Considering DirecTV

[ncted]

I left Dish last month. I had no real complaints with Dish. I just wanted to see if I could make cable work at my new place. So far, between Tivos and TWC Navigator, I am unhappy. I am trying out DSL later this week as I only have 2 coax feeds into my new house and Dish would require both. I should be able to get the same downloads speeds as I have with cable (and better upload speeds!).

As I was happy with Dish over the years, I am tempted to just go back with them, but I like the sound of DirecTV's MRV & SWM setup. I also like the sound of better PQ. I had issues with rain fade and billing when I was with DirecTV before (2004-2006). With Dish, I never had any billing issues and rain fade seemed a lot less common than with DirecTV.

I was wondering how people who have switched from Dish to DirecTV think things compare in these areas:

1. Billing/Customer Service
2. Reception/Rain Fade
3. Picture Quality
4. Equipment reliability (missed any recordings due to equipment/software failures?)
5. Responsiveness of MRV setup as compared to Dish and/or TWC Navigator. A friend says trick play controls are a little sluggish when watching a remote recording.
6. Was it annoying learning the new remote? It looks very different from Dish's.

Thanks,
Ted

 

[DodgerKing]

This thread here may help: http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/231940-i-made-switch-d-my-first.html

 

[ncted]

This thread here may help: http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/231940-i-made-switch-d-my-first.html

Yep. I read that. Didn't really answer my specific questions though.

 

[RedWings]

I have only had DirecTV for a few days so take my input for what its worth.

1. Billing/Customer Service - So far the billing seems straight forward. I have reviewed all the set-up charges in the "Recent Activities" part of my account online. It is pretty much updated instantly when you have a change (add/delete programming/equipment). It is listed clearly and I don't see any mess ups. Customer service has been so/so. But that is pretty much the standard across any large company like D*, E*, Sprint, etc... All depends on which CSR you get. If you get a bad one, call back and you'll probably get a good one.

2. Reception/Rain Fade - Weather has been nice, so I can't provide any input on this. My signal strength is strong and I have a very clear LOS. I'm sure it'll be just like Dish. When it rains cats/dogs, I'll probably lose it for a minute or two.

3. Picture Quality - So far it looks better than Dish

4. Equipment reliability (missed any recordings due to equipment/software failures?) - seems pretty rock solid so far. I've been jumping around the menus, changing this, changing that, etc.. and it hasn't hiccuped. Also the equipment is smaller and quieter than my Dish equipment.

5. Responsiveness of MRV setup as compared to Dish and/or TWC Navigator. A friend says trick play controls are a little sluggish when watching a remote recording. - Dish didn't have a MRV solution I was aware of. I had a 622 feeding 2 TVs. With D* I have the MRV and access my 2 DVRs from my other 2 non-DVR HD boxes. When going to play something from another box, it takes a few seconds to load up. But that is expected based on what it is trying to do (pull video from another box). I think it works just fine.

6. Was it annoying learning the new remote? It looks very different from Dish's. - The remote was simple to learn. I liked the feel of Dish's remote in my hand better. But I like D*'s remote better for functionality. They have incorporated some cool stuff into it (i.e..right arrow brings up widgets, up arrow brings up Quick Tune (think radio presets), etc...)


Here is a thread I posted yesterday with my comparison between the two:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/231940-i-made-switch-d-my-first.html

 

[Ronnie-]

Redwings, I noticed in another thread you said that channel changing was a little slow. Do you have native on or off?

 

[RandallA]

Redwings, I noticed in another thread you said that channel changing was a little slow. Do you have native on or off?

Good point. I turned mine off because it was too slow for me.

 

[DodgerKing]

Was it annoying learning the new remote? [/B]It looks very different from Dish's. - The remote was simple to learn. I liked the feel of Dish's remote in my hand better. But I like D*'s remote better for functionality. They have incorporated some cool stuff into it (i.e..right arrow brings up widgets, up arrow brings up Quick Tune (think radio presets), etc...)

And down arrow switches between tuners

 

[RedWings]

Redwings, I noticed in another thread you said that channel changing was a little slow. Do you have native on or off?

Off

 

[Ronnie-]

Off

Ok, just wanted to make sure.

What about general responsiveness of the receiver? Is it laggy or quick? Basically is channel changing your main complaint on speed?

 

[RedWings]

Ok, just wanted to make sure.

What about general responsiveness of the receiver? Is it laggy or quick? Basically is channel changing your main complaint on speed?

Yes channel changing is my only complaint regarding speed. When going through menus/settings/etc. it is VERY quick.

It may be the same speed as the 722 when changing channels and I just don't notice.

 

[ncted]

I have only had DirecTV for a few days so take my input for what its worth.

5. Responsiveness of MRV setup as compared to Dish and/or TWC Navigator. A friend says trick play controls are a little sluggish when watching a remote recording. - Dish didn't have a MRV solution I was aware of. I had a 622 feeding 2 TVs. With D* I have the MRV and access my 2 DVRs from my other 2 non-DVR HD boxes. When going to play something from another box, it takes a few seconds to load up. But that is expected based on what it is trying to do (pull video from another box). I think it works just fine.

Thanks for the feedback. With respect to the MRV, I was trying to get a comparison of watching a recorded program on Dish/TWC versus watching a recorded program on a remote DVR with DirecTV MRV. Once the playback has begun, are things like pause, 30 second skip, FF, REW, etc. pretty responsive? With Dish DVRs I found them to be acceptably responsive and TWC Navigator is extremely sluggish, so I was wondering what the worst case was like on DirecTV. Yes, it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but that is what I would like to know.

Any other recent converts?

Thanks,
Ted

 

[RedWings]

Thanks for the feedback. With respect to the MRV, I was trying to get a comparison of watching a recorded program on Dish/TWC versus watching a recorded program on a remote DVR with DirecTV MRV. Once the playback has begun, are things like pause, 30 second skip, FF, REW, etc. pretty responsive? With Dish DVRs I found them to be acceptably responsive and TWC Navigator is extremely sluggish, so I was wondering what the worst case was like on DirecTV. Yes, it is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, but that is what I would like to know.

Any other recent converts?

Thanks,
Ted

I have yet to do much FF, REW, etc.. with a recorded show on a different room's box. I did do some 30 seconds skips and they were just as responsive as being at the original box.

 

[tigerfan33]

The only reciever that compares to the VIP is the HR24 which is a hddvr and the H24 which is a hd reciever. The best way to get these boxes is to go through a local dealer and not Directv. Local can tell you what they have in the warehouse. MRV will not work on sd recievers. If you have sd tv and want it to work on MRV you will need the H24.

 

[ncted]

The only reciever that compares to the VIP is the HR24 which is a hddvr and the H24 which is a hd reciever. The best way to get these boxes is to go through a local dealer and not Directv. Local can tell you what they have in the warehouse. MRV will not work on sd recievers. If you have sd tv and want it to work on MRV you will need the H24.

Thanks. I have 3 HDTVs, so DirecTV's offering would actually allow me to get all 3 hooked up as such. With Dish, one would be stuck in SD. If I go with DirecTV, I will be getting 2 HR24s and 1 H24 with MRV.

Ted

 

[Mr Tony]

1. great customer service. Always get a rep in the states unless you call at like midnight. Billing has been perfect except for one bill when they forgot the $29 discount. I got an e-mail from D* like 5 days later stating they screwed up and it was fixed for the next bill cycle.
2. Other than really dark clouds and hard rain rain fade is very minimal
3. better than E*
4. Very reliable. There was one time they did a software upgrade that froze receivers. A red button reboot fixed it and D* acknowledged it right away and redid the software in like 6 hours
5. dont have/cant comment
6. nah. Its pretty easy to see the differences.

 

[ncted]

1. great customer service. Always get a rep in the states unless you call at like midnight. Billing has been perfect except for one bill when they forgot the $29 discount. I got an e-mail from D* like 5 days later stating they screwed up and it was fixed for the next bill cycle.
2. Other than really dark clouds and hard rain rain fade is very minimal
3. better than E*
4. Very reliable. There was one time they did a software upgrade that froze receivers. A red button reboot fixed it and D* acknowledged it right away and redid the software in like 6 hours
5. dont have/cant comment
6. nah. Its pretty easy to see the differences.

Thanks. Looks like D* is probably the way to go right now.

Ted

 

[Mr Tony]

The thing I like is when D* screws up they let us know right away....well we usually hear about it at Satguys quicker but D* is usually good at fixing issues

 

[ncted]

The thing I like is when D* screws up they let us know right away....well we usually hear about it at Satguys quicker but D* is usually good at fixing issues

Yeah, it sounds like things are better at D* these days. When I left in 2006, it took months to get everything straightened out with billing, and I didn't like the fact that they screwed me on the HR10 by switching to mpeg4.

Ted

 

[SA Holly Springs GA]

I left Dish last month. I had no real complaints with Dish. I just wanted to see if I could make cable work at my new place. So far, between Tivos and TWC Navigator, I am unhappy. I am trying out DSL later this week as I only have 2 coax feeds into my new house and Dish would require both. I should be able to get the same downloads speeds as I have with cable (and better upload speeds!).

As I was happy with Dish over the years, I am tempted to just go back with them, but I like the sound of DirecTV's MRV & SWM setup. I also like the sound of better PQ. I had issues with rain fade and billing when I was with DirecTV before (2004-2006). With Dish, I never had any billing issues and rain fade seemed a lot less common than with DirecTV.

I was wondering how people who have switched from Dish to DirecTV think things compare in these areas:

1. Billing/Customer Service
2. Reception/Rain Fade
3. Picture Quality
4. Equipment reliability (missed any recordings due to equipment/software failures?)
5. Responsiveness of MRV setup as compared to Dish and/or TWC Navigator. A friend says trick play controls are a little sluggish when watching a remote recording.
6. Was it annoying learning the new remote? It looks very different from Dish's.

Thanks,
Ted

1. Local retailer handles all that. No sitting on hold
2. The better reception the less Rain fade. IMO it all depends on the installer making that quarter turn to peak the dish. I'm in GA so weather is off and on. Mines been out twice in 6 mths for 2-3 mins. I record most shows and playback with no stutter.
3. Put 2 tvs, same make and model beside each other( 1 D* 1 E*). When we did it at an event we got the same answer every time. D*
4. Personally no. D* has good equipment. Your gonna have some glitches. That's with any system but D* is minimal.
5 & 6. Can't answer these. Never had dish. I only replace dish with Directv many times a day

 

[Rockstead]

Redwings, I noticed in another thread you said that channel changing was a little slow. Do you have native on or off?

My channel changing is super slow on my HR23 and I do have Native turned on, I should be turning this off? and if you do that won't that aspect ratio of the shows not be presented correctly afterwards? I did this so I wouldn't have to adjust it based on the channel I was watching.