DirecTV or Dish DVR? Help!

jmcgann333

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Feb 10, 2004
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I am considering changing to Dish network, considering their promotions regarding a free DVR or HD receiver. I contacted DirecTV, and they have offered to give me a free DVR with a one year additional committment if I stay with them.
The DVR from Dish has a 100 hour capacity, while the DirecTV has only 35.
DirecTV further stated that there is no way of knowing the brand of DVR you will receive, until they arrive to install it.

Are you satisfied with Dish service and the reliablity/functionality of the 522?
Should I continue my DirecTV patronage and accept the free* DVR and commit to another year or give Dish a try?

* Requires one year commitment
 
jmcgann333 said:
I am considering changing to Dish network, considering their promotions regarding a free DVR or HD receiver. I contacted DirecTV, and they have offered to give me a free DVR with a one year additional committment if I stay with them.
The DVR from Dish has a 100 hour capacity, while the DirecTV has only 35.
DirecTV further stated that there is no way of knowing the brand of DVR you will receive, until they arrive to install it.

Are you satisfied with Dish service and the reliablity/functionality of the 522?
Should I continue my DirecTV patronage and accept the free* DVR and commit to another year or give Dish a try?

* Requires one year commitment
This is a no brainer...take the Tivo you will love it. As far as brand's go their all the same on the inside.
 
With no hesitation go TiVo far superior to DISH product ,522 in my showroom is a piece of junk. Two TiVos in my home have worked perfectly since I installed them.
 
consider the 35 hour limit as a handicap for "tivo"
remember IF you upgrade the hard drive, you are voiding your warranty

I have a dish PVR and love it (100 hours out of the box recording time)
 
dish PVR is crappy i heard, but I dont know about the DVR right now..

Im in the same shoe as jmcgann333....so hard to make the call...
 
well my 721 (2 tuners 100 hrs)works great, I love it (had it over year),
and my sister in-law has a 510 (1 tuner 100 hrs) and she loves it.
the only advantage I see with tivo is "name based" recording
which E* is "planning on adding as software upgrade)
 
Even if you stick with the 35 hours on the Tivo, the software is miles better. I have a 721 and I would gladly give up 50 hours of recording time for name-based recording.

Dennis
 
First, I would make your decision mainly on programming offered - which service has what you want most?

If that's not a factor then I'd certainly go the Tivo route. The software is far superior to the Dish DVRs.

It's pretty darn easy to upgrade (check here for a starter) the hard drive. Within 6 weeks of getting an HDVR2 (40G drive) DirecTivo I had it replaced with a 120GB hard drive - all that was needed was the ability to make and boot a special floppy and have enough tech savy to remove the Tivo hard drive and put it temporarily into a PC with the new target drive. If you're not into such things find your local PC-savy geek to help you.

There are lots of possibilities well beyond a larger hard drive, which is why I'm 100% glad I switched to DirecTV from Dish. I'm currently doing a mod that will permit me web access to my Tivo (searching the guide and recorded programs is much easier via a web browser!) and I hope to soon be able to copy programs from one Tivo to another as well as be able to watch recorded programs on my PC with the networked DirecTivo as a server.

All of this 'Tivo hack knowledge' was gleaned from this website.
 
I just got my 522 a week ago, having switched off cable with an old Panasonic ReplayTV. The 522 looks like a toy regarding PVR functionality compared to the old Replay. You get used to it though. Overall, I am pretty happy. I really miss name based recording though. You are probably better staying with the TiVo though, IMHO. The 522 still has lots of work left to do.
 
I've had TiVo and a 510, and like both of them. The name based recording with Tivo is one thing I miss, but Dish is saying that'll be available soon on the 510.

One thing I did notice when I switched was I had a cleaner, brighter picture with the 510 than the TiVo. But I'm waiting to see which comes with the best programming for me, then I'll have that service. Right now, Dish has my locals, so I have Dish.

I've had no problems with my TiVo or my Dish 501/510.
 
My Dish DVR messes up all the time on recordings as it does not have Named based recording like the Tivo has.

Examples this week, The Aprentience and Friends. All have different start / end times this week. The Tivo got them correct. Dish only remembers what the orginal time slot is.

The DIsh DVR used to crash all the time.

Now it never CRashs IF YOU REBOOT IT ONCE A WEEK . If you dont it will crash durring recordings for some reason.

I lost parts of the show.
 
I have a E* 721 for over a year
and NEVER lost ANY recording, NEVER missed ANY show I wanted.
from my experience E* DVRs are reliable and work well. I have a 9 day guide and search functions that do just about anything a tivo will do
except "the I want every show named xxxxx ".
that feature is coming, but personally I won't use that feature much.
D*Tivo is ok , not dis'in it like D* users who "seem to enjoy" dis'in E*
My 721 has NO DVR fee per month (of course hardware full price)
so summary
D*Tivo good. has name based (but only 35hours unless you hack it)
E* DVR good. has 100hours(but "currently" no "name based" auto record)
D*Tivo monthly fee but low price hardware
E* DVR monthly fee but free/low price hardware
so it's kinda "wash" for the most part,

(the "age old" my car's better than your car)
 
Remember, Dish charges a $4.99 per month fee PER PVR (excluding the 501/508/721). DirecTV charges $4.99 per account, have as many PVR's as you like. This assumes that you aren't taking the Dish AEP package or the DirecTV Platinum Plus, PVR's are included in that price. Just something to keep in mind.
 
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