Just Got Directv and love it.

[btedford]

I just switched from Dish to Direct yesterday. I have to say that the overall quality of Directv is way much better than Dish. The SD channels are clearer and better than Dish's feeds and the HD channels are so much more sharp and fine than Dish ever had. I was watching a movie on HBO last week when I had Dish, the quality was okay, I watched the same movie last night, and the quality of the SD channel was so much better. I also have never seen The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central look so good. I am glad to be rid of Dish network.

I have 1 HD-DVR, 1 HD receiver, and 1 Standard Receiver. They are much better than what Dish was providing.

 

[rad]

Welcome to DirecTV. Now don't forget to hook those HD receivers up to your ethernet network so you can use DirecTV on Demand, MediaShare, DirecTV2PC and the soon to come Multi Room Viewing.

 

[btedford]

Welcome to DirecTV. Now don't forget to hook those HD receivers up to your ethernet network so you can use DirecTV on Demand, MediaShare, DirecTV2PC and the soon to come Multi Room Viewing.

Where can I find more info about Multi-Room viewing?

 

[rad]

Where can I find more info about Multi-Room viewing?

Check out the Cutting Edge section on this site. Hint, you'll want to do the CE software downloads tonight if your receivers are on the list for getting updates tonight.

 

[VinceT3]

My wife got fed up with dish and we officially ordered directv.. guess dish is going to have another loss of subscribers this quarter..

 

[btedford]

My wife got fed up with dish and we officially ordered directv.. guess dish is going to have another loss of subscribers this quarter..

So Far I am loving DirecTV. Good Riddance to Dish Network, nothing but problems and low-quality service.

Does anyone know if anytime soon, I can plug a wireless adapter into my HD DVR?

 

[rad]

So Far I am loving DirecTV. Good Riddance to Dish Network, nothing but problems and low-quality service.

Does anyone know if anytime soon, I can plug a wireless adapter into my HD DVR?

The HR2X's all support the Linksys WGA600N wireless adapter nativly, no need to connect it to a PC to configure it. AFAKI, just about any adapter will work if you can configure it first on the PC the move it to the HR2X. BTW, DirecTV also sells powerline adapters on their web site for $25 each + shipping for folks that don't/can't do wireless.

 

[btedford]

The HR2X's all support the Linksys WGA600N wireless adapter nativly, no need to connect it to a PC to configure it. AFAKI, just about any adapter will work if you can configure it first on the PC the move it to the HR2X. BTW, DirecTV also sells powerline adapters on their web site for $25 each + shipping for folks that don't/can't do wireless.

If I plug in a USB Wireless adapter will the receiver see it?

 

[rad]

If I plug in a USB Wireless adapter will the receiver see it?

No, the only thing the USB prot is used for currently is the AM21 external ATSC tuner for the HR21/22/23's. You must use the ethernet port for network connectivity.

 

[BlackHitachi]

BTW, DirecTV also sells powerline adapters on their web site for $25 each + shipping for folks that don't/can't do wireless.

Which work great in my newer house! I went ahead and got 6 total. My understanding about these are in some older houses they may not work as well do to poor wiring..

 

[Matt9876]

I just switched from Dish to Direct yesterday. I have to say that the overall quality of Directv is way much better than Dish. The SD channels are clearer and better than Dish's feeds and the HD channels are so much more sharp and fine than Dish ever had.

Bingo! Had an Install today with a Dish western arc customer and he said the same thing about his new DirecTV install.

 

[Rey]

I just switched from Dish to Direct yesterday. I have to say that the overall quality of Directv is way much better than Dish. The SD channels are clearer and better than Dish's feeds and the HD channels are so much more sharp and fine than Dish ever had.

this is exactly how i felt when i 1st switched and it's still how i feel. i find Directv's pic quality better than Dish no doubt. sharper,clearer and vibrant.

 

[Arse69]

I have both Directv & DISH Network as as a retailer. If I had to choose one it would be DISH Network. I just got a new 46" Sharp Aquos, the HD on DISH is amazing. The quality is also very good on Directv. Directv has a few more HD channels, but DISH is almost caught up.

 

[slimoli]

I have my MDU/Directv installation schedulled for Monday. 3 HR-22 and one SD receiver. Bye Bye cable and $200.00 bill. I have 1 question for Directv veterans:

- I had Directv 3 years ago, before the MPEG4 came in. HD was definitely HD-light, very compressed, and SD was like an old VHS tape. Pretty bad. For those with Directv for more than 3 years, did you notice a tremendous improvement on HD ? What about SD? Is SD also better now ?
I hate cable but I have to say the picture is really good, HDNET for example is sent in 19 Mbps bitrate. Can I expect Directv to be as good as my cable quality-wise ?

Many thanks.

 

[rad]

No real change in SD quality since they're still limited to the space on the 101 satellite and still doing MPEG2 there.

To me MPEG4 HD channels look fine, not Blu-Ray quality but good. But don't expect any 19Mbps channels, since DirecTV uses MPEG4 vs. your cable with MPEG2 they don't need to. IIRC I've seen post saying the MPEG4 HD channels get 6Mbps to 9Mbps depending on the content being shown at the time (a 720p channel showing a talk show needs less bandwidth then a 1080i channel showing a fast action video sporting event).

 

[peano]

I have both Directv & DISH Network as as a retailer. If I had to choose one it would be DISH Network. I just got a new 46" Sharp Aquos, the HD on DISH is amazing. The quality is also very good on Directv. Directv has a few more HD channels, but DISH is almost caught up.

Get your eyes checked and then buy a good HDTV and come back with your findings.

 

[BlackHitachi]

Get your eyes checked and then buy a good HDTV and come back with your findings.

:clap:up

 

[robx46]

Get your eyes checked and then buy a good HDTV and come back with your findings.

I think dish's HD quality is just as good as Direct, if not better in some cases. And I have perfect vision my whole life and have seen plenty of HD on both sides of the fence. In fact my whole family agrees that the majority of HD on dish looks just as good as the HD my aunt and brother have with direct. But the interesting note here is that the dish is on a "middle of the line" 2 yr old vizio, and my aunt & bro have brand new top of the line Sharp's.

As for SD, can't really comment on that. Maybe direct has better SD quality, but I don't watch enough SD to really care.

We are strongly considering switching to direct though, has nothing to do with pq, but rather how jacked up our dish bill is with just a couple months left on our contract & the fact that direct has all our HD locals, and dish still has none (although we are on a list for "after april 1st", but who knows what that means, or even if we'll get all local HD in one shot).

 

[Zellio2008]

I think dish's HD quality is just as good as Direct, if not better in some cases. And I have perfect vision my whole life and have seen plenty of HD on both sides of the fence. In fact my whole family agrees that the majority of HD on dish looks just as good as the HD my aunt and brother have with direct. But the interesting note here is that the dish is on a "middle of the line" 2 yr old vizio, and my aunt & bro have brand new top of the line Sharp's.

As for SD, can't really comment on that. Maybe direct has better SD quality, but I don't watch enough SD to really care.

We are strongly considering switching to direct though, has nothing to do with pq, but rather how jacked up our dish bill is with just a couple months left on our contract & the fact that direct has all our HD locals, and dish still has none (although we are on a list for "after april 1st", but who knows what that means, or even if we'll get all local HD in one shot).

You sound like a damn advertisement for Dish. Since your already doing it for free, maybe you should give your services to Cheapo Charlie.

 

[Ronnie-]

I think dish's HD quality is just as good as Direct, if not better in some cases. And I have perfect vision my whole life and have seen plenty of HD on both sides of the fence. In fact my whole family agrees that the majority of HD on dish looks just as good as the HD my aunt and brother have with direct. But the interesting note here is that the dish is on a "middle of the line" 2 yr old vizio, and my aunt & bro have brand new top of the line Sharp's.

.

I agree that in MOST cases, the PQ difference is small (In the favor of D* in my opinion only). However making comparisons at two different places, on two different TVs, that may be calibrated differently is not an accurate way to judge (I admit, most people can not do it any other way)