Dish/Voom vs Direct TV vs Comcast

[dlma1]

I would like some honest opinions from the group on above subject. My primary provider has been Direct TV but I have become increasingly frustrated by the lack of HD content. I have been thinking of switching to Dish but I have heard negative comments about "down resing" of HD on Dish. What's the deal with that? Is the picture quality that much worse? Has anyone done head to head comparisons between comparable channels on Dish, Direct TV, and Comcast? I have Comcast as a supplement to my Direct TV service since I have Comcast as my internet provider. The picture quality and sound on Comcast digital channels is pretty good, although the Motorola DVR is unreliable and the user interface is horrible. So, to sum up, should I scrap Direct TV and/or Comcast and switch to Dish? And is Dish Mpeg2 or 4? If not 4, when will it be available? Honest opinions will be greatly appreciated.

 

[williamkmurphy]

I have heard negative comments about "down resing" of HD on Dish.

Dish does reduce the quality on Voom channels to 1280x1080i (native would be 1920x1080i) lovingly reffered to as HD-lite. Do a search for hd-lite and you will find all sorts of stuff on it as it frequently hijacks the topic of a thread. Dish also reduces quality on some of the new mpeg4 channels to 1440x1080i. It is somewhat noticeable, but I wouldn't consider it a show stopper. I was also under the impression that direct did something similar to some of their channels, I am not a directTV sub so correct me if I am wrong.

Channels in 720p (ESPN NGHD etc) are passed in 1280x720p.

And is Dish Mpeg2 or 4? If not 4, when will it be available?

New HD channels including locals are being launched in mpeg-4 and have been since February. You need an mpeg-4 receiver vip211 (single sat tuner, 1atsc no DVR) or a vip622 (2 sat tuners, 1ATSC DVR). There are a couple of new receivers on the way as well. Dish is also getting better at mpeg-4 encoding, several people here have noticed improvements in Starz-HD, and some of the mpeg-4 hd locals over the last few months.

Like direct tv dish is adding hd RSNs in the somewhat near future.

The vip211 does a very nice job with OTA locals. Multipath interference seems to be less of a problem with the new tuners than the older 811.

I am very happy with the HD that I receive from Dish network. Like directTv they have to battle with available bandwidth to give us good picture quality.

My cable company (time warner) really sucks in all aspects. They have only 8 regular HD channels (ESPN, universal, INHD1\2, HDNet, HDmovies, YES-HD (for games only), Discovery HD) + HBO and SHO. They also charge an extra 6/mo for ESPN HDnet HD movies, and universal. They are a freaking joke. Dish has 30 or so plus locals.

Dish networks EPG kicks the living poop out of the scientific atlanta garbage heaps. There is no delay between guide changes and button pressing on the remote. The quide is 16x9 not full screen. Doesn't look horrible either. If the motorola stb is half as bad as the scientific atlanta you will be happy with the dish box.

I don't have a dvr so I can't comment on the 622.

 

[jb1945]

I switched to Dish with a vip 622 about a month ago. Overall very happy with the HD quality. I had Comcast for the last 18 months. Their HD was good but prices high. Bought the HD TV about 18 months ago. Left Directv for Comcast because of the upgrade fee they wanted for new equipment and adding a second room. I wanted more HD, was not concerned about the Sunday Ticket on Directv and just in general dislike the cable company so dish was my choice. There are a number of minor issues I could quibble over but think all the systems have similar problems. The biggest of these is that in my area the FOX network is not yet in HD. I am now used to watching football in HD.

 

[caam1]

I have had Dish for over seven years, with their HD service for the last two and a half. I had DirecTV for a couple years before that. The Charter cable system in my area is awful. They only have about seven national HD channels, as well as a lot of other problems. I currently have two 622s and a older model 6000. I have had very few problems with the 622s. The only problem I had was a video "studder" problem that required resetting the receiver every two or three days. It seems to have gone away with the last software upgrade. I think the 622 is a great receiver with a very easy to use interface. Dish HD is a combination of MPEG 2 and MPEG 4. Their current HD receiver and DVR will receive both.

I personally think the HD-Lite issue has been overblown. The only channels that are down-rezzed are the Voom channels and the HD locals. HBO, HDNet, TNT, etc. are transmitted at full native resolution. It is my understanding that DirecTV down-rezzes all of their HD channels. The newer receivers such as the 622 do a better job of scaling and handle the HD-Lite channels much better than my older model 6000. I find the quality differences in the original program source material to be much more noticeable than the artifacts produced by down-rezzing.

Overall I am very happy with the current hardware and the 29 HD channels.

 

[TulsaCoker]

Just for the record DirecTV down rezzes the 1080i Mpeg2 channels. The 720p channels are full rez. Bit rates however could be a different story. I agree with caam1 the Down rez issue is way overblown in terms of the resolution. I personally think the starving of bit rate has more to do with PQ then the actual rez.

 

[Poke]

Yeah I have some friends that went from Direct that were on it for a long time to Dish. So far they love Dish over Direct and Dish is the HD leader by far and I dont see that changeing. Ovar I have been very happy with Dish and will never go back to cable. Cable is over priced and they have nothing on HD like Dish does. I like the new MPEG 4 hardware have had no issues. My friends that have came over from Direct seem to like Dish interface alot better in their receivers than Direct and Cox. Overall Dish will most likely stay the HD leader which Voom is a big part of that. But it seems to me Dish seems to get the HD Networks quicker than anyone. They just added 4 more a month ago now you have FoodHD coming plus more. Right now they have 29 Channels of HD which does not include your 4 locals in HD which would make it 33. They add FoodHD puts the # up to 34 plus maybe more before the year is up. Heck would might see close to 40 channels of HD before the end of the year you just never know.

Anyway DISH Rocks I hope they do not merge due to I can see Dish being the Sat leader like they are in HD but also in Customer base. Anyway jsut my 2 cents.

 

[dlma1]

Thanks so much for everyone's interesting replies. I am getting closer to a decision now. A few more questions:
1. Does DISH still require 2 dishes to receive all packages? If it does require 2 dishes, can my existing VOOM dish still be utilized?
2. Direct TV always claims better customer service, how is DISH? I am an A-list D* customer and usually been given good service (although lately I am an issue with one unit that has not been resolved).
3. How is the DVR? I have DirectTV Tivo (the real Tivo, not D*'s imitation) and would miss that. Opinions?

Thanks again to the great folks on these forums. I am always impressed by the alacrity of most replies to my posts!

 

[MikeD-C05]

1. Dish requires two dishes in some instances but mostly a few dmas have a side sat dish to 148 for their locals . Most locals have all been consolidated to 110/119 or spread over both. THe voom dish could be used with a legacy lnb and appropriate switches. If you want hd you will want the 61.5 side sat dish and a dish 500 so you could get a good hd signal. Hd chanenls at 61.5 and 110 sats . Stay away from 129 if you can. Do a search on this one for why.
2. Customer service is a subjective . Some get good , some get bad. WE call it csr roulette. If you don't like the answer you get, call back till you do.
3. THe 622 vip hd mpeg 4 dvr is wonderfull. You can record up to 3 things at the same time- 2sat and 1 ota tuner. It works with namebased recording very much like Tivo. LIghting fast guides and menus compared to Tivo. THe only thing that you might miss is the search features. Tivo has better search features. I have had both Tivo stand alone and Dish vip dvr . I perfer the Dish dvrs. NOthing against the dancing tivo man.
4. Finally you didn't ask about it but I 'm going to tell you anyway. THe most hd channels out there vs cable or Directv- 29 plus hd locals in some areas. THe picture quality is better on sd and most certainly on hd compared to Directv and some cable systems.

 

[dlma1]

My location

I live in Collegeville, PA 19426. With this location will I need 2 dishes? Thanks again!

 

[MikeD-C05]

Yes, I would take two dishes. One dish 500 for the main programming at 110/119 and one dish 500 for 61.5 if you want the hd programming. Your locals are going to be on the main sats either 110 or 119. IF all you need is sd programming then a simple dish 500 will do you for all your needs.