Since this is a rather mundane question, it may be better suited for MPSIMS, so it may be moved if necessary.
My question is, which in all of you peoples opinions is the better of the two? At this point in time I have DirecTV but I am considering changing to Dishnetwork. I know that the programming is about the same, with the exception of some superstations on Dish. It is just that with Directv, I get so tired of paying two bills each month. Do any of you have preferences of one over the other and why?
Why in the world are you paying 2 bills??? I work for a company that runs a dealer base for DIRECTV, and I have NEVER heard of anyone paying 2 bills before.Even if you are in a NRTC area (Pegasus, Golden Sky, etc.) you should not be paying 2 bills to have DIRECTV.
I have Dish Network. I like it a lot, it had more of the stations I was looking for. (Especially my beloved KTLA - the LA superstation. I grew up on it!) I hear that DirectTV is getting KTLA soon as well. Though I doubt that anyone else cares about KTLA that much - it’s just another superstation.
Actually, I think this would make a damn nice IMHO thread, so I’ll move it there.
That said, let me ask a GQ question as I move it. Homer, is the DISH hack really that well distributed? I know it’s been cracked (which Charlie admitted would eventually happen), but I thought it was still pretty complex, expensive and not well known.
Full Disclosure: I ask in part because I’ve loaned the company something like $18 MM.
I have DirecTV. My parents have the Dish. I’d vote for DirecTV. Just make sure you don’t go with Primestar. BTW, I’ve never had to pay 2 bills in the same month.
Manny: Not really. The methods are really well known, but both companies (DISH and DirecTV) police the newsgroups strongly for addresses and phone numbers, so people exchange the information instead of product, mostly. The programmers and stuff for DirecTV are easier to get, but DISH is easier to do. It’s an odd setup. Also, with DirecTV, the H and F cards are giving way to the HU cards, which are tough as shit.
Sorry if this doesn’t provide enough on the DISH question, to be honest I’m not real familiar with it’s operation (I own DirecTV myself), but from everything I read it’s the easier of the two to fiddle with.
I had PrimeStar before, now I have DirecTV and I don’t like it. When I get the chance I’m gonna switch to Time-Warner Ditigal Cable. That’s how much I hate DirecTV.
I have had Directv for about 5 years now. I am not so impressed with it as I used to be. They are raising their rates again, so I will probably drop them soon. And I used to get 2 bills from them way back before they bought USSB. It has been just one bill since then though.
I personally will never go cable again. Not enough choice. As a sports fan the NFL Sunday Ticket is a big draw for me to Direct TV. I am paying 24.95 for direct TV and a comparable cable package would cost me $40. Not to mention I got my Direct TV hooked up late on a Sunday and was able to get it turned on that night. Try that with cable!
Anyway, from a sports standpoint Direct TV kills Dish Network! Otherwise they are pretty even.
I Like Directv in the fact that I can Order the NFL package and catch all of the games out of my Region, I heard that you cant get that package or anyother sports packages on the Dish Network.
Now in dealing with any of these companies you are going to have the good and the bad, but it all depends on personal preferences Im sure they both have great programing
As far as someone mentioning the Cable companies, AT&T has a decent selection and I like the digital cable. But nothing beats the picture you recieve from DirecTV.
JimmyNipples: You just need to point your dish in the right direction, and get ahold of an American issue card and receiver, which shouldn’t be too difficult.
Sledman, Time-Warner offers 153 cable channels, plus the same movie packages as DirecTV. My DirecTV rate is around $40 a month, the cable package will be around $30, just the opposite of what you are offered. Isn’t that strange? I haven’t made a decision yet about going back to cable. My DirecTV has not impressed me at all. I don’t watch half the channels they offer, lots of paid programming on the stations. I don’t really need that many channels. And when it rains, it always goes out, that I can’t figure out either because with PrimeStar my cable only went out because of the weather one time, for about 5 minutes, in the two years I had it. All DirecTV did was change out the dish on the stand, they didn’t move where it was or the direction. I still don’t understand that one.
When I moved into the place we are renting I put in the direct tv dish on the old Primestar pole also. Same problem with the weather. Especially 2 nights {url=http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=34689]ago.
As I see it the main problem with Direct TV is the weather but I agree about the paid programming being excessive. I usually rotate the package based on the time of year. Summer and Fall are the stripped down package and Winter and Spring are hopped up a little.
Coming from a small town I never had cable till I went to college so I am probably easily pleased yet(13 years later).
That and the whole NFL Sunday Ticket thing!!!
BTW the 153 channel digital cable package they are offering here is at $50 for the first year(after that I am sure they will pinch people hard).