Direct TV, Dish Network?

[sherry7]

My cable bill just increased again. Our new price (before taxes) will be $68.95. All that we get for that price is access to 63 standard def channels (on all 3 TV's), and access to 53 high def channels (mostly duplicate channels) on the main TV. So, that doesn't include a DVR, HBO, Cinemax, etc. This is pretty much the bare bones cable offering. The only way we could decrease it is by dropping the high def on the main TV, which only saves $8 per month. We have a big 55" TV in the living room, so the lack of high def is really noticeable.

DH and I are wondering if we should change over to Direct TV or maybe Dish Network. I took a look at both of their websites, and it seems like Direct TV has more options for the same monthly price (example, the ability to watch a DVR'ed show upstairs when the DVR is only downstairs, and also the ability to watch on an iPad, etc).

For those of you that have either Direct TV or Dish Network, can you give me any advice? Any thing you like or dislike?

(Please, no recommendations to drop cable altogether and rely on Netflix, Hulu, etc. I could easily adapt to that situation, but DH would be lost without his sports, local news, etc.)

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

We love our Directv! We have had it for five years. A few months ago, we tried to switch to cable but after three days with hit or miss service and cruddy customer service, we switched back to Directv. Always great reception, no blackouts, good value too.

 

[iheartdisney]

We have been happy with Dish Network for the past 3 years.
i like that Dish has our local channels, since most of the shows that I DVR are network.

After our promotional period, we now pay around $95 a month.
This is for 2 receivers, one of them is a Dual DVR- which is like you were describing- the receiver is in our bedroom and also plays another line in one of the other bedrooms. We have the "everything short of the premium channels" package- but since our second anniversary we get the Starz channels for free.
Dish does have a watch from anywhere ability, but you have to have the new receiver, which we don't have.

We went with Dish because we looked at the prices and found Dish to be less expensive. You have to look at the eventual price, not just the first 6 months or first year. And the local channels thing- DirecTV we would have had to get an antenna to pick up our locals- with no way of DVRing them. That closed the deal!

 

[juliebug]

we have dish network and love it! i switched about 4 years ago I pay 60.45 a month after taxes ect.

I have one duel dvr i can watch 2 different channels at the same time thru out the house. but each tv we have 3 can;t watch a different channel.

I love my dvr i don't think i could ever live with out it again!

lets see cons, about once a year or less i may loose signal when the weather is really really bad, tornado bad.

when i am dvr a show i can only watch that show or any show on my dvr can't watch a different live tv show.

can only do 2 different shows at one time if i bought more boxes all my tvs could watch something different but i put up with it to save money.

 

[juliebug]

We have been happy with Dish Network for the past 3 years.
i like that Dish has our local channels, since most of the shows that I DVR are network.

After our promotional period, we now pay around $95 a month.
This is for 2 receivers, one of them is a Dual DVR- which is like you were describing- the receiver is in our bedroom and also plays another line in one of the other bedrooms. We have the "everything short of the premium channels" package- but since our second anniversary we get the Starz channels for free.
Dish does have a watch from anywhere ability, but you have to have the new receiver, which we don't have.

We went with Dish because we looked at the prices and found Dish to be less expensive. You have to look at the eventual price, not just the first 6 months or first year. And the local channels thing- DirecTV we would have had to get an antenna to pick up our locals- with no way of DVRing them. That closed the deal!

fyi you can call them and sign another 2 year contract and get cheaper service again that is what we do every 2 year

 

[HsvTeacher]

Love DirecTV, hate DISH!

We had DISH for 11 years, and while it started off being great, the last few years were horrible. They didn't keep up with upgrades of their satellites, so we lost signal all the time. Cloudy weather, light rainstorm...you name it, we didn't have a signal. Their customer service was even worse!

We switched to DirecTV a year and a half ago, and it has been wonderful. We've only lost signal twice, and both of those times were during Tornado Warnings. We're also paying about $50 a month less for more channels and the same amount of DVRs.