Which is better Dish's HD or Dirctv's HD

[Spike]

I'm thinking of adding Dishnetworks HD. Is it as bad as Directv's HD channels. Directv's HD has gotten increasingly worse! I would rate it (DTV's)as just a good standard definition 16X9 picture.

For those of you that have seen both, what do you think?

 

[Sean Mota]

I have seen both... Dish does seem to give their HD channel less compression than D* in channel that are common to both. I still have both and I will keep both. With Dish I get the HD Pack + VOOM + Spanish International... Dish gives you the flexibility. With D*, I get 7 receivers on the account which Dish did not want to do. I am very interested to see what D* is going to do once their new sats are up. Increasing the BW and Resolution of their HD channel is a MUST.

 

[dfergie]

I also have both and will keep both... D* was my first dbs provider. Having said that... E* has much sharper PQ across the board... D*HD is much better than sd... I get channels with D* than I cannot get with E* and hope that when they get more Satellites up and go to Mpeg4 that the PQ improves by leaps and bounds...

 

[Spike]

Hmmm! Dish HD... here I come!

Is Dish planning on the switch to Mpeg4 as well?

 

[kavula]

Oh, definately yes. E* plans though are not as clear-cut as the publicized D* plans. But most people would bet that E* will compete very well with D* in the national HD channel offerings. Whether E* will go as far as D* with HD LIL is unclear or unlikely.

 

[ocnier]

Another thing, when they do the 942 will be obsolete practically over night. Both providers are in the same boat in regards to this issue. If had to place a bet, the thing you should wait for is the home media portal from 2wire : http://www.2wire.com/?p=11 . Whatever route you choose good luck!

 

[ChrisDuncan]

I'd give the edge to Dish as well. Voom was also better than D*. I have both Dish and DirecTV but I'm finding less and less incentive to hang onto DirecTV at all. Hopefully things will change for the better when the new sats are working, I'm just tired of waiting because it seems like for years we've had nothing but empty promises.

 

[David Dietzel]

Never had Direct, but did have Dish and Charter Cable at the same time for awhile.

Dish HD and SD is waaaay better in picture quality than Charter Cable in my area.

HD is the coming standard, so you can bet your bippy that Dish will offer HD locals and nationals at some point in the not-too-distant future -- after they get full control of the Voom sat they bought and get their MPEG4 going full swing -- sometime in the next 6 to 12 months.

Without premiums I get 16 HD channels through Dish. Great stuff. The 942 is a dream box and worth every penny of $250. Plus, it's a lease, so when MPEG4 rolls out you can bet Dish will offer some sort of upgrade path -- probably not free, but it will likely be a far better deal for most people than buying the equipment.

Sign up for Dish right now -- it's a no-brainer.

 

[rickaren]

Surprised to see (we are special) others that have both DirecTV HD and DISH HD. I have never seen a home myself with as many satellite dishes and antennas as ours. Sure lots of pictures on these groups, but presently we have the oval DirecTV, two DISH 500's (one to receive VOOM channels) plus the old VOOM OTA, for a total of 4. That OTA antenna now works better than before, hooked to DISH's 942 DVR. All the above has been approved by the POA with the promise to eliminate one or more as things change in the future. (next year?) It also doesn't hurt that they can not be viewed only from the back of our home, and our house sets at the rear of the Subdivision. Got both neighbors to sign-off, too. As far as DISH it has better HD picture than DirecTV presently, but have keep DirecTV HD to see if they are going to replace my present Hughes E-86 HD receiver free or a special deal on their HD DVR when Mpeg4 hits. Can't see going to DISH completely with large investment in DirecTV Tivo units, but can see canceling their HD Package if things don't improve in the future. Again would never have thought years ago to having both services or this many antennas, but really like all the options to record five channels in the same room at the same time, and watch something else either HD or SD OTA , or recorded in SD or HD. It makes our investment in our Home Theater really worth it!

 

[PILMAN]

I like the picture quality of Dish HD it looks really clear. Never seen DirecTV's. Cox's is horrible.

 

[Wally]

Dish HD has generally been the best. VOOM was better until the latter days with the new harmonic compression.
Actually, Adelphia (in VA) has pretty good HD, almost as good as Dish, in fact, almost imperceptible at times. I hope it stays that good when Comcast takes over.