Directv or Dish?

[LeftyMom]

Assuming either one can be installed for me (it should work with a tripod) I think I'm going to tell Comcast to FOAD.

I figure either one will suck less and save me some money, but is one better than the other? I just need DVR, HD and a package that includes Comedy Central, MSNBC, and all the edumacational channels. Does one have better customer service than the other?

[XemaSab]

1. Here's what you do:

Get charter.

Convice the old lady next door to die and leave her house abandoned.

When their cable gets cancelled, charter will assume it's your house.

Call charter and tell them you still have cable.

When they tell you your service has been disconnected, try to disprove this.

Fail.

Save $50 a month for the next 2 years.

LOL.

[KT2000]

2. I have DISH

and have been happy with it. Can't compare though because I have never had Directv.

[sfpcjock]

3. I've had both and settled on Dish

The Dish DVR is really good with the old Sony PIP/Guide integrated into it, and the model 722K DVR has just been released. Also, I think they have more HDTV channels than DirecTV. I have CNN/MSNBC and a bunch of movie channels they throw in with Showtime including the Sundance Channel and our bill is $87/month. You'd get all the premium channels free for 3 months as a new subscriber.

[LeftyMom]

4. I think I'm going to go with them. It looks like they're running much better promos.

Money off the packages I want, free channels... I did the math and for the first 6 mos I'll save $25ish over DirecTV and please-don't-ask-me-what over what I'm paying Comcast.

[this_side_up]

5. I don't know about

comcast or direct tv but dish is currently at a standstill with
ABC (Seattle feed) which includes the northern part
of Oregon. I don't know how many states Seattle feeds.

Dish says ABC wants way too much money from Dish
in order to carry their signal. I believe it - just look at all
the corporate bs we've seen these past 9 years. So we
currently do not have ABC available on dish. We do
have a roof antenna so we tape the 1or 2 shows.

OTOH, Eugene is 2 hours south of Portland. They get
their signals from San Francisco (?) and do have
ABC. But they currently do not have CBS because
CBS wants too much money.

We still need to buy a converter thingy for the analog
antenna/tv.

[LeftyMom]

6. I'm not even going to pay the $5/mo for the local channels.

I can't remember the last time I saw anything I wanted to see, let alone enough to pay extra for. I figure I can always add them or hook up a little antenna (I'm in town and already have a newish HDTV so it wouldn't be a big deal) if I feel like I'm missing anything.

[MrSlayer]

7. I go DirecTV.

I used to have a 9 foot dish on my roof but when I moved 13 years ago I went with the DirecTV. The real dish was great but the DTV is more convenient.

[Left Is Write]

8. I know nothing about the customer service from Dish. We have DirecTV -

and we've had it continuously for more than 10 years. I'm very satisfied with the service and channel selection, and we also get the NFL Sunday Ticket every year.

[NewJeffCT]

9. Direct TV is owned by Rupert Murdoch

George Soros is an investor in Dish Network.

[Orsino]

10. Dish.

To get the Science Channel, though, you have to go with whatever-the-hell-it's-called America's Choice, their most expensive cable-channel package. You'll want to compare prices, I suppose, but I left DirecTV years ago for Dish, and have never looked back. Customer service was better and faster after I switched over.

[Rosie1223]

11. We've had both

We settled on Dish because they have our local channels. (We live in the middle of nowhere and can't get good off-air signal.)

Customer service was about equal -- crappy unless you call during regular business hours.
Only then you'll get someone with half a brain.

The only complaint I've had is the HD signal is much touchier during bad weather. Sometimes we have to switch to standard signal to get the program.

[motely36]

12. We had DirectTV

But they blacked out all Philadelphia sports because they would not pay comcast the rights.

So, we went back to comcast.

YMMV

[flvegan]

13. True liberals don't watch tv.

You're just paying into the pockets of BigComm fatcats that are screwing over the middle class.

I'm series, read that in GD.

[elocs]

31. Absolutely right. They do not watch tv and they are damn proud of it.

As for me I get my tv channels for free and over the air and in HD. You can't beat the price.

[LeftyMom]

33. The only OTA station here that doesn't suck is PBS. And our PBS affiliate is not that great.

I didn't have a TV for the longest, but my son loves nature documentaries, so I pay to get him more access to those.

[elocs]

37. My Wisconsin Public Television is great and with digital it has 3 channels.

Not only can I watch the PBS programming in HD, but WPT offers lots of great state programming. It has an excellent series about WI vets in WWII and Korea, as well as histories about WI cities, and it offers a lecture series from UW-Madison on a variety of interesting subjects as well as lots of other great programming. It also carries the Create channel with lots of cooking, gardening, sewing, and home renovation shows for those who like those things.

[RebelOne]

14. I had Dish, but I switched to cable.

I was sick of losing reception every time the weather turned bad. Sometimes it would be out for hours.

[supernova]

15. I have DirecTV

I've had it for about four years now. It's been really good. No problems with them at all. I have Tivo and can even schedule recordings online if I want.

I chose DTV over Dish because Dish asked to check my credit (which I didn't want) plus wanted to charge me about $600 for setup and equipment. Fuck that.

DTV treated me way better, a normal charge on installation. And it rarely goes out during bad weather. I think the longest it stayed out was about 45 minutes once, during particularly heavy rains. But that was the only instance.

edit: I've had Showtime for the past year, but I will probably drop that and go back to the basic package. I don't use the sports packages at all. They don't interest me enough. I would however, do a couple of PPVs a month. I seem to like them better.

But I love all the educational channels (when they do have educational programming :eyes: ) and BBC America and Sci Fi, plus Sundance in IFC.

[spinbaby]

16. I have DirecTV

Wish we'd gone with Dish, though, because they have programming in languages I want. Only Dish has German and Japanese.

[AlCzervik]

17. most of my neighbors have Dish and they're happy with it and they pay way less than i do

for comcast which as you know sucks.

[WCIL]

18. We dumped comcast for DirectTV

the independent contractor who set us up also installs Dish, and he said lots of people end up switching from DirectTV to Dish because Dish was more user-friendly.

I have no complaints about DirectTV; it is cheaper than Comcast, we are getting many more channels we will watch, and the picture quality is 100 times better. It did go out once for about 3 hours when we had an ice storm this winter.

[av8rdave]

19. Had direct TV for years

The service has been way more reliable than cable was. All in all, we're happy with it.

I don't know if it still is, but Dish network used to be on our Union's "don't buy" list. Not sure if they've straightened up their act or not, but it would be worth checking to see if AFL/CIO still has them blackballed.

[LeftyMom]

23. Thanks for letting me know about that. All the info I can find is from 2002,

and unfortunately not too clear as to the nature of the problem, or what the desired result was, so I can't tell if the boycott has been lifted or even much of what it was about, something to do with installers in New York.

I was raised in a union household- my late stepdad was ILWU for his entire adult life, and union representation got him out of more than a few scrapes with management. I'll definitely honor a boycott, but I'm not really sure that this one is still in effect or what it's about. Does anybody have more info?

[rurallib]

20. DISH just for FreeSpeechTV + Murdoch owns DirectTV

and I'll do without before I give that MFer a nickel.
I have had good reception and service from Dish. I think we have had it over 10 years.

[NMDemDist2]

21. yes and yes

you are so correct

:yourock:

[old mark]

22. Dish is great. We had DirecTV, they screwed us for nearly 2 years

till I emailed the president of the company and told him how much money they were wasting trying to make me pay a bill I didn't owe.

I never recommend DirecTV to anyone - They really treat their customers like shit and are stupid beyind belief.
Dish is great.

mark

[Maiden England]

24. Dish

We have Dish TurboHD and love it - its also less than we paid via DirecTV.

DirecTV, sigh, basically we had a duff receiver from them which I'd been complaining about for 2 years with not a single offer of support, finally I'd had enough being told rebooting every other day was freaking acceptable (I had it running to my Media PC working as a DVR and there is nothing worse than having to check the darn thing 8 times a day to see if it had crashed and therefore missing my recordings) and I wanted a replacement, and they wanted more to replace one standard receiver than to get new service in HD from Dish. We'd been with DTV 6 years. We asked if they had any deals that included upgrading to HD, since we hadn't had anything new from them in the 6 years we'd been paying them, and they wouldn't offer us anything, no discounts, nadda, zip. So we signed up with Dish, got way more for way less $$$, and guess what happened when we called to cancel DTV. They were falling over themselves to offer us the earth not to leave. I think their last offer, was like all new HD receivers with DVRs and a $400 credit on the payments. We were like - we already left because they'd told us to basically shove it. I do believe we were told we didn't get offered any upgrades because we "didn't sound serious about leaving DTV"

Fuck em. And their awful service.

For what its worth -
DTV - We had standard DVR on one TV and one standard receiver, second tier programming, locals, and it was like $65/mth

Dish - All HD package - top tier (so we don't get comedy central as they don't have an HD channel - yet), DVR on 2 TVs, HD on a third (my media PC), locals (although we also have an aerial to get HD broadcasts) the locals let us record on the aerial and Sat simulataneously for clashes on network TV, we also get the ability to DVR over the aerial channels - we don't get NBC on Dish, but we do get it on the aerial - because we live in a town without an NBC station, we had the same issue on DTV. However, Dish provides the program guide for the aerial version so DVRing is still in!. We also get HBO, Stars and Cinemax. We pay $60 a month for the lot. Although I think the deals are not as good as when we signed up.

I have friends also with Dish, with the full channel lineup, plus HD, plus locals, and a DVR on 2 tvs and a standard 3rd tv and they don't pay more than us (they don't have HBO, stars and Cinemax though)

[Dem2theMax]

25. Dish, hands down.

I am a pet sitter, and I get to stay in the homes of a lot of folks. And I get to use their TV's.

They both have pretty much the same programming. But Dish has the BEST software to make your own line-ups. Direct doesn't let you do anything. You are stuck with what they give you. And what they give you is horrible. With Dish, you can set up all sorts of menus. Set up a menu for the kids. Set up one with your favorite channels on it. Set up a sports line-up, or all of your favorite movie channels. You can have multiple menus. You name it, you can do it. It is very user-friendly, easy to set up, easy to change. After playing around with both, I hate Direct. We now have Dish here at home. I wouldn't give it up for anything. Their DVR is fantastic. Great HD programming. And the 'TV guide' - I'm trying to remember how far ahead it goes - something like nine days or more. So you can plan WAY ahead if you are looking for something special.

Another plus. If you are a movie watcher, Dish gives you a lot more info about the movies, including how well the movie was rated, as in one to four stars. Direct, you get next to nothing.

The one time I had to call customer service, they walked me through the problem I was having. Took but a few minutes to fix it. And the person I spoke with was actually IN the United States!

Go with Dish. You won't be sorry.

[nickinSTL]

26. don't know about Dish, I have DirecTV...

and WILL NOT be renewing when our contract is up in May.

I like having satellite, BUT...I'm not willing to pay over $60/mo. to be treated like utter shit.

Our dish is mounted on a pole at about 3ft high outside our apartment building. Somehow the bolt holding the dish got stripped - we didn't know that until the repair guy showed up and looked at it.

When we tried to get it checked out, first, we were put through insane hoops over and over to check the same stupid stuff that we're bright enough to fiture out on our own...finally got them to schedule a date to get it fixed - TWO WEEKS later (and told we'd have to pay like $85 or something for the service), I stayed home from work on the day and they didn't show...we called about it and they said, no, it was scheduled for the next week - which would have been THREE weeks without it.

My wife stayed on the phone arguing with them for over an hour trying to get them to schedule a time sooner...and they did EVERYTHING they could to get her off the line...but, having worked in a call center in the past, she knew what they could and couldn't do...finally got to talk to a supervisor, who also tried to give her the run-around until FINALLY giving her the number of the local repair office, and got a time scheduled NEXT DAY.

I'm so very unhappy with their treatment of us, we'll be cancelling, and they can go to hell. We don't need TV that badly. I'll buy a converter box for less than one month's worth of DirecTV and get the 2 or 3 channels we'll actually be able to receive. I don't need that shit.

[Robeson]

27. I have Direct and have been treated wonderfully, but as you can tell from all....

...the posts on your thread, personal anecdotes, and a cup of coffee will get you nothing.

[Left Is Write]

29. I was thinking that too.

We've had DirecTV uninterrupted since October of 1998. The one time we had trouble with an installer (when we got our DVR), the company made it right with 6 months of free premium channels and free DVR. (The trouble we had was that the installer didn't want to stay to tack up the cable because it was raining; he left it stretched across the middle of the lawn. When we complained, another installer was dispatched immediately and we were offered the make-good services.)

[femmocrat]

28. We just got DirectTV and we love it!

I don't know about the Dish, but we got all those perks you mentioned. And it's cheaper than Comcast.

We had a little problem with the recorder and their customer service was excellent. And, we had very gusty winds and power outages yesterday, and the reception has been fine. Just a couple of blinks off and back on. No other problems.

It felt really good to get rid of Comcast! Go for it!

[csziggy]

30. Get whichever has the best deal at the time

I had DirecTV for years, but when I needed to move the dish location, DirecTV would do nothing without me paying for full service. DISH had a free install/free multiple receivers deal, free movie channels for x months, etc. So I switched to them. As someone mentioned above, DirecTV would not match the deal even though I gave them multiple chances - until I called to cancel the DirecTV service after the DISH was installed.

When we moved, DISH did not want to upgrade our service - they just wanted us to carry our old receivers over. DirecTV had a good deal for DVR, HDTV for multiple rooms - AND a receiver for each room. DISH just wanted to split the signal from two receivers to multiple rooms without providing RF remotes to send the signals from the other rooms. DirecTV will rent you as many receivers as you want when DISH wants to limit how many receivers they will give you, no matter what you are willing to pay for. Again, free installation, free receivers, free movie channels, etc. from DirecTV. Only difference was that DISH did not hound us to come back when I canceled their service. They just did not seem to care if we stayed with them.

I found that paying the extra $5 per month gets premium service with a fast response. But so far with the DirecTV deal I have not needed it. DISH did have to spend quite a bit on our service after the system was struck by lightning which fried the LNB on the dish, the switches and the receivers - no visible signs of damage so lightning was not an obvious thought. Only one TV was fried - and it was over 20 years old so we did not think it was related at first.

Next time I want an upgrade I'll just switch services - both have been about the same for service either on the premium deal or not. Channel selection is about the same, though I do miss Free Speech TV on DISH, Democracy Now is on Link on DirecTV.

[travelingtypist]

32. I had Dish and hated it.

I was moving around in a 5th wheel across the country.
Their equipment is fragile and the stuff kept breaking
on me.

DIRECTV.

[madrchsod]

34. dish..

..been with dish for 10yrs with no problems

[kentauros]

35. I've only ever had Dish

so that's what I recommend :)

Plus, they have a pretty decent DVR-HD receiver

[mwooldri]

36. Comparisons:

I took this specification and this is what I found for cheapest deal.

Hardware: 1x HDTV receiver with DVR and 2x Standard Def receivers without DVR (you have more than one TV, right?)

Programming requirements: Must have HDTV service, Comedy Central and MSNBC.

For Dish Network:

Programming package that has this at minimum is Classic Silver 200 @ 47.99/mo standard. If you want HD, add on $10/mo. Locals are $5/mo. DVR service and additional TV receiver service is $11.60 ($4.60 DVR, $7 for two extra TVs). Total cost is 74.99 plus taxes and other fees. Dish Network are discounting this by $35/mo for 6 months if you commit to them for 2 years, and they will waive the $99 activation fee.

For DirecTV:

The DirecTV package that has this would be the Choice package @ 52.99/mo, this INCLUDES your local channels. You need to add HD @ 9.99/mo. DVR service is 5.99/mo, and for two extra SDTV receivers without DVR, that's 9.98 total for the two. Monthly cost is $78.95. If you commit to a contract for 24 months you can get the receivers for free and you'll get your bill discounted by $23/mo for 12 months.

In essence it's about the same. If you ignore things like taxes and such, over 24 months Dish costs 1589.76, DirecTV costs 1618.80.

Strangely enough, Time Warner Cable in our area costs slightly more: I have a HD DVR and regular analog cable... I pay $71.95 for 1 HD DVR and the other two TVs are hooked up to analog cable, and yes Comedy Central and MSNBC are on the channels below 78. This makes my 24 month cost $1726.80.

In terms of standards of service... I find both DirecTV and Dish about the same. Dish have this funky receiver sharing thing but I'm told their DVR is good. I experienced their SD DVR and it was OK. DirecTV isn't bad, not terrible. Their Tivo DVR was good but their newer ones look plainer and not as feature rich IMO.

Hope this helps, Mark.

[dkofos]

38. You don't get M$NBC with the basic package.

No KO. No Rachel.