Should I switch to Dish?

[Aurora]

Not 100% sure where to post this, but the Dish forum appears to be more active than the DirecTV forum.

So I've been a loyal DirecTV customer for over 4 years now, with three HR22 HD-DVR's. I want to upgrade to either the Hopper or the Genie, depending on if I stay or switch. The main reason I want to do this is so that I have a central location for recording shows, rather than having to deal with 3 separate DVR's on the 3 floors of my home and coordinate recordings manually among them.

From what I can find online, Dish and the Hopper seem to have "better" / cooler technology than DirecTV, as well as lower programming prices per month. The Genie/Clients appear to be essentially the same thing as the Hopper/Joeys (this is where I need to learn more, which one has the better hardware or features).

I can sign up as a new Dish customer and get the Hopper and 2 Joey's installed with the Top 200 plan for about $59 during the promotional discounts, $91 per month after promo discounts and about $115 up front (including a sling adapter and first month's service)

I called DirecTV and said I wanted to either get the Genie or switch to Dish, and they offered me a Genie, two clients, and installation for $20. Not a bad deal. But they could only lower my monthly cost to about $95 per month. And no sling adapter.

Either way, I will have to sign a 24-month contract with either provider.

SO..... What would you do? If anyone has any thoughts I would appreciate it.

 

[boba]

Not 100% sure where to post this, but the Dish forum appears to be more active than the DirecTV forum.

So I've been a loyal DirecTV customer for over 4 years now, with three HR22 HD-DVR's. I want to upgrade to either the Hopper or the Genie, depending on if I stay or switch. The main reason I want to do this is so that I have a central location for recording shows, rather than having to deal with 3 separate DVR's on the 3 floors of my home and coordinate recordings manually among them.

From what I can find online, Dish and the Hopper seem to have "better" / cooler technology than DirecTV, as well as lower programming prices per month. The Genie/Clients appear to be essentially the same thing as the Hopper/Joeys (this is where I need to learn more, which one has the better hardware or features).

I can sign up as a new Dish customer and get the Hopper and 2 Joey's installed with the Top 200 plan for about $59 during the promotional discounts, $91 per month after promo discounts and about $115 up front (including a sling adapter and first month's service)

I called DirecTV and said I wanted to either get the Genie or switch to Dish, and they offered me a Genie, two clients, and installation for $20. Not a bad deal. But they could only lower my monthly cost to about $95 per month. And no sling adapter.

Either way, I will have to sign a 24-month contract with either provider.

SO..... What would you do? If anyone has any thoughts I would appreciate it.

In your math do you have the $10 DVR fees and the $14 joey fees?

 

[Aurora]

I'm not sure.. Here is where I got the Dish quote, it shows $7 per joey so i think so?

 

[garys]

I'm not sure.. Here is where I got the Dish quote, it shows $7 per joey so i think so?

View attachment 83004

The attachment does show the $10 dvr fee.

 

[Teehar]

To me the most important question is,are 3 tuners enough?The Genie has 5 tuners,the Hopper has 3 tuners.The Hopper does offer prime time anytime in most markets which if you like several network shows would be very handy.

 

[wallyhts]

I would go for 2 hoppers and one Joey thur a local retailer and two USB OTA adapters.

So that's 6 sat tuners 2 OTA tuners total of 8 tuners.

 

[Aurora]

Thanks for the replies. So the hopper has 3 tuners only? Does this statement imply that you need two hoppers? (Located on dish.com)

"Record up to 6 Channels at Once with PrimeTime Anytime[SUP]™[/SUP].

Record up to six live channels at once during primetime, including your 4 local networks and 2 channels of your choosing, and stream four recorded programs to different TVs simultaneously. That means you can watch more and miss less of your favorite programs."

3 Tuners should be plenty for us, just curious how this crazy new technology works.
Thanks!

 

[Teehar]

Thanks for the replies. So the hopper has 3 tuners only? Does this statement imply that you need two hoppers? (Located on dish.com)



3 Tuners should be plenty for us, just curious how this crazy new technology works.
Thanks!

Yes the hopper has only 3 sat tuners.It can use one single tuner with the use of prime time anytime to record ABC,CBS,NBC,and Fox networks.In essence it can record 6 channels at once but,only during prime time 8pm-11pm est.

 

[Aurora]

That's pretty cool, so does the one tuner record all 4 prime time networks at a reduced resolution or something? Does dish have a special frequency it sends all four channels on during prime time? I am thinking I will be going with Dish rather than Direct, just want to know as much as possible and thanks again for your help!

 

[3HaloODST]

No, it's full resolution, the tuner just records the whole transponder stream and sorts out the Big Four.

 

[Aurora]

No, it's full resolution, the tuner just records the whole transponder stream and sorts out the Big Four.

Awesome, didn't even know that was possible.

One (or two) more question, it appears from Dish's website that installation is free (there is no installation cost listed), is this accurate? Also, would the installer be able to use the same coax that my Directv system is using?

 

[3HaloODST]

Yes and yes .

 

[Teehar]

imo You should contact one of the Dirt members here onsite.They are very knowledgeable and can get you set up pretty quick.

I do believe installation is free.As to using your existing coax I have no idea.

 

[Scherrman]

With my experience I would go with two Hoppers and a Joey, but that's me. I can not tell you what one to get since I have zero experience with the Genie. I don't think it's fair for me to tell you Dish is better but I know there are very knowledgeable people on here that have both.

 

[Aurora]

With my experience I would go with two Hoppers and a Joey, but that's me. I can not tell you what one to get since I have zero experience with the Genie. I don't think it's fair for me to tell you Dish is better but I know there are very knowledgeable people on here that have both.

If you have 2 hoppers, do they seamlessly coordinate recordings between themselves? It would be nice to have more tuners of course, but if I have to keep track of what is scheduled to record on each hopper then no way.

 

[lparsons21]

One question, with 2 Hopper do you get unified management? IOW, from one location do you see all of it and manage all of it? From what I've read that doesn't seem to be the case. Don't you have to pick the Hopper you want to look at and manage? OK, that's more than one question.

One way to look at the difference in the systems has to do with the locals. If you watch a lot of what the locals bring to the table during Primetime, then the Hopper/2 Joey setup is very much a good option to consider. But if you don't watch much on the locals during primetime, then the Hopper/Joey is just a 3 tuner DVR which could present problems for you.

 

[Aurora]

One question, with 2 Hopper do you get unified management? IOW, from one location do you see all of it and manage all of it? From what I've read that doesn't seem to be the case. Don't you have to pick the Hopper you want to look at and manage? OK, that's more than one question.

One way to look at the difference in the systems has to do with the locals. If you watch a lot of what the locals bring to the table during Primetime, then the Hopper/2 Joey setup is very much a good option to consider. But if you don't watch much on the locals during primetime, then the Hopper/Joey is just a 3 tuner DVR which could present problems for you.

Yes that makes sense and I agree with your logic. I just called dish and they said I can do two hoppers and one Joey rather than one hopper and two Joeys for $99. I'm thinking I should probably do this. Thanks again everyone for your input/help/advice

 

[lparsons21]

Aurora, if you need/want unified management, wait until someone comes around to talk about it.

Unless I'm mistaken, with 2 Hoppers the Joey has to 'pick' one and won't be able to manage recordings without regard to which Hopper is involved. And can one Hopper manage recordings (not just playlists) on another Hopper? I'm not sure that is the case and my friends that have Hoppers are old geezers like me and only have one Hopper.

Assuming both D* and E* have the channels you want, then you can always save money by switching every two years. That has pretty much been the case forever. But since you said unified management is at the top of your list, you need to get answers about that very issue.

I've toyed with switching, and may do it at some point as both services offers nearly the same thing for channels I care about in HD. And at one time I thought of getting a Hopper and one Joey setup and making the switch. But after doing more thinking and research, I figured that I would need two Hoppers minimum. My current Direct setup is 2 HR24s at my TV and another HR24 at my son's TV. I watch a lot of TV and need the 4 tuners because I watch enough primetime broadcast that contentions are an issue, and he watches very different programs than me.

And since I subscribe to the Premier package, and every time I try to drop down from that D* gives me some discounts to keep me around and keep me with Premier. In fact, they've done well enough at that, that switching isn't as big a money saver as it could be. Actually rather minimal savings in my case.

 

[Aurora]

Thanks everyone, I have installation set for next saturday, with 2 hoppers and 1 joey, and a sling adapter with the Top 200 package. Unless I missed something, I will still be saving a decent amount per month, and I am looking forward to trying out some new technology after having these D* Hr22 boxes for 4 years. Sounds like I can set recordings from the joey to either hopper, or from one hopper to itself or the other hopper, which if this is true, is perfect. Even if its not, then at least I am going from 3 dvr's that are completely separate to 2 dvr's . I will post back next weekend after I get to play with everything

 

[satjay]

Thanks everyone, I have installation set for next saturday, with 2 hoppers and 1 joey, and a sling adapter with the Top 200 package. Unless I missed something, I will still be saving a decent amount per month, and I am looking forward to trying out some new technology after having these D* Hr22 boxes for 4 years. Sounds like I can set recordings from the joey to either hopper, or from one hopper to itself or the other hopper, which if this is true, is perfect. Even if its not, then at least I am going from 3 dvr's that are completely separate to 2 dvr's . I will post back next weekend after I get to play with everything

Good choice with the two Hopper/One Joey combo