Did I make the right choice?

[bowens]

Well, I just ordered E*. I am getting an 811 and a 311. I am in an area out in the country, so I can't get cable. It has got to be satellite. I am in college and about to get married so I am on a tight budget. E* seemed to have the best deals, no equipment to purchase, cheaper packages. Like I said, I'm on a budget so I just went with the top 60 and the HD pack. Most of what I watch is sports, so I'll be happy to get ESPN HD. Will I be happy overall?


Also, I was wondering if a DVI cable comes with the 811 or if I would have to purchase one.

 

[NightRyder]

Hi bowens:

The 811 does not come with a DVI cable. You can pick one up here http://www.pacificable.com/DVI.htm#DVI-D_Dual_Link or on Ebay for a reasonable price. Don't get scammed into paying $100 for a Monster brand one.

The great thing about Dish's lease offer is the ability to try the service with little to no $ outlay or commitment. Form a value standpoint the AT60 package has no equal in the satellite world.

Rather then give you any preconceptions, I feel it is better left you to judge whether PQ on the SD channels is acceptable. The HD channels on Dish are very good. The 311 is a solid receiver and the 811 is much less buggy than it was at the beginning of the year. I don't use the OTA part of mine and have very little problems with it.

Welcome to Dish and to Satellite Guys. You can learn a lot here, check in often.


NightRyder

 

[bowens]

Do you think there would be much of a difference in using component vs. DVI cables? I have already got a few sets of components so I could just use one of those.

 

[NightRyder]

Do you think there would be much of a difference in using component vs. DVI cables? I have already got a few sets of components so I could just use one of those.

The 811 comes with a Component cable. What type of TV do you have? I have a Samsung DLP and find that DVI provides a better picture than Component. The general rule seems to be DVI for fixed pixel display (DLP, LCD, LCOS) and Component for CRT.


NightRyder

 

[bowens]

I have a 26" Samsung CRT. My living room is very small and anything bigger would be too large for the room. So you're saying that the component should be fine?

 

[NightRyder]

I have a 26" Samsung CRT. My living room is very small and anything bigger would be too large for the room. So you're saying that the component should be fine?

Yes component will work fine. I wouldn't even worry about DVI with a direct view set.

On a 26" set the SD channels should look pretty good too. When you get into larger HD sets like my 50", all the sins of over-compression reveal themselves.


NightRyder

 

[MustangLX89]

Hell, I had a 27" Philips direct view and saw the overcompression. Who needs 50" to see them.

 

[jergenf]

I have the DVR921 with Dish 34 inch HD monitor. I tried both component and DVI. The component cable seem to have more color saturation but also have more overscan. I therefore chose the DVI because it had far less overscan hence more of the entire picture being viewed. The resolution was the same with either cable. I'm assuming your 26 inch Samsung is widescreen (16:9) preferably HD since to purchased the 811.

 

[mdonnelly]

Well, I just ordered E*. I am getting an 811 and a 311. I am in an area out in the country, so I can't get cable. It has got to be satellite. I am in college and about to get married so I am on a tight budget. E* seemed to have the best deals, no equipment to purchase, cheaper packages. Like I said, I'm on a budget so I just went with the top 60 and the HD pack. Most of what I watch is sports, so I'll be happy to get ESPN HD. Will I be happy overall?


Also, I was wondering if a DVI cable comes with the 811 or if I would have to purchase one.

Just so you aren't surprised, not every game on ESPN-HD is really shown in HD. Last year, all the live professional baseball (2 per week) and football (one per week) games on ESPN were in HD, but the college basketball and football games were hit and miss. TNT-HD shows some pro basketball games in HD, and so does HD-NET.

Are you too far out in the country to get OTA digital signals? The Masters is on this week on CBS, and that's really a visual treat in HD.

 

[datwell]

Will you be happy overall? That's up to you - I have been a satisfied E* subscriber for a number of years now, have upgraded to HD and plan to remain with them. I live in Fairfax County, VA - served by Cox Cable and our situation with them has been the stuff of legends; therefore satellite is easily the better way to go and while nobody is perfect, old Charlie at E* does seem to give you a bit more for a little less money. I too cannot get my locals OTA due to my being on the wrong side of a hill but at least I can get SD locals from E* (just wish they were in HD). The bottom line: In today's market, E* is the best value for my money.

da Doug

 

[bowens]

I can get CBS-HD and PBS-HD OTA. My fiance makes fun of me because I watch PBS-HD. They really have some good content on there. More stuff like you'd see on Discovery. Anyway, I also get a digital FOX channel but it is just sd. CBS is a very weak signal so it does go out every once in a while, but most of the time it is fine. I know that not all of ESPN's games are in HD, but I do remember that all of their Saturday night college football games were in HD last year. Plus my local ABC is scheduled to start broadcasting HD on August 1 this year. So football season will be great with ABC, CBS and ESPN. I am planning on watching some of the Master's this weekend. Well, the satellite will be installed this afternoon, so I'll let you know what I think.

 

[NightRyder]

Hell, I had a 27" Philips direct view and saw the overcompression. Who needs 50" to see them.

Well if you were unhappy with 27" you would be really unhappy with 50". Good thing your not a Dish Customer anymore, now you can spend more time enjoying your TV and less time complaining about a provider you no longer subscribe to.


NightRyder

 

[OoTLink]

Heheh. .I've seen pixelation on both our 50" and my 20" (I'm good at catching that stuff) -- but I REALLY don't care. We're paying quite a bit less than we did for cable and overall getting much better quality since we almost always had weirdness going on with the analog cable signal. *nod* This'll do well for ya Good luck!

 

[MustangLX89]

Well if you were unhappy with 27" you would be really unhappy with 50". Good thing your not a Dish Customer anymore, now you can spend more time enjoying your TV and less time complaining about a provider you no longer subscribe to.

A 50" set is to damn big for my needs anyway. I'm in the market right now for a 36" HD widescreen or standard television. I'm waiting on two things though at the moment. The present set I have to die or more HD content to be offered by anyone that I can recieve. As for complaining about Dish I'll always have time. Especially when someone asks an opinion or someone brings up something I went through with quality of picture or service. You opened the door to the picture quality issue, not I. Picture quality issues and overcompression are not a big secret with Dish Network except to those that have not had previous experience with Dish. If you really have that big of an issue with me posting you have two options... 1)Ignore me, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it though. 2)Call up Charlie and tell him some former customer is frequenting a chat board and telling about his experience. I'm sure Charlie will give you a cookie, a $3.99 ppv coupon, or another shopping channel for your efforts.

 

[mdonnelly]

Well if you were unhappy with 27" you would be really unhappy with 50". Good thing your not a Dish Customer anymore, now you can spend more time enjoying your TV and less time complaining about a provider you no longer subscribe to.


NightRyder

Let him rant. The more he posts, the less attention he gets.

 

[OoTLink]

I'm sure Charlie will give you a cookie, a $3.99 ppv coupon, or another shopping channel for your efforts.

:clap :haha

 

[NightRyder]

Let him rant. The more he posts, the less attention he gets.

Yeah, I'm done. He has never contributed anything of value here anyway. Just some sorry, technologically inept, bitter old man jumping into threads, in some twisted, sad attempt at revenge. Off to the ingor list.


NightRyder

 

[NightRyder]

Inane rantings removed.

Noun: crackpot 'krak`pót
1. MustangLX89
- crank , nut , nut case , nutcase , fruitcake , screwball

See also: eccentric, eccentric person, flake, geek, oddball


NightRyder

 

[NightRyder]

Mmmm....Cookie...Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Please!


NightRyder

 

[bowens]

Well I got E* installed on Wednesday. I haven't been home much to play around with it, but what I have seen has been excellent. I hd picture quality is great. I also like being able to add locals to the program guide. The install was good. The installer was right on time and took care of everything, except actually hooking to tv up correctly so I could watch hd content. He informed my fiance that he had never done an hd install before. So when I got there he had the satellite hooked up with composite cables to the tv. No big deal though. I hooked it up right and couldn't be happier.