My experience was just the opposite. I found the dish people to be the criminals.....charging additional charges for just about everything you would normally want (more than one TV, local channels, installation, etc.). We have NEVER (knock on wood), in the two years we've had cable here, had it go out on us a single time. We lost the picture on our dish all the time. When bad storms came through we lost it. If an airplane flew over in just the right spot we lost it. Sometimes it was gone for an hour or longer with no apparent reason. Anyway....that was just my experience. I'll never use DirecTV or Dish Network again.

 

For me, I can't say that I regret going Direct TV when I did, but once I got the HDTV, the picture on the regular channels was absolutely horrible. The HD channels tiled a lot, and had major audio vs. video delays. All that was solved when I went back to cable, got more channels for less money, and the picture on the regular channels is much better. It doesn't matter much with a regular TV, but with HD, it's clear that the bandwidth isn't there to support a truely crisp picture.

 

Suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you.

 

It was just a joke Hoss..........

 

i have had all three and direct wins hands down!! i also have my internet service thru direct and it is fast, and because i need my internet service full time i used to have two phone lines. with direct internet i was able to get rid of one phone line so it actually is only costing my 15.00 a month for the internet service.
direct does have hdtv (i have it) , and in addition hbo showtime espn and discovery broadcast in hdtv

 

I've had Dish for a really long time.
Shortly after they started up I think.

I've been pretty happy with them.
The cable company I had before was just plain horrible.

Yes DISH raises their rates for no reason, but so does cable.

I've only lost the signal twice that I'm aware of.
Once during a very heavy snow fall here, once during a very strong thunderstorm over their uplink facility.

I've seen digital cable in a couple homes in my area and wasn't pleased with the quality, or lack, of the picture, it was blocky, pixelated, froze up often.

I wish DISH's PVR was more like TIVO, but I see that happening soon.
Every update of the PVR software comes closer and closer to TIVO.

Once they get their HD PVR bugs fixed I plan on getting one of them and a nice HD monitor.

My Dad and one sister both have Direct TV, and they've been happy with it.
My Dad just ordered himself a new reciever with the built in TIVO, looking forward to seeing how it compares to the Dish PVR.

So, long story short, you can't go wrong with either of the 2 satelite providers.


phox

 

I called Dish Network and ordered the install for next tuesday and here is a link to the DVR I'm getting. Pretty close to TiVo.......... Click Here

 

I know....hence the .

 

Good, just wanted to make sure you knew.

 

Well now, I guess there are a few opinions out there.

I think you'll be happy. I've had Dish for over 5 years and it's been great. You will have to push the snow off the dish (any dish) in the winter, but never had a problem with cloudy days.

The cable in my area is ghosty, and goes out alot, not this problem with Dish. Dish also has the Outdoor channel
Good luck, I hope you like it.

 

UPDATE............The sales person just called me back and wanted to tack on a few more charges for hooking up 4 rooms and having the DVR, I told him that I was not paying for anything else. So I 86ed the order.

 

Hate to say I told you so, but...

 

stick with cable, the grass isn't always greener jmho

 

I have Dish Network and am really happy with it. I also have the DVR-510 and it rocks. I've been a Dish customer for about 5 years, because my old cable company sucked, really badly. I would recommend that you do the install yourself and buy the hardware yourself from someplace online. It's easy to do and will be done in half a day. If you had a problem with the quote you received over the phone, just call someone else, if you don't want to install it yourself. Most installers do a sub-standard job, (IMO)running cable outside the house, and just doing things half-a$$ed. Obviously, it's up to you. Try http://budgetsatellite.com/

 

Hoss, it's a shame you had problems with satellite service. I can't tell you how thrilled I am with mine. It sounds like you had a bad case of rain fade. Rain fade is predicated by dish positioning. The stronger your signal, the less susceptible to weather related problems. You should have made sure the installers didn't leave you with low signal strength numbers. 70 is the bare minimum, but you should be able to hit in the 90's on most transponders and all 3 sats. You must have been on the "edge" if you got aircraft fade. I made sure I reviewed with my installer, exactly what he was going to do. A lot of these guys are porcupines. You have to stay on top of them or they'll take you for a ride. I ended up with a 94 signal strength (100 is the max. but not attainable) even at my latitude. Although my installation included wiring directly to the receiver, I prewired everything myself using primo siamese RG-6. All the installer had to do was trim and dress the coax at the multi-switch in the garage, and I was up and running. At the moment it's snowing to beat the band, but my signal is presently in the low 80's and there's no pixelization. So right now, my TiVo is recording 2 separate programs simultaneously , and my wife is watching something it already recorded. And, after she's done, I'm going to start to watch the show being recorded before it's done. Try that with a VCR! I LOVE this thing!


Rusty, don't give up. And if I could suggest, this is something you need to bone up on first, so I wouldn't be impulsive. Check out forums so you've got some ammo when those guys show up. I hung out at Tivo Community and found out the pros and cons of each recorder before I decided. Hope it works out for you.

Tom Hybiske