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sbrown02
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
Hello Everyone,
Thought I'd share my families experience switching from DirecTV (*TV) to Dish over a year ago to help others considering the same thing. Naturally these are my opinions based solely on my family's experience. I respect those with differing opinions and encourage anyone considering switching to do their own research to determine which provider is right for them. But as for me and my home the headline for us is we are glad we made the switch.
More specifically me and my family have been impressed with Dish and plan to stay as long as nothing better comes along.

Background:
My family has had satellite service for 15 plus years. In the beginning we were with Dish but then when High Definition TV (HDTV) started to take off *TV enticed us to switch to them given their growing lineup of HTDV channels. So we made the switch and were pleased with *TV service. Their HDTV picture was great and their DVR at the time worked well for our needs. After about 8 or so years with *TV I started to question paying higher rates to stay with them. So a little over a year ago I started looking at other options.

I'm not a fan of Comcast, which was my other option, so they were not in play and the other cable competitor in our local market (SureWest) didn't have a good HDTV offering (channel lineup, picture quality) and technology package (DVR, easy to use program guide, etc.) to consider them. So I decided to take another look at Dish. At the time Dish had recently come out with the Hopper and that plus the Dish Anywhere capability (watch Dish from your iPad, cell Phone, or PC) grabbed my attention. While the Hopper was relatively new (early 2012) and I could see from the forums that people were experiencing problems with bugs, glitches, etc., I never-the-less decided to give them a try. We switched to Dish in August of 2012, picking up 2 Hoppers and 1 Joey for a 3 HDTV setup in our home.

Summary:
We've had Dish now for over a year and have been very pleased. And while not everything has gone smoothly, I do believe Dish has made great progress fixing bugs from the early days so the Hopper system is now a stable reliable DVR system that is class leading today and has tremendous capability for future growth and development in the future. Not only that, but in my opinion Dish is clearly leading the satellite category providing many capabilities not yet available or as elegant from the competition. And while *TV is I'm sure working hard to catch-up, I looked at them just this past month and still feel Dish is ahead of the game in most areas and the best value for the dollar. Below I'll give specifics in various categories that feed my assessment as to why Dish is the better provider overall.

DVR Capabilities (Dish Hopper)
:

As I alluded to earlier in the summary the Dish Hopper DVR system is really a class leading media platform. In the very early days of switching I must admit I questioned if we jumped in too soon because there were pain points with occasional lock-ups, restarts and shows that didn't record according to their scheduled settings. However, after a 2-3 months and I believe 2 software upgrades the system really settled down and we have not have any problems with it whatsoever. Now, if you're switching from *TV to Dish you will experience a learning curve for you and your family as you get to know the Hopper menu structure, layout, features, new remote layout, etc. The product guides Dish provides are excellent resources for explaining very simply and succinctly how the system performs so do take the time to read and understand them.

Aside from the general user interface differences between the Hopper and *TV DVR's, which by the way my family learned very quickly, there were other more subtle differences that were harder for me to accept. A couple that may seem minor to you but were big annoyances for me were as follows. With *TV I would often start watching a live sports broadcast and then when commercials would come on, I'd pause it and start watching a recorded program, only to switch back and forth between the two so I didn't have to watch commercials on either one. With my *TV DVR I could pause live TV, switch to a recording and then press the previous button to go back to the live program and find that it was still paused where I had left off. No so with the Hopper. With the Hopper if I switching from watching live TV to a recorded program it released the tuner on the live Channel so when I switched back it was live TV and not paused. Again, an annoyance for me and something I've just learned to do without.


Another example of a difference is with *TV I had 2 DVR's and recorded programs on both DVR's showed in one recorded programs list, while with the Hopper you see the list of recorded programs for the Hopper (or Joey connected to its Hopper) you're using but if you want to see the programs recorded on the other Hopper you have to go select it. Again, not a huge deal but an annoyance never-the-less. So putting these things aside, here are some of the tremendous benefits of the Hopper.


The user guide is extremely fast and easy to navigate. The menu structure is simple and logical to follow. But where the Hopper really starts to shine is when you use it with the Dish Anywhere apps on your iPad or Smartphone. Streaming to other devices works great, so longs as the device you're streaming from has a good broadband internet connection. I've found the quality to be awesome, and when the internet connection slows down it will simply reduce the quality of the video stream or you can even select the option to listen to the audio and not display the video. Turns your ipad into a streaming radio like service for any TV channel or show. This is great when wanting to watch or listen to sporting events that you can see or listen to anywhere else.


Further, the folks at Dish have a embraced the world of third party Apps, and the Hopper has several built in apps (weather, sports scores, Facebook, etc.) with more on the way. Honestly, this isn't something we use a lot but I will say I've check my bill a few times from the Hopper. Again, not a huge deal but a nice simple feature that made something easier for me the customer.


Dish on Demand works great and so does the Blockbuster service, although we did cancel it after the promo period was up because we just didn't watch it enough to justify the expense. That said, when we've downloaded a movie on demand the quality has been great and there have been no freezes or issues with playback.


Picture Quality (HD & SD)
:

First off, I'd say HD picture quality is in most situations imperceptible between Dish and *TV. Now, I've read others who say *TV is hands down better than Dish on HDTV picture quality, but for me I just don't see it. I do think *TV has a great HDTV Picture, but Dish has been fine and if there is a difference I just don't notice. Now that said, I will say we do have a few channels in SD that we had in HD at *DT. For example a few of the Disney owned channels are in SD. When we switched from *TV to Dish I thought this would be a big source of complaints from my kids who pretty much watch Disney channels when they watch TV. But surprise to me when they didn't say a word. I will say I do miss having ESPNU in HD for the occasional sports event I may watch on that channel. But again, it's occasional and I've just learned to live with it. Now, I've heard Dish is negotiating a new contract with Disney so this may change, but we'll see.

Lastly, I want to comment on something else that's been a pleasant surprise with Dish. When we have *TV and rain/thunderstorm storms hit (we live in the Midwest) *TV would almost always go out for the worst of the storm. And it didn't matter if the channel being watched was SD or HD. Well with Dish when a storm hits and I'm watching and HD channel, the Hopper sees that the HD signal is getting weak so it automatically switches over to the SD feed and generally I can keep watching in SD with no interruptions. Only the the worst of storms do both SD and HD channels feeds go out with Dish.


Channel Lineup
:

The one area I'd give *TV an edge over Dish is the HDTV channel line-up. As most Dish customers know, Dish isn't on the best of terms with the Disney family of channels (ala ESPN and Disney channels, etc.). What this means is since becoming a Dish customer, my kids have had to settle for Disney channels in SD and me having to settle with ESPNU being in SD. Also ESPN does not provide online access to the ESPN broadcasts for Dish customers. Now, some of you may say that's a deal breaker. Lucky for me my kids didn't care enough about Disney channels in SD to make it a deal breaker, and I don't watch ESPNU enough to make it a deal breaker for me. However, I really do wish at times I could access the ESPN3 online broadcasts that other cable networks offer their customers, but due to Dish and Disney company disputes have been withheld. So bottom line, *TV has a slightly better HDTV channel line-up at least for the channels my family cares about.

Service Pricing
:

I give Dish a big thumbs up on service pricing compared to *TV. When I was with *TV my bill was consistently over $100. For very similar service/channel offerings and my 3 HDTV setup (2 hoppers 1 joey) under the Dish promotion my bill went down to low $60's. After the 1 year promotion expired it went up to the $80's, but that's still better than where I was with *TV.

Remote
:

Dish has done a great job making sure the DVR and remote work well together. For example the way the colored buttons are used in the Program Guide, the Recorded Program Area, etc., is very well thought out. Once you learn what various colors do it's quick and easy to get things done, like deleting a whole group of programs without having to select them one at a time. The battery life on the remote is outstanding, it's rugged, or at least takes a beating from my kids and keeps on ticking. And the find the remote feature is AWESOME. I don't recall *TV ever having a find your remote feature on the DVR, so push a button and your remote starts to beep so you can find it. These are simple little things, but they mean a lot and it also shows that the people at Dish and Echostar really do use, analyze and critique their products, looking for every possible way to make them better for the customer. Something few companies do well now days.

Swapping Equipment
:

Lastly, since moving to Dish I have had one instance where a Hopper DVR started acting funny and needed to be swapped out with a replacement. This was so easy to do and such a huge improvement over how it used to be when we were with *TV. For example, when I had equipment failures with *TV there was no easy option to save your recorded programs to an external hard drive, nor an easy way to save all your DVR settings, recorder settings, etc., to make the switch to new hardware easy to do. Basically you sent back the old DVR and *TV sent a new DVR and you had to reprogram everything and you lost all your recorded content. Well, again the folks at Dish must actually use their products and try to improve them because they have thought out very well how to make this process as easy and painless as possible. For me, when my Hopper began to act funny, like it said it recorded program XYZ, but in reality it recorded a completely different channel. Well, they sent me a new Hopper and all I had to do was plug an external Hard drive into the USB port, the Hopper formatted it and then in the External Hard Drive menu option it gave me the ability to copy over to it any programs I wanted to save. Then as I mentioned under the remote section, the remote allows you to backup all your DVR settings, program recorder settings, etc., so after you plug in your new DVR and complete the setup, you just restore all the DVR settings from the remote and restore your recordings from the external hard drive and you're ready to go. I didn't lose one program from making the switch and it was so easy to do. So again, big thanks to Dish for this capability.

Bottom line
:

So, if you want to save money, watch recorded or broadcast content from a PC, iPhone, Android cell phone or MAC, don't mind missing a few channels in SD vs HD and like a cutting edge DVR with lots of useful features and room to grow, then Dish may be the right service for you. I hope this review was helpful.
20 Replies · 4195 views
Bobby
Yeah, Direct and Dish are not to hard to type.... ;)
Scherrman
I usually prefer to type out the majority of all words. It's really not that hard to type out the whole thing. I can be a stickler for grammar, spelling and punctuation though.
MikeD-C05
Yeah, Direct and Dish are not to hard to type.... ;)

I've been typing out DISH for years, before they decided to use that very short cut name for their company. I never liked the symbols D* and E* for each satellite company. Just seems lazy not to type it out so all can understand what you are saying. There is always someone new to this board who wouldn't have a clue who you are talking about using symbols.
MikeD-C05
I usually prefer to type out the majority of all words. It's really not that hard to type out the whole thing. I can be a stickler for grammar, spelling and punctuation though.

Yes, we all know that about you.;)
C
Maybe the OP didn't know if there were protocols about using Company names. For years on this board we used E* and D*. It took me a while to figure out that D* was Direct and not Dish.
meStevo
Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in The Sports Section
Schedule drops tomorrow. Mandatory mini camps in June. Hall of Fame game August 6th.
114 Replies · 1806 views
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meStevo
Jalen Hurts out indefinitely as they treat and monitor a superficial blood clot in his leg.


View: https://x.com/RapSheet/status/2111074303185989663?s=20
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meStevo
Browns lead the AFC North 🤣

Seth Meyers What GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
Foxbat
I guess even the patience of us laid-back Hoosiers has its limits:
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rvvaquero
I guess even the patience of us laid-back Hoosiers has its limits:
Be nice to see a Cowboy headline like that.
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dfergie
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!
Last reply · posted in TV Shows
Stargate SG-1 cancelled, Atlantis renewed
clear.gif

Monday - August 21, 2006 | by Darren Sumner
clear.gif

The future of Stargate is in question today, as SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running Stargate SG-1, Multichannel News reported today and a GateWorld source has confirmed. The news regrettably follows the airing of the show's milestone two-hundredth episode on Friday.

Stargate Atlantis, meanwhile, has been renewed for a fourth season, with the network hoping to see that the spin-off series can stand alone, according to a source.
Source Gateworld
2033 Replies · 184119 views
R
I have gotten back into watching SG-1 and I have recorded most of the episodes to binge watch. What episodes are about the Antarctic or was this a movie? Also where could I watch the SG-1 movies?
osu1991
long_time_Dish
I have gotten back into watching SG-1 and I have recorded most of the episodes to binge watch. What episodes are about the Antarctic or was this a movie? Also where could I watch the SG-1 movies?
Well, there are a couple involving the Antarctic. "Solitudes", S1 E17 (one of my favorites), Then, "Lost City', S7 E21 and E22. Then, in the SGA pilot, "Rising", S1 E1 and E2, it starts out in the Antarctic for about the first 20 minutes or so.
R
Well, there are a couple involving the Antarctic. "Solitudes", S1 E17 (one of my favorites), Then, "Lost City', S7 E21 and E22. Then, in the SGA pilot, "Rising", S1 E1 and E2, it starts out in the Antarctic for about the first 20 minutes or so.
Which one has O'Neil being Ancients? I am at the end of Season 8 now.
long_time_Dish
Which one has O'Neil being Ancients? I am at the end of Season 8 now.
If I understand your question, O'Neill had the Ancient's knowledge in the "Lost City" two-part episode. That was when Anubis attacked Earth and there was a big battle over Antarctica.
Scott Greczkowski
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge
Last reply · posted in The Chit Chat Club
Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne


Get it?


An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....
68535 Replies · 2673354 views
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dishstaller
Blinded By The Light - Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Bobby
I Saw The Light - Todd Rundgren
long_time_Dish
Little Bit Of Light - Strange Weather
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EatMyVolts
A Little Bit of Soap -- The Jarmels
long_time_Dish
Give A Little Bit - Supertramp
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Ramy
Supporting Founder
Last reply · posted in The Sports Section
Really excited for this season with Kentucky having a new coach and some really exciting recruits. Probably won't last long, but here's hoping this season is great.
152 Replies · 1913 views
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Foxbat
Best fan sign I saw during the ND-BYU game: "Bear ate your Lucky Charms!" (Bear being the Cougars' QB). I was going to suggest, "Have you or your team been involved in a Carr crash?"
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M


They get cruel sometimes, very very cruel.😈. Hated to see my dawgs go down but I still say being ranked #1 is a hex on you!
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Jimbo
They get cruel sometimes, very very cruel.😈. Hated to see my dawgs go down but I still say being ranked #1 is a hex on you!
Yup, I agree, I'd rather be 2 or 3 till the last few weeks.
Peter Parker
Supporting Founder Lifetime Supporter
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
No idea what improvements might be involved.
23 Replies · 1003 views
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bookworm370
Has anyone noticed an FF stutter with 713? I used to be able to hit FF a few times and skip smoothly. After 713 (maybe 712), when I skip forward, there is a definite stutter for as many times as I have pressed FF.

Can anyone check on this and report back? Recorded programs and then press skip forward a few times to see if it's smooth? Normally, it just jumps to the right place after the skips.
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N
I'm getting fabulous picture on Ch. 148 4k, but zero audio with H713. This is with a recorded show (Notre Dame game). Anyone else have this? Audio is fine on every other channel.
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R
Has anyone noticed an FF stutter with 713? I used to be able to hit FF a few times and skip smoothly. After 713 (maybe 712), when I skip forward, there is a definite stutter for as many times as I have pressed FF.

Can anyone check on this and report back? Recorded programs and then press skip forward a few times to see if it's smooth? Normally, it just jumps to the right place after the skips.
My wife mentioned that her remote is acting strange this morning. She hit FF and it went to 15x FF.
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Foxbat
Wife bought me a t-shirt that has "have you tried turning it off and on again?"
Here's the one I need:
1792365258110.webp
dishstaller
Here's the one I need:
Just ordered one....that's great.
jsmit86
I'm getting fabulous picture on Ch. 148 4k, but zero audio with H713. This is with a recorded show (Notre Dame game). Anyone else have this? Audio is fine on every other channel.
It's a known issue.
For a temporary fix, go into the menu, Audio, and turn Dolby Audio "OFF". You will have PCM stereo audio.

I was able to give the tech ops team some data logs so they could diagnose the problem, and they rolled me back to H708 temporarily. It fixed that issue.

They let me know that they understand what caused the issue, and it will be fixed within a few weeks in a new update.
long_time_Dish
They let me know that they understand what caused the issue, and it will be fixed within a few weeks in a new update.
Oh, you mean "soon"? :biggrin
Almighty1
It's a known issue.
For a temporary fix, go into the menu, Audio, and turn Dolby Audio "OFF". You will have PCM stereo audio.

I was able to give the tech ops team some data logs so they could diagnose the problem, and they rolled me back to H708 temporarily. It fixed that issue.

They let me know that they understand what caused the issue, and it will be fixed within a few weeks in a new update.
I guess they will be busy when lots of people start asking for rollbacks to H708 now that you mention that downgrades of software does exist because it will likely fix the OTA Single Tuner and the IR Remote problems in H710-H713.
navychop
it will likely fix the OTA Single Tuner

:popcorn
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SuperDish_Fan23
Last reply · posted in DISH Network Support Forum
Why are ViP922s So rare? like its crazy how ebay has none, i checked everywhere, also, i got a ViP222k now, which is actually activated!
7 Replies · 212 views
HipKat
I think they were more of a transitional receiver bridging the VIPs to the Hopper. They were a PITA to install and were buggy. Personally, I thought at the time that they were the best receiver out there. The versatility of the VIP's with the new Hopper GUI and, by far, the coolest-looking front plate and lighting.
AZ.
AZ.
Well if it is because of reliability that wouldnt shock me.I went through 5 or 6 of them in little over 2 years. I loved the Sling when it worked! Saved lots of money having it in the day. That was probably 15 or 16 years ago?
T
I think they were more of a transitional receiver bridging the VIPs to the Hopper. They were a PITA to install and were buggy. Personally, I thought at the time that they were the best receiver out there. The versatility of the VIP's with the new Hopper GUI and, by far, the coolest-looking front plate and lighting.
I don't recall that they came out just before hopper, but rather that they came out even before 722. Or could be thinking of 921.

As to the title pf the post, "rare" does not necessarily mean valuable or desirable.
Nominal
I don't recall that they came out just before hopper, but rather that they came out even before 722. Or could be thinking of 921.

As to the title pf the post, "rare" does not necessarily mean valuable or desirable.
You are thinking of the 921. The 922 was the first DVR with Sling functionality built in (that was eventually disabled along with the Sling Adapter for the 722s and the 1st Hopper because they relied on now-defunct Adobe Flash technology). With the bugginess described by others and the removal of its marquee feature (Sling) the 922 faded into obscurity once the Hopper 2 with built in Sling was released and they finally made the concept into a fully functional product.
dishdude
I had one, the front panel lighting was cool, the menus were fresh and a lot more modern looking than the ViPs. However, it was very buggy and the Sling functionality just didn't work well - I think it was due to internet speeds at the time. I think I had to pay $40 for the Sling app on my phone iirc.
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dfergie
Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!
Last reply · posted in What's Cooking?
We have a Breakfast and Dinner thread so... :)
Continuing from the Breakfast thread, found Cornbread mix so ...
Yellow Cornbread Mix
2 Hatch Green Chiles -diced
1 Egg
2/3 cup of milk
add to greased pan
Bake for 400f 20-25 minutes(From instructions)
now to put together and try... this to go with pinto beans...
5446 Replies · 335541 views
TRG
TRG
Two Chicago style hot dogs and a Fanta orange soda.
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M
Little mini pepperoni pizza, green beans, apples and chocolate milk.
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dfergie
Fanta orange soda.
Sitting in fridge cooling off, bought 1 along with 2 Mexican Cokes at La Tienda... (I keep a few cokes stashed as well as in fridge and camper fridge)
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M
Garlic cheese bread
Green beans
Apples
Chocolate Milk
Some weird noodles. ;)
(They have salad and a couple other fruits if wanted)
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TRG
TRG
Club sandwich and corn chowder. Iced tea.
dfergie
Chili dog bowl, water… (homemade chili)