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

I would like to know the differences between DISH’s DVR’s and DIRECT’s DVR’s. Are there different versions/lengths of time they can record both within each site and against each other? I’ve seen somewhere that they can 100 minutes. That doesn’t sound very long to me. Are there other DVR’s/TIVO that can record longer times?

Dan,

From what I have heard, most people prefer Dish Networks DVR. I’ve used both and I tend to agree, although, back when DIRECTV was using TiVo (before they tried to build their own) I preferred the TiVo DVR. I’ve heard that they may be going back to TiVo.

As far as recording times, the bigger the hard drive the more you can record. HD content is much larger so less can be recorded in HD, but if you don’t have HD and get an HD DVR, you can record a lot more.

On Dish Network’s site, it describes how you can expand your storage with certain DVRs:

DISH Network customers with a DuoDVR™ ViP® 722 or 622 or Solo DVR ViP® 612 HD satellite receiver can now enjoy near limitless DVR storage with the addition of an external hard drive.

I do think it is kind of ridiculous that they charge a one time fee of $39.99 to activate your external storage option. That is just plain robbery!

I couldn’t find specifics on DIRECTV’s site about upgrading the storage on their DVRs, but I did find this blog where a DIRECTV customer was able to successfully expand his storage capacity on his DIRECTV DVR. It sounds as if there is NO fee for “activating” external storage for DIRECTV.

Hope this helps,
Dustin

Hi,
Thank you for doing this, it’s exactly what I was looking for and what I was trying to do on my own!! I just canceled my DirecTV yesterday after getting frustrated w/ the whole, “we can’t turn your service on b/c you bundled w/ Qwest” & I had already PAID Qwest. Also, we lost a DTV receiver (just a std one) in an electrical storm last summer & I was told that in order to get a new one, we’d have to re-up for 2 more yrs (which I didn’t mind b/c it’s a lot better than our cable options), but it NEVER came! We were paying the extra $5/mo for a service we weren’t even GETTING! Which now is about an extra $65 we paid out that we received nothing for & they weren’t even willing to give us a credit even though we’ve been customers for close to 7 yrs. So I canceled & told them I was going w/ dish Network, & they didn’t even care (at least the reps I spoke w/). Thx again for all of your legwork, I (& I’m sure many others) really appreciate this! Jennifer

Mark in San Diego writes:

Thank’s Dustin……this info from the Dish Network Tech was very informative……this info will go along way to helping me make this decision. Thank you for giving consumers a place to find info that cuts through the advertising smoke and mirrors.

Web site is useful except for one issue which does not make sense. How can Directv rank #1 in customer service for 7 years in a row as well as dish network being ranked #1 in customer service. Both quote JD power so there is something wrong with this information.

George,

To be honest, I don’t know for sure. The information is a bit old and I wondered that myself. I did some research and found the latest jd power rankings: www.jdpower.com/telecom/ratings/television-service-ratings

I’m guessing that when I originally posted the info they were number one in different areas. They were both #1 & #2 in each area. It looks like in these latest polls they have fallen just a bit to some newcomers.

I’ll be sure to update this information on the site.

Thanks for your web site…..however, this is still confusing to me. So I’ll tell you what my wife and I would like to accomlish.
1. we currently have 2 hdtv’s and will add a 3rd in near future.
2. we still have Cox Cable and do not think they have served this
market very well. So I am researching satellite service. We are
not getting a digital signal from Cox yet. The kitchen table top tv
is the only hdtv (Samsung 19″) hooked up to cable and the picture
is of poor quality. I have been told by Best Buy that I need a
cable top box to decode the signal. I don’t understand why. I
thought Cox would already be sending a digital signal by now. I
think they are dissing their customers. I just bought a Sony 32″
hdtv and it is still boxed. I will hook it up when I get the proper
signal. OK so what do I do?
3. My wife needs local channels to watch the Padres games. I’m not a
big sports fan but don’t mind watching sports like the NFL, MLB,
etc. when guests are over that are sports fans. Premium channel mo
vies, PPV, etc., I could care less–don’t need. Hdtv channels? Why
not? That is why we bought these tv’s in the first place.
4. I want the best service for the best price—I don’t see as yet,
much difference. What consumers really need is alacarte program sel
ection so we can customize our service and not pay for the many
channels avail., but will never watch. Well, since that will prob
ably never happen. Who do we choose? Cox Cable…..screw them!
Direct and or Dish…..don’t know yet.
5. I guess we need an HD DVR and HD receiver. What about TIVO? They’ve
got the best software. Can a TIVO be purchased and used w/ either
Direct and or/ Dish and still get HD programming w/o buying 5000
stations+? I just want the local channels for my wife and Speed,
History, Food, AMC, Discovery, Outdoor, H&G, Travel, and such for
the rest of us. What do you think? What would you recommend?
Thanks for reading this…….Mark

Mark,

I assume that Cox Cable is similar to Comcast. If you use their set top box then you get a digital signal, otherwise it just comes in as analog.

As far as your choice between Dish Network and DIRECTV, they are more similar than not, so its mostly personal preference. Overall, Dish Network is slightly cheaper, unless you get a lot of upgrade packages, then DIRECTV tends to get cheaper. I personally prefer Dish Network mainly because I like their guide a lot better. It just seams faster, it’s easier to tell which channels you don’t have and filter them out, and using favorite lists is easier. I’ve heard some say they like Dish’s DVR better than TiVo and I think TiVo is trying to sue them or something. But if you really want TiVo, I think they only work with DIRECTV. DIRECTV actually dropped TiVo a few years back and people have been complaining ever since. I’ve heard that they soon might be bringing TiVo back.

I hope this helps.

DirecTV will soon introduce another gizmo called the AM21 that hooks up to the HR21 via USB and provides those missing digital TV receivers. It looks like this is probably how I’ll get this capability back after DirecTV (or its local contract installer) screwed up this part of my upgrade, but since the AM21 isn’t shipping yet, I can’t get DirecTV to tell me for sure whether they’ll be able to send me one.

DirecTV shares were up 42 cents, or 1.6%, to $26.42 in 4pm Nasdaq composite trading. Shares in Liberty Entertainment, the tracking stock through which Liberty holds its DirecTV stake, were up $1.17, or 5.1%, to $24.29 in 4pm Nasdaq composite trading. DirecTV 11 will co-locate with the Spaceway-2 satellite in the vicinity of 99.2 W. During a search for potential launch dates, a check of the Wikipedia Portal: Spaceflight page indicated March 19th, between 22:49 and 23:47 GMT, is a possible window for the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL launch vehicle’s next liftoff attempt. DirecTV-11 will be placed into such an orbit.

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.