Dish Network or DirecTV?
. . . wow! Almost a year and a half since my last post! Woo-hoo!
So, today the Dish Network guy came and spent 3 hours installing satellite TV. 8 years ago digital cable was cool, and I still thought it was better than satellite. Now, however, things are different. My family is paying, like, $110 a month for 3 receivers and all the major cable channels plus HBO, Cinemax, and TechTV.
My friend's family has had Dish Network for many years now, and I just became too impressed with the DVR, on-screen caller ID, significantly cheaper montly rates, and most of all, 2 of the local channels and Comedy Central coming in without snow and ghosting, even after 2 attempts to fix the problem channels by Comcast. They seem happy with Dish Network, and my friend is a tech-competent Mac-user, so one day about 3 weeks ago I just ran home and called up Dish Network (pretending to be my dad under the supervision of my mom, of course).
A couple days ago, however, I got to see DirecTV for the first time. I was impressed. It was not a DVR receiver, but . . . I generally liked the UI of DirecTV a lot better. The guide displayed logos for the channels, and . . . I got just a more "put-together" feeling from it. The receiver was Sony-branded, and I liked the remote better. I contrasted the two, and . . . DirecTV seemed to offer better programming for less money. For $35, you get all the cable channels you can think of, including all the Discovery channels, History International, etc. To get those channels on Dish Network, its $10 more. Dish Network offers a lot more crappy shopping channels (like, 13), and a crapload of digital music that I dont care about (America's Top 120 my a$$). It was too late, however, because I had already committed to a 1-year plan with Dish Network.
Im not not happy with it. Ive played around with it for a couple hours now, and I like it significantly more than I did Comcast cable, and it is a lot cheaper. But . . . I am just curious: should I have gone with DirecTV instead? (I do not factor the current Viacom-CBS mess into which satellite company is better). Dish Network certainly isn't bad, and it is a Colorado company headquartered less than a mile from my house.
In the experieces of everyone else with satellite (or cable) . . . what is the best option?
Mac OS X
So, today the Dish Network guy came and spent 3 hours installing satellite TV. 8 years ago digital cable was cool, and I still thought it was better than satellite. Now, however, things are different. My family is paying, like, $110 a month for 3 receivers and all the major cable channels plus HBO, Cinemax, and TechTV.
My friend's family has had Dish Network for many years now, and I just became too impressed with the DVR, on-screen caller ID, significantly cheaper montly rates, and most of all, 2 of the local channels and Comedy Central coming in without snow and ghosting, even after 2 attempts to fix the problem channels by Comcast. They seem happy with Dish Network, and my friend is a tech-competent Mac-user, so one day about 3 weeks ago I just ran home and called up Dish Network (pretending to be my dad under the supervision of my mom, of course).
A couple days ago, however, I got to see DirecTV for the first time. I was impressed. It was not a DVR receiver, but . . . I generally liked the UI of DirecTV a lot better. The guide displayed logos for the channels, and . . . I got just a more "put-together" feeling from it. The receiver was Sony-branded, and I liked the remote better. I contrasted the two, and . . . DirecTV seemed to offer better programming for less money. For $35, you get all the cable channels you can think of, including all the Discovery channels, History International, etc. To get those channels on Dish Network, its $10 more. Dish Network offers a lot more crappy shopping channels (like, 13), and a crapload of digital music that I dont care about (America's Top 120 my a$$). It was too late, however, because I had already committed to a 1-year plan with Dish Network.
Im not not happy with it. Ive played around with it for a couple hours now, and I like it significantly more than I did Comcast cable, and it is a lot cheaper. But . . . I am just curious: should I have gone with DirecTV instead? (I do not factor the current Viacom-CBS mess into which satellite company is better). Dish Network certainly isn't bad, and it is a Colorado company headquartered less than a mile from my house.
In the experieces of everyone else with satellite (or cable) . . . what is the best option?
Mac OS X
Comments
in either case, i fully expect to be dropping cable TV for one of the two networks one of these days. i'm almost tempted to go with Dish Network just because they're standing up to viacomm.
damn stupid companies requiring you get a pile of channels that suck just to get comedy central.
that was a while ago, so don't know if service has changed much.
i'd have been tempted to go with dish network just for the free DVR that records 100 hours, as oppsed to the tivo one that does approx. 35
DirecTV doesnt have some kind of promotion that offers free DVR? Or, their DVR offerings dont compare to Dish Network's?
And also . . . yes, I have always thought that Dish Network is the more "wholesome" of the two. It is taking an incredible amount of corporate guts for a cable-TV provider to take MTV, Comedy Central, and CBS off the air in a fight to fend off ridiculous demands by a media behemoth. That definitely gives points to Dish Network.
I had DISH network once, it was...okay, but not that great. My buddy had DirecTV which seemed to work a lot better in the times I saw it in action.
mm . . . In my experience, Dish Network works better than Comcast cable. I mean, at least 55% of the TV I watch is at my friend's house, and over the course of the last 3 years, his TV has gone out exactly once, and it was a bad snowstorm. Even then it was only out for about an hour. In contrast, the digital channels on Comcast cable frequently screw up (dont come in well, sound goes in and out, etc) . . . and the local channels and many of the cable channels do not have as crisp of pictures (at least in my experience with Comcast cable).
It makes me giggle because Comcast's (and cable's) biggest selling point is that their TV never goes out, whereas satellite TV is a big, complicated mess that goes out frequently for almost no reason at all. What crap.
Not sure about whether Dish Network or DirecTV works better.
If you're not at all interested in HD, get a DSS system. If you want HD, get a cable based system and an off-air antenna.
i'm giving them a week, a one dollar reduction for programming that we use about 50% of the time our tv is on is not good enough.
then tonight as i was tuning in the daily show to my shock and horror discovered comedy central is a viacom channel! ARGGGHHHH!
they got a week to fix this crap then i switch.
and yeah i would switch to directtv and get tivo.
If you're not at all interested in HD, get a DSS system. If you want HD, get a cable based system and an off-air antenna.
. . . lol, how many of us really have HD?
So, Ive been staring mindlessly for the last 20 minutes at a program airing on all Viacom channels featuring Charlie Ergen and the VP answering questions and talking about the situation . . . hmm . . . yeah, Im going to have to side with Dish Network on this one . . . ahh . . . people . . "Wahh! Wahhh!!! I cant go without my Comedy Central for 24 hours without getting all upset and cancelling my Dish Network service! I want MTV! Wahh! Wahh!!"
i'm not being a baby! they take off three of the top ten channels on the SAT and give you a buck off your bill?
because they can't take care of their business?
and he says that it's because viacom wants to raise their rates (to be commensurate with the growth in popularity of their channels) and demand that they show channels their customers have no desire in.
have you seen the channels dishnetwork shows? i'd think they have all the uninteresting channels corralled by now.
of all the viacom channels they offer, the one i want is comedy central. that's it. but i still have to get mtv, nickelodian (sp?), and all their other crap. I DON'T WANT IT.
but i have to get it whether i want it or not, because that's the only way viacomm will sell it.
remind anyone of a certain software companies business practices? you want Windows? you're getting IE and WMP bundled together.
good for dish network sticking standing up to them. hell, i'll probably sign up tomorrow in support of the stance they're taking.
However, I must agree with you about the ridiculousness of the uninteresting channel argument. Two of the channels that Dish Network specifically listed as "uninteresting to the majority of subscribers" . . . Noggin and NickTunes . . . are CERTAINLY a lot more interesting than pretty much any of the, like, 10 religious channels they offer . . . a lot more interesting than Washington State University TV . . . and a lot more interesting than 13 shopping channels. Wasting bandwidth . . . pweah.
they've been showing the programs via a court order that expired yesterday.
Originally posted by Mac OS X
. . . lol, how many of us really have HD?
HD is more widely available than most people think, I suspect. You can get decent HDTV monitors for well under $1000 now. If you already have an antenna for local channels, chances are you can use it for HD too. HDTV from Comcast here is just an extra $5 a month.
And of course if you live out in the boonies, you can go the DSS route.
Very strange.
Remote is horrible. I feel like it was designed by a 5-year-old . . . yeah, horrible remote . . . ughhh . . .
Solitaire! woo-hoo! Dish Network interactive is pretty cool and very elaborate . . . although largely useless.
Guide only displays 4 channels at a time . . . although you can set it to full-screen mode. There it displays 6 channels at a time, but the sound goes away when you press the guide button. Not cool.
I find it a tad annoying that the channel isnt displayed on an LCD display on the front of the receiver. Its nice to just glance over to see what channel youre on without having to touch the remote.
Not having Comedy Central and CBS to watch is givingme more time to watch other channels that I like but normally wouldn't watch because of Comedy Central and CBS.
No International Channel.