DirecTV or Dish Network?

[SweetErika]

We're being forced to switch from cable to either DirecTV or Dish Network sometime in the next week or so.

A few months ago, we pretty much decided on Dish because it was much less expensive and has the multi-room tuner thingy, but now it seems the regular prices have increased very close to Direct levels and Dish has a lot of unsatisfied current and former customers.

Currently, we're using MythTV as a DVR/Media interface on our primary TV, and we'd like to stick with that after the switch, if possible. If it's not, we'll probably have to go with the provided DVR. This is a big consideration, as is price.

We're not looking for HD, sports, family/kids programming, movie channels, music, or anything else that hasn't been a part of our regular, analog cable.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has tried both providers and settled on one, is particularly (un)happy with their current provider, or has any advice on choosing a provider. Also, years ago, we tried DirecTV very briefly, but were forced to give up when we realized all of the programs were shown in the timezone they were broadcast in; is that still the case, or did they get enough satellites up to do at least a dual (East & West Coast) broadcast?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CristinaRobo]

We've had all three at one time or another. We started with Direct TV when cable wasn't in our area. It was OK, nothing remarkable about it. We changed to Dish Network when they offered a good deal plus they had a DVR available in the channel box. I really liked the one they had then, it worked flawlessly and had the handy feature of being able to jump ahead on a pre-recorded program in exactly 30 second intervals which was super neat when skipping through the commercials. The negatives were sometimes spotty reception during very heavy rainstorms and having to go out and clear any accumulated snow off the dish in the winter. That was a minor problem since our dish was mounted on a pipe in the ground, but if it were in a more inacessible place, it might cause an issue.

We finally switched over to cable (Comcast) and have the box with the DVR. I've had no complaints at all and the DVR is a priceless addition so if you have the ability to get that with your dish account, I'd highly recommend it. Unless of course you already own a TIVO.

I'm not sure any of this is usefull to you, but if I had to chose between the two, I'd go with Dish over Direct TV.

 

[SweetErika]

We've had all three at one time or another. We started with Direct TV when cable wasn't in our area. It was OK, nothing remarkable about it. We changed to Dish Network when they offered a good deal plus they had a DVR available in the channel box. I really liked the one they had then, it worked flawlessly and had the handy feature of being able to jump ahead on a pre-recorded program in exactly 30 second intervals which was super neat when skipping through the commercials. The negatives were sometimes spotty reception during very heavy rainstorms and having to go out and clear any accumulated snow off the dish in the winter. That was a minor problem since our dish was mounted on a pipe in the ground, but if it were in a more inacessible place, it might cause an issue.

We finally switched over to cable (Comcast) and have the box with the DVR. I've had no complaints at all and the DVR is a priceless addition so if you have the ability to get that with your dish account, I'd highly recommend it. Unless of course you already own a TIVO.

I'm not sure any of this is usefull to you, but if I had to chose between the two, I'd go with Dish over Direct TV.

How long ago did you have Dish?

We have Comquack now, and have since we first ditched Direct years ago. I'm disillusioned at the steady rate increases and now they're cutting out the analog cable completely on the 22nd, so we can't use our own DVR system with their boxes (we've already tried, and it simply doesn't work). We're currently paying over $60/month for the same service and that'd increase to $70 or more if we went with their wimpy DVR. By switching to satellite, we'll have a shot at using our own DVR system, but even if that's not possible, we'll still pay the same or less for more channels and Dish's/Direct's DVR.

 

[zman9119]

You can still use mythTV with the Comcast DTAs. All you need is a 2-way IR blaster that talks between your current mythTV system and the Comcast DTA. This is a simple cable that you can tape over the front of the DTA and you can control everything via your current remote. This is a lot cheaper than switching systems. (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Using_an_IR_Blaster_with_MythTV)

I am going through the same thing as you with ComCrap requiring the new boxes and this worked for me no problem.


.z.

 

[CristinaRobo]

How long ago did you have Dish?

We have Comquack now, and have since we first ditched Direct years ago. I'm disillusioned at the steady rate increases and now they're cutting out the analog cable completely on the 22nd, so we can't use our own DVR system with their boxes (we've already tried, and it simply doesn't work). We're currently paying over $60/month for the same service and that'd increase to $70 or more if we went with their wimpy DVR. By switching to satellite, we'll have a shot at using our own DVR system, but even if that's not possible, we'll still pay the same or less for more channels and Dish's/Direct's DVR.

I'm guessing here, but I think we had Direct TV for perhaps 2 years, Dish network for the next 5 years and cable for the past 8 years. There does seem to be a never ending increase in service prices, and we avoid paying for things we don't watch, like the premium movie channels, etc. We do also get cable internet combined with it and the savings is about 15 dollars per month over getting the web on its own.

 

[SweetErika]

You can still use mythTV with the Comcast DTAs. All you need is a 2-way IR blaster that talks between your current mythTV system and the Comcast DTA. This is a simple cable that you can tape over the front of the DTA and you can control everything via your current remote. This is a lot cheaper than switching systems. (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Using_an_IR_Blaster_with_MythTV)

I am going through the same thing as you with ComCrap requiring the new boxes and this worked for me no problem.


.z.

As I said, we've already tried that, and it didn't work well at all. Whether it works or not is highly dependent on the boxes one gets from Comcast, and we'd be forced to pay extra for having an extra silver box, anyway, since here they only give one silver box and a certain number of black boxes for free. My husband worked on it for several days, and while he got Myth to be semi-functional, it simply didn't work well enough to stick with (or pay extra for), and we ended up deciding to go with satellite. Part of that could be our Myth system, but many others have had the same issues, and we don't want to spend the money to upgrade it if we're not sure it's going to work in the end.

 

[PowerLifter84]

I have DirecTV and have had no problems with it. When I moved into my apartment, I went with Comcast internet since it was the only provider here and their customer service was the worst I had ever dealt with in my life. It literally took 25-30 phone calls before my internet was working. Since then, I haven't had any problems and hope that I do not in the future.

Out of the 5 months that I have had DirecTV, only one time have I lost a signal and it was during a bad storm. Within an hour, everything was back to normal. The picture with DirecTV is also much better than cable, in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

 

[SweetErika]

I have DirecTV and have had no problems with it. When I moved into my apartment, I went with Comcast internet since it was the only provider here and their customer service was the worst I had ever dealt with in my life. It literally took 25-30 phone calls before my internet was working. Since then, I haven't had any problems and hope that I do not in the future.

Out of the 5 months that I have had DirecTV, only one time have I lost a signal and it was during a bad storm. Within an hour, everything was back to normal. The picture with DirecTV is also much better than cable, in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

It does, thanks!

Comcast can definitely be frustrating, but we're probably going to stick with its internet unless we can find a far better deal elsewhere. I think the company's one big saving grace in terms of customer service is its continued use of American reps who usually have some troubleshooting skills and common sense. The last thing I want to do when I'm having trouble is try to talk to some guy in India who has an incredibly heavy accent and is glued to a script.

 

[unregistered]

 

[izod]

Clear QAM?

Depending on what channels you watch - you may want to see what channels are broadcasted unencrypted in your area. All locals have to be clear, and if you basic lineup is clear, you can simply add a digital QAM tuner to your MythTV setup - no boxes needed.

You may be able to find a list by googling your city plus "unencrypted QAM" or "clear QAM" or seeing if its in this post over at SageTV:
http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21661

Best of luck.

 

[Sir Victor]

You mention what you're not looking for:

"We're not looking for HD, sports, family/kids programming, movie channels, music, or anything else that hasn't been a part of our regular, analog cable."

So, what _are_ you looking for, or did I misread that?

 

[SweetErika]

You mention what you're not looking for:

"We're not looking for HD, sports, family/kids programming, movie channels, music, or anything else that hasn't been a part of our regular, analog cable."

So, what _are_ you looking for, or did I misread that?

Local channels, news, Discovery, History, USA, TNT, Bravo, AMC, FX and a smattering of other channels. If I could pick my own 20 or 30 channels, I'd be a happy camper, but I doubt anyone will ever offer that option.

Anyway, we're going to give cable one more try by taking one of the cards out of the Myth box. I didn't understand that was an option before, but now that I do, it's worth a shot.

 

[sugaredwalls]

Local channels, news, Discovery, History, USA, TNT, Bravo, AMC, FX and a smattering of other channels. If I could pick my own 20 or 30 channels, I'd be a happy camper, but I doubt anyone will ever offer that option.

Ha! The whole point of deregulating the telecommunication companies, to be able to pick and choose which cable channels you want to buy. What a joke!!!!

If you do happen to go with satellite, the biggest diff between both Direct and Dish is what equipment you have to have and how much they charge you a month to have it.

 

[WriterDom]

I went from cable to dish network and I love it. Would never go back to cable.

 

[RawHumor]

I used to have Dish and now have cable (didn't have the option).

I think I liked Dish better... though part of that is because they have the NFL Network and cable doesn't (at least in our area).

I liked Dish's DVR a lot.

I don't know if there's a huge difference between Dish and DirecTV, outside of whatever one's having a promotion at the moment.

 

[Riley_James]

[/QUOTE]Anyway, we're going to give cable one more try by taking one of the cards out of the Myth box. I didn't understand that was an option before, but now that I do, it's worth a shot.[/QUOTE]

I too had DirectTV to start and we switched to Dish Network like 5 years ago because of their rates. We currently pay 69.95 per month for the 2nd upgraded package not including any pay per view events or On demand events we rent.

Recently I was having a really bad time with reception, called customer and they had me check all my connections, we couldn't find a problem, so they sent out a tech and he actually had to move our dish because one of the trees on the property seemed to be blocking our signal. They didn't charge me a dime to move it and now our reception is great, I love the DVR feature and the price we pay!

If you decide to switch Direct may have deals to start out with, but will steadily increase in price until you are paying close to 100.00 a month for basic service. I recommended Dish to my folks who also have to switch soon.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

<chimes in..

DISH Network, hands down. I worked for dish for 5 years back in 2000- 2005, then left and managed a mom and pop retail store that sold high end home theater and were "authorized" retailers for both Dish and Directv.

DireTV has one major that Dish doesn't, and thats Sports. NFL season ticket and YES network are Rupart Murdoch exclusives only available on DirecTV.

Dish has a better channel lineup if you are not big into sports, and a much more reasonable pricepoint. Not only that, but it only uses 2 satelite locations, 119 west and 110 west. vs DirecTv using 3 satelite locations, 119w, 110w, AND 128w. Dish's "dish" is a smaller parobolic dish as it only has to spot two locations, whereas DirecTV's is larger and has to decode a third more information, and spotting 3 locations in the sky at once creates a smaller footprint for each of them.

Not only that, but dish owns its own fleet of around 14 birds curretly, wheras direct only has about 4, all of them at 128 and they buy their extra feeds off of Dish from 119w and 110w. Not to mention that dish has the best in "adult" entertainment

We pay about 72$ a month for our current dish setup, but we have fairly highend equipment. We have a dual tuner hd reciever, with a 300gig hard drive, that goes to two different tv's (yes, you can watch both at the same time OR record on one channel while watching another, OR record something different on both tv's while watching different recorded content on each, around 180hrs recording time.. and a 3rd standard reciever, with their "top 100" programming as well as hbo/max/starz/encore channels.

The biggest thing to make sure you do with either satelite provider is to make sure they replace all of your existing wireing, as the old rg79 cable isn't as good as rg69 cable that modern satelites require. The gauge isn't thick enough and over time it cannot carry the signal effeciently. DBS satelites run from 950mhz to 2100mhz and rg79 is only rated up to 1400mhz, it will work for awhile but over a period of time degrades signifigantly.

/end tech rant. Go with Dish!!!!!!!

 

[Bystander]

I had Dish a year ago before switching to direcTV due to an international package Dish did not have at that time. Now I'm just waiting for my contract to end so I can switch back to Dish.

DirecTV is more expensive (or was at the time). They have more advanced features in their equipment which are fantastic but the software is slower than a 5 year old PC so it's frustrating to use. The remote is also very non responsive and the receiver tends to crash on me about as much as my wife's windows vista laptop (I had receivers & remotes changed twice early on before giving up) . The best thing about them is their customer service is by far better than anything I dealt with at Dish and they've never hassled me about $ credit for downtime or fixing billing issues (over-charged) early on in my contract.

going back to Dish, I don't really know how their new equipment is in terms of performance but I know you can run two TVs off one receiver with their system. DTV wanted to charge me for the second receiver (I declined). I think Dish is a better value but If you do go DTV make sure you get ask a friend who already has it to give you their referral code. Supposedly you get an extra $100 off their promo deal and your friend get's $100 credit on their bill.

 

[Doctor Joe]

You guys are making me want to go from Cable (Charter in my area) to Dish satellite. WE also have our internet and phone though a bundle with Charter, but thinking of internet with Clearwire if we drop the cable. Anybody have any experiences with Clearwire
(Hope you work things out for the best Sweet Erika)

 

[SweetErika]

You guys are making me want to go from Cable (Charter in my area) to Dish satellite. WE also have our internet and phone though a bundle with Charter, but thinking of internet with Clearwire if we drop the cable. Anybody have any experiences with Clearwire
(Hope you work things out for the best Sweet Erika)

I think we looked into Clearwire and it was more expensive than the $45 we're paying for cable internet, so that was a no-go.

We did end up taking one of the cards out of Myth, and everything's working OK so far. It's slower, there are more glitches and of course we're now limited by the single card, but the problems likely aren't worse than those we'd experience switching to a dish.

It seems like Comcast might have lowered the "Digital Starter Package" rate, too. I swear it was close to $60 for a few months, but now it seems to have gone back down to $46, which is cheaper than we could get with a dish, especially when the $10 package savings is factored in.

 

[WriterDom]

Costumer service is top notch at dish. They pick up right away and can make programming changes in ten minutes. You can watch something you recorded while you record two other programs. It's fucking great.