Posted on 03/02/2010 7:49:55 PM PST by taxcutisapayraise
I'm in the process of selecting a satellite TV provider since I'll be moving soon when I buy a house. I found an old FR thread from 2003 on the topic of Direct TV vs. Dish TV. The market has changed since then.
I only have two TV locations. I don't need the premium channels, just the basics, especially Fox News.
Any suggestions and information will be appreciated.
I think it depends on your location because in my area we are not allowed to get local networks on Direct. We do fine tho on Dish. We do have a problem when it storms with Dish tho.
Having had both, I prefer Directv at this point. Dish is not bad though, look at both intro promotions, find out your full charges for both and decide from there. Both require two year commitments.
Of the two Direct was the only one whose satellite we could hit (lots of trees around our house). It’s been pretty good so far, only blinks out during really heavy rain or sometimes fog if it’s thick enough.
LQ
I’ve had DirecTV forever. I live in a rural area. I wouldn’t give it up for anything. We’ve never had a problem with it.
We’ve had Direct TV for 8 months without a problem. We chose it over Dish and cable solely because of MLB.
We had Dish for years, then switched to Direct TV.
As soon as our contract was up, we went back to DirectTV.
Really intersting, not one vote for Dish. I switched from Dish to cable after 10 , mostly because it was cheaper and I don’t care about sports, not one attempt to get me back. Now I get promos from DirecTV about every other week. The first one that lets you choose ala carte programming will get me as a customer for life.
I’ve been with DirecTV for 10 years and I love it.
One big tip to avoid rain fade: INSIST on your installer getting the signal strength to the high 90’s on the scale, with 100 being the highest. There will be no difference in picture quality if the signal strength is below 90%, but you will avoid rain fade for everything but torrential downpours (to your south) with a very high signal strength.
Some installers are lazy and won’t fine-tune the dish for a higher signal strength.
Lastly, if you want a referral to DirecTV, PM me and we’ll both get a $100 credit. :)
i have had both and we prefer dish network. it is cheaper for more channels, we get our local stations, and we get some movie channels that would have been extra at directv. directv refused to give us locals. we do have trouble during storms but we had that with directv also. we are not big sports channel people so that is not a big deal for us.
Take a sledgehammer to the TV. You’ll be better off. Or, if that’s too much for you, sell it to someone you hate whose brains are already full of liberal mush anyway.
We had Dish up in Minnesota for a few years because we got locked into contracts. Every time a storm came, the service would go out for anywhere from a minute to 10-15 minutes (usually it was on the shorter side, just a minute or two).
When we moved to Texas, we had been with Dish long enough to not be locked into a contract. Directv had a deal for new customers and Dish refused to match it. So, we went with Directv.
Directv only goes out in about 25-33% of the storms and the time ranges from about a second to 4-5 minutes at the most. About 80% of the time, it’s like a “blip” - a second or less - not even long enough for the receiver to recognize it as having to re-program the channels.
Directv, in my opinion, is FAR better.
We had Direct Tv and liked it . We switched to Att UVERSE for 200 channels TV, 6 meg internet and all distance telephone for not much more than what we were paying for telephone/internet, or Direct TV individually. Plus there was no contract,
Whatever you do, I recommend you get a two-tuner PVR/DVR, and lease it, don’t buy it. They need to be replaced every couple of years or so because the hard drive spins so much and unit cooling is very poor. Plus, you can upgrade to the latest and greatest model when they come out.
They are basically the same: overpriced, and neither will work in bad weather.
If you have other options, choose cable or one of the fiberoptic services. We had DirecTV and switched to AT&T UVerse when it became available. 100% better, price, reliability, and service.
We have Dish through AT&T. What a waste......we tried to upgrade to HD and they wanted us to pay for the equipment since they have since switched to Direct TV! Needless to say, we will be going with the best deal when our contract is up.
We’ve had DirecTV for eight years here in So. Calif. and have no complaints. In two weeks we’re moving to Tennessee and plan to resume service with them.
Because of our length of time with them, they gave us 15 months of Showtime free. We never watch Showtime, except “The Brotherhood” once in a while, but they appreciate and like to keep their customers.
Dish is corporately connected with a big collection agency. When you cancel your service and they screw up your payments/credits, you will hounded by the collection agency.
I have read this, it is not first hand experience.
However, when I left them 4 years ago, I returned the equipment via UPS and I still have a file with the proof of shipment.
I have gotten to where I generate a paper trail for everything I can.
Directv is the better choice. hands down. Dish is a distant second. (my mother in law has Dish and we’re there every Sunday for lunch). the only positive thing I can say about Dish is I can cycle through the guide faster when holding the remote button down. that’s the only good thing I have to say about it.
We had Direct T.V. for a number of years without any significant loss of service during inclement weather. We really liked the variety of channels. I cannot speak to Dish - Never had it. Unfortunately, when we moved into our present house we did not have a direct line of sight to the satelite and had to settle for our local cable T.V. (wish we had Direct back).
We have Direct TV. Love it!
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