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Topic: DirecTV or Dish Network?

Sam King
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 120
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Oct 2006

posted 07-24-2009 12:17 PM

Who do I go with? I care about HD, movies, quality, etc. I DO NOT care about sports.

thanks for your input!

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-24-2009 05:50 PM

There is no simple answer as to which service is better.

The best choice for you will come down to which channels each carrier offers and their prices. You basically have to dig into their channel packages and compare specifics. DirecTV had a big lead over Dish Network in terms of HD channels, but Dish has closed the gap in recent months. Dish has a few things over DirecTV. For example, I have 8 channels of HBO in HD. DirecTV currently carries only 2 or 3 HBO channels in HD.

Local channels is another big deciding factor. Most satellite TV customers in my area have Dish Network because of the availability of local channels. DirecTV has never carried any of the local channels in the Wichita Falls, TX - Lawton, OK viewing market and seems to have no plans of offering them in the future. Dish Network has been carrying our local channels for several years now. A few months ago Dish Network added the HD versions of our market's local channels. On top of that Dish is carrying those HD locals on 2 satellites (E*12 at 61.5° and Ciel-2 at 129°).

Some people make their choice based on the quality of receivers. I think the Dish Network ViP series receivers are better than the ones from DirecTV.

Dish offers Slingbox service which allows you to watch your programming anywhere your computer is connected to the Internet. AT&T recently pulled a fast one by disabling the Slingbox application for the iPhone. I haven't paid the extra money for Slingbox, but I can at least connect to my receiver via the Internet and remotely program the DVR. That's pretty convenient.

My Dish Network programming subscription is a package they no longer offer: Dish HD Absolute (my service is grandfathered). It's an HD-only package that originally cost $29.99. It included the Voom channels, but not all that much more. It went up in price a few dollars later after quite a few HD channels were added (and Voom was dropped). I have HD Absolute, the HBO package, my HD locals and the ViP722 receiver. My monthly bill is $58. I think that's a pretty serious bargain compared to what many others are paying for similar service. Dish' "TurboHD" packages would have me paying around $80 for nearly the same channels. The TurboHD packages have a few gotchas in there. They're missing a few HD channels that subscribers will only get if they have a "classic" SD-only package plus HD add on package(s).

Anyway, make your choice carefully.

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Jake Spell
Master Film Handler

Posts: 294
From: Johns Island SC
Registered: May 2009

posted 07-25-2009 02:25 AM

I have had both DirecTv and Dish Network. I currently have direct and do find that they seem to have a little better HD selection now that dish has gotten rid of VOOM HD. The one thing I liked most about Dish was they used the off air digital signal for local chanels(which looks better in HD than Direct's satellite picture) and Dish's DVR could work 2 TV sets. One in the room with the TV via IR remote and the other in a remote room via RF remote. I would defiantly recommend a DVR. It makes recording your TV shows sooooooo easy. Also make sure that your tech knows what he is doing. We had to re aim the satellite ourselves after the dish tech [thumbsdown]

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Lyle Romer
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1400
From: Davie, FL, USA
Registered: May 2002

posted 07-25-2009 06:06 AM

I would hold off the decision for a little bit. DirecTV is launching another satellite in the fall. When it is operational it will supposedly add capacity for another 50+ national HD channnels and more local channels markets. I would wait to make the decision until some announcements are made on what they will carry. Theoretically, they will have the capacity to offer all available national HD channels.

I've had DirecTV for 8 or 9 years and have been very happy with it. I like the new HR series DVR's and within a month or two they will have the one feature that I wish they had - the ability to network and watch recordings from one on another one.

HD quality is very good. A caveat is that sports are very important to me and DirecTV is really the ONLY choice if sports and HD sports are important to you.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-25-2009 10:59 AM

Dish dropped the Voom channels, and I think they rightfully did so, because Voom was not creating anywhere near enough new content. Every Voom channel was almost nothing but constant repeats. I don't miss it.

A couple months after dumping Voom (Spring of last year), Dish added a couple dozen national HD channels to make up for the difference. Since then Dish has slowly caught up to DirecTV in terms of national HD channel coverage. The Viacom and News Corp HD channels were added earlier this year. Dish has been adding some other channels not carried in HD by DirecTV. MSNBC HD recently made its debut on Dish Network.

The downside to all these HD channel additions is that a viewer won't see all of them unless they pay a bit more for a "classic" standard definition channel package with a HD channel package add on. For whatever retarded reason Dish is screwing its HD-only package customers. If you subscribe to a "TurboHD" package you will not see channels like Fox News HD, Nick HD and the previously mentioned MSNBC HD. Overall you miss out on over a dozen HD national channels by going the HD only route. And that really doesn't make a damned bit of sense. Honestly, the folks who subscribe to SD-only packages should be feeling pressure to upgrade instead of the reverse.

Still, there's a few significant HD channels missing from the Dish lineup. The fallout with Rainbow Media over dumping Voom has left Dish Network customers without HD versions of AMC, IFC, Sundance Channel and We.

DirecTV is indeed the better choice in terms of sports packages. Well, it is if NFL Football and Major League Baseball is your thing. Dish Network has better coverage of NBA Basketball and NHL Hockey. Both services offer regional sports networks like Fox Sports.

quote: Jake Spell
The one thing I liked most about Dish was they used the off air digital signal for local chanels(which looks better in HD than Direct's satellite picture) and Dish's DVR could work 2 TV sets.

The ViP Series HD DVR/receivers have an antenna input to receive over the air DTV broadcasts. When you change to an off air HD channel the receiver will show the signal's strength level on screen. OTA channels are colored yellow in the guide. The OTA HD channel capability is pretty handy especially if Dish Network isn't carrying your market's local HD channels on satellite yet. The video quality with OTA HD channels is indeed better than what you see via satellite. The downside is recording shows off air in HD consumes more hard disc space. The OTA HD channels are in MPEG-2 and operating at constant bit rates around 19 megabits per second. The HD satellite channels are all MPEG-4 with variable bit rates not nearly as high. The satellite signals are more reliable. They rarely ever cut out unless there is a really big thunderstorm blocking the satellite.

Another somewhat nice thing about the ViP series DVRs: using external hard discs. It sucks that you have to pay $40 to turn on the capability, but once it is on you can move DVR recordings to external hard drives to free up space on the DVR's internal drive. I think the soon-to-be-released ViP 922 will have Slingbox capability built in and have full HD capability for both tuners (currently the 2 tuner DVRs have HD for one output and SD-only for the other TV output).

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-25-2009 11:56 AM

I have it on good authority that by the end of this year DirecTV will have the least compression in their HD signal, provided you get their new high end DVR. Since compression kills the entire point of HD, DirecTV is the way to go.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-25-2009 12:47 PM

Why would the DVR make any difference? The primary bottleneck in bandwidth for satellite TV is the satellites themselves. They can squeeze only so many MPEG-4 channels onto one "bird."

Long term, and by that I mean at least 5 years or more, the satellite companies may fall by the wayside. Eventually Internet speeds in the United States will improve from their currently pathetic levels to speeds where Blu-ray quality can be streamed real-time via Internet Protocol.

When that happens I think nearly all video store locations will go out of business and the rental model will be entirely Internet-based. I think there will also be major upheaval in TV networks, especially in regard to local affiliates. Many local TV stations will go out of business due to too many viewers time shifting their viewing to the Internet. This is already happening in big ways, but with serious bandwidth limitations in effect. Local businesses won't want to buy commercial time over the lack of viewers. Many newspapers are already in deep trouble over the same thing. Who wants to buy a newspaper with day old news in print when the Internet provides the word more immediately?

DirecTV and Dish Network have been launching new satellites, retiring old ones and scheduling even more launches in the future. At some point both are going to be in deep trouble unless they can continue to improve both quality and convenience.

I would probably have something like digital cable if my town had a cable company worth a damn. Their offering of HD channels is a laughably puny offering and it costs a LOT. DirecTV doesn't carry any of our locals channels. So at least for people in my local area Dish Network is a better deal.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 07-25-2009 01:52 PM

I don't have your answer Bobby. I didn't have much time to talk to the guy last week about it, but he stressed to get the latest version of the DVR if I wanted the least amount of compression. I will have to check back with him, but I assure you he does know what is doing and isn't the idiot such a statement would appear to make him.

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-25-2009 02:00 PM

Dish Network does not carry ABC......FAIL

That leaves Direct TV.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 07-25-2009 02:41 PM

Dish Network carries our local ABC station here in Lawton in HD, as well as the HD signals from NBC, FOX and CBS affiliates in Wichita Falls. And Dish offers those channels on 2 satellites. DirecTV doesn't offer ANY of the broadcast networks here at all. Not in SD. Not in HD. Big time FAIL -at least for this specific market.

But that gets exactly back to what I said earlier. Availability of local TV station coverage varies greatly from one market to another. DirecTV may have better coverage in one viewing market while Dish is easily the better choice in another market.

I have suspicions that both DirecTV and Dish Network have been in some sort of quiet collusion in this regard. The two companies have toyed with the possibility of a merger over the years. I think they have deliberately avoided duplicating efforts in carrying local TV stations in many smaller markets so if a merger did happen they could save money on the transition. With the new administration in place in the US federal government chances of a DirecTV and Dish merging are much more slim. Coincidentally, both companies are now added more local HD channels at a faster pace.

quote: Brad Miller
I didn't have much time to talk to the guy last week about it, but he stressed to get the latest version of the DVR if I wanted the least amount of compression. I will have to check back with him, but I assure you he does know what is doing and isn't the idiot such a statement would appear to make him.

The biggest difference that has taken place recently with Dish Network DVR/receivers is the change from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. To get any HD service from Dish Network now the customer must have a ViP Series receiver that supports MPEG-4. I don't know as much about the DVR/receivers from DirecTV, but I suspect there is a similar MPEG-2/MPEG-4 change taking place -that is if such a change didn't already happen months ago.

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Tristan Lane
Master Film Handler

Posts: 444
From: Nampa, Idaho
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-27-2009 02:55 AM

quote: Bobby Henderson
Dish Network carries our local ABC station here in Lawton in HD

After more research, I found out that the DN - ABC issue was limited to the Northwest, and has recently been resolved.

Dish FTW....

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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003

posted 07-27-2009 11:22 AM

I've been with DirecTV for many years (10+) and I've been very happy with them. I have had both the TiVo and DirecTV DVR's, and upgraded to HD about four years ago.

Dish Network is involved in a very lengthy lawsuit with TiVo, which they have lost over and over again, and it threatens their ability to offer their customers DVR service, as far as I know. That's about as much as I know about Dish Network.

I've been happy with DirecTV, and I rarely get snow or rain fade. They are pretty generous with upgrades if you ask nicely/firmly. I don't receive any movie channels, as I consider them a waste of money compared to just getting a Netflix membership.

The Video on Demand features of the DirecTV HD-DVR are pretty cool. You can download movies, TV episodes, and other videos via the Ethernet port, but the selection is somewhat limited, so don't expect to be able to download the latest episode of a show you might have missed the night before. I expect that will continue to improve. The DLNA features are very clunky, to the point of being pre-beta-ish.

I have heard that remote watching (watching a show that has been recorded on another box in the same house) is coming Real Soon Now, and I'm really looking forward to that. I wouldn't mind seeing what the upcoming DirecTiVo DVR (2010-ish) will offer, but the DirecTV HD-DVR is pretty good.

Being able to schedule a recording from the DirecTV web site is quite cool, and I think they have an iPhone app for doing this as well. I've used that feature quite a few times, which is very handy.

If you decide to go with DirecTV, find a friend that already has DirecTV and do a referral with them. You will each get $100 in service credit on top of any other promotions they are running in terms of pricing and packages.

If/when you call, don't be afraid to ask for things that they aren't offering to you. If you want an HD DVR, don't pay extra for it over the cost of the regular DVR. If you need two, you shouldn't have to pay anything beyond the normal $4.99 extra receiver fee. They're quite negotiable, and I've had very good luck getting equipment upgrades for little to no costs.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 07-27-2009 11:51 AM

Dish recently got into a big dispute with Fisher Broadcasting, the CBS affiliate here and in some other northwest markets. Dish dropped local CBS stations entirely for many months while they fought with Fisher over money. Meanwhile DirecTV ran newspaper and TV ads directed at Dish customers who could no longer get any CBS shows, offering a special deal for subscribers to switch from Dish to DirecTV. Dish supposedly lost a ton of subscribers over that.

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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-16-2010 11:40 PM

Curious as to what the OP chose here. I've about had it with the anal bludgeoning I've been getting from the local cable company (TWC)..

Received a mailed today for DirectTV for 210 channels @ $34.99/mo w/ 12 mo contract. Receive 2 HD receivers, 1 HD DVR and one standard HD receiver) @ this price point.

I know this sounds like a stupid question, but with satellite MUST you have a receiver in place or can you connect direct to a digital ready set? I know cable companies are still breaking down their basic channel lineups to analog... but I'm assuming that satellite would be all digital...

The pricing does sound attractive.. but I've always heard horror stories about both Dish and Direct when it comes to their billing practices. Bills being more than what they were originally quoted to be, additional undisclosed fees, etc..

Opinions and input appreciated..

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 02-17-2010 11:10 AM

quote: Jason Black
I know this sounds like a stupid question, but with satellite MUST you have a receiver in place or can you connect direct to a digital ready set?

A "cable ready" TV alone will not work. You must have the satellite receiver. The receiver has a unique smart card that identifies your account and allows the receiver to unlock the encrypted satellite data streams. Further, the receivers are not interchangeable. To get DirecTV programming you must use their specific dishes and receivers. Same goes for Dish Network.

Read up carefully and compare what DirecTV offers versus TWC (as well as Dish Network) and see how your local TV stations are covered, particularly in HD.

Also check out some stuff on satellite TV forums. They're a good resource, especially www.satelliteguys.us. You'll find lots of info on the good and bad regarding DirecTV and Dish Network receivers, the latest uplink reports and more.

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