Dish TV OR Directv???

[JayPSU]

I am waiting on the Columbus locals as we speek. I get all of them OTA fine so I can wait a while.

I get most of them ok, but have been having problems getting the Sinclair ones (Fox and ABC), particularly ABC HD. Since my two favorite shows are on these stations (House and Lost), I'm a little hesitant to depend on an antenna. What kind of antenna are you using?

 

[rad]

And who provides more than one OTA tuner on their box?

D*'s HD DVR's have had two ATSC and two DBS tuners in them.

 

[bratboy]

D*'s HD DVR's have had two ATSC and two DBS tuners in them.

Gee, now if they just had more HD so there was something to record <wink>

 

[JAG72]

I get most of them ok, but have been having problems getting the Sinclair ones (Fox and ABC), particularly ABC HD. Since my two favorite shows are on these stations (House and Lost), I'm a little hesitant to depend on an antenna. What kind of antenna are you using?

I am just using a cheap Phillips small outdoor antenna that I picked up at Walmart. I also have a cheap indoor antenna on my other TV with no issues.

 

[MikeD-C05]

IF you want your hd locals for Ohio now and you want more sports options then DIRECTV would be your best bet . You can record upto 2 ota channels at the same time or two sat channels or a combination of the two. But be warned you can only record 2 tuners at a time period. DISH has the option to record upto 3 things at a time but only 1 ota tuner. So it looks like if you really want all them sports options and your hd locals NOW then you will have to pony up and pay the $300.00 to get you a Directv hd dvr.

If you want more movie options and more HD national channels NOW ,then you could go with DISH . You get there hd dvr , which many consider superb piece of technology . You can use it in dual mode for two tvs or single mode and use the pip features to split screen the tv shows. It will cost you ZIP to get since you would be a new customer. You can also investigate the chance of "moving" to the closest area with HD locals in your spotbeam range , once you are setup. ( do a search on moving and it will tell you all you need to know) If DISH has your sd locals up on the satellite then you can use the guide information for them on your DIGITAL ota locals too. This comes in mighty handy. Then you can record on the DISH hd locals and your ota digital stations too for a total of 3 networks recorded at a time. THis is what I do for the Houston locals and my real ota locals.

So once again it looks like Sports will make the decison for you. If hockey is your game you can go with either sat provider. IF NFL sunday ticket or MLBaseball is your game then Directv is your choice.

 

[JayPSU]

You can also investigate the chance of "moving" to the closest area with HD locals in your spotbeam range , once you are setup. ( do a search on moving and it will tell you all you need to know) If DISH has your sd locals up on the satellite then you can use the guide information for them on your DIGITAL ota locals too. This comes in mighty handy. Then you can record on the DISH hd locals and your ota digital stations too for a total of 3 networks recorded at a time. THis is what I do for the Houston locals and my real ota locals.

Thank you very much for your post, I appreciate it. This is the second time now that I've seen a suggestion like this. Is this something that a lot of the people here do? How do you do it? Is it worth doing, or should I just wait for my locals if I went to Dish?

 

[clrntsqueak]

Again, I have NO idea how it works. My locals are in HD so I have no issue with that. I suggest searching the forums on "moving". All I hear is success with it. And if you do get caught, all that happens is you're switched back to the locals you're supposed to be getting... so I guess there's really no risk. Again, I haven't really researched it at all, so I suggest you do your own research and make a decision on that.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Thank you very much for your post, I appreciate it. This is the second time now that I've seen a suggestion like this. Is this something that a lot of the people here do? How do you do it? Is it worth doing, or should I just wait for my locals if I went to Dish?

Okay ,say you want to move to Houston, Tx like I did and you live 90 miles away in Beaumont , Tx. Your service and billing address is set for the Beaumont address. You simply call the csr and say : I have already moved to Houston , Tx and I installed everything myself. Here is my new service address.... Keep my billing address what it already is and my phone number stays the same.

To arrive at a new service address you simply do a google search for say movie theaters in the town you want to move to. Once you find a real movie theater address in that town you add an apartment number to it to make that address yours. Then you plug the service address into the local address broker on DISH 's site and it will tell you what you are eligilble for. Here is a website that tells you which locals are available on conus (nationwide) and which are on spotbeam ( just a small area).


The Echostar Knowledge Base on DBSTalk

CHeck under the programming part and look under individual sats like 110/119/61.5 and 129 for the locals that are available . The 61.5 and the 129 sats are on CONUS beam while the 110 and 119 are on SPOTBEAMs. Most spotbeams cover over a 100 miles in area - in my case in Houston to Beaumont. Simply check and see what city has hd locals and which is closest to you unless already on CONUS beam. You will need a dish for 61.5 or 129 to use the Conus beam locals , but if you have HD anyway they will install either a side sat dish for 61.5 or a dish 1000.2- (110/119/129) .

** Be warned that the 129 sat is a wobbly sat on its last leg with many reception problems and as such you might suffer video/audio losses quite frequently do to the satellite having to constantly refire its fuel to stay in orbit. I recommend the 61.5 or a bigger side sat dish just for 129 .

Many people have "moved" in the past to get sd locals when they were added because they lacked their networks. Many people still move but do it now for hd networks even when DISH has their sd locals - like in my case. DISH doesn't care as long as you don't tell them what you are really doing. THe rules state that the sat provider can't "KNOWINGLY" sell you out of area locals. Don't tell them what you are really doing and they won't ask. AND many many people here on this board and others have "moved" and still are doing it to get out of area locals in both sd /hd.

 

[mrpither]

hockey IS a discriminator

if you're talking center ice for hockey, then dish beats directv hands down, at least based on my past experience. when i was on dish a few years ago, they had more feeds per game, more pre and post game coverage (particulary nice on hockey night in canada), and reliability. directv on the other hand distinguishes itself by blacking out games they aren't supposed to, and listing a game available on an hd channel then not showing it, even though when i watch the game on the sd channel it says the game is available in hd... not very nice.

i switched to directv for tivo. now that directv is dumping tivo, i will likely be switching back to dish.

 

[ediemash]

when direct tv came out with this 150hd channels bit i knew there was no way, so i waited around to see what they had to say when that time had come and gone now they say they have the "ability" for the channels. i saw that one coming they were just using the line and to make people think the future is with direct tv, ive looked at direct tv line up and dish net and to me dish has a way better line up not to mention the hd, direct tv just has usual hd you can get anywhere where as dish has the voom, now thats something to gloat about!

 

[JimK2]

First thing he would need is to feel that it's OK to bend the law a bit.

TOS, yes but the law, nope.

 

[rad]

TOS, yes but the law, nope.

So if you wrote the FCC, told them that you told your DBS provider that you were living at a different address then you actually were so you could receive programming that you normally wouldn't be able to receive they would say that's totally OK with them?

 

[DavidZ]

Yep, somehow they DO carry the locals in HD just north of here in Cleveland, but not here in Columbus despite Columbus being the bigger city.

Really? I thought that Dish offers the local channels in Cleveland, but not in HD.

Does Dish offer the local Cleveland channels in HD?

 

[nazz]

Is anybody combing both E* and D*? E* doesn't offer my HD locals and D* does. I also can't get them OTA. What is the cheepest that I could get D* HD locals with an HD DVR for? I prefer E*'s other HD offerings and my contract ends in November. E* caught me having 'moved' and switched me back to Indy in SD. After the way E* screwed up the Indianapolis HD situation, I'm not holding my breath for them to work it out. It looks like Charlie has decided to give the Indy channels the finger.

 

[RIRWIN1983]

Thank you very much for your post, I appreciate it. This is the second time now that I've seen a suggestion like this. Is this something that a lot of the people here do? How do you do it? Is it worth doing, or should I just wait for my locals if I went to Dish?

Jay im doing the ota route with dish, and i am picking up every ota channel, even the pesky sinclair ones w/o issue, the 622 has a very good ota tuner, better than my dell or sony tuners in my tv could get. i had directv and while the do have our hd locals they had some prolems getting all of them at first. i'd recomend you contact sadoun satellite sales, they are a local retailer and will hook u up (in more than one way) very well. if u need their info, pm me. i am also near by and could stop by and help with any issues u may have im in the little turtle/blendon woods area.

 

[nazz]

i am also near by and could stop by and help with any issues u may have im in the little turtle/blendon woods area.

There sure are some great people here. :up

 

[SignGuyDino]

I'm stuck. NO antenna can pick up any of my HD locals and E* lied about getting Greenville SC HD locals being on LAST year. However, because I was with D* six years ago they won't treat me as a "new customer," meaning I'd have to pay $hundreds to get anything installed. And Mediacom reeks of suck.

 

[8bitbytes]

NO antenna can pick up any of my HD locals ...

You are about 30 or so miles from the Greenville towers, what is your limitation on picking up the OTA signals?

 

[SignGuyDino]

Being in the mountains of western North Carolina. Not even WLOS (which is in Asheville) stays.

 

[8bitbytes]

Being in the mountains of western North Carolina. Not even WLOS (which is in Asheville) stays.

So you are below a ridgeline and too far to run a cable out to a peak somewhere?

That's a bad spot to be in... sorry to hear it. I know some folks have "moved" because they are in a similar situation. Not sure I'd go that far but I'm not stuck...