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Need Advice Dish vs Direct TV

Discussion in 'General Chat Forum' started by guru, Jul 16, 2008.

  1. guru

    guru New Member

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    Has anyone had experience with both of these? Which did you prefer. We currently have Dish and have had problems with their customer service. Is it worth it to make the switch to Direct TV?
     
  2. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    w eUSED to have direct TV and swithced to dish. the switch came when we tried to activate our service from direct tv- we were long time customers- and we had to go thru some sub company called pegasus. they were so unprofessional, rude and- what's the PC word for ignorant.... UNINFORMED, we took our biz to dish. have had no probs- as a matter of fact0 cust service has been great. once on the phone they resolved an issue for us. and just a few weeks ago a tech came out and took care of a faulty rcvr within minutes, less than 24 hours after we called.

    may want to bump your cust. serv. prob up a notch to mgmnt and see if tht makes a diff, especially if you like everything else about the programming, options, etc.!
     
  3. boomertsfx

    boomertsfx Booyakasha!

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    Pegasus/NRTC doesn't serve this area (or maybe dont even exist) anymore .. I think directv has more HD channels currently, and that's why we're with them. We pay around 70/month for 2 DVRs (1 HD, 1 SD) and no premium channels.
     
  4. afgm

    afgm Ashburn Farm Resident

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    Not sure about now, but a year ago I went with DirecTV because of a better HD selection. Also, I needed new HD receivers, and got them for free from DirecTV, whereas, my then current provider Dish wasn't interested in helping me out. Other than to charge me an arm and a leg for new gear.
     
  5. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    hmm- with pegasus out of the picture we may have to call direct and see wha their best offer is. we never had problems with them until the pegasus debeacle...
     
  6. quailpond06

    quailpond06 New Member

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    Pegasus was part of some Rural cooperative. We got around it by telling directv our zip code was 20147 instead of 20148 at the time. Worked like a charm and we got our directv dish. Now that the rural cooperative laws are gone (or just don't apply to us anymore), it should be a problem. We've been Directv customers for a long, long time and are generally happy. Love most of the HD channels too. Hubby has to have it so he can have the baseball package and watch the games.
     
  7. gunzour

    gunzour "Living on the Edge"

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    If you want to switch to DirecTV, wait a bit until their sunday ticket offer comes out. Every year at the start of football season, they offer a deal for their new signups where you pay for sunday ticket but get their premium programming package, including all movie channels, free for four months. The sunday ticket package is actually cheaper than four months of premium so it's a good deal either way. At the end of the four months you can downgrade your service (you can do it on their website, no need to call) if you don't want the premiums.

    I have never been a Dish customer, so can't really speak to that, but we choose DirecTV because of the extensive HD channel selection, as well as the NFL package.

    Redon1, my parents were full time RV-ers and had to deal with Pegasus a few years ago -- what a pain that was for them! I'm not sure Pegasus even exists anymore, but I do know they don't cover Broadlands these days -- we deal, umm, "directly" with DirecTV. :)
     
  8. goofus

    goofus New Member

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    Both companies have been fighting each other in the HD wars. Dish was the leader for a long time, then DirecTV caught up to (and then surpassed) Dish. Dish has leveled the playing field by recently adding some new HD channels.

    If you want to learn more, you should check out the forums at Satellite Guys...

    http://www.satelliteguys.us/

    If you want the NFL programming pack, the decision will be made for you. You'll have to go with DirecTV because Dish doesn't have it.

    I have Dish Network because I liked their equipment and programming packs better than DirecTV (and I didn't care about NFL). That being said, Dish will be launching some new receivers this year with some cool features. They bought Sling Media last year (of Sling Box fame), and it is very likely that Sling Box features will be incorporated into the Dish receivers.
     
  9. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    what about the DVR feature with Direct TV? we RARELY watch anything live and DVR everything- are you satisfied with Direct Tv's service there?
     
  10. gunzour

    gunzour "Living on the Edge"

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    I'm very happy with the DirecTV DVRs... they have 30 second skip builtin as well as the equivalent of Tivo's season-pass. They are much better than, say, the DVR Openband provides.

    The only caveat with DVR by satellite is that when rain fade occurs it can be really annoying. (Rain fade = loss of signal due to a storm or heavy rain) It's frustrating when I find out that a recording I've been waiting to watch is missing parts due to a storm that came through when I recorded it a couple of weeks ago. :) The HD channels do seem to be more vulnerable to rain fade than the regular channels.

    Oh, DirecTV has on-demand programming now too. You can plug your receiver in to your network connection and it will download on-demand programming over the network.
     
  11. redon1

    redon1 aka Aphioni

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    oh no... i can get Howard Stern on demand?!?!? that might just ruin my life... hubby and i will become recluses watching Stern TV all day... yikes.

    thanks for the info though- this is good food for thought! if they have a referral program, PM me your real name and i will tell them you referred me if we switch!
     
  12. goofus

    goofus New Member

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    On DVRs.... both DirecTV and Dish Network allow you to connect external hard drives to certain receivers to increase storage capacity. This is very useful of the space taken up by HD programming. The implementations are slightly different, each with pros and cons.

    DirecTV. Connect via USB 2.0 or eSATA. Can connect multiple drives. I don't believe there is a limit on the capacity of the drives. However, when you hook up your first drive, access to the built-in drive (i.e., inside the receiver) is lost. So, you can either (a) go with the internal or (b) use one or more externals, but you cannot use both simultaneously (or copy between them).

    Dish Network. Connect via USB 2.0. At this time only one external drive is allowed; they are working on letting you hook up more. The maximum supported limit is 750G; what's more, certain drives (especially Seagates) don't work right do to a problem with issuing the drive wake-up sequence in Linux (which the Dish receivers use). There is also a one-time $40 fee. But on the bright side, one's internal and external drives work in tandem, and you can access both right from an integrated DVR menu. And you can copy programs from the internal to the external (and vice versa). Sweet!
     

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