Planning to get Dish for the first time

[dbrowder]

I've looked into Dish a few times before. Right now we just get locals OTA, but I miss some other channels. I check in with Dish every so often, and it seems like the HD lineup is really expanding to the point where I'd be willing to sign up.

Wondering if you folks could offer some advice on what I'm looking at...

I put together a plan of Classic Bronze 100 with BronzeHD as compared to a TurboHD Bronze plan. All I really care about is HD. These come out to the same price for the first 6 months ($15.97 with DVR), and TurboHD is a bit cheaper after that.

Here's what I'm wondering...

• Classic BronzeHD shows the regional sports channels under it's listing... all of them except Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Does it really come with those if you don't have a regional sports pack? ...And if so does it really not come with CSN Chicago?
• If I were to go with Classic 100+BronzeHD, could I 'downgrade' to TurboHD after 6 months - or would that be a violation of the 24-month commitment?
• Is the 722k receiver OK? I've seen some mixed comments...
• I get my local HD channels OTA just fine, if I buy the $30 OTA module will they work just like any other Dish channel - i.e. Can they DVR and have a program guide... or do I have to 'subscribe' to the locals over Dish?
• The terms say that there's a $5 charge if you don't hook up to a phone line. Is that just some legacy thing? I don't have a land line.

The offer on Dish's site includes 3 months of HBO and Showtime along with a year of Cinemax, 6 months of either service for $9.99, so it seems like a pretty good deal. Is anything out there better?

Thanks for your help in advance, so many options make things confusing

[KAB]

I'm not going to address RSN's in that I don't pay attention to them. You can change your programming at any time without violating your commitment. After a few start-up bugs, the 722K seems to be doing fine. In order to see your locals in the guide, YES, you need to subscribe to locals. With the OTA module, you can record 2 OTA' and 2 Sats at a time (4 total). If no phone line, you can use ethernet connection.

[dbrowder]

Thanks for your insight! Sounds pretty good aside from no guide for OTA locals, but I don't have one now so I guess I can deal with that. I never even thought about recording 2 OTA and 2 Sat at a time, that's awesome

[dbrowder]

A little more research and I figured out half of my RSN question. CSN Chicago isn't normally in the HD lineup, but they put some of the games on another channel in HD. That's a bit smelly.

[bgee]

Sounds pretty good aside from no guide for OTA locals

Just signed up for Dish myself here - I was told that there would be guide information for all OTA channels that were detected. Can someone provide a definite answer? (will be using 722K/MT2)

Thanks

[KAB]

Just signed up for Dish myself here - I was told that there would be guide information for all OTA channels that were detected. Can someone provide a definite answer? (will be using 722K/MT2)

Thanks

Subscribe to locals=locals in guide.

[Rey]

Subscribe to locals=locals in guide.

that's correct. bgee, even with ota you must sub to locals with dish to receive guide info. the $5 a month is worth it to me for the convenience of having guide info. and having ota is always good in case you lose sat signal due to a strong storm. plus you'll pickup a few locals that dish might not carry.

[toddhawk]

The part about Dish not carrying all locals is true in many areas. OTA in the digital world does give you access to usually a couple of channels (sometimes "2nd channels of stations") that Dish isn't carrying. Even with the locals subscribed, there will be no Program Guide for these stations.

[KAB]

The part about Dish not carrying all locals is true in many areas. OTA in the digital world does give you access to usually a couple of channels (sometimes "2nd channels of stations") that Dish isn't carrying. Even with the locals subscribed, there will be no Program Guide for these stations.

That is incorrect!!! Though there is no real info for most of them to give. But, they do appear. Here, I am getting 9 sub channels, all in the guide.

[digiblur]

[*]The terms say that there's a $5 charge if you don't hook up to a phone line. Is that just some legacy thing? I don't have a land line.

With the newer receivers such as the 622/722 a phone line is not the only way to have it "hooked" up. There's also a ethernet port and a built in homeplug device.