OK, so my E* contract is due up in a couple months, but due to a nasty price increase (about $17 on our package, which is just an old 250 package with all the HD, we don't have any premiums). Basically... Yes, E* is truly having their cake and eating it too. Just the way they "re-structured" our bill let them find a way to screw us, nothing we can do about it, we tried.
We are also fed up with still no HD locals (even though we are at least on a list now) while D* has had HD locals here since last year.
As for programming, assuming E* adds the viacom HD channels this coming week like they said, that would make things pretty much even. At that point E* will have a few channels that I will miss (the non-premium Encore HD channel for sure), Travel HD, & WFN HD (my dad loves that one). But at the same time D* will give us a few new channels to look forward to.
Anyhow, its crunch time. If we are gonna switch, we want to do it now, not have to pay that insanely high bill for another month.
So here are some things I've noticed that make this switch less easy:
1) Future programming. I'm looking to see what D*'s plans are for adding new HD in the near future, and find nothing. With E*, they give updates all the time about the channels they are planning to add this month, even this year. I see nothing of the sort from D*. Nothing in the press releases, no retailer chats.
So for all I know, D* had gained the lead with HD, but E* is coming out with 5 new HD just this coming week, and there is another handful or so listed to come out after that this year. Could E* retake the national HD lead here, maybe even run away with it?
2) I hear awful things about the recievers. I hear the remote control commands are very unresponsive and can be a total pain in the ass. I'll mainly be using the HD DVR's, and I've heard other stuff about how glitchy they are.
3) Dual DVR Recievers. D* doesn't have them! I just learned that I was apparently spoiled to have an HD DVR (vip722) where I could easily schedule and watch my DVR'd programs on 2 different TV's. I mean, I could watch 1 dvr'd program on 1 tv, somebody else could watch another on a different tv. All from the same reciever, which came with 2 remotes as well for 2 tv's.
Now I found out that D* not only can't do that, but since I have 4 tv's, I actually need a reciever for each one! That is crazy to me after all this time of the 2 recievers in a single room controlling 4 tv's, different programming could be on each one at any time. Now I'm going from 2 receivers sitting a top eachother to needing 1 reciever in each room.
And, I need to pay $99 for a DVR just to be able to do the same thing I could do with a single vip722 for free. & instead of just paying $5 per month for an extra reciever, now that jumps to $15 since I need 3 more (on top of the 1 free one). The $15 doesn't bug me much, but the $99 does, considering I had this service luxury for free before.
On the plus side of this, I guess it will be nice to record 4 programs at one time with the seperate dvr's(although I've never needed to do this), but more downside is that what I record on one dvr won't be on the other, & vice-versa. Other than that, everything else about the entire reciever setup and the recievers themselves is a downgrade from E*. Another possible plus is maybe better reception on the SDTV's without the long cable runs, but overall this will take some getting used to.
4) Price. D* really isn't going to be much cheaper, if anything probably just as or more expensive thant E* was for us before we started getting screwed on our bill.
Conclusion. For us, we got screwed by E*, and not in the same way as everybody else, they screwed us extra special. Wasn't really just an annual $3-$5 increase and everybodys happy sort of thing. If it were, we'd be fine with that and still want dish.
As for HD locals, we'll probably have them with E* pretty soon, but how fast is never guaranteed. Assuming we do get them real soon (on the list for after april 1st), it will be an absolute shame that E* had to screw us cuz we would have been real happy otherwise.
I think E* offers a much better & cheaper setup for those with multiple TV's, for sure, better hardware, much better DVR situation. And any E* people that have their HD locals, plus the addition of the viacom 5 HD channels coming this week, should be pretty happy for the most part.
So what I'm saying is that we are 99% sure switching anyhow, and cancelling the last 2 months of E* (assuming D* can here by apr 3rd to install, which would be the last day of E* after we cancel, else we gotta wait another month). We aren't rich enough to keep paying this revised bill from E*, so we don't have much choice.
Just tell me its gonna be OK with D*! It will be inconvenient from what we have now, and I'm spending much more $$ off the top than with E* due to the need for the extra DVR.
But will it all be worth it? Will D* keep adding more HD than E*? Will the hardware hold up?
I hope so. I know when we ordered E* it was the popular choice, then of course after we signed the contract, E* did go downhill quite a bit. Now, with our contract ending, its seemingly making a comeback, of course just as I'm switching to D*! Will D* now become the new E*? Hope not!
We are also fed up with still no HD locals (even though we are at least on a list now) while D* has had HD locals here since last year.
As for programming, assuming E* adds the viacom HD channels this coming week like they said, that would make things pretty much even. At that point E* will have a few channels that I will miss (the non-premium Encore HD channel for sure), Travel HD, & WFN HD (my dad loves that one). But at the same time D* will give us a few new channels to look forward to.
Anyhow, its crunch time. If we are gonna switch, we want to do it now, not have to pay that insanely high bill for another month.
So here are some things I've noticed that make this switch less easy:
1) Future programming. I'm looking to see what D*'s plans are for adding new HD in the near future, and find nothing. With E*, they give updates all the time about the channels they are planning to add this month, even this year. I see nothing of the sort from D*. Nothing in the press releases, no retailer chats.
So for all I know, D* had gained the lead with HD, but E* is coming out with 5 new HD just this coming week, and there is another handful or so listed to come out after that this year. Could E* retake the national HD lead here, maybe even run away with it?
2) I hear awful things about the recievers. I hear the remote control commands are very unresponsive and can be a total pain in the ass. I'll mainly be using the HD DVR's, and I've heard other stuff about how glitchy they are.
3) Dual DVR Recievers. D* doesn't have them! I just learned that I was apparently spoiled to have an HD DVR (vip722) where I could easily schedule and watch my DVR'd programs on 2 different TV's. I mean, I could watch 1 dvr'd program on 1 tv, somebody else could watch another on a different tv. All from the same reciever, which came with 2 remotes as well for 2 tv's.
Now I found out that D* not only can't do that, but since I have 4 tv's, I actually need a reciever for each one! That is crazy to me after all this time of the 2 recievers in a single room controlling 4 tv's, different programming could be on each one at any time. Now I'm going from 2 receivers sitting a top eachother to needing 1 reciever in each room.
And, I need to pay $99 for a DVR just to be able to do the same thing I could do with a single vip722 for free. & instead of just paying $5 per month for an extra reciever, now that jumps to $15 since I need 3 more (on top of the 1 free one). The $15 doesn't bug me much, but the $99 does, considering I had this service luxury for free before.
On the plus side of this, I guess it will be nice to record 4 programs at one time with the seperate dvr's(although I've never needed to do this), but more downside is that what I record on one dvr won't be on the other, & vice-versa. Other than that, everything else about the entire reciever setup and the recievers themselves is a downgrade from E*. Another possible plus is maybe better reception on the SDTV's without the long cable runs, but overall this will take some getting used to.
4) Price. D* really isn't going to be much cheaper, if anything probably just as or more expensive thant E* was for us before we started getting screwed on our bill.
Conclusion. For us, we got screwed by E*, and not in the same way as everybody else, they screwed us extra special. Wasn't really just an annual $3-$5 increase and everybodys happy sort of thing. If it were, we'd be fine with that and still want dish.
As for HD locals, we'll probably have them with E* pretty soon, but how fast is never guaranteed. Assuming we do get them real soon (on the list for after april 1st), it will be an absolute shame that E* had to screw us cuz we would have been real happy otherwise.
I think E* offers a much better & cheaper setup for those with multiple TV's, for sure, better hardware, much better DVR situation. And any E* people that have their HD locals, plus the addition of the viacom 5 HD channels coming this week, should be pretty happy for the most part.
So what I'm saying is that we are 99% sure switching anyhow, and cancelling the last 2 months of E* (assuming D* can here by apr 3rd to install, which would be the last day of E* after we cancel, else we gotta wait another month). We aren't rich enough to keep paying this revised bill from E*, so we don't have much choice.
Just tell me its gonna be OK with D*! It will be inconvenient from what we have now, and I'm spending much more $$ off the top than with E* due to the need for the extra DVR.
But will it all be worth it? Will D* keep adding more HD than E*? Will the hardware hold up?
I hope so. I know when we ordered E* it was the popular choice, then of course after we signed the contract, E* did go downhill quite a bit. Now, with our contract ending, its seemingly making a comeback, of course just as I'm switching to D*! Will D* now become the new E*? Hope not!
