No new BHN channels

[skottey]

As a subscriber to Dish and BHN, I am constantly weighing whether to get rid of BHN all together, alter my Dish package or continue on with both services as is.

With BHN I have-
2 HD DVRs
movie pak (Encore and Fox movies)
HBO, Cinemax, Showtime with on Demands

With Dish I have-
America's Top 100 + HD package ($20 extra) - No locals
HD DVR
HD non-DVR box
standard box
Starz channels including Starz HD, which BHN doesn't offer


There are reasons I have the pay channels with each the way I do. BHN gives me a good price on HBO and Cinemax, and they have on demands of each. They have HBO HD but no Cinemax HD. They also have more multichannel offerings than Dish. BHN has all the multichannels available for each, where as Dish only has a handful. I've thought of switching my Cinemax subscription to Dish but it would be silly to do it just for the HD. Sure would be nice if BHN would add Cinemax HD! As for Showtime, they offer again, all the multichannels, On Demand, and HD of Showtime east. So I keep my subscription with BHN.

Dish offers the better Starz, having more multichannels and the HD version.

At times I think about getting rid of BHN or lowering the package, changing it up or whatever, but what holds me back is that Dish is constantly going out when the rain comes down. Rain is something that happens a lot here in FL during the summertime. For this reason I can't give up BHN.

But on a day where Dish has added yet another HD channel (History), with more announced for later in September, it is very annoying to me that BHN won't even go as far as to announce anything in the works. Customer Service tells you they have heard of nothing. I am tired of this.

[iceturkee]

hmmm, i only lose my directv during a very hard thunderstorm and never more than about 10 minutes. to me, it isn't a big deal.

[skottey]

hmmm, i only lose my directv during a very hard thunderstorm and never more than about 10 minutes. to me, it isn't a big deal.

It is constant with Dish. At least three times a week that I see. I have two dishes. I think it is only the one that carries most of the HD channels. Because it will go out but channels on the other dish remain on usually. I was happy I managed to get through watching Psycho and The Birds this weekend before Frenzy came on and it cut out for 30 minutes. I wasn't too interested in the third Hitchcock movie so it wasn't a big deal this time.

[iceturkee]

just curious, have you checked the dish alignment lately? i have found 2 big reasons you get searching for satellite message. if the dishes have gone out of alignment that will affect your picture, even during a light rain storm. and, obviously, during a thunder boomer!

[skottey]

just curious, have you checked the dish alignment lately? i have found 2 big reasons you get searching for satellite message. if the dishes have gone out of alignment that will affect your picture, even during a light rain storm. and, obviously, during a thunder boomer!

No. I don't know how to do that. I have only had it for six months and it has been cutting out during rainstorms since day one. It was professionally installed by a Dish tech (contractor?).

[iceturkee]

i don't know how dish network works but i have the protection plan with directv. if i have a problem, they send out a tech to fix and there's no charge. realigning dishes is one of the biggies. i've had it before but i was warned those slimline dishes can get easily out of whack, so i got it again. i did have to have a guy come out and check a brand new hd dvr i bought. no charge for the service call and he hooked up a new dvr.

is there any program where you can check your signal strength while your tv is on?

[skottey]

i don't know how dish network works but i have the protection plan with directv. if i have a problem, they send out a tech to fix and there's no charge. realigning dishes is one of the biggies. i've had it before but i was warned those slimline dishes can get easily out of whack, so i got it again. i did have to have a guy come out and check a brand new hd dvr i bought. no charge for the service call and he hooked up a new dvr.

is there any program where you can check your signal strength while your tv is on?

I had to have my 622DVR fixed under warranty and I had to calibrate it somehow when I hooked it up. The signal strength was close to 100% and not fluctuating too much. I can jump back into that screen now that I know about it, which I didn't until I had my replacement sent.

I am a tech person by trade with a computer business and consider myself very tech savvy, but honestly, I don't know much about dishes. Much of the technical stuff I read on some of these boards is very Greek to me. I only care about getting cool channels and the idea that it works. I feel like I have a pretty good mix between Dish and BHN, although the longer I have Dish, the more unhappy I grow with BHN. Several times a week I check the HD tier, the premium 200's, and the 140's on BHN to see if anything new has been added. It almost never is. Dish on the other hand has been great. With Dish I hear about the new channels on here long before I find them through the guide. Other than the rain outages I am very happy with Dish.

When Verizon Fios comes I will dump BHN for Fios and keep Dish until the HD channels are matched on Fios.

I am happy with BHN for Roadrunner, as I have a virtual office business account for my company. I will probably keep that when I ditch them for TV. The billing I have separate.

I am rambling on way past your question about signal strength, but I have a habit of doing that on here.

[iceturkee]

i don't remember what part of florida you are in. if its central and/or east coast, it may be a long, long time before we see fios.

[skottey]

i don't remember what part of florida you are in. if its central and/or east coast, it may be a long, long time before we see fios.

I'm in St. Petersburg (west of Tampa). I live in the most densely populated county in the state (Pinellas) and they are in my surrounding areas. They are in the north part of my county working their way down. I am on the south side so it will be a while but probably not more than a year or two. Dearest mother has it about an hour north of me and it is great for TV. The Internet is fast but as problematic as Verizon DSL, especially with email (not that I use an ISPs email anyway).

[jcarrera]

yeah, ice, I am Brevard. Why is it going to take so long? I would have expected to see it going only into new developments, but in Tampa, seems they are doing it all over.