I am trying to decide on either Direct or Dish.   My wife and I want the local channels-a must!  I want a STO sports channel (Sports Time Ohio) so I can watch my Cleveland Indians.  My wife enjoys her soap operas especially Days of Our Lives.   We have Time Warner Cable now and would like most of those channels that are on Cable to be also on Direct TV or DISH. .   We definitely need a DVR and we would like to have a receiver on 4 TV’s.   I would like to know what tier packages are available for both.  Please help me to make a logical decision.

Don,

Both DIRECTV and Dish Network have local channels. I did a zip code search with your zip code and got a list from Dish Network, but on DIRECTV’s site it said "We don’t currently offer local channels in your area." So that might be the deciding factor right there if that is really the case. Local channels with Dish are $5.00 per month. They are included in the price of DIRECTV.

Local channel links: Dish Network / DIRECTV

I can’t say for sure about STO… On their website the channels are listed for both satellite providers in "All areas of the Indians TV Territory". If you are out of that territory you may have to look at another options such as MLB Extra Innings, which is only available on DIRECTV.

Again, both offer free DVR upgrades, but that is generally for one room. Extra DVRs may cost more. Also, installing in 4 rooms is free for both, but you will again pay an extra fee for additional receivers - generally $5 per receiver per month.

You may get the information you need to fill the gaps fastest by calling both of them and getting the exact prices for what you need.

I hope this helps,
Dustin

Like its satellite rival Dish Network, DirecTV is raisings prices on some of its program offerings this year.

I’m sure no consumer likes to hear this.

According to www.satelliteguys.us and Scott Greczkowski, who writes a blog for Multichannel News, the nation’s largest direct-broadcastsatellite provider will raise the rates for a variety of its packages, such as Choice and Plus HD DVR, by $3 a month effective Feb. 27.

Three dollars a month isn’t bad, really. $36 per year…

DirecTV Thursday confirmed the rate increase, saying it will average about 4%.

Earlier this month, Dish Network announced it was freezing the price for its DishDVR Advantage offer until February 2009, but raising the rates on other popular packages, such as America’s Top 100 and America’s Top 200.

These are obviously their most popular and competitive packages, so I’m sure the cost increase was unavoidable.

Overall, the Dish Network price increase average out to about 8%, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett. Dish Network said customers who subscriber to non-DVR, a la carte packages would see an increase of about 3%.

Who doesn’t get DVR anymore? Seriously, they’re missing out!

“We’ve frozen prices on some of our most popular packages,” Dish Network spokesman Kathie Gonzalez said. “Unfortunately, we cannot offset the unavoidable costs of increased television programming fees, which were more than 5% in 2007.”

We’ve had Dish Network so long now I can’t even remember when we didn’t. I only know we dumped Comcast fr it. We’ve had virtually no problems with our sets. One of them we use for our RV and that has been a lifesaver for us. Getting weather in the ‘outback’ of Nevada has kept us out of trouble many times. It’s always been relatively easy to set up our dish when on trips.

The home DVR is set up with two TV’s. One in the living room and one in our office. Works great. Now I’m going to mount another dish on my shop and use the RV box to run it when we’re not out on a trip. I can’t wait. I’ll use it mainly for music out there, and since Dish has their music PLUS Sirius Satellite music, there’s no problem finding a music channel I like.

I’m sure DirecTV is pretty much the same, but we’ve been loyal Dish subscribers for years and see no reason to change. Their customer service has always been very good, the few times we needed to call them, and, as someone else mentioned, the people on the other end always speak English.

I had dish for 2 years about 6 years ago. It was ok average pic quality, no DVR. Then Dish sent a promo for a free DVR and I switched to them for several years. Had a few probs - bad DVR box, bad switch in the dish (they fixed both free), but service was largely ok for those several years. Then Directv did a promo asking old customers to come back to them. The price was right, so I arranged installation. That was 48 hrs ago. What a difference two days makes. So far: Incomplete installation - no box or RF remote for the bedroom - Directv phone “tech” said I had to have a HDTV for an RF remote to work - unbelievable - that took 60 minutes on the phone. I told him I didn’t think that was true but he insisted repeatedly. I said ok, install the box like I arranged for in the first place, then he said that I’d have to pay an additional $19.99 to have a second box installed in the BR (which they had agreed to do as part of the original install order). I said I don’t think $19.99 was fair because the installer said that an RF Remote (like my old Dish system) eliminated the need for the second box in the bedroom. This goes on and on for awhile and after he left me hanging on the phone for another epoch of time I just hung up out of fatigue.

Did Directv or the installer call me the next day? Nope. Basically I was a cipher they didn’t want to deal with and they lack the common courtesy and responsibility to finish the job they started…

Some differences are apparent between Dish and Directv:

1) Directv wait times on hold seem to be about 20 minutes plus. Dish times were never more that a few minutes.

2) Directv picture with the latest dish/box combo are very good - better that the 3+ year old Dish equipment. Technology has improved TV pictures in three years.

3) The Dish remote and speed of operation of my old Dish DVR box are clearly, absolutely, massively superior to the new Directv remote and system performance. In fact I’d go so far as to say that until you’ve used a Dish DVR remote (assuming you’re now using a Directv system and remote) you have no idea what you’re missing. You use the remore ALL THE TIME to view, schedule, etc. My Directv remote is primitive, complicated and SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. If you’re used to clicking with a PC mouse as I am on a pentium-class PC, the Directv software and hardware will take you back to the days of the original IBM PC. Its that slow.

Dish equipment has obviously been engineered by people with a sensitivity to speed, simplicity, and performance. And it’s so much easier to navigate the Dish on-screen menus with their logic and intuition. You don’t even need the manual. But I’ve had the Directv manual out since I got the system… for instance, if the program guide is missing the channel descriptions on the Dish box, you push a few buttons and download the new program data. On Directv? no such function is available.

Want to delete a scheduled program on the Dish? A few SWIFT keystrokes and you’re done. On Directv? Plan on 30-60 seconds of remote button pushing with several second delays between every button push - slow, slow, slow.

Notwithstanding the installation issues which I presume will be solved eventually, I regret going with Directv mostly because of the comparatively primitive remote performance of the Directv system.

I truly wish I had my Dish back mostly because of its speed of operation. I’ll grant you that the new Directv picture is better than the old Dish, but so far it’s not worth it - the Directv man/machine interface is really that bad I My Humble Opinion.

Dish Network is now making the push for more HD channels. DISH Network this week said it will increase its national HDTV channel count from 76 to 100 in 2008.

DISH also said it plans to add local HD channels in 65 new markets this year, bringing its HD local market total to 100.

The company’s decision to offer more high-def programming is an obvious effort to keep up with satellite rival DIRECTV.

DIRECTV has said it will expand to nearly 150 HD channels in 2008.

HD/DVR Receivers

Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer the latest in technology HD/DVR receivers. Dish Network offers the HD Receiver for 1 or 2 TVs as well as a dual HD DVR receiver for 1 or 2 TVs. Their latest dual HD/DVR receiver, called the ViP722 DVR, is capable of supporting two televisions (one HDTV and one SDTV). It can record up to 350 hours (that’s almost 15 days) of SDTV programming or 55 hours of HDTV. The satellite tuner can be viewed either in single-mode with picture-in-picture or in dual mode where a customer can record shows on two televisions as well as view a pre-recorded program simultaneously. The Dish Network program guide has easy-to-use search options. Also, a customer can choose to have caller ID shown on their screens, as long as they have subscribed to this feature with their phone company.

DirecTV’s latest dual HD/DVR receiver (DirecTV Plus HD DVR) allows customers to record 200 hours (over 8 days) of SDTV and 50 hours of HDTV. Their Series Link feature allows customers to record their favorite show for the entire season. If the date or time changes from week to week, the HD/DVR receiver will adjust for that. This receiver also touts a Media Share feature which allows users to view their photos and listen to their favorite tunes saved on an Intel Viiv processor personal computer. The DirecTV guide allows customers to view the schedule for upcoming shows and movies up to two weeks in advance. Like Dish Network, caller ID can also be displayed on the screen.

Sports Packages

Dish Network offers an extensive line of soccer, football, basketball and hockey packages. Customers have the option of purchasing individual games, 4-game packages or half-seasons or entire seasons. DirecTV is known for its sports subscriptions offering the same options as Dish Network, but going one step further with NASCAR, rugby and cricket.

Exclusive Programs & Music

Dish Network has their own exclusive interactive television channel (100) where customers can do anything from play games, check the local weather or a daily horoscope, read up on celebrity gossip, check local movie listings, get live scores for various sports events and even shop on the Home Shopping Network using their remotes. Dish Network has also teamed up with SIRIUS Music to provide over 60 channels of commercial-free music that are available with several Dish packages.

DirecTV also offers their own exclusive programming through channel 101. This channel offers music and live events as well as exclusive shows. Channel 103 is devoted to faith-based programming and family inspirational events. DirecTV also offers over 70 channels of XM Radio with selected packages.

Parental Locks

Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer parental controls and locks for no additional monthly cost as these features are built directly into the systems. Dish Network and DirecTV allow parents the option to lock certain movies based on their Motion Picture Association of America rating. In addition, Dish Network allows expanded ratings including nudity, language and violence to be taken into account and selected to offer extra protection for children. Both Dish Network and DirecTV allow parents to lock certain channels, including Pay-Per-View channels. DirecTV also authorizes parents to enforce spending limits on Pay-Per-View channels.

Dish Network and DirecTV offer tremendous packages and state-of-the-art technology to meet any family’s television needs. These listed features along with your family’s desired programming lineup and pocketbook will all need to be taken into consideration to choose the satellite television provider that is best suited for you.

Football fans around the country watched a historic game on the last Saturday of the 2007 NFL season as the New England Patriots became the first team in 35 years to go undefeated in the regular season.

There were a few large cable companies that apparently tried to capitalize on the opportunity and blocked millions of fans from watching the game.

If some of the cable companies had their way, however, millions of fans would have missed this game. A few large cable companies tried to punish football fans by refusing to air the NFL Network and the game on reasonable terms.

Fortunately neither DIRECTV nor Dish Network were named as “bad guys”.

NFL Network had the exclusive right to telecast the game. More than 240 cable companies like Cox, along with satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish, and telephone company video providers like AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FiOS, had already reached agreements with NFL Network to carry our programming in its entirety.

Comcast and DirecTV have settled a lawsuit regarding Comcast HDTV advertisements that DirecTV considered to be misleading.

I would be curious to know what the terms where. How was this settled?

Though terms of the deal will remain private, Comcast will be allowed to continue citing a study it commissioned from Frank N. Magid Associates that said most viewers preferred Comcast HDTV to DirecTV.

At least Comcast was pleased with the outcome. Where was the DIRECTV spokesman, er, spokeswoman?

“We’re pleased to have settled the outstanding litigation on a basis that’s mutually satisfactory,” a Comcast spokeswoman said in a statement.

65 percent eh? It doesn’t sound that overwhelming. Seems more like, uh, that one looks best I guess…

The Magid study, which Comcast released in May, found that 65 percent of those polled favored Comcast picture quality over DirecTV. Participants were asked to look at HDTV content on three identical TV sets, and select which one had the highest quality. One set displayed a picture from Comcast, while the others had content from DirecTV and Dish Network.

So I wonder where Dish Networked ranked. No lawsuit from them?

Following the study’s release, Comcast took out full-page newspaper ads in 15 markets that touted its HD picture quality as superior to DirecTV and Dish. DirecTV subsequently filed suit, claiming the ad campaign was false and misleading.

Oh, here’s the DIRECTV spokesman. Sure they are pleased…

“The parties are pleased that they have settled the outstanding litigation on a basis mutually satisfactory,” a DirecTV spokesman said in a statement. “The specific terms are confidential.”

Wow, HDTV is hot right now.

The announcement follows several HDTV-related lawsuits for DirecTV of late. In August, the satellite provider settled a lawsuit with Time Warner Cable over DirecTV ads that said DirecTV was superior to cable offerings. DirecTV also reportedly settled a case with Cox Communications over Cox ads that cited the Comcast study.

Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2239365,00.asp

Simply ask any group of average Americans which provider they use in their own homes, satellite or cable, and you might as well be asking their stance on the war in Iraq with the diverse types of reactions you get. Some will answer they would rather have no television at all than put an unsightly satellite on their roof while others will denounce cable for its lack of digital channels. With this in mind, let us explore cable television first

Cable Television Pros

*Bundling of services – In our modern world where we love to consolidate loans and bills and pay online rather than sending checks every month, bundling the three major services of digital television, phone service and high-speed internet into one bill has become increasingly attractive. Cable television has spearheaded this concept and some have even started to throw cell phone service into the mix. Satellite providers have quickly followed suit, but as of now this is more often the norm with cable television providers

*Localized – Cable television provides local stations as standard, unlike many satellite providers which often require a small fee for adding local stations into the lineup.

*No satellite – You might be thinking, duh, of course there is no satellite with a cable provider, so why is this a strength? One reason it counts as a pro is that many apartment management companies do not allow their tenants to hook up satellites on their balconies, thereby making cable the only alternative. Also, in general, there are many consumers who would rather not install a satellite on their roof for fear it may look tacky. On a personal note, when my husband and I opted for a satellite provider in our neighborhood, our homeowner’s association had very strict guidelines as to where we could actually install our satellite so that it would not appear unsightly to neighbors and passersby.

*On demand programming – Cable providers and customers love the on-demand feature which allows customers to watch, for instance, an entire season of a television show they might have missed when they choose to do so.

Cable Television Cons

*Reliability – Those consumers who opt for cable love to talk about how unreliable satellite service is when, say, a storm hits. The reality is that according to one respected rating company, one satellite provider averaged less than one percent of outages while its cable counterparts averaged much higher at three to five percent.

*Digital and DVR extra – By default, cable is broadcast in analog, so if you want digital cable, you will need to pay anywhere up to $15 or $20 to upgrade. The same goes for digital video recording (DVR). Should you wish to utilize this feature, you will need to not only upgrade to digital television, but you will also be paying a $5 to $15 monthly fee on top of that for the use of one DVR in your home.

Satellite Pros

*Affordability – In general, a consumer’s dollar will go a longer way with satellite than it will with cable. While cable packages usually start around $40 a month without the digital upgrade, an equivalent satellite package (all digital) could start as low as $20 a month. In addition, many satellite companies offer a free DVR as part of their initial setup package, so the consumer is not left to pay any extra monthly DVR fees on top of their normal bill.

*Channels galore – With cable television, there is usually a standard lineup of channels based on which package you pick. On the other hand, with satellite providers, there are several extra packages you can add to your lineup from sports packages to movie packages to international channel packages.

*Goes where cable does not – When my parents moved out to the boonies a few years ago, there was no cable provider where they lived; their only choice was to go with a satellite provider. Anywhere you choose to go on earth, if you desire, you can bring your satellite television with you.

*Simple start-up – With satellite, there is the option of purchasing the equipment and setting it up yourself without having to wait for days or even weeks for the cable guy to come set it up for you.

*HDTV – Satellite is known to offer more high-definition television stations than its cable counterparts.

Satellite Cons

*Local stations extra – Local stations are not usually standard with satellite service. If you choose to add the local station bundle to your standard lineup, you can expect to pay about $5 extra a month.

*Satellite dish may pose problem – As mentioned earlier, many homeowner associations and apartment companies have issues with installing a satellite dish that can be seen by others which is not a problem you will face with choosing a cable providers.

In the end, the decision to go with satellite or cable is a big one that must be researched extensively. Largely, which provider you choose depends on the type of television watcher you are. Make a list of channels you wish to watch on a regular basis and underline those channels you cannot live without. Explore your options thoroughly and choose wisely.