Considering switching to Dish

[mike6097]

I know this is a personal preference topic but wanted to hear opinions from those kind enough to share. Have been on Directv for 8 years and generally happy. Hopper intrigues me but not sure about advantages over the Genie. I do like the option of getting Redzone channel without threatening to cancel.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I am simply weighing options and wanted to see what the Dish folks thought. Thanks for reading.

Mike

 

[D. Manley]

As you say, personal choice. For me it's Dish, hands-down. It's my opinion Dish's top line hardware is years ahead of anyone else's and at least equal on everything else.

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[Deadlocked]

Depends, what programming are you looking to keep (or gain)? Will RSNs not being 24/7 HD tick you of?


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[Tampa8]

If you are generally happy, do a lot of homework, and not just our opinions before you switch. You mentioned two things where to me DISH is a better choice, but there are things you may take for granted that DISH does not do or have. Be careful of the grass is always greener.

(I am a very long time DISH subscriber)

 

[KAB]

Do you have the Genie now?

 

[lparsons21]

From a purely tech point of view, you'll probably love the Hopper/SuperJoey/Joey setup. It really is that good, and was the prime reason I went to a dual-sub setup, I missed the Hopper enough to finally rationalize to a dual-sub setup. I use D* for Showtime and some sports channels that have boxing. All the rest is viewed from the Hopper/SuperJoey setup I have.

As long as E* has the HD channels you want, or you don't mind not having some of them and not having all the RSNs in HD fulltime, it could certainly be a good move and save you a few bucks.

 

[satjay]

As many have mentioned review the programming to make sure it fits what your looking for. Also as others have mentioned if it's a must that your game is in HD RSN with no question that may be a factor. From a hardware perspective I prefer Dish. Though also from a college perspective Dish is becoming the programing provider to have.

As someone who lives in Michigan I can think of only two times a game has not been in HD, with my RSN one time because of a rain delay thus the game was scheduled later

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[cej700]

I switched from Direct to Dish because a friend of mine has Dish and kept telling me about the hopper( by the way which is great), I switched only to find out that I lost about 3 stations that me and my wife watched, so to me the most important thing it boils down to is watching TV. From a price stand point and yes I did the math, after it's all said and done, they both cost about the same. So saying all of this, I will say, do your home work. By the way, I bite the bullet and switched back to Directv!!

 

[Scherrman]

As many have mentioned review the programming to make sure it fits what your looking for. Also as others have mentioned if it's a must that your game is in HD RSN with no question that may be a factor. From a hardware perspective I prefer Dish. Though also from a college perspective Dish is becoming the programing provider to have As someone who lives in Michigan I can think of only two times a game has not been in HD, with my RSN one time because of a rain delay thus the game was scheduled later Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

With ESPNU now in HD it's very unlikely I won't be able to see an Iowa game in HD. Dish has really been adding more Sports content the last few years.

 

[ncted]

I've had both, but not the Genie. I am actually considering going OTA, but that doesn't sound like an option you're considering. If I were to stick with pay TV and had LOS for DirecTV, I would probably switch back and forth every couple of years to leverage the discounts. They are both so much better than cable, it really just comes down to details. I would rate the overall quality of the DVR software on Dish to be slightly better than DirecTV, but PQ to be the opposite. My Dish setup suffers from rain fade somewhat less than DirecTV did when I had it, but neither are significant. The worst thing about switching is pissing off my wife who hates change. Best of luck!

 

[darrengs]

I agree with the others. You need to make a list of channels that you watch, and make sure that they are on Dish and in the tier you are selecting. Also you mentioned Red Zone, Dish has Red Zone but not Sunday Ticket.

Now with that said, I too was a long time DirecTV customer who left due to their inability to resolve a problem. After several weeks of getting the run around and coming to the realization that it was possible that 3 of my 4 DVR receivers may never get locals back, I looked into Dish. I too was intrigued by the Hopper, but I gave DirecTV two more shots at correcting the problem, and their only solution was to blame Tivo and offer to upgrade one of my DVRs for no cost and a new 2 year commitment. Well I canceled, and Dish was at my house the next day and installed 2 Hoppers and 2 Joeys and one sling adapter. There were some issues with the install and DiRT got it all straightened out for me.

Now I never had a Genie (the newest receiver I had was an HR21), but the Hoppers (I have since been upgraded for free to a Hopper with Sling) including the speed of the Hoppers interface and channel changing, Dish Anywhere, the ability to easily add external hard drives that do not simply replace the internal storage, the incredible range of the Hopper remotes (works great for mirroring, even from my second floor to my basement) and the Customer Service I have experienced (especially DiRT) makes me very happy that DirecTV was unable to fix my issue. Since I left DirecTV has offered me way more then it would have taken to keep me at the time, but whenever I think about taking them up on their offers to pay my ETF, give me a Genie and 2 years of price breaks, I can't justify giving up the technology of the Hopper and going back to the poor customer service that I encountered.

 

[Bobby]

Red Zone is available from Dish with the Multi-Sport package...

 

[darrengs]

Red Zone is available from Dish with the Multi-Sport package...

Yeah, I meant that Dish did not have Sunday Ticket. I edited my post to be more clear.

 

[raoul5788]

Programming is always point #1 with me. What good is the equipment if you can't watch what you want to. For me that means Directv since I'm a Yankee fan, but if Dish carried the YES network I would consider switching.

 

[mike6097]

I appreciate all the input. RSNs are not an issue at all me. Dish may actually allow me to access some early season Kentucky Wildcat games that I do not get via Directv. I do have the genie and HD DVRs in three other rooms. I do need to look a little closer at the channels but it seems they are all there that my family watches. Redzone Channel is a draw for me as I find that I prefer Redzone on Sundays. I have had the Sunday Ticket four years but seem to stick to Redzone to avoid commercials. Directv has provided me Redzone for free (I understand it is a different Redzone) but I hate the game of calling and asking. Would gladly pay for this channel if Directv made it available.

Honestly picture quality and hardware are my biggest interests. I think I would prefer the Hopper. How does the HD picture stack up to Directv?

Again thanks for the input!

 

[satjay]

I appreciate all the input. RSNs are not an issue at all me. Dish may actually allow me to access some early season Kentucky Wildcat games that I do not get via Directv. I do have the genie and HD DVRs in three other rooms. I do need to look a little closer at the channels but it seems they are all there that my family watches. Redzone Channel is a draw for me as I find that I prefer Redzone on Sundays. I have had the Sunday Ticket four years but seem to stick to Redzone to avoid commercials. Directv has provided me Redzone for free (I understand it is a different Redzone) but I hate the game of calling and asking. Would gladly pay for this channel if Directv made it available. Honestly picture quality and hardware are my biggest interests. I think I would prefer the Hopper. How does the HD picture stack up to Directv? Again thanks for the input!

Ahh..the HD picture question, many recent folks who have switched said the difference is not very noticeable

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Not having a Hopper or a Genie,I can only describe the difference in PQ between DIRECTV's HR DVR's/receivers & the ViP 722k. Only because I like my DIRECTV DVR's/receivers running in Native/Original Format mode,whereas with the 722k you can only choose between 1080i or 720p(also Dish's HD is more compressed than Directv's),I'd have to give the edge to DIRECTV in PQ. However,not everybody going to care about how good or bad the PQ is with Dish. In my case,I had my 722k's in 1080i mode & running the HDMI cable through my Logitech Revue,the Revue would upgrade the picture to 1080p. When i make the transition to the Hopper/Joey system from my 2 722k's 7 1 211k set-up,I plan on running the HDMI cables from my Hopper & Super Joey through the Logitech Revue boxes & hopefully their picture will be upgraded to 1080p also.

As far as other things Dish has going for it,Dish Perks where you can access a lot of things on line like Fox Online,Watch ESPN,Epix,etc. is more than DIRECTV offers,& Dish's tailgating equipment is better,if you want HD.

 

[acostapimps]

As far as programming both are the same, a few HD cable channels that one have that the other one doesn't, But mostly the same, but HD locals availability varies by both providers, Equipment wise Dish wins by far, Although the newer Directv Genie HR44 is much faster and smaller than the older one HR34, PQ both look nearly the same on similar channels, But I give the edge to Directv although not all HD channels are equal, With Dish you can add up to 3 Hoppers possibly more, With Directv is 1 Genie per account, But with the Genie you can mix with any receiver you want, Dish is only Hoppers and Joeys, with 211k for RV tailgating.

 

[lparsons21]

Ahh..the HD picture question, many recent folks who have switched said the difference is not very noticeable

I've got both a Genie (HR44) and a Hopper w/Sling on my 73" 3D DLP tv and the only real difference I can tell these days on almost all HD channels is that Dish seems a bit brighter. Not very noticeable on brights scenes, but very noticeable on darker scenes.

SD on Dish on the eastern arc is very much better than the SD on DirecTV and it isn't a small difference.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Did anybody mention that the Dish OTA adapter counts as an extra tuner,or is it 2 extra tuners?. How would one describe the difference in PQ between Eastern Arc & Western Arc? I have Western Arc because that's where my locals are. When I got Dish installed,I was surprised that the installer could find 129. I was expecting & planning for a 2 dish set-up for both Eastern Arc on one dish & 110/119 on the other.