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I have dishnetwork and a buddy of mine has DTV.  As far as the receiver is concerned the Dish Tivo receivers were awful.  He has the Tivo one and my Dish 622 is much much better than that one.  I know they DTV now has new receivers so I can't comment about that one but the 622 is a good receiver.

As far as channels go I think Dish has more channels the DTV due to the purchase of Voom, however, those channels are crap.  As far as HD goes all I watch about 10 channels.  Supposedly DTV is going to add a ton of HD but at this point in time I think the content is very weak for both.

Last edited by Kurto2021 (2007-02-26 11:48 am)

Part of the reason I don't plan on going HD any time soon. They're just too into making the whole thing a shell game. I'm not going to waste my time and get screwed by them anyway.

No need to check antennaweb. I live in Hazard, halfway between Hooterville and Petticoat Junction, just past Bugtussell. Ain't no over-the-air TV in these here hills, boy! It's cable or sat-e-lite, one or t'other.

Ok Dunkin' my take is that FIOS from Verizon may provide a solution to the bandwidth problem. They offer a competive package and Fiber Optic is soooo much nicer. I already have my internet connection through FIOS and I like it a lot.

I have been a customer of both over the years, and DirecTV has my business long term.  Dish Network took my many years of business for granted and became very unhelpful and snotty.  DirecTV has been a joy.  I have a Tivo receiver with real Tivo service and the option to record off 2 channels while I view previously recorded material.  It is fantastic.  DirecTV is also the only source for NFL Sunday Ticket, a must for any football fan.  Unlike Dish, they also reward long time subscribers.  They called me one day and said they were giving me 6 months of Showtime for free, simply because I had been a good subscriber.

All other things being equal, I will take the company with the better customer service and the real Tivo.  That would be DirecTV.

Dish dumped CourtTV so they are completely useless at this point

My parents have DirecTV, and I prefer the Dishnet interface for selecting channels and the like. I looked into HD when we were thinking of getting an HD tv, but we'd have to buy a new receiver, and Dishnet charges extra per month for an HD subscription. We don't have any broadcast channels either, let alone HD ones.

It all sort of cancelled each other out, and we bought a pair of quads instead. I guess I'm not that addicted to tv.

NAG wrote:

Part of the reason I don't plan on going HD any time soon. They're just too into making the whole thing a shell game. I'm not going to waste my time and get screwed by them anyway.

Here's what sucks.
I don't have an HDTV. I don't need HDTV service.
But my cable bill just went up - I asked why, they said it was to pay for increased service infrastructure. They didn't say HDTV but I know that's what it is.

In other words, rich folks with HDTV are getting their service subsidized by people like me who only have basic service.

How backwards is that?

Once this next season of Stargate is over, I'm cancelling. When they ask why, I'll tell 'em. Unless they can return me to 2006 prices, they don't get my business. But stupid sci fi channel stopped stargate mid season, and I'd like to see the rest of it (legally) before I cut.

resedit wrote:

NAG wrote:

Part of the reason I don't plan on going HD any time soon. They're just too into making the whole thing a shell game. I'm not going to waste my time and get screwed by them anyway.

Here's what sucks.
I don't have an HDTV. I don't need HDTV service.
But my cable bill just went up - I asked why, they said it was to pay for increased service infrastructure. They didn't say HDTV but I know that's what it is.

In other words, rich folks with HDTV are getting their service subsidized by people like me who only have basic service.

How backwards is that?

Once this next season of Stargate is over, I'm cancelling. When they ask why, I'll tell 'em. Unless they can return me to 2006 prices, they don't get my business. But stupid sci fi channel stopped stargate mid season, and I'd like to see the rest of it (legally) before I cut.

Yeah, frankly I only watch stargate and battlestar and I can get those off of iTunes. I'm really tired of them making profit off me by confusion. It is really lame.

Dunkin' wrote:

Over The Air:
HD content is very good in the major cities.  I am in Dallas Texas and have 14 digital channels of which ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox have lots of HD available during Prime Time hours, in fact almost 100% HD during Prime Time.  Football is very good in HD.  I use an antenna on the roof so I pay nothing for the HD and other digital feeds.  Check out antennaweb.org for what channels are available in your area.

I'm getting ready to move back to a "big city" (Austin, TX) and I really think I could do  without cable completely if I could get a similar amount of digital channels over-the-air (and if you remember, I was complaining earlier about the poor quality of HD compression with my cable service anyway).

It seems like I should gravitate towards finding a house to rent instead of an apartment, though...as the antenna needs to be placed on the roof. 

That's a lot of planning just for television, but it may influence my decision when I start looking for a place to live.

DirecTV's receivers are slow compared to Dish.  I hate the lag of the DTV HD PVR vs the Dish receiver.

Kurto2021 wrote:

resedit wrote:

... rich folks with HDTV are getting their service subsidized by people like me who only have basic service.

Umm I have HDTV and I am not rich.  I paid $530 for a Best Buy brand Insignia LCD TV.  Not exactly breaking the bank.

The business model has new subscribers subsidized by loyal older customers.  The new subscribers get the discounts and free receivers.  It pays (discounts) to change from Dish to DirecTV to cable each time the commitment is up.  Go with the best package.