I made the switch to D*....my first impressions.

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that is the one drawback that bothers me with D*...the fact is I still have only 2 streams available with adding a AM21. Dang if they added ONE stream OTA that would be great. This weekend is a great example
-college hockey game on OTA
-Smackdown on Sci-Fi
-college hockey on FSN
all at the same time

so I have to decide which 2 to record ;)
 
So far that's my opinion. D* needs PIP, 3 streams (2 SAT+1 OTA), more HD national movie channels, specifically HBO, Cinemax, Epix. Add in BBC America, ID, NatGeoWild (DISH should get that one) would be nice... I can get MLB Network, all the locals and premiums from FiOS. I can get LA and Chicago in HD from DISH. DISH just needs the CSN's in HD full-time (NOW!-screw FOX) and Canadian hockey games in HD (nobody but Canadian systems do).
 
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DAVEGTESTR said:
Canadian hockey games in HD (nobody but Canadian systems do).
Click to expand...

Actually Directv does show some Maple Leafs games in HD. They use the SportsNet Ontario feed. It's not a every game occurrence but it does happen. They are actually showing a game tonight in HD from that feed.

But yeah I feel you. I can't wait until we see CBC, TSN and all of the other SportsNet feeds in HD on Center Ice!
 
crimpshrine said:
Actually Directv does show some Maple Leafs games in HD. They use the SportsNet Ontario feed. It's not a every game occurrence but it does happen. They are actually showing a game tonight in HD from that feed.

But yeah I feel you. I can't wait until we see CBC, TSN and all of the other SportsNet feeds in HD on Center Ice!
Click to expand...

For Leafs games I can just spin the OTA antenna around and get Toronto. :) I think it's 52 miles, but it's almost all over the lake and I'm up on the escarpment on the NY side. So..... not too shabby.
 
crimpshrine said:
Actually Directv does show some Maple Leafs games in HD. They use the SportsNet Ontario feed. It's not a every game occurrence but it does happen. They are actually showing a game tonight in HD from that feed.

But yeah I feel you. I can't wait until we see CBC, TSN and all of the other SportsNet feeds in HD on Center Ice!
Click to expand...

Yeah surprised the hell outta me last night as it was my first date with D*. I'll probably have to get a StarChoice box b4 D* will ever have regular Kanadian HD feeds.
 
Couple quick ???
- is there anything available similar to the nice laminated Channel Guide they give you at install but in a font size larger than 4??? That thing is painful to read. Went to their site and you can print out the tier pkgs and scale it accordingly, but it doesnt have the sports pack channels. I've seen some xls in here list the HD channels, but nothing similar to what they provide at install that lists all (wasn't The List here once available for xls DL?).. And as far as CS goes, I asked them for such and they said they'd email 'em off. They sent a link to the same page I found the pkg channels above (which I did tell them upfront).
- for the CI channels, when in the guide it will show not only current games on, but games upcoming 1 and 2 days out which is kinda confusing if you just look for a team and see 2 games not noticing the 'Upcoming' tag in front. CS offered up nothing - any one here have any ideas on how to hide those?

Edit: You know, I've been switching back and forth and think this may be in the wrong thread.
 
spiketoo said:
Couple quick ???
- is there anything available similar to the nice laminated Channel Guide they give you at install but in a font size larger than 4??? That thing is painful to read. Went to their site and you can print out the tier pkgs and scale it accordingly, but it doesnt have the sports pack channels. I've seen some xls in here list the HD channels, but nothing similar to what they provide at install that lists all (wasn't The List here once available for xls DL?).. And as far as CS goes, I asked them for such and they said they'd email 'em off. They sent a link to the same page I found the pkg channels above (which I did tell them upfront).
- for the CI channels, when in the guide it will show not only current games on, but games upcoming 1 and 2 days out which is kinda confusing if you just look for a team and see 2 games not noticing the 'Upcoming' tag in front. CS offered up nothing - any one here have any ideas on how to hide those?

Edit: You know, I've been switching back and forth and think this may be in the wrong thread.
Click to expand...

1st question....I haven't seen anything as good looking as what they provide at install but with a better font. I'd keep googling to see what you could find or just create one yourself.

2nd Question....I too find it kind of confusing. So what I do now is I'll go to a sports channel (ESPN) and press the red button for the scoreguide to come up. Then i'll browse the scores to see what games are on or upcoming for that day. Below the score it will show "Channel Info" or "Watch Now" that you can click on and it'll show all the channels it is currently available on.
 
spiketoo said:
Couple quick ???
- for the CI channels, when in the guide it will show not only current games on, but games upcoming 1 and 2 days out which is kinda confusing if you just look for a team and see 2 games not noticing the 'Upcoming' tag in front. CS offered up nothing - any one here have any ideas on how to hide those?
Click to expand...
Two other things you can do.

Watch the game on that teams RSN channel instead of the CI channel since the RSN shows only the games for a particular team

Install the widget/app for a particular team, use the right arrow to access apps, and select that teams app. It will then tell you upcoming games and channels for that team

Or use the scoreguide, like Redwings stated
 
Iceberg said:
that is the one drawback that bothers me with D*...the fact is I still have only 2 streams available with adding a AM21. Dang if they added ONE stream OTA that would be great. This weekend is a great example
-college hockey game on OTA
-Smackdown on Sci-Fi
-college hockey on FSN
all at the same time

so I have to decide which 2 to record ;)
Click to expand...

I'm with you on that. When I switched from E* to D* a number of years ago, I got the HR20 which had 2 SAT + 2 OTA tuners. Unfortunately for me, I didn't do my due diligence and when I got it and found it could only do 2 events at a time, I thought who was dumb enough to think that was a good idea? Obviously D* still thinks it was a good idea.

For me, D* isn't the right choice because of lack of the HD channels that I want. Sports isn't that important to me at all. And the limit of 2 events at once would mean I would need two HR24s to replace one Vip722k.
 
well, i'm two days into Directv and last nite made the switch well worth it for me-- the NY Rangers in glorious HD! Great stuff!

i'm finding the switch not too bad. the HR24 is super fast. I love the ability to search for actors etc right from the info of a recorded show. love the widgets/ apps. PQ looks great on my new 58" sammy. love the 3D.

I miss the PIP and online DVR management from Dish. Also, the fact i can't see the TO DO or Series Mgr from one dvr (i have 2 HR24s) makes it a bit cumbersome to know for sure what i've scheduled. I will do as another poster recommended. use one dvr for particular channels (prob my networks) - but i'd be easier obviously if you could review from either dvr. lastly i'd like to see the ability to pick which dvr you want to record to when setting up a recording. you can do this online or the mobile app. that'd be helpful too - i did find a workaround - i basically sit on the couch, pull out my PRE and schedule it for the other receiver that way! :D
 
Dish is really behind on Networking the DVRs within the House

Wow, Dish is really behind on sharing content between boxes. Perhaps they are thinking the upcoming Sling hardware will get us there, but it seems like the HD VIP boxes should be able to do this without extra hardware.

Does Direct have anything like the External Archival storage ?
 
Currently D* has no external archiving storage. You can use an eSATA HD externally, but it then becomes the only drive available and is locked into the receiver it is connected to.

As you may know, E* allows for an additional archive drive to be attached via USB for a one-time fee. That drive is in addition to the internal storage and is locked into your account, but you can move that drive to other Vip series HDDVRs and it works just fine.
 
You still need an internet connection somewhere in your house, whether it's DSL, cable, or whatever. The receiver itself does not get an ethernet cable plugged into it. The receivers talk to each other over the existing coax connection to them as the DECA module basically diplexes network traffic with the satellite signal on the same coax.

You only need one DECA module (with HR24 and H24). My DECA is at my router. One coax to each of 2 receivers (a pair of HR24 HD DVRs) and one coax to my wiring closet where my router, patch panel, switch, etc reside. This essentially connects my wired network to the coax and the magic happens.

I'm a network weenie and this is a pretty slick solution. Network over coax is nothing new. I used to do networking over coax all the time. D*'s DECA appears to work quite well.
 

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