Thread: Dish vs DirecTV on screen guide/ usability

Any comments from people who used both Dish and DirecTV service? I'd like to hear which GUI / Set top box software you preferred and why.

It looks like Dish's new vip922 DVR has the nicest looking UI to date. Sure beats the old school stretched SD guides everyone else has (including cable). With as large as the market is, and HDTV penetration over 50%, why aren't more providers taking advantage of the 16:9 HDTV screen real estate? Smoother, crisper fonts, more information viewable, better richer high color graphics, easy to use and navigate with no delays.

I'm quite surprised given the overall capital and footprint DirecTV has, but yet see these outdated UI's that are only one notch above Cable. Why be slightly better, when you could blow them away with something that looks more 2010. I swear my iPhone has more power in the palm of my hand then these set top boxes. You can get a 1TB hard drive for $70. At bulk purchase rates there's no reason that 1TB shouldn't be the norm in home DVR's - especially with the move to Multiroom.

How about DVR usability? Prefer one over the other?

DirecTV offers what I find to be a more intuitive UI. However, their units are notoriously slow to respond to remote commands. Depending on the unit's mood, you can wait up to 2 or 3 seconds before the unit responds, assuming it hasn't frozen and needs a red button reset. I recently switched from DirecTV to DISH. I now have the DISH 722k. I was already trained to sit and wait after entering commands, so it took me a bit to get used to the unit actually responding as soon as I hit the button. My complaint with DISH is that I find myself pushing way too many buttons to accomplish simple tasks. To set a recording from the guide requires multiple keystrokes (at least 4 or 5 if I remember correctly, counting the arrowing down to the Done button) just to get the default options. On DirecTV, you just have to hit the R button one time. If you want a series link, you just hit it twice. DISH really needs to take a look at streamlining some of the more common tasks instead of always driving you into a menu that requires you to jump around the screen to finish the task.

Overall as for software and hardware, I find the DISH units to be far more robust. I've had no problems at all from my 722k during the 4 months that I have had it. Red button resets were a common occurrence with my DirecTV units. I will gladly trade the lack of intuitiveness for the far superior robustness of the DISH units.

The speed issues that you mention here have been taken care of with the new HR-24.

I've got an HR-22 and was wondering if there was much of a difference...So, it's true? There is a big speed difference? That would be great and I would go to Best Buy tomorrow and buy one...But, are ya sure? Also, I would just DIE if the next week they released the new DirecTiVo box...I'm not kidding, I would just die...

Originally Posted by joehandy2

I've got an HR-22 and was wondering if there was much of a difference...So, it's true? There is a big speed difference? That would be great and I would go to Best Buy tomorrow and buy one...But, are ya sure? Also, I would just DIE if the next week they released the new DirecTiVo box...I'm not kidding, I would just die...

You can't get them at Best Buy anymore. Check
Solid Signal - Signal Solutions including HDTV Antennas, DIRECTV & DISH Network satellite equipment and home entertainment supplies & accessories

. There are other sources, like Amazon.

I have the ViP622's and an HR20 -700 & recently added a HR24 -500, the HR24 is pretty close to the speed of the 622, I like the guide better with dish but like the deeper information available with Directv...

2 1/2 months with D* (H24/HR24) after being with E*(some SD receiver for 2 years/722) for about 5 years. While D* does offer a bit more depth and info from their GUI, comparing the actual presentation and use of simple features is like comparing Donald Trump to a Hobo. The 722's guide was far more customizable, looked smoother, employed proper shading, bordering and drop shadowing and is overall, more enjoyable to look at. The guide and menus on the HR24 looks like they were designed by an 8th grade graphic arts class. I had a Colecovision 30 years ago and it had better and smoother graphics. The 722 is still far snappier and more responsive to commands. The D* receivers still have the occasional lag and are just slower.

As far as using the guide and basic DVR features, the 722 rolls the D* receivers. It's just far easier to find a program, record it and make basic adjustments the DVR settings with the 722. Let's not forget that using an external HDD is much better with the E* receivers, too. Adding a 1TB HDD means you'll be adding an ADDITIONAL 1TB of storage. If it's a D* receiver, then you'd just have a 1TB HDD and it has to be eSATA, not USB like the rest of the freeworld uses. And then there's the OTA tuber situation. There are still a lot of things that the H24/HR24 do that the 722 doesn't, but I will use those less than 1% of the time. For basic day-to-day viewing and recording the E* receivers win in a landslide. In my fantasyland I would have my D* setup with MRV using 722s.

visually - dish win
speed - dish wins
info - directv wins
search - directv wins

so they might not look as nice, or respond as fast, but they do a much better job imho

Originally Posted by dfergie

I have the ViP622's and an HR20 -700 & recently added a HR24 -500, the HR24 is pretty close to the speed of the 622, I like the guide better with dish but like the deeper information available with Directv...

+1