Apparently DISH Network now has over 200 HD channels. Add that to their free HD for life deal and I would venture to say that if you love HD, you’ll love DISH Network even more now!

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I am looking to change to DirecTV HD. I currently have Dishnetwork SD. With that, I can watch 2 diffrent shows on 2 different TVs with 1 receiver. If recording 2 different shows, I can watch 2 different pre-recorded shows at the same time on 2 different TVs. Is this also possible with HD?

I have 4 TVs. Without getting any more equipment than base packages require, how many shows can I watch simultaneously on the 4 TVs with DirecTV? How many ban I record simultaneously while watching different shows?

Thanks

Ron

Hi Ron,

DIRECTV has a new service that allows you to get one HD DVR and connect up to 16 HD receivers to it. You would pay a premium for this though. The HD DVR is $99 at checkout and each HD receiver beyond that is an additional $99 at checkout. DIRECTV doesn’t have any models that control two TVs from one receiver.

Hope this helps. If you more info you might want to call a DIRECTV rep (1-888-438-9651)

Dustin

www.direct-vs-dish.com

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Just examined your comparison site and was very informative. We are a standard cable subscriber and its getting out of hand.

Few questions;
1. Our TV is 20 years old and is still going very strong. Do we need to replace it?
2. If so, what would you recommend? (Would like to avoid this if possible.)
thanks..

Hi Sonny,

No you don’t need to replace it. Both Satellite providers equipment work fine with older TVs.

The only thing you may want to consider is that if you want HD (High Definition) both companies are offering it free for life right now. I’m quite sure you can order HD and it will still work with your TV, then IF you decide to upgrade your TV in the future you will have HD already.

On a side note, I purchased my last two TV’s from NewEgg.com and found great deals.

Good luck!

Dustin

www.direct-vs-dish.com

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Thank you so much for this site..it was EXACTLY what i was looking for because i could not decide between the two, and am now POSITIVE i should go with dish! thank you!!

Thanks for the feedback Kat. Now that you have made your choice, I hope you come back in a few month and tell us what you think of your experience.

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I am considering switching but there is one comparison I don’t really understand. With DISH we share a DVR box. That allows me to record on both of my TV’s and watch recordings from either tv on either one. But with Direct the boxes are separate. Does that mean I can only view what was recorded on that specific TV? That seems like a disadvantage. Can you give me your opinion about which is preferable?
Thanks!

This is a nice feature, and this comes up on a number of occasions. For example, say you start watching a recorded show in the family room, then put the kids to bed and want to finish watching the show in your bedroom. Or, maybe you have a series scheduled to record. You have to watch all the shows on the TV that you scheduled to record them.

Dish Network was the first to offer this capability, but DIRECTV has also entered the game in a big way. With Dish Network’s DuoDVR VIP 722k, you can watch on two different computers. There is a 500 MB hard drive to store all your shows. One drawback is that only one of the TV’s can have High Definition, the other will be standard. This may not be a big deal. Their newest DVR – the VIP 922 SlingLoaded DVR allows you to watch TV on your computer and mobile devices. It has double the memory with a 1 terabyte hard drive. But from what I understand you still can’t watch on more than one TV.

DIRECTV offers multi-room viewing with a single DVR. You would need the DIRECTV Plus HD DVR Receiver, and a DIRECTV Plus HD Receiver for each additional TV you want to connect. This will require a home network, which DIRECTV can professionally install. There are also other fees involved – $3/month for the Whole-Home DVR service, $10/month for HD access (currently FREE for life for new customers), and $7/month for DVR service. Also, each receiver beyond your first will be $5 per month. So to put in two HD TVs and share the same DVR, with the free HD promotion, you are looking at $15/month on top of your base package price.

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For a limited time, DIRECTV is offering free HD to existing customers! Call us at (800) 531-5000 to see if you qualify.

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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

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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

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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.

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