what receiver offers best PROGRAM GUIDE

[clownred]

Hi,

We are looking to move from Directv to Dish and one of the main things stopping us is not knowing what programming guides are available on dish.

I guess what I am asking for is :-

• are there online screen shots of the different programming guides to see what is available. I have found some on youtube.
• am I right in assuming that different receivers offer good/bad program guides?
• any recommendations for receivers that offer a good program guide would be great.
• dvr would be nice but not essential. I understand from reading some other posts that the dvr hard drive can store a larger guide and is therefore faster, so that has to be a good thing.

Here is what we are looking for in a good guide :-

• fast
• each screen shows at least 2 hours of program horizontally across the guide (see the image of our current Directv guide below)
• would be nice to have different program content colored

Thanks

Current Directv program guide. Its old and kind of slow but we like the layout.

 

[FitzAusTex]

The E* 722. Shows three hours across the screen in extended mode, and 7 channels at a time. Its very fast. The content isnt colored, but very readable, and very similar to your pic.

 

[RandallA]

This is what the guide looks on the 722.

 

[Stacy A]

I would suggest finding a retailer that has a store with a display setup. Go in and talk to the retailer and pick up the Dish remote and do some navigating with it. Look for ease of use and how intuitive it is. This way you can also judge speed of response. However, remember that not all reciever models are the same in terms of speed (or guide display for that matter), and the guide displays are customizable on most models.

 

[TuxCoder]

I am clearly in the majority in the above poll. Welcome to SatelliteGuys.US, clownred.

I believe all of Dish Network's modern receivers have the same program guide user interface. As best as I can recall the guide configuration options are as follows (I'm not home to verify).

You can select between full screen and partial screen. Full screen is perhaps most like your screenshot, and you can see the most info at once. I prefer partial screen though, where what you are watching moves to a small window in the upper right corner, and the guide is in the bottom half of the screen. In the upper left corner is the info of whatever is highlighted as you move through the guide.

You can select between two levels of detail (which I think also affects the text sizes). With less detail, the text is bigger, and you see less of a time frame at once (three columns, totaling 1.5 hours across the screen). With more detail, the text is smaller, and you see more at once with 6 columns, totaling 3 hours across the screen.

As for color coding, the E* receivers don't color code the same as DirecTV. Instead, satellite channels that you subscribe to are blue, channels that you don't subscribe to are red (or pink), channels that you don't subscribe to but can "order easily" are light green, and OTA (antenna) channels, not to be confused with locals delivered over satellite, are yellow.

And the guides are quite fast on the modern receivers.

 

[boba]

Hi,

We are looking to move from Directv to Dish and one of the main things stopping us is not knowing what programming guides are available on dish.

I guess what I am asking for is :-

• are there online screen shots of the different programming guides to see what is available. I have found some on youtube.
• am I right in assuming that different receivers offer good/bad program guides?
• any recommendations for receivers that offer a good program guide would be great.
• dvr would be nice but not essential. I understand from reading some other posts that the dvr hard drive can store a larger guide and is therefore faster, so that has to be a good thing.

Here is what we are looking for in a good guide :-

• fast
• each screen shows at least 2 hours of program horizontally across the guide (see the image of our current Directv guide below)
• would be nice to have different program content colored

Thanks

Current Directv program guide. Its old and kind of slow but we like the layout.

That looks like a HUGHES LOGO GUIDE and hasn't existed for at least 4 years. Both DISH and Directv offer 1 type of guide irregardless of receiver model. DISH does offer a little customization of the guide. You have some choice of number of lines and picture in guide/ the order of channel numbering/ and all channels and subscription channels also favorite channel lists. DISH guide is basically various shades of blue and white. Red denotes channels you don't subscribe to yellow and green to highlight functions. Nobody has anything like that Hughes guide.

 

[SatinKzo]

I chose none2.

I think most of the new receivers all have the same guide setup like the one posted.

 

[Rey]

i don't think the newer receivers for direct still have the logo for the channels on the guide. what i do know is that the dish guide doesn't have these logos on the guide but i do like the dish guide very much. i currently have a vip 622 and the guide is good.

 

[BobaBird]

Go to DISH Network Customer Tech Portal , pick a receiver, then Interactive Menus for a self-guided tour.

There is a link at EKB: Model ViP622 to a picture of the 3-hour guide.

 

[jokeworm]

I've just switched .. so have recently used both ...

again - the guide is going to be a personal opinion.

Dish guide was a little faster .. and you could customize a little more .. however what i hated about the dish guide was the fact that the bottom channel would always be right at the bottom of the tv screen when scrolling ... so the very bottom edge of the guide would always be slightly cut off the screen ...

Directv guide is a little slower .. but it looks a little cleaner for me ... and is a little better to navigate ...

e.g. the "jump to" in the guide allows you to select time/date to schedule recordings rather than having to scroll through days and days of the guide to get to where you need to be

I also like the fact that the guide for directv is 15 days ... with dish if i remember correctly it was 10 days ...

50/50 - some will like some things - some will like other things ... its the flip of a coin for me - but if I had the choice to have either of the two guides on my directv system .. I'd stick with the directv GUI.

 

[TuxCoder]

Directv guide is a little slower .. but it looks a little cleaner for me ... and is a little better to navigate ...

e.g. the "jump to" in the guide allows you to select time/date to schedule recordings rather than having to scroll through days and days of the guide to get to where you need to be

With the Dish Network guide, you can jump forward and backward any amount. Just type a number followed by the right arrow or left arrow, and you'll move forward or backward that many hours. To move 24 hours forward or backward, press the DVR "skip" buttons (the 30 seconds forward and 10 seconds back buttons). Note, you do not have to have a DVR for that to work... those buttons are on all modern Dish Network remote controls, and perform the same function in the guide in either case.

 

[kds64]

I'd like too say the directv HR20 looks better then the old directv recvier's( RCA, Sony,ETC)

 

[SKrueger]

Does the menu of D*'s HR-21 offer a partial menu offer like E*'s, where I can still watch while I'm scrolling to find something else?

 

[dfergie]

Does the menu of D*'s HR-21 offer a partial menu offer like E*'s, where I can still watch while I'm scrolling to find something else?

It should, my HR20 does...
I liked the old Hughes guides also... beat the heck out of my Dish 2700 guide...

 

[sdschramm]

Here is the pic of the ViP 622/722 guide in extended mode. By far the best guide I've ever used.

 

[jokeworm]

With the Dish Network guide, you can jump forward and backward any amount. Just type a number followed by the right arrow or left arrow, and you'll move forward or backward that many hours.

If i see a show advertised that i would like to record and it is on next Thursday at 3pm ... I'd rather not have to do the math to figure out how many hours i need to jump in the guide in order to get the show ...

Sure i can hit the forward x number of days - then forward x number of hours to get to where i need to be ....

.. or with directv - i can hit "yellow" and chose the day the show is on - then the time the show is on - and i see it right there in the guide ...

I've had both - trust me - the directv method of jumping to a specific date/time is MUCH easier.

 

[clownred]

Thanks for all the responses, outstanding

Thank you all for responding to my post. I am very impressed with the feedback and appreciate the comments and taking the time to post images - that was excellent.

 

[jayn_j]

Thank you all for responding to my post. I am very impressed with the feedback and appreciate the comments and taking the time to post images - that was excellent.

Note that everyone who responded was talking about a dish DVR. The non-DVR receivers have similar interfaces these days. I haven't had a non-DVR for years, because once you have had one you can't go back. However, my experience with the regular receivers is that they advertise a 72 hour guide, but what you get is significantly less, in many cases just a few hours. It would start to display "Info not available" . It would eventually fill in the info, but it might take a minute or two.

Is this still true for modern receivers like the 211?

 

[JohnL]

If i see a show advertised that i would like to record and it is on next Thursday at 3pm ... I'd rather not have to do the math to figure out how many hours i need to jump in the guide in order to get the show ...

Sure i can hit the forward x number of days - then forward x number of hours to get to where i need to be ....

.. or with directv - i can hit "yellow" and chose the day the show is on - then the time the show is on - and i see it right there in the guide ...

I've had both - trust me - the directv method of jumping to a specific date/time is MUCH easier.

Jokeworm,

There are another options with Dish Network. You can always move forward the guide 24 hours for each press of the 30 Skip Forward button, backward 24 hours of each press of the "Skip back" button. All Instances of Hour skip forward or 24 hour forward or backward are instantaneous.

You can also search for a show/actor, press the "#" button input the name of show/actor/ Description then press the search button. All the hits are shown, and you can select a show and then you are given options to record it once, or each new episode, you also have a Dish Pass option where the receiver will record any instance of that show regardless of the network it airs on. Example you love John Wayne, setup a DishPass for John Wayne and the receiver will record any INSTANCE of a show or Movie with John Wayne.

You can also setup unto 4 separate user definable Favorites lists so you only see the channels you wish to see in the guide.

John

 

[jokeworm]

Jokeworm,

There are another options with Dish Network.

I am aware of those other options ... i used my 622 for two years .. as i said - personally i find the directv method of "select day/date - select time" to be MUCH easier to use. Especially when you see an ad for something and it says "Thursday 28th @ 10pm"

Selecting Thursday 28th - then 10pm is much easier than hitting forward 8 times - then trying to figure out how many hours between now and 10pm then select number of hours and forward to find the show that you want to record ...