Questions about switching to D*

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Cranked

SatelliteGuys Guru
Original poster
Oct 21, 2007
123
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Milwaukee, WI
First, I just want to say that I have Dish and am very happy with their service, but I was looking to switch to D*. The only reason I want to switch is for the Sunday Ticket. Watching football is one of my only hobbies and, frankly, im tired of watching the garbage games that they have on regular TV. Especially when all they did last year and all they are going to try and do this year is force games that feature Brett Farve down our throats. Cant tell you how sick of watching the Jets I was last year every single week. But I digress......

I have several questions about some of the differences that would most affect me by switching. I know I can probably call customer service, but im sure I would get better answers by asking here without feeling the pressure to make the switch. Any help would be appreciated. So, here goes......

1) I hear you can record two shows and watch a third with D* dvr's, is that true? Can you use PIP with the dvr's? I assume their is no limits like (I think?) U-verse has where you can only record or watch one HD channel at a time?

2) For the dvr's, do you need to have two coax cables going to each box or just one?

3) I have a 622 at the moment and I absolutely love it mostly because of the 30 second forward and 10 second back button. I assume D*'s dvr's do not have that feature, but instead they just have forward and reverse buttons? Other than that are there other major differences between the two? ( I really just watch TV and record a few shows, I dont use any of the fancy features)

4) My parents have D* and it seems like the receiver response time is WAY slower than Dish's boxes (Like the guide seems like it takes forever to come up and also when changing channels it seems slow). I dont know what model boxes they have, but is that common?

5) Do you have to have a phone line connected to D* boxes in order to receive Sunday Ticket? ( I dont have a home phone, so that could be a deal breaker) If you do have to make that connection, can you connect using the internet instead of a phone line? Also, do you have to have the boxes connected somewhere (either phone or inet) to avoid the "phone connect fee" that these companies like to rape you with?

6) Do I have to order the special sports package to receive my local RSN or do I just get the one local RSN with a standard package? All I want to make sure here is that I get Fox Sports so I can watch Brewer games locally, I dont care about the rest of the RSN channels.

7) With Dish, it seems like the signal goes out most of the time rain comes through this area. Is D* just as bad or is that because my original installer did a bad job aligning my current dish in the first place?

8) If I decide to make the switch, is it best to contact a local dealer or should I just call D* directly? With Dish, I just called them, but that was before I came to this site and realized it was possible to contact dealers directly. If so, does anyone have any recommendations for dealers in the Milwaukee area? What would be the main advantage/disadvantage to contacting a dealer direct rather than going through D* directly?

9) Does anyone know when the latest promotion ends? The one where you get a free HDDVR upgrade with Sunday Ticket and so much off for 12 months?


Like I said, I am happy with Dish and would be happy with all the channels D* has as well. My main reason to switch was for the Ticket. I was just hoping to get some questions answered before pulling the trigger. I probably have a million more that I had thought of during the week, but these are some of my major questions.

Sorry for the wall of text, but any and all help would be greatly appreciated....

Thanks in advance.
 
I'll take a stab at some of these.

1. you can record one show and watch another, you can record two shows, but you have to watch one or watch a previously recorded show.

2. Two coax unless you have a SWM system(depends on your personal order whether you get this or not)

3. 6 second replay/rewind, and 30 second skip button

4. Yes the delay is pretty normal with D* advanced equipment models.

5. D* doesn't have no phone line fees like the "other guy" :rolleyes: If you dont have the phone lines hooked up you could be subject to some black out rules, because your location can't be verified. Yes you can use the ethernet instead.

6. No special package needed, the local rsn is included.

7. Generally my D* only fades out with the heavy downpours and storms. normal rain and clouds shouldn't cause premature signal loss.(seems like they should make a pill for this or something :D)

8. I'll leave this one to someone else.

9. I would take advantage of this offer as soon as you can, best deal yet and I assume when it's gone, it's gone. (economy woes and all)
 
It sounds like you may want a similar install to the one I just got.

Regarding question 9 and the HD-DVR, keep in mind they don't throw in the HD NFL Ticket game with the $59 "good deal" package. You have to pay $100 more overall for that "extra."

I did the $20 x 5 months to spread out the cost. In addition to the HD-DVR, I also have a regular HD receiver and two SD receivers. Plus keep in mind now that you're using a HD receiver (or receivers) they're charging you a $10 monthly "HD Access" charge (see below). I just don't want you to have any surprises. I decided to do it anyway and try for a free SuperFan next year. :cool:

My bill looks like this:


  • $59.99 - NFL SUNDAY TICKET 2009 New Customer Offer: 5 Pay
  • $20 - NFL SUNDAY TICKET SuperFan 09 Regular Season in 5 Payments
  • $10 - HD Access Monthly
  • $15 - 3 leased receivers at $5 each


So my total comes to $104.99 + tax per month for the 5 month promo period.
 
I know the cost of all that stuff. I would get an HDDVR an SDDVR and a SD recevier for a total of 3 receivers. My biggest concern was the Sunday Ticket. The website made it sound like if you dont have the receiver hooked to a phone line you cant get the Ticket. I think I might make the switch. I hope the DVR functionality isnt too much different than Dish's because I have really grown to love my 622.
 
I don't have my phone lines hooked up and I'm pretty sure the NFL ticket will work regardless (based on what I've read by others on this forum). I believe having the phone line unplugged only disables the ordering of PPV by the remote. All of our TV's are on the other site of the room, away from the phone lines and I don't want phone lines running all around my room. We don't rent PPV anyway, my wife has the blockbuster movies by mail deal. :D

Regarding the cost, I was a little bummed they throw in the HD-DVR, then charge you the $10 per month for the HD access fee and $100 for SuperFan in order to get the games in HD. But it's still worth it with the promo deal and movie channels, I'm not a big fan of SD channels.
 
The phone line will not be a problem.

I had ST last year, and am getting it this year. I have never had a phone line hooked to mine
 
Why not get the Choice Xtra PLUS package. It includes Free HD DVR Receiver Upgrade. HD Access & DVR Service Included.

Sorry misread the post..
 
You may want to wait to see how the NFL Redzone channel from Dish works out. When I had Dtv I found myself watching their Red Zone channel almost every Sunday. If it comes close to Directs redzone it would be quite a deal.
 
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