DISH, Direct TV, or Cable?

[kps246]

Since this seems to be a DISH oriented site, I'll post my questions here. I am currently a cable customer with 6 TV's. 3 are primary, with the other 3
getting occasional use. I have always stayed away from satellite tv because of the amount of cables needed (3-4 into the house, and 2 cables to a dvr).
These new MOCA systems ( Hopper & Genie) seemed to have simplified things greatly. Programming costs are about the same, so it comes down to equipment and quality of service.

My cable provider is Mediacom. I have no issues with them except the monthly price for STB ( $10.50) and DVR prices. I currently have 2 HD STB, but
would like to get a third. I have never had a DVR.

DISH- My impressions of DISH are that they always seem to be ahead of D* in tech (Hopper, DVR's and Dual Tuners), but have more frequent disputes
with content providers. Also picture quality seems to be better with D*. This is probably not an issue on TVs less than 50", but could be problematic
at 65-70". It also seems easier to rf modulate other tvs with DISH. I am in Eastern Iowa, and assume I will use the EA.

DIRECT TV- Probably half the houses in my neighborhood have switched to satellite tv. 90-95% are using DIRECT TV. D* seems more of a corporate entity
than DISH, and may be harder to deal with if problems arise.

I'm not going to save any money (beyond the first year), because my cable company adds a $15/mth surcharge for internet only., I have DSL
in my area, but have heard nothing good about it. With satellite tv, I will pick-up the ability to see every channel on every tv, and a whole house dvr, which I don't have now. I would like some opinions and experiences with each satellite provider.

 

[mdram]

both companines can be good
ive never had customer service issues with either

that said you have to determine your needs. so here are some questions
1. how many tvs will be in use at any time.
2. how many recordings do you think will be needed at any time? are these network or cable?

my personal choice would be for a genie with 1 hr24 and 4 h24/h25's
each unit would have its own tuner and there would be 5 more tuners for recording

 

[Scherrman]

I love Dish's new Hopper system, don't know a lot about DirecTV but would say it's better than cable.

 

[mdavej]

I used all 3 for many years (not at the same time) and ultimately went back to cable for the following reasons:

- While I love Dish's Hopper and lower subscription prices, frequent provider disputes were too big of a disruption.

- I loved DirecTV's system as well overall, but their DVR's were sluggish and their HD offerings limited. Their prices are also higher than Dish (no free HD option and no low end packages). However, they have a monopoly on a lot of sports content, if that's your interest.

- My local cable system had the most HD of all providers, most of my local sub-channels without requiring an OTA antenna and was the least expensive since I only have to pay for my subscription plus a few cable cards at $2 each. I have 4 HD TVs, all with access to my central DVR running on a PC. I pay no STB or DVR fees whatsoever. All interface with the central 8 tuner DVR via extenders which are simply Xboxes, soon to be replaced with Ceton Echos. An Echo is about the same size as a DirecTV C31 Genie client box. All work with my IR and RF remotes, so the user has no idea a PC is serving all the content. You could do the same thing with lifetime Tivos, but that would be very expensive. Although my initial equipment cost was high ($100 per used Xbox, $250 in PC upgrades and $200 for 8 tuners), my monthly cost is only about $50 for the first 2 years and $80 after that. The equivalent service with satellite cost me $100-$120 after new customer discounts expired. The only thing I lack in my cable card system is On-Demand, but I never used that anyway.

You will find that satellite DVR's are light years ahead of cable DVR's (except the windows media center system that I use). So you will love that aspect of the system if you switch to satellite. If I were to go back to satellite today, I'd go with DirecTV, in spite of the somewhat higher cost due mainly to less frequent disputes with providers.

If you care about HD, check out THIS list to confirm whatever service you select has all the content you want.

 

[KAB]

If non-network sports (RSN's, NFL Sunday Ticket, etc) are very important to you, you would probably be happier with Direct.

PQ difference has been argued for years. Many believe the PQ from Hopper is better than Direct now, but that will probably continue be debated.

Dish has thus far led the way in "Disputes". But expect to see it happening more from all providers as carriage fees are getting out of control, especially from local channel owners. Direct lost all Viacom channels for a while this year.

 

[whitewolf8214]

If non-network sports (RSN's, NFL Sunday Ticket, etc) are very important to you, you would probably be happier with Direct.

PQ difference has been argued for years. Many believe the PQ from Hopper is better than Direct now, but that will probably continue be debated.

Dish has thus far led the way in "Disputes". But expect to see it happening more from all providers as carriage fees are getting out of control, especially from local channel owners. Direct lost all Viacom channels for a while this year.

Amen

 

[harshness]

I love Dish's new Hopper system, don't know a lot about DirecTV but would say it's better than cable.

That depends on where you stand with respect to demand content. For those heavily dependent on demand, satellite is a poor substitute (though a DVR is a big step in the right direction).

 

[dwarren2]

2 Hoppers and 4 Joeys should work well for you. You can start watching a recording in 1 room, pause it and continue in another. You can access the internal hard drive of each Hopper from the other. Each Hopper has 1 tb of user storage. If you watch a lot of prime time TV. The Hopper can record all 4 of the major networks at once and store them for 7 days. The interface is very easy to use. Even my technophobe wife was able to transition from a 722 to the Hopper with no problems. Every thing connects through a node so only 1 cable goes to each Hopper/Joey. The monthly cost for the 2nd Hopper is the same as a Joey, $7.
You also can get an ota module for each Hopper for $30 and a Sling adapter for each Hopper which allows you to watch either Hopper through a computer or mobile device.
You can attach an ehd to the Hopper to give you additional storage at no charge.

 

[ncted]

I've had Cable, DirecTV, and DISH in the past year. I am happiest with DISH, although DirecTV is a close second, and cable is a distant 3rd. Both D* and E* PQ are better than cable was. I'd go with which ever satellite company gives you the better deal for what you want.

-Ted