moving onto dish...need some questions answered

[dvx24p]

i'll be moving to a new home next month and am thinking of switching from cox cable(which has 10 hd channels) to dish or directv. i live in south orange county(45 minutes south of los angeles). i have a few questions to ask:

i was talking to a dish rep and mentioned their 100% digital signal puts out 1080i vs. cox 480p. is this true and how does this compare to directv? current owners, how do sd programs look on your hdtv?

he mentioned that dish will be fully transitioned to mpeg4 in september. is this true?

the dish 811 and the dvr 942 will be compatible with mpeg4. true?

i was offered the dvr 942 for $250. is this a fair price?

are local channels in hd(cbs, nbc, wb, fox, abc) only available through an ota antenna and not through dish?

is dish the best way to go for hd content? any reasons why you chose dish over directv in regards to hd?

thanks for your feedback! much appreciation!

 

[mwgiii]

1) HD channels on Cox, Direct, & Dish are either 1080i or 720p. 480p is progressive scan. Picture will vary between the three depending on how much compression is used.

2) Dish has not announced when MPEG4 will happen (this fall hopefully). Neither Dish nor Direct have a receiver on the market to support MPEG4 yet.

3) Not true. The 6000, 811, 921, & 942 are NOT compatible with MPEG4.

4) I believe that is the lease price.

5) You can get CBS HD if you qualify, otherwise ota.

6) Dish currently has the most HD channels (HD pack & Voom pack). Some people who have Direct complain about a lot of compression on their HD channels.

 

[dvx24p]

thanks for the quick response. i remember him saying that once the transition to mpeg4, i would be able to upgrade my equipment free of charge. does this sound familiar? the dish rep is going to call me on monday so i'm going to confirm w/ him our conversation. do you think i should wait for the transition and stick to cox for now? thanks!

 

[nsafreak]

While an upgrade to MPEG4 for free is what a lot of people hope for I would definitely not count on it happening. Dish has not even announced when they will begin transitioning their customers and a full transition happening within a month's timespan is simply not going to happen. Way too much stuff has to be done for a major conversion like this and Dish is more likely to upgrade HD subs first and then gradually work on the rest of the subs. It's really hard to say whether you should stick with Cox until the transition is done (which is almost guaranteed to take a year or so) or go right now. With Dish's past history they seem to be good at doing receiver upgrades at low cost when they become necessary due to receiver obsoletion. No guarantee that will happen but Dish does have a good track record. So I'd say if you are interested in becoming a Dish sub it wouldn't be a bad time to switch. Just make sure you get all of what is offered IN WRITING just in case something should happen.

 

[TNGTony]

Anything the salesman tells you about upgrades free or otherwise GET IT IN WRITING SIGNED BY THE SALESMAN (in his own blood if necessary) AND AUTHORIZED BY THE COMPANY HE REPRESENTS and notarized. Otherwise the agreement is, to coin a phrase, not worth the paper it's written on! Much of the info this salesman told you is misunderstood (by the salesman) or outright lies!

Dish is 100% Digital, but digital is not the panacea that many people envision. Though I am generally happy with the SD picture on Dish, there are some times and some channels that can look like CRAP even with digital transmission. Why? Because one gigantic pixel taking up the entire screen on you TV flashing from white to black and back is a "digital quality picture".

mwgiii pretty much answered everything for you. As he said, the speculation is that there will be a free upgrade, but it is ONLY speculation. No dealer knows what is going to happen during the transition yet. Hell, I'd be surprised if even Dish knows yet!

See ya
Tony

 

[SimpleSimon]

he mentioned that dish will be fully transitioned to mpeg4 in september.

ROFLMAO

They won't even have STARTED to convert signals by then. They MAY have the 411 receiver (basic, single-tuner, non-DVR, MPEG4) starting to hit the street around that time, but nothing else.

 

[jpezz]

Anything the salesman tells you about upgrades free or otherwise GET IT IN WRITING SIGNED BY THE SALESMAN (in his own blood if necessary) AND AUTHORIZED BY THE COMPANY HE REPRESENTS and notarized. Otherwise the agreement is, to coin a phrase, not worth the paper it's written on! Much of the info this salesman told you is misunderstood (by the salesman) or outright lies!
Tony

How do you know a salesman is lying to you?

His lips move!

JohnP