Two quesions about Directv

[ramimac]

I am considering changing services.

I have dish with mpeg2 hd dvr's

1. I would like and honest opinion about picture quality differnce between dish and direct from those who have had both.

2. do we have an exected date for the new HR20-700

3. I do believe that there was a possibility of a new switch that would allow single cable runslike dish> any hint on that becomming a reality.

reasons for change would be the NFL package

second i see that HD ocals are coming to Vegas in September

Current setup 942 921 508 510

 

[Jimbo]

I am considering changing services.

I have dish with mpeg2 hd dvr's

1. I would like and honest opinion about picture quality differnce between dish and direct from those who have had both.

2. do we have an exected date for the new HR20-700

3. I do believe that there was a possibility of a new switch that would allow single cable runslike dish> any hint on that becomming a reality.

reasons for change would be the NFL package

second i see that HD ocals are coming to Vegas in September

Current setup 942 921 508 510

I can answer # 2.
The HR 20-700 is available in the LA market NOW.

Jimbo

 

[thankyouforcallingdtv]

with the rest of the country being "fall"

which, knowing them means "eventually"

and btw. it is a very nice little bugger.
well, at least compared to its older brother.
still wouldnt pay 400 for it.

 

[vurbano]

with the rest of the country being "fall"

which, knowing them means "eventually"

and btw. it is a very nice little bugger.
well, at least compared to its older brother.
still wouldnt pay 400 for it.

How can you say its "nice"? The OTA tuners do not work. If anything Buyers should stay the heck away from this thing until it works. Obviously rushed to market before it was ready.

 

[JamesJ]

don't listen to vurbano, he is going off of one fact, and that is one test model that was received (the only one actually) doesn't have OTa tuners that are activated, but that person was guaranteed they would, also Vurbano, instead of bashing, read, he said he wanted HD locals off the sat.

 

[slimoli]

I had Dish, Directv and now cable. The picture quality on D* is AWFUL for both HD and SD. SD is unwatchable if your screen is 60" or larger. Overall Dish has a better PQ and much more HD channels. I'm surprised with the PQ on my cable, very good and SD looks now like a good DVD.

The good thing about D* is the HD-TIVO and I guess the HR-20 will be pretty good. My HD-DVR (Explorer 8300) has a terrible user interface ans small disk. My near-future setup will be cable-TIVO-S3 for the best PQ and interface.

Sergio

 

[osu1991]

I have both and the directv is definately worse. The 720p channels are ok but the 1080i channels are very grainy without much definition. This is on a 50in with a Hughes HTL. Dish on a 60in with a 622 is much better. I dropped directvs sd because it looked really bad on the hdtvs, I only keep it because I have distant hd for the lake house.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

On my 65 inch TV the D* HD picture is PERFECT. SD looks better than the cable at my old house I had before we got D* and better than the E* picture my in-laws have on there 27 inch TV.

 

[dishrich]

1. I would like and honest opinion about picture quality differnce between dish and direct from those who have had both.

You really are asking a loaded question here.

As you can see, you just saw the responces that say E* is better than D*. Interestingly, when I recent switched a bunch of customers from E* to D*, one of the first things out of almost ALL of their mouths, was that they thought the picture quality on their new D* systems was BETTER than E*. (& I did NOT prompt this from ANY of them, as I was busy finishing the install of their systems)

As far as HD, I can't really comment, as I do not have an HD set yet. (still waiting on the Sony SXRD XBR2's to come out )

Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, NEITHER of them have outstanding SD picture quality - my analog cable system looks better than EITHER of them. And YES, I DO have all 3 at my house.

The bottom line - you really should go look at a few D* systems & see for yourself. It's just like cars - some people like Toyotas & some people like GM's.
If you decide to go with E*, if possible, you should NOT disconnect your D* system & keep BOTH running for a month or so, just to compare for yourself on the same TV. If you find it to not be better, there is (usually) a trial period, depending on WHO you bought the system from. (But check this BEFORE you sign anything!)

 

[FlyingJ]

If you must have the NFL, you have your answer, if not, I can't think of any reason to switch.

 

[vurbano]

don't listen to vurbano, he is going off of one fact, ..........

All reports from those recieveing the HR20 are that the OTA does not work:

Has anyone been able to get OTA through this box. The installer tried to hook up my OTA antenna to it and durring initial setup the option of sat/antenna was grayed out. Is this normal? He had no clue and his office had no clue. If I go to setup sat/antenna is still grayed out. I wonder if this is something that will be enabled in the future or do I have a bunk box?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8247906#post8247906

I do hope it gets enabled but I wouldnt be shocked if it didnt. Why would D* want their HDLIL PQ compared to OTA? Cable doesnt include OTA in their boxes either.

 

[vurbano]

1. I would like and honest opinion about picture quality differnce between dish and direct from those who have had both.

Directv downrezzes all 1920x1080i to 1280x1080i and bitstarves it. Dish is guity of downrezzing the Voom channels to 1280x1080i and a few of the others to 1440x1080i. But generally of the HD channels the two have in common Dish blows Directv away. Check out this thread and the PQ comparisons for an impartial comparisons. Your really not going to get impartial advice in the middle of D* fanboy central here. : http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=704350&page=3&pp=30

 

[JamesJ]

Directv does downrez HD piicture quality now.

 

[charper1]

I honestly see more of the exact same thing said over there;

Sample images show very little difference. Not enough to justifiably say "this blows D* away". Surely not enough to leave one for the other.

There seems to be just as many "I see no difference" and " I see little difference" as compared to the same handfull making the majority of all the negative comments; just like here a SatGuys.


Dish does the down-rez too, and seems to be increasing their down-rez offerings as well.


Heck, just read at all the Dish threads about bad Starz, bad customer service, the DVR and DNS issues and with NO Sunday Ticket or mass HD LIL rollouts.


Same old conclusions as always; if you like one vs the other, great, that's your choice, but there sure is no "hands down" or "blows the other away" service.

And surely no pure, case closed reasons for a long-time user to switch leaving behind their length of service history to start all over; but, if they choose that, cool for them.

 

[Jimbo]

I have both and the directv is definately worse. The 720p channels are ok but the 1080i channels are very grainy without much definition. This is on a 50in with a Hughes HTL. Dish on a 60in with a 622 is much better. I dropped directvs sd because it looked really bad on the hdtvs, I only keep it because I have distant hd for the lake house.

You have both ????????????

Living in Oklahoma,
How do you have a D* HR20-700 ??????

I am tired of people bashing D*'s newest receiver (HR20-700) when it is not even in the masses yet ........

For all we know when it gets distributed, EVERYTHING could be working and it COULD be as good or BETTER than the 622, I'm not saying it will be, but it's possible and it will still get bashed.
But then the 622 isn't perfect either, if you bashers (DISH lovers) care to go over to your own side of the forum, DISH side, you would see plenty of dissatisfied subs with 622's as well.

Let's not jump to conclusions when NO ONE has them yet.

Jimbo

 

[osu1991]

You have both ????????????

Living in Oklahoma,
How do you have a D* HR20-700 ??????

I am tired of people bashing D*'s newest receiver (HR20-700) when it is not even in the masses yet ........

For all we know when it gets distributed, EVERYTHING could be working and it COULD be as good or BETTER than the 622, I'm not saying it will be, but it's possible and it will still get bashed.
But then the 622 isn't perfect either, if you bashers (DISH lovers) care to go over to your own side of the forum, DISH side, you would see plenty of dissatisfied subs with 622's as well.

Let's not jump to conclusions when NO ONE has them yet.

Jimbo

Read the post I have Directv HD on a HUGHES HTL HD Receiver. I keep it because I get HD Distants that Dish does not offer. Otherwise I have dish for everything else. I was offering my opinion on picture quality of dish vs. directv which is what the OP asked.I have been a directv customer since the first year they were in business. I added dish when the dishplayer came out so I could use the dvr and get the superstations for wb and upn which directv did not offer. I was a big supporter of directv until the last couple of years. In my opinion dish has passed them in picture quality and equipment. When directv gets their new sats up I will reevaluate things. But I will probably have both as I need HD distants for the lake house because there is only two channels available there and I spend a lot of time there during the summer.[/I]

 

[vurbano]

Perhaps its time for a new eyeglass prescription for some folks.

In comparing the two pictures below I would call D* PQ Horrid ( one of the guys arms is servely macroblocked, the leftmost man in green in the 1st picture) while E*'s is still acceptable. The D* feed will always go to sh*t before the E* feed will due to the bit starving. And Due to the fact that E* does not downrezz or downrezzes less on the channels they have in common, the picture will always be a little sharper. Those things are hard to detect from comparing screen grabs. Lots of other Picture quality components are reduced before you get to the point where things break up in the picture. Anyone with a good HD source knows how HD can "pop" and D* has no channel like that anymore. 3 years ago it was a different story.

 

[vurbano]

Another good comparison from the same thread. The blurring of fast motion is in both but the D* feed's blocking (pic1) is an indication of far more bitstarving. It is beginning to fail holding the picture together in those areas. Its best to view the pics in full screen. Its extremely obvious on a 56" inch display.