Hi guys! I've been with DirecTV for five years now, and I'm pretty sure I'm out of contract, as I haven't taken advantage of any promotions or anything.

Anyway, I'm looking to either save some money on my monthly bill or get some new perks (mainly HD or DVRs) for what I'm paying now.

Here's my current bill:

Total Choice Plus - $54.99
Sports Monthly - $12.00
Additional receiver - $4.99
Additional receiver - $4.99
Additional receiver - $4.99
Leased receiver - $4.99
Leased receiver - $4.99
Total monthly bill - $91.94

I have eight receivers (large house). I'd like to have HD on one or two of the TVs. I'm willing to go wherever the best deal is, with Dish or DTV.

Any suggestions on what I should do? Can I expect to get some new perks for the same amount of money if I were to either renew or cancel/sign up? Or is Dish any better for the amount of TVs I'm using?

Paying $25/month for leasing the receivers seems kind of high. Can I invest in my own receivers and save that fee? Or is that not real smart?

I'm willing to stay with DTV or move over to Dish if they would have a better offer. I'd love feedback from you guys, as I'm not sure what to expect or ask for.

Thanks for reading! :)

Do all eight TVs need independent programming? Or asked another way, are there eight people living in the house?

Dish is the only one with receivers that can provide two independent outputs from one box. Get HD DVR receivers for the HDTVs, backfeed the TV1 and TV2 from each receiver on different channels to ALL the TVs. You can save a lot that way, those $5/$7 additional outlet fees add up quick. Just get enough receivers to cover how many people live in the house and backfeed them all everywhere.

Do all eight TVs need independent programming? Or asked another way, are there eight people living in the house?

Dish is the only one with receivers that can provide two independent outputs from one box. Get HD DVR receivers for the HDTVs, backfeed the TV1 and TV2 from each receiver on different channels to ALL the TVs. You can save a lot that way, those $5/$7 additional outlet fees add up quick. Just get enough receivers to cover how many people live in the house and backfeed them all everywhere.

That's good as long as those other TV's aren't HD, you don't want to be watching a crummy SD/NTSC feed on a nice HD set.

And those DVR fees at E* can add up since it's per DVR vs. per account on the other DBS company.

Oops -- yes, I did mean to be able to watch eight different channels, or for eight different people.

So with Dish, four receivers could accomplish this, since each receiver can serve two TVs independently? That sounds promising...

Do you know, with either service, at what point they charge for the extra receivers? Is it after the first one? After the first four?

OK, let's make it complicated. :D

Given:

F = Number of Family Members
F(d) = Number of dual-output receivers needed = int(F / 2)
H = Number of HD sets

Ergo, you need:
Number of dual-output HD receivers = H
Number of dual-output SD receivers = F(d) - H

Can reduce further if you're willing to connect a single HD receiver to multiple HDTVs, one with component and one with HDMI for instance, to watch the same thing on both.

Oops -- yes, I did mean to be able to watch eight different channels, or for eight different people.

So with Dish, four receivers could accomplish this, since each receiver can serve two TVs independently? That sounds promising...

Do you know, with either service, at what point they charge for the extra receivers? Is it after the first one? After the first four?The first receiver is (usually, depending on the promotion) included in the package price. Each additional is $7(HD) or $5(SD) and tack on another $6 for each one that is also a DVR.

For eight independent viewers you'd need a minimum of four receivers. Dish will let you lease up to four "tuners" which would be the first two boxes, you would have to buy the rest.

DirecTV charges $4.99 for any receiver after the 1st, doesn't matter if SD or HD.

With Dish you could get the 4 622/722 receivers like pepper said and it would cost you $38 per month for those 4 receivers. Or you could get all DVR's with Diretv for only $40 per month. You will not save that much money one way or the other with either provider.

You could also get one 622 and the rest 222's and save a little but you would have a larger up front cost. Your monthly payment would be $29 per month with a upfront cost of $480. Your Directv up front costs will be dependent on what type of deal you could make. Having been with Directv for 5 years I would think that you would be able to get at least an HD DVR for free. If you want two TV's you could get another one or a non DVR HD receiver for $99 to $199. This makes the up front cost difference to around $300 just to save $11 per month.

Wow. Thanks for the info, guys!

I was wondering how exactly it works when it comes to charging for extra receivers. If I were to buy the receivers, would my monthly fee be the same whether I had one receiver of eight? Or would DTV or Dish still charge me some monthly fee for the activation of the additional receivers?

You still pay a monthly fee whether you lease or own your equipment with both providers.

If Dishnetwork is what you want,then read on.
IF I needed 8 Hook Ups , I would go with 4 Vip 222,or 4 Vip 722 for DVR.
Then you would get 4 HD and 4 SD hook ups.
4 222 or 722 are going to cost you $21 alone in lease fees,
and you still would have to Buy 2 of them out right ,Because E* isn't going to lease you 8 Tuners as a new customer. (I had to beg to get another Dual room receiver just to have 5 rooms with a lease) ( I still didn't take the receiver just yet)
Now 4 722's are going to cost you $21 per month in lease fees,and $17.94 in DVR fees with the DVR atvantage packs. For a Total of $38.94 Per month in Fees alone with the 4 Vip 722,s,,,
UNLESS you go with the Americas Everything pack then your looking at Only $21 in Fees for your 722,s because all Dvrs are in cluded in this pack. So it Really comes down to what you want to spend .

I just called DTV, and it turns out I'm under contract until late next year! :(

Evidently, when they replaced a faulty receiver several months ago, that renewed my contract for 18 months. So that's kind of a surprise, for sure.

Oh, well.. at least now I have some knowledge, and I have time to plan. :-)

I just called DTV, and it turns out I'm under contract until late next year! :(

Why not see if they will work out a deal to upgrade one TV to HD then. Worse case is you extend your contract by another year. You may be able to get a free HD DVR from them.