As you know, I recently had DIRECTV installed. The installer that came was from a 3rd party company. He had on a shirt with both the DIRECTV and DISH Network logo.

I asked him if he had a preference. His short reply was, “I have DIRECTV in my house.”

The more we talked, the more I learned why he prefers DIRECTV. Some of his answers made me laugh.

• He said DISH Network uses a lot of refurbished equipment to save costs
• DISH Network’s most popular DVR that controls two TVs often overheats and he has to replace them.
• DIRECTV’s satellites install much more securely on roofs. You know they won’t move around in the wind.
• “People with money always get DIRECTV. You will only see DIRECTV on the roofs in Park City.”

Still, having a been a DISH Network customer also, I know it has its advantages – the price point is the biggest. Take the above comments for what they’re worth.

I recently made the switch to DIRECTV. I was on Comcast. First of all, let me explain why I was on Comcast:

1. It all started when BYU and University of Utah moved to the MTN. The only way you could watch their games was to get Comcast.
2. I have Comcast high-speed internet. I get a small discount by also getting my TV service through them.
3. I built my own DVR with Windows Media Center. I still think Media Center is awesome (Comcast, not so much)

Comcast recently turned off their analog signals and started scrambling their digital signals. So my TV tuner card would only pick local channels through Comcast. Here were my new options:

1. Stop using Windows Media Center (WMC) and just use the set top box Comcast provides. There are a few problems with this. First, their set top box they gave me absolutely sucks. I have two wide screen TVs and the set top box doesn’t support white screen. I was told by their support that it was a TV setting I had to adjust. Um no. Also, using only the set top box I lose my DVR. I was not about to pay their outlandish prices for DVR service.
2. Connect my set top box to WMC. I’ve only heard this works. You can use an IR blaster to change channels. To me it seems there would be a lag and the though of doing things this way was just not appealing.
3. Buy a tuner card that supports CableCard. The problem with this is that they don’t exist. Well, they didn’t exist. The only one I could find was this Ceton model. It actually looked really cool. It has four tuners while only needing one CableCard. The problem was twofold: 1) Everything was pre-order. They were struggling to get them released. 2) They were $400! Why pay $400 for something that used to just work?
4. Switch to DISH Network or DIRECTV. This way I could vote with my wallet and drop Comcast like a bad habit. There were plenty of upsides, but the one downside I could think of was that I would lose the cool features of using my WMC media pc.

I decided to make the switch to DIRECTV. Here are the reasons why I chose it over my Comcast plan:

1. It works!
2. I get so much more for the same price. I was paying $50/mo for basic cable. Only my local channels were digital and in HD on my media center PC. On the set top box that I had on our other TV, everything was digital, but no HD – not even locals
3. On our TV where we had the digital box, it was so glitchy and annoying. This is something we used to experience years ago with DISH Network during REALLY bad snow storms. You just don’t expect such poor reception every night when you have cable running right into your home.
4. It seems I always had to play games with Comcast. I could call in and get a discount that would last for 6 months. That was nice. By why make me keep calling in begging for discounts every six months. Just make your prices more reasonable.

Being the tight-wad that I am, my inclination is was to choose DISH Network over DIRECTV, but I chose DIRECTV instead. Here’s why:

1. I really wanted to check out the whole-home DVR system. We have two TVs, one downstairs in our family room and one in our bedroom. The thought of controlling the DVR remotely and watching recorded shows from our room was appealing. DISH Network has a DVR that you can control from two different rooms, but you can only get HD on one TV while the other one will be standard def. When it comes to technology, computers & gadgets, I become a kid and price is less of an issue for me.
2. Going back to the begging of this article, I wanted the MTN so I could watch BYU football games this fall. The MTN is only available on DIRECTV.
3. My wife wanted DIRECTV – probably because her mom and sister have DIRECTV. They often get on the phone and say “check out Food Network/HGTV/TLC…” It bother her that shows played at different times on Comcast that they did on DIRECTV. Also, I think she would like to have the same channels so they can just say “turn to channel ###”

So that is why I ordered DIRECTV.

My sister-in-law just moved to a new house. I was helping out on Saturday. The DIRECTV installer was also there moving her service. He installed a new satellite dish and set up her equipment.

As he was mounting the dish on the roof her garage, he asked if I would come “watch his back”. He had just sprayed a large nest of yellow jackets that had taken up home in a light fixture right below where he was working. It soon became apparent that he had some kind of phobia of these stinging type insects. My job was to squirt hornet spray at them if one flew near home.

It turns out that this installer would also make a great salesman. Despite the fact that I maintain this comparison guide, I learned a few things that day:

1. I was interested in the new whole-home HD DVR service that basically lets you control your DVR from any room. I learned that if you order CHOICE XTRA or higher, your equipment is free for two rooms.
2. We currently have our house up for sale and plan to move when we find the right home for us. I asked about moving. He said if you move within 6 months then there is a $50 charge, otherwise it is free. (I wonder though… I tend to think if you made a stink about it you could get moved for free if you moved four months later for example
3. DIRECTV can be connected to your home network if you have one and make use of your internet access to rather than use a land line to dial out for pay-per-view for example. It can also take advantage of other features if you have a home network. This got me excited

I must say, I was very impressed with his service. He was very helpful to my sister in law. I was amazed at how well he organized the mess of cables hanging from the ceiling in the basement. He took the time to answer all my questions and even offered to drive to my home when he was finished to take a look at my current configuration and where an ideal place to mount a satellite dish would be.

To make a long story short, I ordered DIRECTV this morning.