First Night With Dish Network

[KAB]

One nice feature the wife and I have enjoyed while watching something on the DVR, the 30 second skip. Its a pretty cool feature.

I believe you had it with D*. It had to be enabled. I almost switched and made sure of it.

 

[satjay]

Your right, I guess I did never enable it.

Though so far all is good with Dish!!

 

[Ira Lacher]

Warning: Long post! I offer this as a case study of analyzing whether to switch providers from DirecTV to DISH and vice versa:


To save money over the long term, I started considering going back to DISH from DirecTV (switched in September 2007). Cable is not an option because Mediacom is in the last century with regard to HD channels, picture quality and other technology. We had these considerations:

1. The change had to save us money for the non-promotional pricing, not any new-customer discounts.
2. We wanted the same channels we watch regularly now.
3. Wanted to keep HD service on the one HD set, DVR service on the other two TVs (SDs).
4. Premium movie channels (e.g. HBO) and sports packages (MLBEI) were not an issue; we dumped them after realizing they cost too much. But there were sports channels we wanted to keep.

With this in mind, I compared DirecTV Choice XTra plus Sports Pack (downgraded from Premium) with DISH Gold 250. Both were configured with HD service, one HD DVR and two SD DVRs.


Advantages:

• DISH package is $12 a month less than DirecTV (but only $6 less if we drop the DirecTV Protection Plan).
• We would gain Travel Channel HD and WGN HD.
• We would gain an arguably more user-friendly and versatile DVR.

Disadvantages:

• We would lose MLB Network, GOL TV and FSE -- three essential channels my son and I watch.
• We would lose FX HD, which my wife watches.
• We weren't sure whether we could record local HD channels not on DISH OTA, the way we can on DirecTV.
• DISH has an irrefutable reputation of losing channels over programming fee disputes.

The upshot is we have decided to stay with DirecTV. The cost savings do not make up for the loss in value.

 

[DodgerKing]

How many nights now?

Enjoying it a lot?

 

[satjay]

How many nights now?

Enjoying it a lot?

Almost a week, so far so good. Its still early, but I had a CSR question over the weekend and that has handled well and I mentioned before I had braced myself for someones who's english may not be there language, but I had the oppositie happen, which was good and it was resolved pretty quick. I am enjoying the few channels in HD like travel and such. My true test comes in August/Septemeber for sunday ticket, but I think I will survive I do like the DVR.

The door for Directv will always be open, I was not one of those who left huffing and puffing. But for now all is ok

 

[DodgerKing]

:up

Good to know that you are happy thus far.

 

[digiblur]

[*]We weren't sure whether we could record local HD channels not on DISH OTA, the way we can on DirecTV.
[*]DISH has an irrefutable reputation of losing channels over programming fee disputes.
[/LIST]The upshot is we have decided to stay with DirecTV. The cost savings do not make up for the loss in value.

Yes you can record anything in the guide. The 622/722 can record two satellite streams (HD/SD doesn't matter) and one OTA (HD/SD) stream at the same time. The 722k can record 2 satellite and 2 OTA streams at the same time.

 

[Ira Lacher]

Good to know; thanks.

Also, I understand that one receiver can control more than one TV. Presume they have to be physically connected, however? How exactly does this work? DISH CSR told me we'd have to drill all kinds of holes in the house to get cables to connect from ground floor to upstairs or basement rec room where other TVs are.

 

[self.inflicktd]

Good to know; thanks.

Also, I understand that one receiver can control more than one TV. Presume they have to be physically connected, however? How exactly does this work? DISH CSR told me we'd have to drill all kinds of holes in the house to get cables to connect from ground floor to upstairs or basement rec room where other TVs are.

Yes, there are many receivers that control 2 tv's. Depending on what you're wanting, I'm sure Dish has the correct receiver. An HD dual receiver will give you one HDTV and one SDTV whereas a SD dual receiver will give both SDTVs.

No way to get 2 HDTV's with a dual receiver as of yet.

The 2nd tv is connected to the receiver in the first room via coaxial cable. They use diplexers so that there are the least amount of holes drilled in to the home so don't worry about that. It doesn't matter where the TV2 is really, there is a way to install it as long as it is in the same home.

 

[bebop]

You can display the same HD picture on two HDTV's with one HD receiver - just have to use HDMI and component for TV1. You loose the functionality of a separate TV2 control - but you can have it sent to both.

 

[self.inflicktd]

You can display the same HD picture on two HDTV's with one HD receiver - just have to use HDMI and component for TV1. You loose the functionality of a separate TV2 control - but you can have it sent to both.

This is true for a single tv feed... yes, but he asked for 2 tvs.

Doesn't the 922 send an HD feed wirelessly to a small portable tv? I think I read something like that.

 

[bebop]

This is true for a single tv feed... yes, but he asked for 2 tvs.

And for a 2 HDTV setup if you connect them both to TV1, like I said. You can watch HD on two tv's in that setup, just not different programs at the same time. Please read it again.

No way to get 2 HDTV's with a dual receiver as of yet.

See above.

 

[Walker1]

Hello all, today is my first day with Dish after nine years with Directv, Here is my small review after a few hours of getting to know Dish

My Equipment 722 & 612: I like the way the program guide is set up, a more cleaner look then Directv. Its nice to channel surf and get to channel faster and I like the way the channels are set up, now I just have to get used to what channel is what. The Dish itself appears to be smaller then my Directv dish. It has a "Turbo HD" logo on it.

Programming: I have Classic gold 250/HD Gold, HBO/Starz for three months, Cinemax for a penny and signed up for platinum for free for three months. I enjoy having travel in HD and ESPNU in the package, it would be great down the road if they get it in HD. I also look foward to catching some Cubs games in HD on WGN

Picture Quality: HD wise, I think its comparable to Directv. HBO and ESPN seem to look as good as they did on Directv. I am surprised with SD, on my 42 inch plasma SD picture looks much better then Directv. I have not watched much yet on my 52 projection to see if its the same for SD.

DVR: DVR is nice, the 30 second skip and slow mo are nice features

You know, I read alot of frustration posts on dish, and I am sure down the road I will have my fair share, they got some good things going here, if they could work on the issues they have they could have a solid product, I can see how many do get frustrated becouse they see what Dish could be. I wont lie, come September it will be a bit weird without Sunday Ticket but I was not watching the sunday games to make it worth the investment.

Anyways sorry for the long post, look to adding future posts on the Dish side!!

Oh, also Kudos to Claude over at Dishstore Tech was solid, sounded like he had a long and busy day but did a great job and took his time in getting my equipment going!

Glad to hear it! I've had the 722 DVR for almost 2 yrs. and love it. I recently had to get a new unit as the "brain" inside it went crazy. It wouldn't follow any commands so I moved all my important stuff to the external drives before the tech arrived with a new unit. I am on a month to month lease now so I don't own any equip- (Whew!).

My brother has a Tivo unit and it's a piece of garbage! It's like molasses & holds a minimal amt. of programs. I highly recommend the 722 to anyone who wants a "workhorse" DVR with all the bells & whistles.

On a side note: I've had Dish for almost 5 yrs. with minimal problems. I never had Direc as they seem to be more into sports & was priced higher than Dish for what I want. Enjoy your new toys & welcome to Dish.

 

[Ira Lacher]

The 2nd tv is connected to the receiver in the first room via coaxial cable. They use diplexers so that there are the least amount of holes drilled in to the home so don't worry about that. It doesn't matter where the TV2 is really, there is a way to install it as long as it is in the same home.

But how do you use a coax cable to connect a receiver on the main floor to a TV on the top floor without going through ceilings or floors? There's no way to do this wirelessly, correct?

When I told the DISH CSR I didn't want to have more holes drilled into my ceiliing and floors and cables snaking through the walls, I was told I could get a dedicated receiver for each TV, but they'd charge me a fee for each receiver. I factored that into my cost analysis.

 

[PKII]

Welcome to the Dish Network.

You left the dark side of the force as I did many years ago.

Just a few DVR issues and Dish taking away my locals but other than that I've been happy. Still happy I'll never return to Directv. It took me 2 years to get Directv to stop sending me "we want you back" letters.

 

[satjay]

Welcome to the Dish Network.

You left the dark side of the force as I did many years ago.

Just a few DVR issues and Dish taking away my locals but other than that I've been happy. Still happy I'll never return to Directv. It took me 2 years to get Directv to stop sending me "we want you back" letters.

Thanks, so far its been great in all areas of Dish!

 

[satjay]

Got a question about searching for shows. Is there any short cut way to see when a show/movie is being shown again other then the key word search??

 

[Charise]

Got a question about searching for shows. Is there any short cut way to see when a show/movie is being shown again other then the key word search??

You can press the "search" button when you have a show highlighted in the guide or when you are watching a show. The name will be correct for the search, so you then press "select" a couple of times and your search results are on-screen. This is the easiest way to search that I have found.

 

[branchbouncer]

Welcome to the Dish Network. It took me 2 years to get Directv to stop sending me "we want you back" letters.

I'm still getting them every month for the last 4 years

 

[tigershere]

lol, i use pip daily and never knew the browse>pip trick
I have always swapped changed and swapped back. DOH!

thanks!