Former Dish Net / New Customers Read This

[TravelFan1]

thanks mdram for helping me making an educated decision here.

 

[aperiod]

Newbie here, please be gentle and speak slowly. I am tech saavy just enough to hook up all my components to the TV, but when it comes to getting signals/feeds to the receiver and other TV, I'm clueless.

I was a long time happy Dish customer, out of contract, and when I called yesterday to see if they offered any loyalty discounts or discounts to resign a new contract, they laughed. At the time I started with them, they had the best prices and equipment, but now I'm wondering if others have better options and I'm trying to understand directv's setup.

I currently have a 722 with an OTA module which we use to record 4 network shows at the same time on thursdays. I have one HDTV and the other is just a tube TV. We like the dual tuner DVR ability to watch shows on either TV. Seems like directv can do this now too? exactly what equipment would I need for this (when I was trying to play around on costco's site, it told me I needed an hd dvr and hd receiver? why 2?), both to watch wherever and record 4 prime feeds simutaneously?

Also, we have a lot of movies accumulated on our dish DVR which I understand we can hook up a hard drive to get the stuff off. will we be able to hook up this hard drive to the directv receiver and watch our old stuff?

TIA

 

[mdram]

if you are going to record 4 shows at 1 time you need 2 dvrs
directv units only record 2 streams at once
you can watch shows from 1 dvr on the other, but they need to be hddvr's

no your dish ehd will not work with your directv reciever, you cannot even swap ehds from dvr to dvr on directv
and you cannot copy from a directv hd to an ehd

 

[TravelFan1]

After finally finishing all the work that needed to be done in the house, we are moving - installation day is this coming Thursday. I have a final question: I called the AAA line and I also had a friend's Directv account number. I though one could get both discounts, but it doesn't appear to be the case any longer.
One interesting thing was that the CSR told me that in case NFL cancels this season, we get NFL Sunday Ticket for free in 2012. That I wasn't expecting.
I also got the 1 year free Showtime promo + 3 months free for the other movie channels, with the caveat that I have to call them to cancel them before the 3 month is done.
I'll keep you posted after the install takes place on Thursday. By them, new place should have internet available and we should be all set for a Directv install.
The major downside is the fact that I'll have to pay for the SportsPak in order to get Fox Soccer and GolTv in HD - but, hey, I'm getting GolTv in Hd and Dish doesn't even have GolTv in SD! I'm also getting all NY RSNs back, which is another plus - not so much for the summer, as I typically don't follow baseball until September, but a huge plus for the fall, to watch College Sports and a NY Rangers and Knicks game here and there.

 

[TravelFan1]

Apologies for taking too long to post, too much going on when one is moving with a toddler.... Anyway, here goes my experience with the installation and my experience with Directv so far.
The installation was great. Installer arrived at 10:30am, within the 8-noon timeframe. After working on the roof for about 1:30hrs, to replace a part on the Directv dish that was already installed in my house, and to connect all the wiring outside, he came inside and did a great job of setting up everything, including the internet component. The only reason he did not spend more time with me explaining the functionality was that I needed to run back to the old place, to give my keys to the movers so that they could start packing our stuff.
However, after installation, I have had an issue, which I'm going to probably follow up on it this weekend. As per instructed, I added SportsPak after my install, so that I wasn't automatically put in the Directv Premier package, due to all movie channel promos. However, I noticed that I wasn't been able to get Fox Deportes, a channel that is part of the Sports Pak AND it's a channel that I was really looking forward to getting. Fox Deportes covers many South American matches like Copa LIbertadores and Copa Sudamericana not covered by Fox Soccer Channel, and Fox deportes does have SAP in English. So I call Directv customer service and a gentlemen there did spend quite a few minutes navigating the various Directv systems until he realized I would need an extra Dish and that install would cost me over 100 dollars. Why do I have to pay extra to get a channel that Directv clearly indicates it's part of the Sports Pak is beyond me. Also, the original csr should have noticed that I wanted the SportsPak from the get go, so this extra Directv Dish would be needed in the original install!
Other than this issue with Fox Deportes, I am really enjoying the service. I love the ability of watching YouTube videos - little one loves the GillieBellie videos like Old MacDonald and Wheels on the bus, so it's very convenient. The weather app is also great, give my local weather very fast. Also, it's good to have my NYC metro RSNs and in HD! And MRV is really, really great!

I do miss BBC America HD, the swap between tuners w/out the need to active it and w/out the need to worry about first having to enable it and, then , worrying about it getting disabled after 2 hours, and, mostly, the live tv button. But I do believe those are very small prices to pay for an overall superior experience.

 

[K4LK]

D* was installed Friday. I had been a E* customer since VOOM went dark. HD picture quality is noticeably better. Live the 3D and MRV. So far it's great. Installer hooked up a Slimline-3S with SWiM splitter, DECA, HR24 and H25. The dish sees 101, 99 and 103. Does that give me everything? Is there anything on 110 and 119 satellites that I could see if a Slimline-5 was installed?

Thanks

 

[Mr Tony]

110 is vacant...thats where the MPEG2 HD was but that is long gone
119 is mainly for Spanish channels, some small market locals and a few of the Sonic audio channels. Here is the list
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-forum/219034-would-i-get-more-channels-if.html#post2251967

 

[RandallA]

D* was installed Friday. I had been a E* customer since VOOM went dark. HD picture quality is noticeably better. Live the 3D and MRV. So far it's great. Installer hooked up a Slimline-3S with SWiM splitter, DECA, HR24 and H25. The dish sees 101, 99 and 103. Does that give me everything? Is there anything on 110 and 119 satellites that I could see if a Slimline-5 was installed?

Thanks

Iceberg posted this a while ago:

"110 had some MPEG2 HD channels (like 1/2 dozen)...they're gone now except for some commercial customers

so for the average consumer.....110 is vacant
119 has some markets SD locals too"

119 also has the Spanish channels so you're not missing anything.

 

[dhjean]

So, wait. I've got an install on Monday. If they don't set me up with 119, I'll be missing some music channels to which I've subscribed? We listen to music a lot, and I think that might be an issue. Am I correct?

 

[Mr Tony]

The link I posted above has the ones that are on 119. When the tech arrives you might be able ot make sure he puts up a LNB that gets 119 too

most of the Sonic channels are on 101. There is only one station I would listen to on the 119 list and thats Pump and there are 2 or 3 other stations on 101 just like that

 

[Jimbo]

So, wait. I've got an install on Monday. If they don't set me up with 119, I'll be missing some music channels to which I've subscribed? We listen to music a lot, and I think that might be an issue. Am I correct?

You SUB to music channels on D* ?
I thought they came as extras ???

You didn't sign up for a package for D* strictly for a particular music channel, did you ?

 

[dhjean]

Heh, heh, well no. That's not what I meant to say.

We had Dish before we moved, and we listened to the music channels a lot. We had them connected to our whole house audio system, and they worked great. I like them because there are no commercials. I'm hoping DirecTV's are also good, and I'm guessing we'll listen to them a lot.

I'll have to look at that channel lineup and see if I want to insist on receiving the 119 signal. Not a big deal, to be sure, but at least now I understand.

 

[huskerpat]

Can you hide channels? I know you can lock channels, but on my dish receivers I could hide channels we didn't want from the guide.

 

[Mr Tony]

favorite list is the only way

 

[huskerpat]

favorite list is the only way

That gets me what I want. Thanks.

Called dish to cancel service today. They offered to reinstall me dish and give me 10 bucks a month off. No thanks...

 

[j.vo]

Considering the move to from dish. I have some questions to consider before making the move.

Does D* spot beam Denver and Colorado Springs locals? What satellite are they on? Do they overcompress locals?
Will I get current hardware on lease?
If I buy my own hardware, can I avoid a contract?
Do they give me a month or so to bail out without having to pay an ETF?
Do their HDDVR record OTA? Seems like I would need to add a big ugly OTA receiver on top?
Can I record 2 sat programs and OTA at once on a single DVR?

Thanks for helping me out.

J.vo

 

[mdram]

Considering the move to from dish. I have some questions to consider before making the move.

Does D* spot beam Denver and Colorado Springs locals? What satellite are they on? Do they overcompress locals?
Will I get current hardware on lease? - all hardware is leased
If I buy my own hardware, can I avoid a contract? see above
Do they give me a month or so to bail out without having to pay an ETF?
Do their HDDVR record OTA? Seems like I would need to add a big ugly OTA receiver on top? you need an am21 for ota
Can I record 2 sat programs and OTA at once on a single DVR? no, just 2 feeds, ota is a feed, sat is a feed

Thanks for helping me out.

J.vo

see above in red

 

[j.vo]

Mdram,

Thank you for responding. I called and found out that I would have 15 days to cancel for dissatisfaction before being on the hook for an etf.

What model HD DVR/HD Receivers would be installed on promotion? I would want the whole house dvr feature. Late model hardware would be a plus.
Posts here state the primary satellites as 99 101 103. Does this mean I would receive a 3 LNB Single Wire dish? I do not need spanish/international programming. I would want Denver HD locals.

 

[mdram]

check your locals here
DIRECTV: Local Channels

as far as equipment, request the hr24 for dvr, and h24 or h25 for other unit
those are the latest
get it on the ticket that you will refuse if it is not them
tell the tech this when he calls to verify appointment
check with tech when he first arrives
if its not what you want, refuse

from other posts, mrv request usually get this equipment
and a swm install

 

[Arsenalfan]

I am new to this forum. I am considering switching from E* to D*. I am a big soccer fan and D* has GolTV and the Soccer Mix Channels for UEFA. My question is about the differences b/t DVR's. I want to be able to sometimes record 2 different matches at the same time and watch another sporting event live at the same time. Is this possible with getting 1 HD-DVR and 1 HD Receiver only? Which TV I watch this on (I have 2 HD's only in my home) is not that important. Also, since I watch a lot of soccer I've read where Fox Deportes is sometimes not properly intalled with the Sports Pak. What do I need to tell the intstaller to avoid this?