From voom to DTV to Dish!

[ericpd]

It's been a long while since my last visit here.

Originally a voomer and landed on DirecTV after everything exploded. I'm done with DTV, what a joke. I called Dish this morning to get some info on service and current promotions and ended up signing up for the 180 package but will receive the 'everything' package free for first six months.

First Q: Would it have made more sense to signed up for the 60 pack and just wait for the automatic switch over to the everything pack six months down the road? I mean why buy a super-sized Coke if you're in a McDonalds with a self-service soda area?

Second Q: I still have all my voom boxes, I'm actually still using one of them to get my OTA HD locals. Can I use my old voom boxes if I should decide to pony up the bucks for the Voom originals thereby escaping any additional DishTV charges? Can I escape the $99 install charge since my voom dish and OTA are still on the roof? Is this Voom originals pack really worth the charge (as I understand, only 10 of the 21 are available). I was amazed to see in here that some folks are buying voom boxes off of E-bay. Of what value are they now? (I'm assuming that the feed from my OTA will somehow be incorporated into whatever boxes Dish gives me and I won't need it anymore)

Third Q: I'm really fed-up with DTV and all the problems I've been having with billing, CS and equipment. Am I jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire by making this switch? (This Q is for those who have made the switch or have had experience with both).

Fourth Q: I'm suppose to be getting an HD box for the greatroom, a DVR box for the master bedroom and I'm thinking a second DVR box for the basement family area. But I've read in some current threads that one DVR box is used to feed two room. She said nothing of this this morning. Am I missing something somewhere? DTV can't even tell you what box you're gonna get, but Dish has a variety of them available. Should I be requesting a certain model in stead of just leaving it up to them?

I tried asking some of these questions this morning but the young lady made very little sense to me in her explanations. So I come here for the real story and answers. Thanks!

 

[bytre]

Q2: I don't believe you can use the Voom boxes for Dish, so you'll still need a Dish receiver. Having the Voom dish and OTA antenna will work with the Dish receivers, but you'll also need another dish to pick up the rest of the Dish channels. Maybe you can get a discount on the install if they are charging you for two dishes.

Q3: Dish is like other big companies, some people run into billing problems and other issues, some people don't. Keep in mind that the bulk of the customer service representatives know less than many of the people here, so figure out what you want or likely solutions to the problem before you call them.

Q4: You can certainly choose the receivers you want, although some new customer deals may limit what you get. Almost any of the receivers can feed multiple TVs showing the same program - they have multiple outputs. A few of them have multiple tuners so different TVs can show different programming at the same time. If you can run the cables and they aren't too far so that they impact signal quality, you can save the $5/month fee for a receiver.

Look around the boards for information about the different receivers. The current HD receivers are the 811 entry level, 921 (PVR - older model with more 'issues'), and 942 (newest HD PVR, more expensive with fewer 'issues').

Speaking of 'issues', many of the dish receivers do have annoying bugs. The software quality isn't what you'd find on a Tivo. Some of the bugs are very intrusive, which you can find in the 921 forum for example.

 

[BobaBird]

Q4: Info on HDTV receivers and channels: http://ekb.dbstalk.com/107

DVR models available for new customer promotions:
510 - single tuner, time-based recording though name-based is coming
625 - dual tuner, 2 rooms, has NBR
942 - HDTV, dual tuner, 2 rooms (TV2 is NTSC), has NBR

 

[David Dietzel]

EricPD:

You'll love Dish.

I never had DirectTV, but I did have VOOM and Charter cable.

The VOOM customer service was the best by far -- never on hold for more than 30 seconds and the folks spoke English. Dish customer service works best if you select Technical Support from their phone tree -- they can do everything and are more knowledgeable than the general CSR.

Picture quality on Dish is superb.

You can use a 942 for HD in one room and SD in another room. A 625 for the third TV would be better then a 510 in that the 625 has two tuners (watch one show live while recording another). The 510 has one tuner, so if it's recording and you want to watch a live show you're out of luck.

I have a 942 downstairs and a 510 upstairs. The 942 with its multiple tuners allows watching and recording HD and SD shows easily, while the 510 upstairs gives us one more DVR. Why did I not get a 625? I already had a 510 (over a year) and an 811 (for a month after VOOM exploded), but convinced Dish to swap my 811 lease for a 942 lease.

Look MPEG4 could roll out next month or next year? Who knows? Get a 942 and one or two 625 units and you'll be in hog heaven. I love my 942 -- the picture quality is better than the 811 on both SD and HD, and the programming guide is beautiful -- especially compared to the junk HD-DVR I had for a month from Charter cable (Eewwww).

Welcome to Dish. Not perfect, but the best out there for many right now.

 

[ericpd]

Thanks for all of your responses. Just got in from the office and immediately sat down to hear what you guys had to say. I spoke with E today, after a co-worker threw up some caution flags and things to consider prior to the install. I gotta say, I wasn't too happy with what I heard over the phone. Seems like I got at least two potential problem looking me dead in the face and it looks like I'm gonna need more of your feed back.

First, I discovered that I'm not getting three receivers, I'm only getting two. One of which, the 625, is supposed to feed the two SD tv's. The rep who signed me up NEVER told or explained that to me. And I stupidly assumed one receiver per room/tv. So I didn't ask or challenge. The problem with this is that the two SD locations are separated by three floors, the basement family room and the third floor master bedroom. From what I understand, not only will that separation tax the RF capability of the second remote, the 625 can ONLY feed 5.1 to one set (TV1) leaving the second set (TV2) with only stereo L and R audio. So the Bose sat system I bought last Xmas for the bedroom would be wasted. I also discovered that while you can view independent programming in this configuration, DVR operations are not as independent. Plus, I was advised by my co-worker who went through this mess with E during his install that the wiring will quickly turn into a monster project that IS NOT covered under the 'standard install' rule, AND video won't travel that far without major degredation. Audio would also be suspect.

E tells me that none of their three room promotions are armed with three receivers and to do that will knock me out of promotion pricing and will end up costing me nearly 250 bucks to do it right. I asked them if I could have 2 510's instead of one 625 and the answer was "Sure"! But I would have to purchace the 2nd 510. The only three receiver promotion options would have me paying for 4 rooms (an additional 10 buck per month, 15 bucks if the third receiver had DVR capabilities), that's whether I connect a 4th tv or not. Doesn't matter.

I'm stuck in the mud on this one guys. Not sure if I wanna get in bed with a company that is this rigid and inflexible with the needs of a NEW customer. Lord help me after I'm no longer NEW. I know my situation can't be that unusual to the point where they never thought about a customer needing what I need. Hell, after reading all the comments in here, I was even thinking about choking up 250 to upgrade my install from the 811 to a 942 before I ran into this wall.

Any suggestions out there. I really wanna hear some words from someone else other than the un-informed CSR's I've been dealing with today. But David, you're right. My co-worker pretty much had good talk about the pic quality and service,... it's the install you gotta be on top of things with. Especially installers who wanna nail the dish to your deck and punch thousands of hole in your home. Like it ain't a monster already running AC and NG heating in this economy!

But again, thanks guys for the replies!

 

[Juan]

I thought the second remote on the 625 was a uhf remote

 

[ericpd]

Maybe I got it wrong, but the way I understand it, it is suppose to be able to send/receive thru walls and maybe floors!

 

[SimpleSimon]

I just did a 8-tuner (4 receiver) install in an 8000 sq. ft. house. ALL the receivers are in a mechanical room at one side of the house, and I did NOT have to use any of the easy tricks to extend the UHF range. So I doubt you'll have any trouble on either of these fronts, and if you do, it's easy enough to move the UHF antenna to the necessary location using diplexers and/or splitters (depending on application).

Nor did I have any trouble with PQ - except on one feed that seems to be a bit flaky - that's a problem for the guy that did the house wiring, tho. The TV2 UHF modulators in E* boxes are VERY powerful. Should be no trouble driving TVs as much as 2-300' away. I've hooked them up using multiple splitters and diplexers and driving multiple TVs across a LOT of cable, and no issues - if the wire is good (ie. RG-6).

Correcting some of the other replies:

1. You can NOT use the Voom LNB with a modern E* setup. It is NOT compatible with DishPro.

2. You CAN get 3 receivers if that's what you need - but you're likely to have to pay for the additional switch that is required. I'm not going to get into why, but it has to do with how the hardware works. It's also going to cost you $5/month more - the second tuner of a dual-tuner box is free if you keep the box hooked to a phone line. If you have not gone through a local retailer, oh well, you might be screwed.

3. As for OTA - it's only important for your HD set. E* does NOT have locals in HD.

Oh - and as for your programming package, you can change up or down as long as you stay at AT60 or above. You should NOT be fully charged for the high-end stuff until the promo is gone - watch your bill closely.

 

[ericpd]

Oh man, thanks Simon. Some very good infor for me to think about. But I think E has come up with a livable solution for me. I'm getting the (hold on, this is a long one) HD-DVR Combo 3 room Option I promo. LOL! This promo consist of 2x 811 receivers and a 625 receiver. They're goning to credit me 4.99 for 18 months because I will not be connecting an HD tv to the second 811 box. They asked me to call them if I should purchase a second HD tv in the meantime. I've agreed to upgrade to a 942 receiver to replace one of the 811's (main great room) so I'll still have the ability to DVR in two of the three locations, and a second 4.99 credit because it's a daul tuner box. AND they've agree to waive the install charge for the 10 additional additional voom channels. But I'll still have to pay the voom programming charge.

I feel pretty good with this, but I wonder why it took so long to come up with a reasonable and fair fix to my meeds and problem.

What do you guys think about this set-up and pricing? And what in the h*ll to I do with all these old voom boxes? Goodwill, here I come!

 

[SimpleSimon]

They're goning to credit me 4.99 for 18 months because I will not be connecting an HD tv to the second 811 box.

That sounds real fishy. Are you sure you're talking to Dish themselves?

If your old V* boxes have been activated, they have value as basic OTA tuners - for you or on eBay. Me, I'nm still waiting for someone to figure out how to make NIB V* boxes work as OTA tuners - I've got 6 of them in my garage.