How do you like DirecTV?

[bobvick]

I am posting this to get opinions on how current subs like DirecTV.

I have been with them in the past, but not since the AT&T acquisition.

I have pretty much made up my mind to switch (unless Dish offers some great offer to stay).

I have a Hopper 3 now and Joeys. I am pretty happy with Dish, but the prices are always rising, and I get offers from AT&T to switch since I have wireless service with them. I would like to get the discounts and get HBO for free, and of course there is the zero data rating on DirecTV on demand on your phone.

I am thinking of getting a HR54, three HR24's and a couple of Genie minis (one for 4K).

I have looked at the HS17, but I don't like the fact that it has no OTA support.

I still have an AM21 and I read that there is a new OTA module coming out soon for the HR's.

I was wondering how everyone is pleased with the speed of the receivers, the Hopper 3 is pretty snappy, was wondering how the HR54 compared.

I have read that the HR24s can be made a little faster by installing a new hard drive, I would like to have more than a 500GB anyway.

Thought I would get some opinions from folks that had the service before I made the switch for sure.

I'll appreciate thoughts and comments.

 

[mdram]

note: opening the hr24 to install new hd is a violation of the TOS. unless you buy it as owned.

im happy with my old hr34/hr24 combo. i refuse to change until they bring out something worth it.

also many people hate the new GUI. and it has a few bugs per the DTV forums

I have been looking into going to dish myself, but i cant get anyone to send me an itemized cost. and i will not order without one

 

[Juan]

note: opening the hr24 to install new hd is a violation of the TOS. unless you buy it as owned.

im happy with my old hr34/hr24 combo. i refuse to change until they bring out something worth it.

also many people hate the new GUI. and it has a few bugs per the DTV forums

I have been looking into going to dish myself, but i cant get anyone to send me an itemized cost. and i will not order without one

Have you tried DIRT?

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[Jimbo]

I am posting this to get opinions on how current subs like DirecTV.

I have been with them in the past, but not since the AT&T acquisition.

I have pretty much made up my mind to switch (unless Dish offers some great offer to stay).

I have a Hopper 3 now and Joeys. I am pretty happy with Dish, but the prices are always rising, and I get offers from AT&T to switch since I have wireless service with them. I would like to get the discounts and get HBO for free, and of course there is the zero data rating on DirecTV on demand on your phone.

I am thinking of getting a HR54, three HR24's and a couple of Genie minis (one for 4K).

I have looked at the HS17, but I don't like the fact that it has no OTA support.

I still have an AM21 and I read that there is a new OTA module coming out soon for the HR's.

I was wondering how everyone is pleased with the speed of the receivers, the Hopper 3 is pretty snappy, was wondering how the HR54 compared.

I have read that the HR24s can be made a little faster by installing a new hard drive, I would like to have more than a 500GB anyway.

Thought I would get some opinions from folks that had the service before I made the switch for sure.

I'll appreciate thoughts and comments.

You've made good choices on what your looking to do.
I too will stick with the HR44/54 and HR24s before I would go to a HS17 and have to give up any and all options for other recvrs ... I don't want to have only clients ... if the HS 17 should go down your out till it gets fixed/replaced .... if the HR44/54 goes out I still have tv with my HR24's.

 

[John W. Henderson]

You've made good choices on what your looking to do.
I too will stick with the HR44/54 and HR24s before I would go to a HS17 and have to give up any and all options for other recvrs ... I don't want to have only clients ... if the HS 17 should go down your out till it gets fixed/replaced .... if the HR44/54 goes out I still have tv with my HR24's.

I too worry about this happening. I just took my H24 out of service to add the H54. I want to add a C61K, but sick of getting dinged for $7 for each extra mini. Directv should allow one free 4K mini, since the main unit doesn't do 4K. I have 1 4K TV and 3 1080P, so I only use two DTV receivers and use C Band and OTA on the other two TV's.

 

[xterra]

Not to sound like a broken record but the HR 17 blows. I didn't have one issue with my old HR54.

 

[bobvick]

Thanks for the input. I called to schedule a cancel date for Dish, but they offered me $30 off per month for a year and free Showtime and Starz for 6 months. I decided I’ll stay for that. Will not be much more than Directv would be for me with the discounts (bundling) and I hear that billing through AT&T can be a nightmare.

 

[jcrandall]

Bob - If you're happy with your Dish setup and got a comparable price, I totally get staying.

A few thoughts from my two weeks back with DirecTV:
- Directv has great picture quality, from everything I've read better than Dish, both based on bandwidth and the amount of compression used. DirecTV spent big on capacity about 5 years ago.
- HS17 had bugs when it came out, and may still have some. I've used both the HR54 and the HS17 and find them both comparable response time and performance (using clients). That said, I've had no issues with the HS17 over two weeks and think much of what was an issue over the first year or so has likely been resolved.
- HS17 has double the hard drive (2TB) and 7 tuners to record (versus 5), so there are some pros, despite not being allowed to have additional receivers. For a small setup (my setup is now just a living room and bedroom TV, as the kids stream everything, it works quite well).
- As for new customer price, Dish has a very fair price for 2 years, while DirecTV has an aggressive price for the first year that essentially doubles in the second year. When I figured out the average over 2 years, they were about the same, but for some people the bill doubling in month 13 can be difficult.

 

[mdram]

Bob - If you're happy with your Dish setup and got a comparable price, I totally get staying.

A few thoughts from my two weeks back with DirecTV:
- Directv has great picture quality, from everything I've read better than Dish, both based on bandwidth and the amount of compression used. DirecTV spent big on capacity about 5 years ago.
- HS17 had bugs when it came out, and may still have some. I've used both the HR54 and the HS17 and find them both comparable response time and performance (using clients). That said, I've had no issues with the HS17 over two weeks and think much of what was an issue over the first year or so has likely been resolved.
- HS17 has double the hard drive (2TB) and 7 tuners to record (versus 5), so there are some pros, despite not being allowed to have additional receivers. For a small setup (my setup is now just a living room and bedroom TV, as the kids stream everything, it works quite well).
- As for new customer price, Dish has a very fair price for 2 years, while DirecTV has an aggressive price for the first year that essentially doubles in the second year. When I figured out the average over 2 years, they were about the same, but for some people the bill doubling in month 13 can be difficult.

you neglected to mention the hs17 is hard capped at 100 timers
using other dvrs allows more timers

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The DIRECTV service itself is good. Great PQ and amazing sports offerings.

But their big flaw is their equipment is still crap. Going from a Hopper 3 to a Genie system is like going way backwards.

I have both DISH and DIRECTV and its rare I use the DIRECTV as I really hate their equipment and the experience it gives when compared to the Hopper 3.

However if you never had DISH or DIRECTV before then the equipment issues that DIRECTV has probably wouldn't bother you at all.

 

[John W. Henderson]

The DIRECTV service itself is good. Great PQ and amazing sports offerings.

But their big flaw is their equipment is still crap. Going from a Hopper 3 to a Genie system is like going way backwards.

I have both DISH and DIRECTV and its rare I use the DIRECTV as I really hate their equipment and the experience it gives when compared to the Hopper 3.

However if you never had DISH or DIRECTV before then the equipment issues that DIRECTV has probably wouldn't bother you at all.

Directv has always been ahead of the curve in picture quality. I've had the opportunity to use C Band for almost 30 years, Directv from the start, Dish Network, Bell Expressvu, and Starchoice/Shaw Direct. Directv is always the company that is willing to update their satellite capacity and be proactive. The Nagra picture doesn't touch what Directv produces. The MPEG 4 Shaw Direct is probably number 2, when looking at Satellite systems picture quality.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have both and the PQ is rather equal now, some channels on DISH are better than DIRECTV and vice versa.

They have this MPEG4 encoding down nicely now.

 

[lnbchris]

I have both and the PQ is rather equal now, some channels on DISH are better than DIRECTV and vice versa.

They have this MPEG4 encoding down nicely now.

Did Dish ditch their HD-lite format or something?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Awhile ago. Again thanks to advances in MPEG4.

 

[jct21]

my sister & my parents have dish. picture quality is pretty much equal. at least for me, I cant tell the difference. I like the channel offerings that dish has that directv don't. there not many but a few like epix & metv. people are right when they say dish has far better equipment. the hopper 3 is so much better than the genie. im not a fan of the new software, so I attempted to switch to dish, but if not for my hefty discounts they gave me for being a loyal 10yr customer and not canceling, id be with dish right now. im getting $75 month off preferred xtra and free showtime for 6 months. I don't think they will renew those discounts in January so dish might be in my future. go with whichever offers the channels you want at the price you can afford. for me dish has the channels I want but directv makes my wallet happy....for now.

 

[slice1900]

All you have to do is look at the available bit rate each provider has to play with. Directv has FAR more bandwidth on HD transponders than Dish does in either entire arc , so it simply isn't credible that there isn't a PQ difference. It might not be something everyone sees, or cares about, but unless one believes that Dish has magic MPEG4 encoders that allow them to deliver HD channels in half the bandwidth Directv uses at the same quality, there's a difference.

Its just like comparing music at different AAC bit rates. Some people can easily hear the difference, some can't hear any difference, and some can but don't care. But whether or not one hears it, music encoded at a higher bit rate is higher quality than music encoded at a lower bit rate.

 

[tspangle]

I'm a current DTV subscriber, was a Dish subscriber for 10+ years before that. I switched for two reasons, PQ and price. As of a year ago, there was still a noticeable difference in PQ, at least to me. But the Hopper 3 is leagues ahead of the HR54, and I like Dish's programming packages better, too. For instance, not having to pay for Sunday Ticket when all I want is Redzone. I'll be switching back as soon as I decide that I'm willing to eat the early termination fee, but I'm not there yet.

 

[Andrew Sullivan]

DirecTV has problems with some of their equipment and software issues than have taken way to long to fix. My set up includes the HS17 and the C61K. The phone tech h says the problem is with the HS17. The tech that came out says the problem is with the C61K. Let the buyer beware.

 

[syphix]

Just switched two weeks ago from Dish to DirecTV after trying to cut the cord with my family (lack of good, reasonably priced internet at my rural address prohibited that), and I do miss the Hopper 3. Having (in all practice) unlimited tuners was a blessing I didn't realize. And the 2TB drive on the Hopper vs. the 1TB drive of the Genie (HR54) is already starting to bug me as I watch the free space bar drop...I'm toying with the idea of an external drive, but I'm hesitant based on some comments here and on other forums.

Picture quality: I do have to give the edge to DirecTV, but only slightly. The only true difference I see is more HD channels on DirecTV vs. Dish (Oxygen HD, TV Land HD, Disney Jr & Disney XD HD, etc.).

Hardware: Dish, hands down. The Hopper 3 is so refined, so smooth. I have noticed the Mini Genies in my house are much more responsive than the Joeys (2.0) were (at the same location).

Software: Hopper 3 is night and day better, and more stable. But I'm getting used to the Genie GUI (I had DirecTV about 7-8 years ago). On Demand on DirecTV is flakey, though. Dish on demand worked pretty flawlessly on the same 10mbps internet I have.

Mobile apps: When the DirecTV app works, it's pretty nice. A bit slicker than the Dish Anywhere app. And yes, I can stream ALL my channels and recordings on my phone/iPad when away from home. It tends to NOT work sometimes, though, and that can be frustrating.

Cost: After credits for programming (~$56/month for 12 months), Visa cards for switching ($300), and credits for TWO MISSED INSTALL APPOINTMENTS ($160), DirecTV will save me loads in the first year, and beyond (even factoring in the price increase at month 13). After those two years are done, it'll like be a bit more expensive on DirecTV. I'm hoping the internet quality in my neck of the woods increases by Q3-2020.

Customer Service: DirecTV/AT&T CS is so tough to deal with. I had two missed install appointments, which cost me time at work and calling into AT&T to get assistance was cumbersome. I was handed off to 4-5 different people and had to restate my story each time. They REALLY need to fix this. That said, I told Dish a specific date to cancel my service and they canceled it almost a week early. And waiting 30+ minutes to just to talk to a Dish CSR should NOT be the norm...but it was the several times I've had to call them.

 

[bobvick]

Thought I would update this thread.

I went ahead and got DirecTV.

I have Dish too right now, with the $30 credit for a year, I kept one Hopper 3 going, and dropped down to the FlexPack on Dish.

I wanted DirecTV for the extra 4K, ability to stream on my AT&T wireless plan without data usage counting, and the extra HD channels that DirecTV has.

I know that PQ is subjective to every one, but I can see a big difference in the HD quality.

I have a HR54, I put a 6TB hard drive in it, a C61K for 4K output, and four HR24s, I upgraded each of them to a 2TB drive.

Over all, the Hopper 3 is a much smoother experience, that being said, the HR54 is pretty fast.

I am getting used to the DirecTV user interface again, the new one on the Genies’ is not too bad. I think I like the old one on the HR24’s better.

To me, at least, the difference in the performance of the equipment is outweighed by the picture quality.

Too bad you can’t have Dish equipment with DirecTV PQ and HD/4K channel lineup.