TIVO...

DTV doesn't offer TIVO, Dish doesn't offer TIVO, my cable company doesn't do HD or cable cards

:Q What cable company?

Charter

I currently have quite a few HD channels on my Charter service. Must be a location thing.

They don't offer any HD where I am, either. That's why I've got Dish.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Are there any deals for NEW DirecTV HD customers?

They gave me the HR20's at $99 a pop. H20's were free.

I hadn't subscribed since 1997 to DirecTV so I doubt that carried any weight.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Are there any deals for NEW DirecTV HD customers?

According to their website, you can get a HR20 upgrade for $99 after rebate. WTF? I've spent on average over $100/month and I can't get one for free or, hell, even that price. I'm getting more and more pissed off as I think about it.

edit: check that, it's Free after rebate. Bastards!

I just sent a letter basically asking for a better deal or I'm out!

 

[ghart999]

DTV is the devil. The new Dish HD/DVR is sweet. Share the DVR functionality across multiple TVs.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: ghart999
DTV is the devil. The new Dish HD/DVR is sweet. Share the DVR functionality across multiple TVs.

But the second tuner only does 480I which isn't so good if you have multiple HDTVs. Like me. :laugh:

 

[CPA]

bump for update.

 

[RossMAN]

I'm not familiar with the various model numbers.

Difference between HR20 and H20?

 

[Pabster]

H20 is just a standard (non-DVR) HD Receiver.

HR20 is a HD DVR.

The HR21 (also a HD DVR) is out now as well, but you lose the ability to add an OTA antenna.

 

[Fritzo]

Anyone know of a chart that compares HD offering from Dish and Direct? Any site I find seems to mention "Directv has more HD channels!" but from the list it seems like Dish Network is offering about everything Directv does. The only shortcoming is Dish has less sports offerings.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Anyone know of a chart that compares HD offering from Dish and Direct? Any site I find seems to mention "Directv has more HD channels!" but from the list it seems like Dish Network is offering about everything Directv does. The only shortcoming is Dish has less sports offerings.

I'm starting to find out that this 100 HD channels that Directv is offering is nothing but fluff. Many of those HD channels are Premium channels or channels you'll probably never view. Dish has about 40, most of which are the popular ones - TNT, ESPN, ESPN2, Discover, History, etc.

There are some sites out there that compare the two, but there isn't much difference at the end of the day.

 

[Pabster]

CPA, you are right, for the most part. D* does have more "national" HD channels now than E*; It really depends whether you are interested in them or not. For example, The Smithsonian Channel. Or Nickelodeon HD. Dish has all the old VOOM! content but I never had any interest in any of it, save for RAVE which had some good concerts. I considered those 10-15 channels all "fluff" too

Dish also charges $20.99 a month for their HD while D* is still at $9.99 a month, though they are adding some channels to an "HD Extra Pack" which will cost a little extra.

 

[CPA]

2nd Update: Well after receiving the Express 1-800 number and PIN I called this morning. I got the same bogus response: $199 is the best we can do. We do NOT give out the HD DVR's free. Even after telling them that I would call back later to cancel (I want to get Dish Network's offers first), it didn't matter. Oh well, the wife was okay with us leaving. So, up your's Directv! I'm outta here!

 

[Queasy]

DirecTV:
53 National HD Channels. 11 of which are the premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).

5 or so local HD channels depending on your area. I think they've got all the major metro areas covered.

A plethora of the regional sports networks. 10+

13 HD PPV channels

At least another 8 National HD Channels planned for launch by the end of the year.

NFL Sunday Ticket in HD available.

Price: $9.99/month

DISH:
Looks like 41 or so HD channels? 3 of which are the premium movie channels.

5 or so local HD channels depending on your area. I think DISH lags behind DirecTV in this regard.

No regional sports channels in HD yet.

A selection of HD PPV channels.

No NFL Sunday Ticket at all.

Price - $20/month.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Pabster
Dish also charges $20.99 a month for their HD while D* is still at $9.99 a month, though they are adding some channels to an "HD Extra Pack" which will cost a little extra.

The HD extra pack was to contain the HDNet channels. DirecTV has backed off of this. Link

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Queasy
DirecTV:
53 National HD Channels. 11 of which are the premium movie channels (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc).

5 or so local HD channels depending on your area. I think they've got all the major metro areas covered.

A plethora of the regional sports networks. 10+

13 HD PPV channels

At least another 8 National HD Channels planned for launch by the end of the year.

NFL Sunday Ticket in HD available.

Price: $9.99/month

DISH:
Looks like 41 or so HD channels? 3 of which are the premium movie channels.

5 or so local HD channels depending on your area. I think DISH lags behind DirecTV in this regard.

No regional sports channels in HD yet.

A selection of HD PPV channels.

No NFL Sunday Ticket at all.

Price - $20/month.

Dish has HD PPV channels too (5 or so), and they recently added Internet interface access (haven't tried it yet). Also, I think they have more standard channels than DirecTV so it evens out. Tough decision.

 

[mobobuff]

You won't be happy with Dish.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
Dish has HD PPV channels too (5 or so), and they recently added Internet interface access (haven't tried it yet). Also, I think they have more standard channels than DirecTV so it evens out. Tough decision.

Yeah, I put the HD PPV channels up there just didn't know how many.

DirecTV has also added an Internet interface for Video On Demand.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: mobobuff
You won't be happy with Dish.

why?

 

[Fingolfin269]

CPA, I've been struggling between the two sat networks myself and the up-front cost of the DTV boxes is one of the major points against them. Then again, as a new customer I get better deals so it is not quite the same situation. After doing a bit of research it looks like they both have the same number of HD channels I care about but it looks like DTV has more 'space' (bandwidth, whatever you call it in this instance) to expand. Dish had a satellite ready to launch but it has been delayed a few months so who knows what is going on there.

Anyway, you pay $10 a month more for HD service with Dish and get a little less. However, the Dish boxes are regarded as being superior so I guess the difference is really fairly small. Obviously I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. Hell, I may call up to cancel Comcast and get offered some amazing deal to stay that I can't refuse so who knows?

 

[alkemyst]

I loved my DISH...wish I was made of money to keep DISH and use comcast for just broadband.

I don't care for sports and this is a BIG deciding factor for many. If you like sports DirectTV is hands down the winner.

The burden is on you, but I'd call the cancellation department and go through the motions. When they ask you why you are canceling state Dish is giving you HD-DVR for free, with free installation and only $19.95 for 6 months...it's too good a deal to pass up.

I am sure they'd offer the free HD-DVR at that point. If not they are idiots.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
CPA, I've been struggling between the two sat networks myself and the up-front cost of the DTV boxes is one of the major points against them. Then again, as a new customer I get better deals so it is not quite the same situation. After doing a bit of research it looks like they both have the same number of HD channels I care about but it looks like DTV has more 'space' (bandwidth, whatever you call it in this instance) to expand. Dish had a satellite ready to launch but it has been delayed a few months so who knows what is going on there.

Anyway, you pay $10 a month more for HD service with Dish and get a little less. However, the Dish boxes are regarded as being superior so I guess the difference is really fairly small. Obviously I still haven't decided what I'm going to do. Hell, I may call up to cancel Comcast and get offered some amazing deal to stay that I can't refuse so who knows?

That's what confounds me. They will offer a new customer the DVR for free, but a long-time, big spender they tell to suck it. As for the $10 extra for HD, since I won't be getting NFL Ticket ($160), the difference is offset. Also, the SD channels, which DN has more, is cheaper with DN.

 

[mobobuff]

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: mobobuff
You won't be happy with Dish.

why?

I used to be an installation technician for DirecTV, not that long ago. I've had the opportunity to talk to many customers who've switched back and forth, Dish customers switching to DirecTV and DirecTV customers who switched to Dish and switched back. The general consensus did not look good for Dish. While I can't speak for that aspect of the service, I can most certainly tell you that almost every Dish Network installation I saw on job sites was horrendous; cables strewn across rooftops, dish mounts half-bolted to the house, 1/2" holes drilled through outside walls without bushings or sealant, unburied cable running through lawns, ungrounded cabling, unfastened cabling, and HDTVs hooked up with nothing more than a "CH3/4" coax connection.

Obviously installation quality will vary between regional contractors, but I did work in 3 different states and noticed the same trend.

In my opinion, DirecTV equipment is superior. The D11s, H20s, R15s and HR20s are all much better looking than their Dish counterparts, menu interfaces are a little more intuitive and clean looking. And I've never heard of any customer getting an HR20 for free. Those things are expensive. The standard fee I believe is $299.

I hated working for DirecTV (ridiculously long hours), and I don't even watch much TV, so I'm no fanboy. I'm just telling you what I noticed. I'd say 70% of the customers I talked to who had experience with both providers preferred DirecTV over Dish.

 

[nsafreak]

Just as a quick FYI I know DirecTv's boxes have this capability but use it a bit differently. If you pay a one time $40 fee (yeah pretty high I know) you can hook up an external hard drive to your Dish HD DVR. Its not limited to one hard drive either, you can hookup various different hard drives and export shows to it. This way you can make room for new recordings without losing old ones that you might want to keep. The largest officially supported drive is 750GB.

EDIT: I just noticed that one poster posted that DirecTV has RSNs in HD and Dish does not. This is not true. I'm not sure if Dish has all of the RSNs in HD that DirecTV does but I do know that they have started adding them and they may (or may not) carry your RSN in HD. Keep in mind what they do for a lot of RSNs right now is switch on a feed for HD games and then switch it off since a lot of RSNs only broadcast pre-game/game/post-game content in HD and then the rest of the time they're SD.

EDIT #2: I knew there was a list of all the RSNs in HD that Dish carries and what do you know its on Dish's site. Here are their current HD RSNs:

Service Calls HD Channel Orbital SD Channel
CSN West CSNWS 359 129 409
Altitude ALTUD 360 129 410
FSN Prime Ticket PRIME 361 129 411
FSN Rocky Mountain FOXRM 364 129 414
FSN Arizona FOXAZ 365 129 415
FSN Southwest FOXSW 366 129 416
FSN West FOXW 367 129 417
FSN Midwest FOXMW 368 129 418
FSN South FOXS 370 129 420
Sun Sports SUN 372 61.5 422
FSN Florida FOXFL 373 61.5 423
CSN Mid-Atlantic CSNMA 374 61.5/129 424
FSN Ohio FOXOH 375 129 425
FSN Northwest FOXNW 376 129 426
FSN Cincinnati FOXCN 377 129 427
FSN Pittsburgh FOXPT 378 61.5/129 428
CSN Chicago CSNCH 379 129 429
FSN Detroit FOXD 380 129 430
SportsTime Ohio STO 381 129 431
FSN North FOXN 386 129 436
SportSouth SPSOU 387 129 437
SportsNet New York SNY 388 61.5 438

 

[nsafreak]

Originally posted by: mobobuff

Originally posted by: CPA

Originally posted by: mobobuff
You won't be happy with Dish.

why?

I used to be an installation technician for DirecTV, not that long ago. I've had the opportunity to talk to many customers who've switched back and forth, Dish customers switching to DirecTV and DirecTV customers who switched to Dish and switched back. The general consensus did not look good for Dish. While I can't speak for that aspect of the service, I can most certainly tell you that almost every Dish Network installation I saw on job sites was horrendous; cables strewn across rooftops, dish mounts half-bolted to the house, 1/2" holes drilled through outside walls without bushings or sealant, unburied cable running through lawns, ungrounded cabling, unfastened cabling, and HDTVs hooked up with nothing more than a "CH3/4" coax connection.

Obviously installation quality will vary between regional contractors, but I did work in 3 different states and noticed the same trend.

In my opinion, DirecTV equipment is superior. The D11s, H20s, R15s and HR20s are all much better looking than their Dish counterparts, menu interfaces are a little more intuitive and clean looking. And I've never heard of any customer getting an HR20 for free. Those things are expensive. The standard fee I believe is $299.

I hated working for DirecTV (ridiculously long hours), and I don't even watch much TV, so I'm no fanboy. I'm just telling you what I noticed. I'd say 70% of the customers I talked to who had experience with both providers preferred DirecTV over Dish.

It could be that you were working one area that was covered by one RSP. Dish does have some RSPs that cover several different states at once. If the op wants to be really sure of the install quality I generally recommend shopping around for a good retailer that has a rep for quality installs.