Great info here so far, thanks everyone! Before I read the thread today, I tried to get out to a BB to talk to someone in person about it. So far my experience was not good with the BB / Direct partnership. I went to 3 different BB's along my path yesterday, and despite being the weekend, not a single BB had a Direct rep there.
My biggest concern is the pricing. Direct has a whole bunch of discounts that vary in length, and some are dependent on packages etc. They have a little tool that shows your bill month to month, but it stops at 23 months. I want to know what happens after that.
As far as packages go, I am on the Dish 250 package. It has a lot that I don't care for, but I think that's the lowest package to get the channels I do want... I'm trying to find a good guide for Direct that shows the base package, then shows if you go to this next step up package, these are the additional channels you get, etc. I also saw that if you sign up with BB, you get a $150 gift card for BB. Not a bad perk for doing something I was planning on doing... But are there other retailers or ways to order that might have a different or better offer?
As far as the equipment goes, should I just go with the HR34, or will the 44 be such a big upgrade that I might as well wait for it? What can I do with the 34 and 44 in regards to remote viewing? Is it live TV I can watch, do I have to download the programs I want while I am at home, or can I watch live and recorded programs over Ipad and Android phones?
I am really in no rush to leave Dish, and honestly I don't really want to, but I'm just sick of all the price increases, channel drama (AMC), charging existing customers for new equipment, etc. They do normally treat me quite good, and they have been giving me a $10 a month credit for nearly 18 months now to make up for all the crap that I have gone through. However, I am a technophile and I love to have the latest and greatest in hardware, and it looks like Direct has it now.