# Which is better Dish or Direct TV **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 30, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191 "2000-09-30T22:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/1 "2000-09-30T22:32:02Z")
Or is there any difference? I’m planning on gettting a dish soon & would like some input. Also what about H cards? I’ve found them on Yahoo for about $500 for the dish system and an H card. Is this a good deal? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/2 "2000-10-01T00:44:03Z")
I’ve had Dish for nearly four years and have enjoyed it a great deal. They’re good at adding channels. A lot of those H cards are illegal access cards. If you look at them all, you’ll see that some are shown inserted in a smart card reader/writer. Some people have hacked the cards so that you can get free programming. I reported some of these to Dish, but they keep on appearing on EBay. Is there nothing people won’t try to steal? Anyway, Dish currently offers a program (at least to current subscribers) that gets you their Top 150 package (which includes 30 channels of digital, talk-free, ad-free, music) and all four of their movie packages. So if you’re a serious couch potato, that’s the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![shhh\_zzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@shhh\_zzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shhh_zzzz)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/3 "2000-10-01T02:44:34Z")
I really like The Dish Network. Have had it for 3-4 yrs. Don’t have any technical knowledge, but when I got mine, the only other one I had seen was a friend’s Direct TV system. The major difference I noticed, at the time, was how much easier it was to check the lineup of programs on the Dish Network. You can query for the current hour, then scroll ahead for hours or days, you can watch one channel & just query to check out what’s on other channels (titles display at bottom of screen), or you can choose a type of program to query (movies, sports, family, etc). Now, all that was _at that time_. Direct may have improved upon this feature since then. Dish’s customer service is top-notch, BTW. Friendly, fun reps most of the time. Upon changing my programming, they always institute the change within 10 mins. of my request and when I had trouble w/ my remote, they sent a replacement to me overnight at no charge. I should mention that anytime you change your programming, if you’re not _adding_ channels, they charge a $5 svc. fee. ---
**Author:** ![cheezit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@cheezit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheezit)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/4 "2000-10-01T04:08:30Z")
I have Directv. When I originally got my dish, I had Dish Network. I switched to Directv because, at the time, Directv had more channels. Just recently, I was going to switch back, in fact I had switched, but got F\*\*\*\*\* over by the store that I had gone to. So I still have Directv. Dish Network now had a Dish 500 system that is awesome. A little spendy, but worth it. It has a recorder (like Tivo) built right into it. As for programming, they are pretty much equal now, I think. Uh, not to sound dumb, but what is an “H card”? ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/5 "2000-10-01T06:27:47Z")
I can’t compare the two, since I’ve got experience with only one: I signed up with DirecTV five weeks ago. I got it for NFL Ticket, and DirecTV’s the exclusive carrier. Once the equipment was set up (I did it myself, and aligning the dish two floors up by myself isn’t all that easy), the actual account setup with DirecTV was a cinch. My only real complaint is local coverage (extra$); they offer the four major networks (ABC, NBC, CBS & Fox) but no other channels, and the PBS channel is some kind of national feed. Bummer, too, because the Seattle PBS station plays stuff I sorely miss (lots of Red Dwarf, for example). Lots of music-only channels. Because I signed up for the NFL Ticket, I get all premium channels free for three months. Not bad. The free weekly hard-copy guide (thick puppy!) is too jam-packed and terse to be very useful. But I _LOVES_ dat NFL Ticket. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/6 "2000-10-01T15:57:50Z")
You can only use the one that you can aim your dish right. I think that Dishnetwork is a southern satellite? H Cards? Isn’t that getting into another area? try [ebay.com](http://ebay.com) there are lots of used dishes there, new ones too, cheap. ---
**Author:** ![AM\_PM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AM\_PM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AM_PM)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/7 "2000-10-01T21:20:54Z")
I was so glad when I got a place with cable. The dish we had was always “unaligned” or “shorted somewhere”. ---
**Author:** ![ultress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/7c8e57/32.png) [@ultress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultress)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2000, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/8 "2000-10-02T12:18:25Z")
I hate DirecTV. Any time it gets heavily overcast it goes out. I haven’t had Dish Network, but I do plan to try to find something better than what I have. I even tried to go back to digital cable, but I’m too far from the transmitter, you can only go 250 feet and I’m 350 feet. I’ll keep looking. ---
**Author:** ![Sledman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Sledman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sledman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/9 "2000-10-03T14:50:29Z")
ultress… Agreed on the weather being annoying… usually only lasts about 10 minutes though for us. But very annoying. The cable company can kiss my monkey ass. A poster above said that they get program changes within 10 minutes on Dish Network. Same thing for Direct TV. How well does the cable company respond…Call monday they say maybe wednesday. I hooked my dish up on a Sunday and had everything connected as of about 8:30 at night. Quick call to Direct TV and presto I have programming. OrcaChow… Have you discovered that gamebreaks are now annoying yet? Flip channel on commercial and end up seeing the same game break 4 or 5 times. We have only experienced the unthinkable once and it was with the late games…everyone on commercial at the same time. I LOVE MY DTV!! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/10 "2000-10-03T15:01:47Z")
I have Direct. Wonderful. If you buy your dish at Blockbuster, they’ll give you a year of free rentals. Can’t beat that! If you can, give me a call. Oh, and **shh zzz** (Susie?), DirecTV has changed their format (I believe) so that you can preview the line-up while watching your channel (in a little PinP size screen in the upper left). Its not too bad, unless you have a small TV. Getting local channels is annoying, as I have to switch to antenna. But all in all, I love it. ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/11 "2000-10-03T22:38:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sledman \* > \*\*Have you discovered that gamebreaks are now annoying yet? Flip channel on commercial and end up seeing the same game break 4 or 5 times. > > We have only experienced the unthinkable once and it was with the late games…everyone on commercial at the same time.\*\* Not to be evasive about the question, Sledman, but I haven’t noticed it all that often. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen. I rarely surf during commercials (don’t know why) but do jump to another game briefly if an intriguing score gets flashed across the bottom of the screen. But now that you mention it, when I switch from one game to another during game action, I almost never hit a commercial. Talk about the tail wagging the dog, huh? ---
**Author:** ![OrcaChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e47c2d/32.png) [@OrcaChow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OrcaChow)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2000, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-is-better-dish-or-direct-tv/35191/12 "2000-10-03T22:44:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultress \* > \*\*I hate DirecTV. Any time it gets heavily overcast it goes out. I haven’t had Dish Network, but I do plan to try to find something better than what I have. I even tried to go back to digital cable, but I’m too far from the transmitter, you can only go 250 feet and I’m 350 feet. I’ll keep looking. \*\* Is your dish optimally aligned? The reason I ask that is I live in Seattle and haven’t suffered any degradation of signal despite overcast and heavy rainstorms. And my dish isn’t perfectly aligned.