.

[S13SilviaK]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
This is true, Tivo does have some features that our PVRs do not although it's possible down the road future PVRs will. The advantage is that with our PVRs you do not pay an additionaly monthly fee for the Tivo service. I know that Direct TV uses Tivo for their PVRs & they charge $5 a month for the service.

Unless you have the premier service, in which they include it.

I'm paying 89/month for every channel D* offers (except PPV's) and I just received my DirecTivo for $159.99, as of yet Dish has not been able to beat the deal.

 

[aperry]

Here are some details on the Free-for-All promo:

Buy 1 receiver (a 301) for $149, get 12 monthly credits of $12.50 ($150 total) as long as you subscribe to at least America's Top 50 (at $24.99 per month).
End cost on equipment is -$1.00

Buy 2 receivers (both 301's) for $199, get 12 monthly credits of $17.00 ($204 total) as long as you subscribe to at least America's Top 50 (at $24.99 per month, plus $4.99 for the additional receiver).
End cost on equipment is -$5.00

Note:

Your subscription must be non-interrupted, 12 consecutive months to receive all the credits. However, you are not locked into a year's worth of programming like you do with Digital Home or the Free Dish Promotion.

You can upgrade to a PVR on either plan for a price (not sure how much), but your monthly credit will not change.

If you buy more than 2 receivers, you will not get any additional credit.

 

[nsafreak]

Originally posted by: S13SilviaK

Originally posted by: nsafreak
This is true, Tivo does have some features that our PVRs do not although it's possible down the road future PVRs will. The advantage is that with our PVRs you do not pay an additionaly monthly fee for the Tivo service. I know that Direct TV uses Tivo for their PVRs & they charge $5 a month for the service.

Unless you have the premier service, in which they include it.

I'm paying 89/month for every channel D* offers (except PPV's) and I just received my DirecTivo for $159.99, as of yet Dish has not been able to beat the deal.

Well I'll have to take a look at the channel listing but for Dish Network it's $74.99 for all the channels we have (not including PPVs) so that's 176 channels plus all of the movie channels. Quick glance at DirecTV's listing shows that they have less of the premium movie channels I'll have to count the number of channels in the Premier package itself.

EDIT: Just did a channel count and unless I miscounted the results are as follows, DirecTV Premier service total of 140 channels (this is NOT counting the audio channels or regional sports networks, the sports networks since they can vary) Dish Network America's Everything Package comes to a total of 161 channels again using the same counting method as DirecTV.

 

[S13SilviaK]

I just counted 138 for DISH, not including the audio/digital audio, and the excluding the reginal sports, and they don't have UPN which I get with my local channels.

With 140 for DirecTV, that puts them slightly ahead.

Regardless directv so far has sold me 3 receivers, 1 DirecTivo, 1 Sony (whatever has digital out but nothing else special), and one Hughes (same as sony) for a total of $159.99. And ever since the beg. I have had no contract, which I love because I call every once and awhile and get a credit.

My point was only that DirecTV has given me the best package to date, I was hoping you might give me an incentive to switch over, but with DirecTV now having ESPN(soon)/HDNet/Show/HBO/1 PPV Ch all in HD I may never leave

 

[nsafreak]

Actually we do have UPN available as part of a Superstations package or it may be part of your locals depends on the area. Did you count the movie channels as well because I counted those with DirecTV, they're listed separately for DISH. Insofar as HD is concerned that's something that we are bringing more and more of to our customers. We are the exclusive carriers of Discovery HD Theatre have HBO and Showtime in HD as well. I'm not sure but I believe we're working on getting ESPN in HD as well plus we already have special broadcasts of NBA and NHL games in HD.

 

[S13SilviaK]

Yeah for some reason UPN isn't available, LA market area.

I counted, but it's late, I could have missed something.

 

[trikster2]

Originally posted by: S13SilviaK
Yeah for some reason UPN isn't available, LA market area.

I counted, but it's late, I could have missed something.

You can get UPN in LA with dish.

LA has one of the best locals package going. If you did not count the locals you need to revise your numbers.

"distant UPN" is not available. I have that and it's splendid. I have multiple times to watch buffy and enterprise. DOH they just canceled buffy and enterprise is floundering in time travel. Oh well here's the LA locals for ya:


Station Local Channel Number Dish Channel Number
LOS ANGELES ABC-KABC (LOCALS) 7 8000
LOS ANGELES CBS-KCBS (LOCALS) 2 8001
LOS ANGELES FOX-KTTV (LOCALS) 11 8003
LOS ANGELES IND-KCAL (LOCALS) 9 8007
LOS ANGELES NBC-KNBC (LOCALS) 4 8002
LOS ANGELES PBS-KCET (LOCALS) 28 8006
LOS ANGELES UNVSN-KMEX (LOCALS) 34 8008
LOS ANGELES UPN-KCOP (LOCALS) 13 8005
LOS ANGELES WB-KTLA (LOCALS) 5 8004
LOS ANGELES AZTECA-KAZA (LOCALS/SPANISH)* 54 8011
LOS ANGELES IND-KADY (LOCALS)* 63 8015
LOS ANGELES IND-KJLA (LOCALS/SPANISH/SHOPPING)* 57 8022
LOS ANGELES IND-KRCA (LOCALS/SHOPPING)* 62 8016
LOS ANGELES SPANISH IND-KWHY (LOCALS/SPANISH)* 22 8023
LOS ANGELES IND-KSCI (LOCALS/INTERNATIONAL)* 18 8017
LOS ANGELES IND-KHIZ (SHOPPING/LOCALS)* 64 8019
LOS ANGELES IND-KDOC (LOCALS/GENL ENTERTAINMENT)* 56 8018
LOS ANGELES IND-KXLA (LOCALS/INTERNATIONAL)* 44 8020
LOS ANGELES IND-KVMD (LOCALS/RELIGIOUS)* 31 8021
LOS ANGELES PBS-KLCS (LOCALS)* 58 8012
LOS ANGELES PBS-KVCR (LOCALS)* 24 8014
LOS ANGELES PBS-KOCE (LOCALS)* 50 8013
LOS ANGELES TELEF-KFTR (LOCALS/SPANISH)* 46 8010
LOS ANGELES TMNDO-KVEA (LOCALS/SPANISH)* 52 8009

If you already have "brought" in to directv there really is no reason to change, it's like comparing apples and apples, they are both great and in a lot of markets are better choices then the local cable monopoly.

Nice thing about directv is you seem to have more choices when it comes to recievers.

OTOH I really like how Dish lets you rent the equipment. Installation was free for 3 rooms, and if anything goes wrong I just call them and it gets fixed.

I have'nt even touched my dish, no reason to, I have "brought" in to nothing, if directv sudenly is 10000 times better I'll dump dish and go with news corp to be's offerings.

Cable here was silly. Just to get the comedy channel and sci-fi channel required digital service, digital box rental, digital line fees. Dish cost the same, but intallation was free (cable wanted $100 for everything, dorks) and I got more channels. I looked at directv but at the time, installation and hardware costs were excessive (i'm comparing to cable startup) and the wb/upn/local package was not as good.

 

[PHL1365]

If anyone is considering becoming a Dish Network customer, the best way to do it is to find a friend who is already a customer. That person should be able to hook you up with a Club Dish gift card which basically waives the $50 activation fee. You can still do the $49 PVR upgrade if you wish or pay nothing up front and get 4 credits of $49 dollars each (with their current promotion). And, your friend gets $5/month credit for 12 months for signing you up. Everyone wins, except possibly Dish Network. BTW, the $49 PVR upgrade is not taxable, one of the few such bargains in life.

If you prefer to own your own equipment rather than sign up for the Digital Home Plan, you can do that too. You just won't get as much in credits. IMHO, $5 per month is worth it just for the warranty coverage. That $5 also covers the rental fee for ALL your receivers (you still have to pay a $5/receiver mirroring fee, but you need to pay this whether you rent or own the equipment, so it's really a moot point). If you only have two TV's, then it may be worth it to get the FREE 2-room system. But if you want more receivers, consider that at $99 for each extra receiver you could pay for 20 months of rental fees under the DHP. And I always think it's a good idea to lease things that are apt to become quickly obsolete.

And if you don't have any friends who can give you a Club Dish gift card, I might be persuaded to help you out

 

[nsafreak]

Yeah I completely forgot about the Club DISH end of it that waives that fee good catch there PHL1365. What's really nice is that $5 a month credit is stackable and lasts for one year. If you manage to sign up 12 friends (the max for Club DISH) in a pretty close time frame & they all stay for at least 30 days that's $60 a month off your bill. For some people that's their entire bill and then some.

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: nsafreak
Yeah I completely forgot about the Club DISH end of it that waives that fee good catch there PHL1365. What's really nice is that $5 a month credit is stackable and lasts for one year. If you manage to sign up 12 friends (the max for Club DISH) in a pretty close time frame & they all stay for at least 30 days that's $60 a month off your bill. For some people that's their entire bill and then some.

dammit i already signed up..
can I get the referal now ? my installation is this wednesday.

 

[PC911mickster]

We've been using Dish and the PVR for about a year and absolutely love it. One of our 2 receivers fried a couple months ago but Dish sent us a replacement in a couple days...great service!

The Dish Club...my SOP is a realtor. She's got extra Club membership cards if anyone wants to email/PM me.

 

[GeekFreak]

DISH is soooo competitive in pricing with cable and DirectTV. I have been a DirecTV customer for about 8 years and cant live without the Sunday NFL package and other major sports subscriptions, or I'd be a Dish net customer.

Here in Fairfax County Virginia, home of Al Gore's "Internet" you would think everything is "Hi-tech". Nope, it's as ghetto as can be here near the nation's capital. We have Cox Cable, formerly Media General Cable from he 70's. Analog signal that is so sh!tty that a busted antenea with aluminium foil can get a better picture. Digital cable is just coming into play here, while the rest of the country has had it for years.

Anyways, use to pay $93/month for sh!tty cable, now pay $105/month for DTV with crystal clear pic, dolby sound, more channels and most important NFL Sunday Ticket (every game, every Sunday) a football fans wet dream

If you don't have "Digital" Cable or are using "bunny ears and foil" then sign up for sat service with either of Dish or DirecTV. If you want basic movies, go DISH. If sports is your thing, then go DirecTV. Either way pic+audio quality will mesmerize you for days on end.

Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS. Us old, long-time subs have to pay full price for the new gear

Anyways, can't go wrong by going satellite !!!!

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: GeekFreak
DISH is soooo competitive in pricing with cable and DirectTV. I have been a DirecTV customer for about 8 years and cant live without the Sunday NFL package and other major sports subscriptions, or I'd be a Dish net customer.

Here in Fairfax County Virginia, home of Al Gore's "Internet" you would think everything is "Hi-tech". Nope, it's as ghetto as can be here near the nation's capital. We have Cox Cable, formerly Media General Cable from he 70's. Analog signal that is so sh!tty that a busted antenea with aluminium foil can get a better picture. Digital cable is just coming into play here, while the rest of the country has had it for years.

Anyways, use to pay $93/month for sh!tty cable, now pay $105/month for DTV with crystal clear pic, dolby sound, more channels and most important NFL Sunday Ticket (every game, every Sunday) a football fans wet dream

If you don't have "Digital" Cable or are using "bunny ears and foil" then sign up for sat service with either of Dish or DirecTV. If you want basic movies, go DISH. If sports is your thing, then go DirecTV. Either way pic+audio quality will mesmerize you for days on end.

Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS. Us old, long-time subs have to pay full price for the new gear

Anyways, can't go wrong by going satellite !!!!

you can always cancel and resign up

 

[S13SilviaK]

Originally posted by: GeekFreak
DISH is soooo competitive in pricing with cable and DirectTV. I have been a DirecTV customer for about 8 years and cant live without the Sunday NFL package and other major sports subscriptions, or I'd be a Dish net customer.

Here in Fairfax County Virginia, home of Al Gore's "Internet" you would think everything is "Hi-tech". Nope, it's as ghetto as can be here near the nation's capital. We have Cox Cable, formerly Media General Cable from he 70's. Analog signal that is so sh!tty that a busted antenea with aluminium foil can get a better picture. Digital cable is just coming into play here, while the rest of the country has had it for years.

Anyways, use to pay $93/month for sh!tty cable, now pay $105/month for DTV with crystal clear pic, dolby sound, more channels and most important NFL Sunday Ticket (every game, every Sunday) a football fans wet dream

If you don't have "Digital" Cable or are using "bunny ears and foil" then sign up for sat service with either of Dish or DirecTV. If you want basic movies, go DISH. If sports is your thing, then go DirecTV. Either way pic+audio quality will mesmerize you for days on end.

Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS. Us old, long-time subs have to pay full price for the new gear

Anyways, can't go wrong by going satellite !!!!

You can get a "series 2" directivo for $159.99 as a current subscriber, they will also do a free install and it does not force you to sign a new 1 yr contract.

 

[robber]

More information on HDTV & Dish/Direct TV stuff...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=35

and

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=34


Been a Dish Subscriber 3+ years - love it! Only complaint, if you are a existing customer you get no deals... If you cancel / rejoin - it's a minimum 6 month stay-away policy... Can't wait until 'superdish' due sometime in July. 10+ channels of HDTV, ramping to 50 within a couple of years...

 

[b33tl3]

In Atlanta Dishnetwork sent out $500 Gift cards to some Comcast subscribers. I have been mad at Comcast for a while so I jumped at this. The card is only good at local dish retailers (not Sears or Radio Shack) and direct from dish. You can get a 508 PVR, and one 301 receiver, 3 - 301 Receivers, or other equipment options, free install, 3 months free (49.99 a month) , no contract and no credit check.
I wanted to get a 721 two tuner receiver with 90 hours or recording time. They sell for about $550. After trying for a week I was not able to get one. I wanted to use the card to get it and 2 other receivers and pay the difference. No luck Sears said they would do it but they couldn't take the gift card Dish would not pay them back. I finally gave up and bought Direct TV equipment.
Got a 2 tuner Direct-TIVO and 2 other top of the line receivers, 3 LNB dish, and Free 2 months programming and free install. About $400. They had a $100 rebate and $25 gift card with the deal.

Too bad the dish gift card isn't transferable. I would like someone to be able to use it.

 

[Analog]

I've been a dishnetwork subscriber for a long time, but I hate the fact I can't get local stations.

 

[cdrudge]

Dish is suppose to be adding over 40 more cities by the end of the year. If you live near a city > 100,000, you might get lucky.

 

[Pulsar]

I suppose you can consider this a warning about dish network - check out their reviews at different places like epinions, etc.

You'll find in some cases a 40% disapproval, almost ALL of it centered around hardware failure, specifically most of if being the PVR's.

That said, I signed up for basic dish network last week because I'm in the middle of BFE and can't get anything else, and DirecTV is still a bit too expensive for my taste.

 

[DanT]

Originally posted by: GeekFreak

Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS.

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. The Dish PVR is ABSOLUTELY NOT a TiVo. It's more like a harddrive-based VCR than a real PVR. The correct term for it is DVR (Digital Video Recorder vs. Personal Video Recorder). A TiVo actually has brains, and will literally change the way you watch television. TiVo is smart enough to know when Friends is supersized, or when your local station moves Smallville to Saturday night because of a baseball game on Tuesday. If it has room available, it'll record shows it thinks you might like, that you may not even know are on. I've told mine to record any talk shows where a guest is any one of my favorite actors (I have several wishlists, one with each actor's name and Show Type set to "Talk"). There are lots of incredible abilities like that. It's just awesome. Whereas the Dish DVR is just a VCR with a hard drive.

Don't settle for the cheap imitation. If you're going satellite, get the DirecTiVo. If Dish offered a TiVo PVR model, then I'd have no problem recommending it. But the TiVo makes such a difference, it was the deciding factor in which satellite company for me to switch to, and I think anyone would be foolish to choose Dish over DTV at this time.

 

[aperry]

There are other reasons you might want to go with Dish over DirecTV. ..

If you want foreign programming, Dish has tons more international channels.

If you want the superstations (WWOR UPN out of New York, KTLA WB in Los Angeles, WSBK UPN out of Boston, WPIX WB out of New York, KWGN WB out of Denver), Dish is the only place to get those, on their own at least.

If you live in a market that will be served by Dish for locals, but not DirecTV, that is another consideration. By the end of the year, Dish will cover

The DishPVR service costs exactly $0.00 per month, not the $5.00 that DirecTV charges for TIVO service. I know the $5.00 can be waived, but only if you subscribe to a package at $88 per month.

If you don't want to have your equipment "calling home" all the time, get Dish. Dish says you are required to hook to a phone line, but they do not enforce it. Last I checked, DirecTV's HDVR2 TIVO Series 2 needs to be hooked to a phone line (for software updates, etc).

Granted, the TIVO PVR is VERY nice, but for my needs, the DishPVR does everything I need. BTW, on one of the previously mentioned boards, I read that Dish is planning on rolling out a software upgrade that will automatically update your timers to adjust for a longer program or one that moves to another night. Who knows if/when that will happen though.

All this being said, I really don't care which system people buy, despite my post being pro-Dish. All I am trying to do is let them know that there are many considerations before deciding which one to go with.

 

[sat4fun]

Originally posted by: DanT

Originally posted by: GeekFreak Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS.

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. The Dish PVR is ABSOLUTELY NOT a TiVo. It's more like a harddrive-based VCR than a real PVR. The correct term for it is DVR (Digital Video Recorder vs. Personal Video Recorder). A TiVo actually has brains, and will literally change the way you watch television. TiVo is smart enough to know when Friends is supersized, or when your local station moves Smallville to Saturday night because of a baseball game on Tuesday. If it has room available, it'll record shows it thinks you might like, that you may not even know are on. I've told mine to record any talk shows where a guest is any one of my favorite actors (I have several wishlists, one with each actor's name and Show Type set to "Talk"). There are lots of incredible abilities like that. It's just awesome. Whereas the Dish DVR is just a VCR with a hard drive. Don't settle for the cheap imitation. If you're going satellite, get the DirecTiVo. If Dish offered a TiVo PVR model, then I'd have no problem recommending it. But the TiVo makes such a difference, it was the deciding factor in which satellite company for me to switch to, and I think anyone would be foolish to choose Dish over DTV at this time.

Well actually the DirecTivo is not a Tivo, it is a DTV "DVR". That is what they call it, that is how they sell it. Although I have no experience with the newer DISH PVRs I did have several DishPlayers that are almost exactly like the DTV UltimateTV. The DishPlayer and UTV are capable of doing all that you describe above. I have both UTV and DirecTivo in my front room, the UTV is much more user friendly. I cannot get over the fact that I have to hit a button, scroll down, and hit another button just to turn the DirecTivo off. Don't get me wrong, they are all good products, but don't mislead people. The Tivo is different, but it does not do anything better than anything else. I have tried them all.

 

[PHL1365]

Originally posted by: DanT

Originally posted by: GeekFreak

Free PVR (Tivo) offers are present in both services for NEW SUBSCRIBERS.

Sorry, but this is a pet peeve of mine. The Dish PVR is ABSOLUTELY NOT a TiVo. It's more like a harddrive-based VCR than a real PVR. The correct term for it is DVR (Digital Video Recorder vs. Personal Video Recorder). A TiVo actually has brains, and will literally change the way you watch television. TiVo is smart enough to know when Friends is supersized, or when your local station moves Smallville to Saturday night because of a baseball game on Tuesday. If it has room available, it'll record shows it thinks you might like, that you may not even know are on. I've told mine to record any talk shows where a guest is any one of my favorite actors (I have several wishlists, one with each actor's name and Show Type set to "Talk"). There are lots of incredible abilities like that. It's just awesome. Whereas the Dish DVR is just a VCR with a hard drive.

Don't settle for the cheap imitation. If you're going satellite, get the DirecTiVo. If Dish offered a TiVo PVR model, then I'd have no problem recommending it. But the TiVo makes such a difference, it was the deciding factor in which satellite company for me to switch to, and I think anyone would be foolish to choose Dish over DTV at this time.

I agree that the DirectTivo is a superior product (primarily because of it's dual tuner capability), but the Dish 508 PVR is nothing to sneeze at. First of all, using a dual tuner unit means that you need to have two separate runs of RG-6 cable from your DVR to your Dish or Switch. This is not impossible, but very difficult to do if you live in a house/apartment that already has cable preinstalled inside the walls and you don't want to drill through your outside walls. Also, I find the 508 to be quite adequate for my needs. The key thing to remember is that while you cannot record one channel and watch another live channel at the same time, you CAN watch something you've already recorded. If you absolutely must watch two shows that are airing simultaneously, then you can get another TV/Receiver (if you don't already have one). The other bells and whistles of the DirecTivo would probably be nice to have, but I already watch too much television anyway...

 

[nsafreak]

Don't forget there is the Dish 721 PVR unit which is a dual tuner unit which has the neat little ability of being able to do PIP even if your TV doesn't actually support it.

 

[aperry]

Note that the DishPVR 721 also requires two inputs to accomplish its dual tuner capability.