I’ve used DirecTV, along with Tivo in a combo tuner/DVR, for years and been very happy with it. Now I’m looking at switching to Dish Network. (I’d switch to get French language programming for my wife. DirecTV doesn’t offer any French programming, although you can get Bulgarian, Portugese, and several dead languages from a tribe in New Guinea. Don’t get me started…)
So who has experience with both and can tell how likely I am to be just as satisfied with Dish? And also using the Dish DVR instead of Tivo?
I’m really happy with my DirecTV/Tivo setup, so I’d hate to go to all the trouble of switching only to be disappointed in the new setup. In terms of ease of use, reliability, intuitiveness, features, etc., will I find that Dish and its DVR are pretty much the same as what I have now?
I can’t speak to the DVR question and my experience with Dish is a few years old now. The main reason I switched to DirecTv was because I had extreme problems with rain fade with Dish. These were much reduced when I went to DirecTv. Other than that, no real difference in services offered.
Menu’s are different but the content is about the same. The DVR has some differences as well, such as the inability to search for shows, which I hear Tivo does. You can program it to record at a certain time on certain days, but not search for and record “The Tick” for instance.
I’ve been with Echostar for 10 years and hate using Direct. I’m not sure it’s better, but I’m used to it. Also not a big fan of Tivo so Dish works great for me.
This last series of blizzards we had around here we lost signal only when the dishes themselves had several inches of buildup. Seems to me that the problems with weather interference have gotten better over the past 3 or 4 years.
My DVR is old, so maybe they’ve updated it (that may be what the whole Tivo lawsuit was about) but mine does not let me program it to find a show on its own. If Family Guy moves from 1:30 AM to 2:00 AM, I end up with Squidbillies until I change the time.
Do they (Dish) charge you anything for using that model/service? That’s another thing I don’t like about Tivo - the monthly fee, even if it’s only $5/month.
Local stations 8.99
America’s top 120 39.99
DVR service fee 5.98
Leased receiver fee 5.00 ( I thought I bought them, dammit)
DISH home protection 5.99 optional, they came out and aligned the dish “free”
I should drop the home protection and the locals; Mrs. Plant watches the locals. With my satellite hobby, I can get NPR from the Virgin Islands, and she watches the locals.
You have the old 505 or 510 model, which can only record by time slot. They have been promising “record by name” features on that model for ages now, but never have delivered from what I can tell.
My 522 DVR unit also does record by name, and so do all dish PVRs sent to the home now. You do have to rent the equipment, so with rental and DVR fee is’t 10.98 per month, just a little less than TIVO.
Drop it. When we switched from the French channel to local, I realigned my dish, and it was very easy. I went out and bought a compass, and it took 10 minutes. The instructions on the website were excellent. One thing about Dish - I’ve never had to wait more than three rings to get a tech support person, the three or four times I had to get one. I’ve never had an issue with weather either.
When we started we got the Montreal French channel for my daughter. So it works well. It’s true about the DVR, but there seems to be more expensive model that requires installation. My kids got it for us for Christmas, so I don’t know the details.