Direct TV vs. Dish

[deepattack]

Getting ready to move out to Colorado and I am finally making the switch from cable to satellite. My head is spinning from viewing the laundry lists of channels provided by both. I am aware that HRTV is only offered on Dish, so that is pushing me that way. What do you have? Like it? Hate it? Recommendations. Other than horse racing I am a huge sports fan (noticed the YES network is not available on Dish.) Thanks

[betsall]

Getting ready to move out to Colorado and I am finally making the switch from cable to satellite. My head is spinning from viewing the laundry lists of channels provided by both. I am aware that HRTV is only offered on Dish, so that is pushing me that way. What do you have? Like it? Hate it? Recommendations. Other than horse racing I am a huge sports fan (noticed the YES network is not available on Dish.) Thanks

Stay with cable. You will be sorry if you don't. Everytime the wind blows super hard or a storm or whatever you will lose your signal. Have it mess up what your watching enough times and you will say Hasta La Vista baby. For everytime cable go out Sat will go out at least 15 times more.

[Tom]

I like my dish. Also have cable, and Dish puts cable to shame. Picture is so much better than cable ever dreamt of. AndI have had very little trouble with bad weather - it takes a really severe storm to know me out, and generally, it is only a few minutes at the worst. I have cable outages far more often.
And really crappy channel line up.

[BillW]

Signal fade is usually caused by the dish not being aimed properly or a bunch of vegetation in the way of the dish. I've had a dish for 10 years and have very little problem (storm once a month or so will knock it out for 10-15 minutes - with cable I wouldn't want to be watching TV anyway in such a violent storm). I've had plenty of problems with cable both video and internet. Note that this trouble isn't inherent with cable, just a bad infrastructure and a local cable company not willing to do anything about it.

Probably not much difference in quality between the 2 satellite networks and as a matter of fact I believe a merger is still in the works. It is nice having two racing networks.

[Marshall Bennett]

Have both cable & dish . PC is on cable so they throw in the multiband for just a few bucks more . Only the severe storms interupt the dish , so with the HD which my cable co. doesn't provide, I'd go no other way . Just make sure they mount the bast--d securely .. thats often the probelm .

[The Hawk]

I have both cable and Dish Network, and I've had Directv in the past, so I think I have a unique perspective:

Directv pees on Dish Network in terms of quality, meaning signal sharpness and graphics, as well as overall channel choices. The big problem, which you already know of, is the HRTV situation, which is why I have Dish Now. If you're that big of a sports fan, you know of the NFL/Directv exclusivity situation, and you should also know they tried the same thing this year with baseball, until enough people bitched and it was shelved. That may only be a matter of time, though.

My satellite rarely goes out, you'd need a big storm, but when it does it's at least a half hour, at least for me.

Personally, the lack of HRTV was enough for me to get Dish over Directv, but the Dish lineup was, to me (YES came into play for me there, too) bad enough that I also kept my cable. I'm essentially paying $50 a month for HRTV (3 sets hooked up), which I won't be doing for long, as I plan to hook my computer up to a tv and get track feeds through my wagering account.

[Grits]

DISH is fine. Have them add your local channels, write one check for the year.
Its a done deal--good-to-go.

And very seldom does mine go out. As others said, the positioning is crucial.

[JustRalph]

Stay with cable. You will be sorry if you don't. Everytime the wind blows super hard or a storm or whatever you will lose your signal. Have it mess up what your watching enough times and you will say Hasta La Vista baby. For everytime cable go out Sat will go out at least 15 times more.


I suggest you get somebody to check your install................

[betsall]

I suggest you get somebody to check your install................

I no longer have dish and very glad I dont. I live in the mid west and the winds and storms are often enough to get pissed on a regular basis when it goes out while your watching a program or movie etc and just ruins it. I had a tree limb removed before they even installed it at their suggestion.

My opinion is based on actual experiences and is fact. Glad you haven't experienced it as bad.

[Pace Cap'n]

Here in the burbs of K.C., Dish won't let me have ABC. Grrrr.

[GaryG]

Have both cable & dish . PC is on cable so they throw in the multiband for just a few bucks more . Only the severe storms interupt the dish , so with the HD which my cable co. doesn't provide, I'd go no other way . Just make sure they mount the bast--d securely .. thats often the probelm .I have this arrangement as well. The price is right and I am very happy with the Dish.

[deepattack]

Thanks for the good comments, definitely leaning towards all Direct overall, HRTV is what is still pulling me towards Dish, may just be stuck watching those tracks on twinspires if I decide to make the switch off of bodog.

[equicom]

Why does the storm affect the dish? Is it because of the dish physically being moved by the wind? I would think in that case it would simply be a matter of making it harder to move. Maybe they are just using cheap components to make the dish. If I was making one, I would have a servo-gear set up, attached to a computer that always made sure the dish was pointing in the right direction to pick up the best signal. Such an arrangement would totally prevent any inadvertant movement of the dish also, because the gear mechanism prevents motion due to any other cause (except if you physically forced it).

[Grits]

The dish does not ever move. Its components are built satisfactorily. It works, of course as you know, by signal from a satellite which is in Space. Bad weather can effect the signal-or the beam. It can be interrupted.

That's today's science lesson, along with a couple of giggles.
Why does the storm affect the dish? Is it because of the dish physically being moved by the wind? I would think in that case it would simply be a matter of making it harder to move. Maybe they are just using cheap components to make the dish. If I was making one, I would have a servo-gear set up, attached to a computer that always made sure the dish was pointing in the right direction to pick up the best signal. Such an arrangement would totally prevent any inadvertant movement of the dish also, because the gear mechanism prevents motion due to any other cause (except if you physically forced it).

[rrbauer]

Why does the storm affect the dish? Is it because of the dish physically being moved by the wind? I would think in that case it would simply be a matter of making it harder to move. Maybe they are just using cheap components to make the dish. If I was making one, I would have a servo-gear set up, attached to a computer that always made sure the dish was pointing in the right direction to pick up the best signal. Such an arrangement would totally prevent any inadvertant movement of the dish also, because the gear mechanism prevents motion due to any other cause (except if you physically forced it).

I've had satellite going on 7 years and maybe a handfull of times there have been temporary losses of reception due to heavy rain. Longest I can recall was about 10 minutes. (Course if it goes out in the middle of a race that you have action in, that can be annoying!)

I switched from Dish to DirecTV this past summer after being a Dish customer, in two locations, for about 6.5 years. Several issues drove the switch. I had to replace the Dish HD-Receiver/DVR four times. They installed the Receiver/DVR that used the old compression technology (MPEG2) and then 3 months after that when new HD channels came out they wanted $200 to upgrade to the Dish HD-Receiver/DVR that used MPEG4 technology as well. I had other equipment problems too. Had to replace a multiswitch and an LNB module. (Not certain the LNB replacement was necessary. I think the tech got frustrated and just swapped out everything.) The only downside was losing HRTV.

On the plus side, DTV has superior HD offerings, the best sports packages (during baseball season, I had ALL the games (except the Braves which were on TBS and Sports South channels) including a couple in HD every night). I signed up for NFL Sunday ticket for the 2nd half of the season and most of them are on HD channels. I can't say there's much difference in picture quality between the two. SD is SD and HD is HD.

There's a lot of posts on both services over at the Highdef Forum

http://www.highdefforum.com/

[racko]

DISH for 10 years, nothing to complain about. ANY satellite over cable.

[Marshall Bennett]

The dish does not ever move. Its components are built satisfactorily. It works, of course as you know, by signal from a satellite which is in Space. Bad weather can effect the signal-or the beam. It can be interrupted.

That's today's science lesson, along with a couple of giggles.From what I've been told ( in simple terms ) its the volumn of water in a storm cloud that interupts the signal . Wind is a factor only to the degree it moves your dish , surrounding trees , ect.

[deepattack]

During my research I emailed Direct TV and HRTV on the subject of programming. Direct TV gave me the "noted, but we have TVG," however the email from HRTV was positive. HRTV:

Dear Rob - Thank you for taking the time to contact DirecTV and thank
you for your interest in HRTV.

We are in the midst of active discussions with DirecTV regarding
carriage for HRTV. Now that Churchill and Magna have joined forces,
HRTV is a valuable service that would be particularly appropriate for
DirecTV to add to their roster, given DirecTV's well earned reputation
as a leader in sports programming.

I wish I could report a date certain for launching on DirecTV, but
unfortunately can not. We will work hard to change that, and if
inclined, you can help. As a customer they could very well lose, your
voice resonates much louder than ours when it comes to getting DirecTV's
attention.

Here is a link to their contact form. Thanks for putting in a good word
for HRTV, we will continue to press from our end, and hopefully together
we will find success very soon.

Thanks again for your support.
HRTV
Dear Rob - Thank you for taking the time to contact DirecTV and thank
you for your interest in HRTV.

We are in the midst of active discussions with DirecTV regarding
carriage for HRTV. Now that Churchill and Magna have joined forces,
HRTV is a valuable service that would be particularly appropriate for
DirecTV to add to their roster, given DirecTV's well earned reputation
as a leader in sports programming.

I wish I could report a date certain for launching on DirecTV, but
unfortunately can not. We will work hard to change that, and if
inclined, you can help. As a customer they could very well lose, your
voice resonates much louder than ours when it comes to getting DirecTV's
attention.

Here is a link to their contact form. Thanks for putting in a good word
for HRTV, we will continue to press from our end, and hopefully together
we will find success very soon.

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/customer/howToReachUs.jsp

Thanks again for your support.
Jessica Buckley
HRTV

Hey guys if you have Direct TV it probably wouldn't hurt to let em know you want HRTV.

[rrbauer]

Hey guys if you have Direct TV it probably wouldn't hurt to let em know you want HRTV.

Just did it. You know, squeaky wheel.......

[lilmegahertz]

Dish network will be the only choice for me...

[GaryG]

Dish network will be the only choice for me...I have had no problems with my dish even with 50 mph winds and a blizzard. Both racing channels, RFD and NFL....what else is there?

[skate]

one cable is very much "not the same as another", verizon optic is way better than a "Comcast type Cable".

[JustRalph]

That's almost verbatim the same email they sent me in 2003 when I lived in California. The only real difference is the part about churchill and magna.

[lilmegahertz]

Exactly GaryG...until direct tv or cable get both racing channels, i will not even consider going to them...