Dish or Direct??

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

DH is considering switching from Dish Network to Direct TV because Dish can't seem to secure a deal with our local stations. If we don't get all of our locals back, we may miss American Idol!! Oh no!!!!

So, give me the scoop on Direct versus Dish...how do they compare?

 

[thomas998]

DH is considering switching from Dish Network to Direct TV because Dish can't seem to secure a deal with our local stations. If we don't get all of our locals back, we may miss American Idol!! Oh no!!!!

So, give me the scoop on Direct versus Dish...how do they compare?

Look for the one that has the best price for the channels you want... I've looked at them both at different times and it all depends on what special one or the other is running as to which would be better.

For me we've gone back to cable... the satellite tv with multiple TVs starts to cost way more than cable... if you only have 1 or maybe 2 TVs in your house then it might be your cheapest way to go, but if you have lots of Tvs the satellites start to get pricey and the number of dishes stuck on the outside of your house will also increase... I think the last time we looked one dish could deliver 3 signals (that would be 3 different TVs or 1 TV that had a DVR and 1 TV that didn't)... when you start adding on DVRs then the number of signals you will need starts to go up pretty quickly and frankly I don't like my house looking like a Nasa control center...

As near as I can tell the only real difference in what you could or couldn't get with the Dish vs Direct was in the International packages... some foreign stations are only available on one but not the other.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Look for the one that has the best price for the channels you want... I've looked at them both at different times and it all depends on what special one or the other is running as to which would be better.

For me we've gone back to cable... the satellite tv with multiple TVs starts to cost way more than cable... if you only have 1 or maybe 2 TVs in your house then it might be your cheapest way to go, but if you have lots of Tvs the satellites start to get pricey and the number of dishes stuck on the outside of your house will also increase... I think the last time we looked one dish could deliver 3 signals (that would be 3 different TVs or 1 TV that had a DVR and 1 TV that didn't)... when you start adding on DVRs then the number of signals you will need starts to go up pretty quickly and frankly I don't like my house looking like a Nasa control center...

As near as I can tell the only real difference in what you could or couldn't get with the Dish vs Direct was in the International packages... some foreign stations are only available on one but not the other.

Well, we have Dish right now with 4 TVs and all have DVR with only one little dish on our back deck...so not worried about the Nasa center. But, as far as cable..we live too far out in the country and simply cannot get it!

As far as programming, we mainly need kids' channels and sports! After looking, it does seem that Direct offers more of the kids channels for only a few dollars more a month. I suppose I need to do some more comparisons!

 

[sam_gordon]

Where are you located? Can you put an antenna up and pick up the locals that way? I have Dish and have the antenna hooked into our 612DVR and record the locals that way. (I'm also in Ky BTW)

 

[Planogirl]

Dish has often threatened to drop various stations but it hasn't happened yet. So far they always come to a last minute agreement. I can't speak for Direct TV.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Where are you located? Can you put an antenna up and pick up the locals that way? I have Dish and have the antenna hooked into our 612DVR and record the locals that way. (I'm also in Ky BTW)

Yes, we could do that but we wouldn't have to go that far since we can get the stations we need if we don't go with our "closest" local stations. Of course we would rather be watching news from our closest stations instead of ones quite a bit further away.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

Dish has often threatened to drop various stations but it hasn't happened yet. So far they always come to a last minute agreement. I can't speak for Direct TV.

Yes, I reminded my dh of this!

 

[sam_gordon]

Yes, we could do that but we wouldn't have to go that far since we can get the stations we need if we don't go with our "closest" local stations. Of course we would rather be watching news from our closest stations instead of ones quite a bit further away.

Huh?
Another advantage over picking up the stations over the air (OTA)...
1) You'll get a better quality picture. Dish/Direct/Cable ALL have to compress the signal before it gets to your house. Getting it from OTA means you get everything that's available (if a station has a subchannel, THEY are also compressing, but the dish/sat companies will compress even more)
2) If you get rainfade, you will still be able to watch your OTA stations (could be important during severe ex) b/c it's not dependent on satellite reception.
3) You can split the signal to feed it to multiple TVs (you might need to amplify the signal, but that depends) for very little $$.

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

What I meant by that was..dh said a guy at work was able to get the certain channel we will be missing by choosing locals out of a city that is about 2 hours away instead of ones closer to home. I haven't really looked into this like he has, so I really should do a bit more research on it! Thanks!

 

[brandydandy]

Dish has often threatened to drop various stations but it hasn't happened yet. So far they always come to a last minute agreement. I can't speak for Direct TV.

Dish lost our CBS network for 2 weeks last winter. It was pain.

We are with Direct TV now. We had some guys come to the house and they said you should switch every two years because then you get the new customer rates, and the newer equipment.

I don't care for the Direct TV guide, but I had been with dish for about 10 years.

 

[shirleyb]

We have had Dish for 13 years, but just switched to DirectTV today. We were at Sam's club and they offered us a great deal to switch. We'll save about $60 a month.

 

[dreams91]

We had dish but switched when their customer service wouldn't help us when the dvr kept going bad.

We now have direct and I like it better. I can now record something and watch it in any of the rooms instead of being limited to watching it in the room it was recorded ( like dish). Also if you know someone that has direct and u tell them when u sign up, both people get $10 off their bill for 10 months (if u need an account number I'd be more than happy to help, just pm me.

 

[marcemc]

We went back to Directv. Had Dish for about 3 months, the signal went off sometimes, HD channels very limited and they had just about the worst customer service.

I recommend DirecTV.

 

[Dax]

I just switched from cable to Direct...and have been VERY pleased...

 

[WIDisneyFan]

We switched from cable to directv back in may and have been very happy. If you do switch be sure to have someone give you a referral, its worth $100 to you and them ($10 a month bill credit fpr 10 months)