Thinking of switching from Dish, have a few installation/equipment questions.

[TalonStryk]

I've been a Dish customer for about 3 years and I am thinking about switching to Direct tv soon. I have a few installation/equipment questions.

1. Do I need to remove my current dish before the Direct Tv installers arrive, or will they do that for me?

2. Will they be able to use the same mount for the new dish, or will they have to install a new one. I basically need to know if I am going to have to patch the roof or not.

3. The cable from the dish to the house is buried in my back yard. Will they be able to use this cable or will they have to dig up my yard and replace it?

4. For internet access with whole home dvr, it looks like internet access to receivers via the cinema connection kit is wireless only. Is this the case, or does it support wired connections also?

5. How buggy is the HR-34 at this point? Is it missing any features of the other receivers? One of my complaints with dish is the lack of new features (bbmp, hbo on demand, etc) 922 and I don't want to get into the same situation with Direct.

Thanks for the help!.

[Iceberg]

1. some installers remove the old dish if you ask nicely. Most will leave the foot of the mast so no need to patch holes
2. usually not. Directv uses a 2" mast whereas most Dish ones are 1 5/8"
3. normally yes...Directv only needs one cable from the LNB to the switch (unless you go over 8 tuners)....what were you looking for equipment wise?
4. I dont have MRV (whole home) but my DVR is wired for VOD
5. Dont have one yet so hopefully a new sub who has one will respond

[TalonStryk]

Thanks Iceberg,

So if they take the old dish off and leave the foot of the mast, will they be able to put the Direct dish in the same place? I live in a town home and we have very specific requirements for where the dish can go.

Equipment-wise, at this point I'm just looking for a HR-34 and one other hd receiver.

[Iceberg]

you will be OK then as far as cabling. They will do one cable from the roof (LNB) to a switch inside (like a splitter)
one cable to the HR34
one able or the other receiver

[JEFFinINDY]

5. How buggy is the HR-34 at this point? Is it missing any features of the other receivers? One of my complaints with dish is the lack of new features (bbmp, hbo on demand, etc) 922 and I don't want to get into the same situation with Direct.

I switched from Dish a few weeks ago, also for the HR34. It's not bad at all! I've had to reset it a couple of times but overall it's solid.