Satellite Tv....

[ThreeDHomer]

Ok, so I am itching to get a dish, but really have no idea of the Pros and Cons between Dish and Direct (Not speaking about the content, I can make my own mind up if I can live with out Sunday NFL Package) But isn't there some sort of technological side to the argument? I am about to upgrade TV to HD CRT, and want a company that will be there for me. It seems that Dish is aggressive in their HD marketing, but can they and their equipment back it up? Any horror stories out there? You call either of their 800 numbers and are instantly connected to an idiot. A fellow at Dish told me that the Dish would automatically pick up my local channels in HD (those that broadcast in HD) but he was such an idiot I don't know to believe him. The whole deal is off if I can't get my local CBS in HD (ie NFL Football) So someone tell me what I need to know!

Thanks!

[brian_tr]

I have had Dish for several years now. You will want a PVR (personal video recorder)reciever. I have one of the old models (Dishplayer 7200) which had software problems in the past but has worked great since the last software download. Direct TV use what is called a Directivo which everyone seems to be quite happy with. I went with dish because they had upn and direct tv did not. Not sure about now. I have been happy for the most part with dish. Here is a great site for discussing satellite tv:

http://www.dbsforums.com/

The PVR forum is where to find out more about personal video recorders.

[Woochifer]

The main difference that I've seen is that Directv has got the better sports packages, and Dish has much stronger foreign language selections and more of the "superstations" on their channel grid. Directv now has pretty good coverage of local channels, and I'm pretty sure that Dish does as well, so that's a nonissue.

I've also heard that Dish has more bandwidth capacity in their satellite, so their picture has less pixelation that Directv. But, Directv's picture quality is still a lot better than cable, and the pixelation seems to occur more on the less popular channels. I subscribe to Directv and have been happy with the service for six years. Haven't felt any need to switch services, although the recent acquisition by Murdoch has me wondering what changes are in the offing. Since I don't subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket, switching to Dish would be easy.

[poneal]

I had satellite tv (dish) and went back to cable. During storms and bad weather the reception was substandard. Cable doesn't have that problem so that made up my mind for me.

[JSE]

I have to agree with Poneal about reception. We do live relatively close to each other so maybe this part of the world gets worse than normal recep. Make sure you have a good clear view for your dish. My first experience with sat was horrible. The guy assured me the tree that was bare for winter would have no effect on reception when it filled in with leaves. Needless to say, spring came and my reception went. I paid BoooCoos of money to have the tree pruned and still had horrible reception. I am a happy digital cable customer now. Has never gone out once. On the other hand my father has DishNetwork and is quite happy. He does lose reception during bad weather though.

JSE

[brian_tr]

Since switching to the bigger dish for dish 500 I rarely loose my signal anymore. It has to be really bad weather.