DishNetwork or DirecTV?

[dizzturbedNUfan]

I just recommend DirecTV because if you love sports then they have it all. Dish doesn't have MLB Network, nor can you subscribe to MLB Extra Innings. They don't have Sunday Ticket either. And if you don't live in Big Ten area then you have to get the sports pack to get the channel unlike DirecTV. Just my two cents though.

It basically boils down to Direct being somewhat better for sports, Dish being somewhat better for movies and women (studies show they do watch TV too), Direct has whole house DVR (hopefully Dish will have this soon) and I think Dish is $5-10 less for a comparable package at regular prices.

Again though my only real complaint with Dish is ESPN U only being SD, it's completely ridiculous and looks terrible since the channel is formatted for HD. And also no Versus unless you get the 250 package but that's more a complaint with IndyCar's awful TV contract.

you don't have to get the 250 programming to get Versus, you can buy single channels. That's what I do for the Hockey coverage. I added Versus and the Outdoor channel.

 

[VA Husker Fan]

Another question, how often does weather interfere with the signal to the dish?

I think it depends more upon your view than dish vs. directv. If you view is already less than optimal because of trees or other obstructions, weather will affect you more. I *think* dish has a higher angle so you'd more likely have a better view, but I'm not sure of that.

 

[VA Husker Fan]

you don't have to get the 250 programming to get Versus, you can buy single channels. That's what I do for the Hockey coverage. I added Versus and the Outdoor channel.

I don't see Versus offered by itself or with the Outdoor channel on Dish. Sportsman and Outdoor channels are packaged together, but I don't see Versus in that or by itself. Am I missing it somewhere?

 

[LouisianaHuskerFan]

I rarely lose my signal during rain on DirecTV. If it does goes out during a storm it's only for a minute or two. And that's very rare. You wouldn't have to worry about losing your signal. As long as the installer peaks your dish properly your signal strengths should be really high and therefore your chance of losing signal will be minimal.

 

[dizzturbedNUfan]

you don't have to get the 250 programming to get Versus, you can buy single channels. That's what I do for the Hockey coverage. I added Versus and the Outdoor channel.

I don't see Versus offered by itself or with the Outdoor channel on Dish. Sportsman and Outdoor channels are packaged together, but I don't see Versus in that or by itself. Am I missing it somewhere?

Well I called them today and I guess your not missing anything, they took those options away. I get to keep it that way as long as I don't cancel anything. Sorry man, didn't mean to post bad information, I just didn't know they changed it.

 

[VA Husker Fan]

you don't have to get the 250 programming to get Versus, you can buy single channels. That's what I do for the Hockey coverage. I added Versus and the Outdoor channel.

I don't see Versus offered by itself or with the Outdoor channel on Dish. Sportsman and Outdoor channels are packaged together, but I don't see Versus in that or by itself. Am I missing it somewhere?

Well I called them today and I guess your not missing anything, they took those options away. I get to keep it that way as long as I don't cancel anything. Sorry man, didn't mean to post bad information, I just didn't know they changed it.

No problem, now I'm just jealous that you got it grandfathered in. Thanks for checking.

 

[Judoka]

you don't have to get the 250 programming to get Versus, you can buy single channels. That's what I do for the Hockey coverage. I added Versus and the Outdoor channel.

I don't see Versus offered by itself or with the Outdoor channel on Dish. Sportsman and Outdoor channels are packaged together, but I don't see Versus in that or by itself. Am I missing it somewhere?

Well I called them today and I guess your not missing anything, they took those options away. I get to keep it that way as long as I don't cancel anything. Sorry man, didn't mean to post bad information, I just didn't know they changed it.

That's okay, you've all been more than helpful. Thanks!

 

[Apathy]

I'm thinking about switching from Dish to DirecTV. I've had Dish for almost 2 years and my contract will be expiring in July I believe.

I've gone through 5 or 6 receivers the first 3 was because the remote wouldn't change the channel and the last 2 or 3 was because it over heated or fried on me. Was watching the 09' Big 12 Championship game against Texas and the receiver died during the 2nd quarter. Lately when watching TV it seems that the picture or the sound will go out for a split second and its been doing it a lot lately and its driving me nuts. Shoot I had to buy a laptop fan to plug in the USB port in the back of the receiver to cool down my receiver that was out in the OPEN...WTF???

Seems like you get more sports channels with DirecTV than you do with Dish and I'll be able to watch all of the Cubs games on Comcast.

I'd like to have an HD receiver with all of the sports channels and I could care less if I didn't get HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, etc because they play the same movies over and over.

 

[Hujan]

I had a comically, insanely bad customer service experience with DirecTV. I mean, if I pitched my experience as an idea for a scene in a movie, a Hollywood type would think it was too over the top.

I have been a happy Dish Network customer now for the past 4 months and counting. If you are in the BigTen footprint, the BTN comes in the America's Top 200 basic pack. While it's true that you have to get the sports pack to get the BTN if you are not in the BigTen footprint, the fact is that nothing in the America's Top 200 is worth a damn except for all the stuff you'd get in the sports pack.

Basically, you can pay $49.99 for the America's Top 200, or you can pay $46.99 ($39.99 + $7) for the America's Top 120 plus the Multi-Sport pack and all you'd be missing is the women channels (i.e., Lifetime, Oxygen, etc.) I'm not kidding. The only real exception is Versus. That is the only channel any man will miss from the America's Top 200.

 

[GM_Tood]

Anyone have any further issues/reviews? I am looking at making the switch to DirecTV from Cox, based on a couple friends recommendations.

 

[jsneb83]

I have heard a couple people say that really you can just switch between the two every two years. Cause you have to pay for new equipment anyways, might as well switch and get the new customer deals and free installation.

 

[Apathy]

Anyone have any further issues/reviews? I am looking at making the switch to DirecTV from Cox, based on a couple friends recommendations.

I've had DirecTV for over a month now and I love it more than Dish. I don't know what it is but it seems like the HD is more clearer compared to Dish Network and the remote is more responsive with the receiver compared to Dish. I can now lean back in my recliner and change the channel without leaning foward or having to place the remote in the air to change the channel.

If you're watching a Football game/Sportscenter/etc you can hit the red button on the remote to pop up the Scoreboard and see who else is playing and in most cases will give you a channel so you can switch to that game and watch it if its not blocked out (most MLB games are blocked out because of the MLB pass/ticket thing). I love this red button and it comes in handy very often. I wish it had a MMA menu in the Scoreboard pop up thing but they don't oh well.

When recording a show it'll just record the series so I think you're going to have to record the show again for the following season where Dish you hit record new episodes and it'll record every new season without having to record it again. I'm not positive if thats how it works with DirecTV but I'm assuming every new season you'll have to rerecord that show. The DirecTV doesn't have a live button like Dish Networks remote does but they do have a 30 sec forward button this is pretty sweet. I do miss the Live button but something I can live without.

I have the sports package and about 90%-95% of them are in HD and theres about 35-37 sports channels in the sports package. Believe me when I say this you'll want this package come Football season you'll get to see a ton of Mountain West and Pac 10 games at night plus other postgame shows like the Royals, Detriot Lions, etc. I saw the Royals Postgame show last night when they were talking about Bubba Starling it was pretty sweet.

I haven't ordered a PPV yet with DirecTV but I've done the Movie on Demand and it was quick and painless. My receiver isn't hooked up to a phone line so I was surprised by that. I don't know how it works with PPV movies/UFC fights but I'm hoping its just that easy and simple. When I ordered movies/UFC fights with Dish I had to jump on the computer sign in and order the show or event because my receiver wasn't hooked up to a phone line (have a cell phone and thats good enough).

I've had the dish go out on a real bad storm once already but it wasn't out that long (roughly 3 minutes if that) plus it was a little pass midnight so I went to bed. During the 3 minutes the dish was out the picture would come and go (like it was buffering)throughout that 3 minute duration which I was surprised by because when I had dish it stayed off until the signal was better and would never show a picture. I will say when I lost signal with Dish it didn't stay off long either and it was always late at night like around midnight or later.

All and all I love DirecTV so far and I'll be happy with them for years to come.

 

[GM_Tood]

Anyone have any further issues/reviews? I am looking at making the switch to DirecTV from Cox, based on a couple friends recommendations.

I've had DirecTV for over a month now and I love it more than Dish. I don't know what it is but it seems like the HD is more clearer compared to Dish Network and the remote is more responsive with the receiver compared to Dish. I can now lean back in my recliner and change the channel without leaning foward or having to place the remote in the air to change the channel.

If you're watching a Football game/Sportscenter/etc you can hit the red button on the remote to pop up the Scoreboard and see who else is playing and in most cases will give you a channel so you can switch to that game and watch it if its not blocked out (most MLB games are blocked out because of the MLB pass/ticket thing). I love this red button and it comes in handy very often. I wish it had a MMA menu in the Scoreboard pop up thing but they don't oh well.

When recording a show it'll just record the series so I think you're going to have to record the show again for the following season where Dish you hit record new episodes and it'll record every new season without having to record it again. I'm not positive if thats how it works with DirecTV but I'm assuming every new season you'll have to rerecord that show. The DirecTV doesn't have a live button like Dish Networks remote does but they do have a 30 sec forward button this is pretty sweet. I do miss the Live button but something I can live without.

I have the sports package and about 90%-95% of them are in HD and theres about 35-37 sports channels in the sports package. Believe me when I say this you'll want this package come Football season you'll get to see a ton of Mountain West and Pac 10 games at night plus other postgame shows like the Royals, Detriot Lions, etc. I saw the Royals Postgame show last night when they were talking about Bubba Starling it was pretty sweet.

I haven't ordered a PPV yet with DirecTV but I've done the Movie on Demand and it was quick and painless. My receiver isn't hooked up to a phone line so I was surprised by that. I don't know how it works with PPV movies/UFC fights but I'm hoping its just that easy and simple. When I ordered movies/UFC fights with Dish I had to jump on the computer sign in and order the show or event because my receiver wasn't hooked up to a phone line (have a cell phone and thats good enough).

I've had the dish go out on a real bad storm once already but it wasn't out that long (roughly 3 minutes if that) plus it was a little pass midnight so I went to bed. During the 3 minutes the dish was out the picture would come and go (like it was buffering)throughout that 3 minute duration which I was surprised by because when I had dish it stayed off until the signal was better and would never show a picture. I will say when I lost signal with Dish it didn't stay off long either and it was always late at night like around midnight or later.

All and all I love DirecTV so far and I'll be happy with them for years to come.

I think that just sealed it. Thx 'jock!

 

[Blaze1up]

Direct, free NFL Net.