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.

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.

So when I first heard about the DVR that shows on two TVs at once I thought, dumb, I’d rather just have two DVRs. Well, I think I’ve changed my mind, and here’s why:

1. We have our main TV in the family room downstairs, but we also have a TV in our bedroom upstairs. Sometimes we want to catch up on CSI after the kids have gone to bed. But are kids just don’t go to bed on a normal night. We have to continually put them back in bed as they wander out wanting this or that. So having one DVR where we can store all our shows, we can watch the our shows in either location.
2. They thought of the obvious. My first concern was what kind of gadget will you need to get the distant remote control to work. Simple enough, the remotes are different. Number one is your standard infrared remote, number two is a radio frequency remote, meaning it works between walls, much like your cordless phone does.
3. It still has the two satellite inputs so you can watch different channels on either TV.

Here are some other cool feature I found on their brochure:

• Record up to 350 hours of standard-definition (SD), up to 55 hours of high-definition (HD) entertainment or a combination of the two
• Enjoy expanded storage capacity with the addition of an external hard drive (EHD)
• View and record HD over the air digital broadcasts on TV1
• Convenient On-Screen Caller ID with history
• DishHOME Interactive TV for watching six screens at once and on-demand entertainment, games, shopping, news, sports, weather and customer service

I think I will definitely be switching to Dish Network soon - just after BYU plays in a bowl game

Click here to order Dish Network, or call 1-800-315-0788 (promo code 27239)

Second, Dish Network may be cheaper on some packages, but honestly after I did the research on what I wanted to get, Dish and DirecTV were not even.

While the comment doesn’t seem to make sense at first (you’re expecting a bit more after the word “even”), I think I know what this person is talking about.

If you are trying to decide between Dish and Directv, the first place I would start is on paper. Write the channels you *must* have. For example, for me it would include TBS to watch Braves games, ESPN, and local channels. My wife on the other had would require that we get Food Network, HGTV, TLC & Fox News.

The second step would be to determine what features you want to have. For us, DVR is now essential. Since we have 3 small children, we don’t really watch much live TV. If we do, then it is common to be interrupted often. DVR allows us to pause and rewind live TV, and record shows to watch at our convenience. We’re still sporting our 25″ TV we bought when we were married over 7 years ago so HD is not yet a feature we *need*.

The next step would be to see what packages include you required channels and features. You might also have a list of channels that would be nice to have, but are not require if you want to keep the price down. This could help you decide to choose one package over another.

As far as cost, remember that DIRECTV include “free” local channels while Dish Network is an additional $5.99 per month.

For him, the biggest reason was the the DVR for Dish is so much better. He likes the dual HDTV DVR tuner and the skip features better on Dish Network.

I also like the skip features on the Dish Network DVRs. With TiVo there is only a variable speed fast forward button. With Dish you can skip 30 seconds and time, normally 4 skips gets you back to your show in a hurry. If you go too far, two skips back cues you right up.

As far as having the dual tuner for their bedroom and living room, I asked, “Why not just get two DVRs?” The reason: he didn’t want to pay an extra lease fee. That certainly makes sense.

Yet after pondering that, I remembered that he also had HD. Now if one happened to prefer DIRECTV, they could justify the extra receiver fee because HD is $10 less per month, and local channels are included free. Considering Dish Network plans are on average $10 less per month - it pretty much all evens out, and we’re just back to personal preference.

But then I read the fine print

Offer for existing residential customers only and requires a two-year programming commitment to any DIRECTV base package or DIRECTV Spanish-language^® package, and activation of DIRECTV^® DVR service.

So I would have to renew my contract for two years, but I would also have to activate DVR service. What if it is already activated?

In any case, after comparing apples to apples the pricing and channels available of various packages, I think I’ll be switching to Dish Network next month anyway.