I've seen a bunch of posts on this thread comparing DirecTV STB's with Dish STB's. I started Dish (1997) with a model 4000, over time I upgraded multiple times. I had the first Integrated STB/DVR (Dish 501), my Favorite Dish receiver was the 722k, Two Satellite tuners and two separate OTA Tuners. Never had a Dish Hopper. I switched to DirecTV when Dish dropped all New York State RSN's. I've had Hr24's, D12's, H24's, and a HR34 (Thankfully has been replaced by a HR44).
My thoughts
I did like the UI of the 722k better than the UI of the DirecTV's when I first switched. I also liked the Dish 3 hour EPG. I Loved Dish allowing an Account wide External Hard Drive to used. Also being able to use the External as well as the internal drive at the same time.
With all this said I believe Dish really screwed up putting only three tuners in their Whole Home DVR "Hopper", especially if you use even one Joey and use the record all Local Network's feature. Then you can't record anything else other that what you are watching at the two other TV's. I do watch some Network TV shows, but most of the recording I do is the NON Network channels.
I consider DirecTV's Genie DVRs' 5 Tuners a bare bones minimum to be considered a Whole Home Solution.
In the end I pick a provider based on being able to provide the channels I wish to have access to. While there are things I miss by having DirecTV, I love my service and it is vastly better than the experience from my local Cable Company (Time Warner).
John
My thoughts
I did like the UI of the 722k better than the UI of the DirecTV's when I first switched. I also liked the Dish 3 hour EPG. I Loved Dish allowing an Account wide External Hard Drive to used. Also being able to use the External as well as the internal drive at the same time.
With all this said I believe Dish really screwed up putting only three tuners in their Whole Home DVR "Hopper", especially if you use even one Joey and use the record all Local Network's feature. Then you can't record anything else other that what you are watching at the two other TV's. I do watch some Network TV shows, but most of the recording I do is the NON Network channels.
I consider DirecTV's Genie DVRs' 5 Tuners a bare bones minimum to be considered a Whole Home Solution.
In the end I pick a provider based on being able to provide the channels I wish to have access to. While there are things I miss by having DirecTV, I love my service and it is vastly better than the experience from my local Cable Company (Time Warner).
John
