Switched back to Dish Network.

[reddice]

Well we finally did it. We switched back to Dish Network. We originally had Dish in 2000 and we had them for a few years and did not have problems until the sw64 switch was installed then we had nothing but problems so we switched to DirecTV which was a big mistake. We did not like DirecTV at all. First the channels were organized a mess and could not remember half of them. Too many blank channels. With it I got the TiVo which I hated more than anything. I don't know what the hipe was with that receiver but it was terrible. It has a major bug that if you start to change the channels or even watch TV the picutre goes b&w. Also the guide was slower than molases. The 30 minute buffer stunk and was not enough. Well now I am finally free from the TiVo. We got all 510's installed so who cares about NBR and duel tuning since the TiVo was the worst thing ever. No more ranting just no more about me complaining about DirecTV because now we switched back.

 

[ScottChez]

Same thing here, Im going back to Dish from Direct Tivo.

After one year, I still cant find channels on there Guide, there all over the place, and even with the Tivo Software upgrade the Guide is still slow and I miss the Live picture in the corner while you view the guide.

Going to go back as a new sub under my wifes name. Any one run into any road blocks when doing this?

 

[jbcheshire]

Use your cell phone instead of your home phone as well....

 

[reddice]

We used our same home number that we used before and we had no problem. We were still on record and they installed us like new customers with no reconnection fee. The Dish guide is great. I have a picture now when I browse and it is much faster. Glad I am not the only one who thinks the TiVo is overrated and preferes Dish.

 

[BFG]

Yeah I've played with cable's SA boxes, a tivo. And I preffer the Dish guide. It's simple and functions quick and practically.

 

[joshnoel]

also give them a different address. original address will flag account, for example 419 main st--- put it as 419 main st unit a or b you should be clear then

 

[reddice]

We used the same address and phone number just on the bill my name and my grandmothers name is on it.

 

[Liquidforce88]

As long as you were not an active customer for over 3 months you can come back as a NEW DHA customer. You can still use your adress and phone number. Unles you owe money on your account.

 

[ScottChez]

But that one post with a guy who sounded like he worked for dish made is sound like anyone going back had to sign a 2 year contract.

Is this true?

Ive been gone for 11 months and right before I left I changed my address just in case I wanted to come back and get the Lease plan and the 522 (back then you could not unless you were new).

 

[GaryPen]

You might want to get rid of that Tivo avatar, if you dislike the Tivo interface so much.

 

[Liquidforce88]

You do not have to sign a 2 year agreement when you come back as a DHA.

 

[roadrhino]

We did not like DirecTV at all. ... With it I got the TiVo which I hated more than anything. I don't know what the hipe was with that receiver but it was terrible. It has a major bug that if you start to change the channels or even watch TV the picutre goes b&w. Also the guide was slower than molases. The 30 minute buffer stunk and was not enough. Well now I am finally free from the TiVo. We got all 510's installed so who cares about NBR and duel tuning since the TiVo was the worst thing ever.

Based on what you write about TiVo, I suspect that you had a bum box. Perhaps you should have returned it or had it serviced. The "hipe" (sic) is probably from people who've had a box that worked correctly.

You are right about the guide info being somewhat slow. The CPU gives more cycles to computations that, if not done quickly, will result in hicups in the video recording or playback.

On the other hand, I don't know of too many TiVo users who actually use the guide all that often. They tend to set up season passes and watch what has already been recorded for them than "live TV". Maybe this is what makes one person happy with TiVo but another not so much: can they live without "live TV".

Hope you like your new Dish DVR better than you liked TiVo... You might be one of the few in that category, so live it up!

Roadrhino

 

[mjschuyler]

I've had the new R-10 DirecTivo's for a couple of months now. I too think they are very over rated. I had the original Dishplayer/Webtv units, 501,508 510 and 721's. All of the E* receivers took about a year to become stable.

The key E* features I miss are:

1) The UHF remotes. I had three E* receivers that could be controlled in any room of the house. I have three DirecTivo's and a Ultimate TV receiver. I am trying different approaches to the multiroom control.

2) The buttons on the Platnium Remotes were easy to use in the dark as the buttons are different sizes and the satellite buttons are grouped in a logical circle and so are the DVR buttons. The DirecTivo remote has buttons that are "rocker type". Push the wrong end of the button and it does the exact opposite of what you wanted to do. You have to look at the remote so you don't make a mistake. The worst is their 4 way "arrow" button use to navigate in the menus.

3)The skip buttons are very smooth. The DirecTivo has to be "hacked" or programmed to change the fast forward & reverse buttons to skip buttons. The Ultimate Tv has skip buttons.

4) The fast forward/reverse is very slow and if you push the button too many times the program restarts or ends.

5) The guide is very very slow and is hard to navigate. Only one guide personal favorite guides.

6) No DVR button. You have to go through menus to get to timers and delete programs.

7) Just in things in general are so slow E* DVR's are much more logical. You push a E* key on the remote such as the pause key it reacts almost as fast as you can push the button. With the DirecTivo the light flashes on the receiver then about a second later it responds.

8) With E* non subscribed channels are red in the guide but D* does not highlight non subbed channels. If you try to record a non sub channel with E* it will not allow you you to set up a timer. D* sets up the timer and you get a blank recording.

The DirecTivo does have name based recording and suggestions where it records programs it thinks you would like to see. If you explore the menus it has some richer features that E*. DirecTivo also have USB ports that could allow receivers to share programming but DirecTv has not allowed Tivo to activate this feature.

I did not like the DirecTivo so I bought a used Ultimate TV receiver. I like it better but it still lacks many of the E* receiver features plus it cost $9.95 for the DVR features.

The reason I went to D* was 1) my wife's 721 was missing recordings and it crash a few times. 2) cost I was able to buy three R10 DirecTivo's for $130 with a $50 rebate and received a $20 credit for three months. I wanted to buy 522's but E* would not sell them to me in December. I understand they are now available.

Would I go back to E*? I will check out D* for a year and then make up my mind.

Murray

 

[jrbdmb]

8) With E* non subscribed channels are red in the guide but D* does not highlight non subbed channels. If you try to record a non sub channel with E* it will not allow you you to set up a timer.

Just to note, at least with the 5xx series you can now lock out specific channels, so if you lock out the unsubbed channels then you never have to look at them in the guide or in search results again. I understand that TiVo has a "Channels I Receive" list, don't know if this accomplishes the same thing.

I keep thinking that I am going to jump to D* soon because of missing sports channels on E*, but I also becoming more positive I will *not* get a TiVo. Perhaps the new non-TiVo DVR coming out this summer will be a good alternative.

 

[jbcheshire]

I have E* now and I'm waiting till D* starts offering their non-tivo DVRs too so I can make a change.

 

[Curtis0620]

Just to note, at least with the 5xx series you can now lock out specific channels, so if you lock out the unsubbed channels then you never have to look at them in the guide or in search results again. I understand that TiVo has a "Channels I Receive" list, don't know if this accomplishes the same thing.

Yes it does. And it won't record suggestions from those channels either. If the original poster would have read the manual he would have known this.

 

[reddice]

I just don't like the Tivo and I am free from it. I was thinking about waiting for DirecTV to come out with their own pvr but it is taking forever plus me and my family hated DirecTV service with the channels etc., you know so we switched back and we are very pleased. We all like the pvr's and now the Tivo is just a bad memories.

 

[peano]

I'm with you. TiVo is massively overated. I had it for awhile after being used to my 508 and I couldn't believe how slow the guide was. No UHF remote is also a huge downfall especially since the fan is so noisy in the TiVo. I cancelled it within a week. No way I was going to pay $4.99 a month for a PVR that wasn't as good as the 508 which has no fee.

I can set timers just fine without NBR. I know which shows I like.

 

[video62]

Well, to each his own.

My transition from the Dishplayer 7200 + Model 5000 rcvr (neither of which would support my locals, so I bailed) to DirecTivos has been a good one. I was no fair-weather friend as I was a "Charlie cheerleader" from 1996 to 2003 (I still have my original model 2000 receiver gathering dust somewhere).

I think it comes down to your TV mentality: If you're mainly into channel surfing live TV you'll find the Tivo/DirecTivo needlessly complex. If you're into "always something to watch that it has recorded" then you'll love the Tivo features and find it superior to a less feature-rich DVR. I never consult any TV guide or external listing... I have my my season passes set and my wishlists will auto-record shows with certain titles, actors or keywords. Thus, I don't channel surf at all anymore except to scan through a few movie channels for the next week or so and select ones to be recorded (very easily done via the Tivo-style guide).

The guide:Yes it's terrible slow if you use the standard matrix-type guide. If you switch to the "Tivo style" guide it's reasonably fast. Functionally, I prefer the Tivo style to the regular matrix guide anyway.

Hackability:This is what has me 100% sold on the DirecTivo experience. The easiest hacks are increasing hard drive space - and, except for the new R10 series, you can enable the USB ports on the back for networking which opens up a lot of possibilities.

Via these hacks I can

• Access my home DirecTivos over the internet to list/add recordings, wishlists, season passes, etc.
• Go to a PC in my home and have the DirecTivo stream pre-recorded programs to my desktop
• Play MP3 audio files and View family photos offered up from a PC on the DirecTivo
• Move/play recordings from one DVR to the other

I don't think there is any one "right" provider/box - it just depends on what you want.

Added: See attached files for screenshots of a few TivoWebPlus menus.

 

[reddice]

I watch a lot of live tv. Only pvr programs if they are on late or in the morning and I am sleeping or if I am not here. I also like pausing live tv which made the pathetic Tivo 30 minute buffer stinks. I also like channel surfing sometimes but with the Tivo I had to use the slow guide or I would keep getting a b&w picture. You had to enable 30 second skip and most of the time it did not even skip 30 seconds then it would keep forgeting it. Also I did not like how it keep putting my tuner on a blank channel twice a weeks. It is these big annoyances that made me hate the Tivo and I feel so free now that I am using a 510 PVR. With the Tivo I wanted to watch less TV but now I actually want to watch more TV.