# DishNetwork Is Better than DirecTv?



## cmg925 (Jan 1, 2006)

Do you think DishNet is better than DirecTv?

I do because since we got DishNet 2 years ago our reciever has only gone out once and that was during a really bad snow storm... Even while the one reciever the DVR went out the regular 322 kept its hold on the signal so we were still able to watch tv.. When we had DirecTv it went out all the time.. When it rained/snowed/or the wind blew it would go out.. All the people I know who have DirecTv say the same.. All the people I know who have Dish say that their signal holds strong too.. There are alot more things I like about Dish too...


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## busboy789 (Oct 25, 2003)

to simply answer your question, no. 

I was a Dish subscriber for 7 years and switched to dtv last week. I consider the equipment that I got (2 r15 dual tuners) to be far superior to what I had with Dish and with what Dish offers. I enjoy the channels that dtv offers that dish does not in their package roughly equal to at120. I like the one dvr fee per account that dtv has. I think that dtv offers me much more value for my money.


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## ColoradoDBS (Jul 5, 2005)

I too am starting to lean back towards DirectTV. They cost more, but In the last 3 months Dish has now lost 3 channels that me household watches - OLN for NHL, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies for my wife - all with little or no notice. Dish was also slow to pick up NFL network - so that the preseason games that it offered were over before the channel was available on Dish.  Unless you need install labor done, DirectTV offers cheaper upgrade options for existing customers, and I have no faith the Dish will be able to consistantly provide me with the programming I want due to their inability to negotiate with program providers to keep channels on the system. I am also sick of hearing from Mr. Ergan how the channels were pulled "without warning". Is there no one at Echostar who can read the dates on a contract and figure out that is an agreement isn't reached before that date, the channels will be gone?


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## busboy789 (Oct 25, 2003)

ColoradoDBS said:


> They cost more, but In the last 3 months Dish has now lost 3 channels that me household watches - OLN for NHL, Lifetime and Lifetime Movies for my wife - all with little or no notice.


you know, I used to drink the Dish kool-aid too.

My bill with Dtv will go stay the same for now. I did have 
at 120 with locals = ~$43
510 dvr fee = ~$5
501 extra receiver fee = ~$5
total ~$53

I have 
total choice with locals = ~42
dvr fee = ~$6
extra receiver fee =~$5
total = ~$53

I see an added value from the point of two dual tuner receivers and several channels that I did not have with Dish that we enjoy with Dtv(OLN, FXM, National Geographic, Hallmark, Oxygen, and Discovery Kids.) I also paid for the Dish insurance because of the cost of receiver replacement, to replace either of my dtv receivers it would only cost $100, so I do not carry the dtv insurance. That is added savings for me.


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## johnbelt28 (Nov 6, 2004)

I have both services active right now.I can tell you it is no contest D* by a longshot.You can go to bed and wake up and not lose any channels.The reason I have both is I went for the 2 year commitment for the glorified VCR so I'm stuck for a couple of months with E* also.I've had Dish since 97 and Directv since May when they added Setanta Sports.I will give credit to Dish for one thing Sirius is better than XM in my opinion.


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## TechnoCat (Sep 4, 2005)

People will generally believe whatever they have is the best. It's simple psychology rooted in the evolutionary advantage of not second-guessing ourselves.

Across three cities in two states, my family (siblings and self) has researched, tried and compared Dish and DirecTV, and all came away considering Dish (E*) to have easily better video quality. DirecTV (D*) though has a wider variety of equipment and less unpleasant customer relations. Then again, Charlie is prickly to everyone. not just customers, and at least I agree with the battles he fights.

"Better"? They're different. As a customer, I'd prefer DirecTV. As a viewer, I use Dish.


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## cboylan3 (Jan 26, 2004)

well everyone is going to have their own personal opinion so this will be difficult to answer. If you are talking products, customer service and picture quility...I honestly don't see a difference. I had DirecTV for 9 - 10 years, and currently have DishNetwork for almost 1 year. I've never had any major issues with D*'s receivers (even though they were not made by D*, they were sony and rca products) and I've never had any major issues with my 522 from Dish. Customer support is a crap shoot with both companies. Sometimes you get ones that are clueless and sometimes you get ones that are helpful. If you had 2tvs, one with D* and one with E*, I would not be able to tell the diff between the two.

however if you are refering who you would rather do business with, for me thats E*, without hesitation. D* & Rupert's issues are public knowledge and run quite long. I would not give them one cent even if they were the only provider of televison content.

But if its strickly on content, sevice and product.......flip a coin...they are both the same IMHO


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## netnerdvana (Jul 2, 2005)

Is Dish better than DirecTV? No. But some things are good like HD.

I had the everything pack, HD, Voom, Locals etc with Dish (Monthly bill was something like 150 bucks or so) but cut it back to just the HD pack and CBS-HD. The good ol' customer harrassment department killed off my Dish 522 I had on my account for the exclusive purpose of recording SD shows that my defunct Dish 942 receiver kept skipping. The 942 was freakin awesome back in June when I got it then September rolled around one software release later the pixellation/timer-problems eventually blew the Spouse Acceptance Fuse ... (Missing 3 Oprahs ... its game over).

Buying a 522 off of ebay as a last ditch effort to save the day with DISH worked for a few days ... then Dish turned off the 522. Sorry kids ... that receiver is ... *BAD*.
Hey, they could have told me that when I activated it.... anyways... its their show and they run it the way they see fit.

So its ok with me since I kept the ol directv three LNB and that 300 hour stand alone TIVO rocks next to the recording stupidity of a Dish DVR. Slapped it back up and Im back with DirecTV.

Im now paying about 40$/month for directv and about 20$ for the HD on the Dish 942. As a customer that has had both and currently has both I would say this:

1) The Dish customer harrasement team sucks but I really don't care, and I am sure they don't miss my extra $130/month. 
2) TIVO Rocks, DISH DVR makes it hard to find shows to watch. (ya just can't search for Movies > Western on Dish can you????)
3) Dish HD Rocks ... if your HD receiver is working which is iffy with the Dish Software releases. Sorry DirecTV, you would have my HD business if it wasn't for HD lite.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Actually, in my area, Adelphia (Digital+HD) Cable is better than (not then) E* or D* - I got a free HD DVR, 17 HD channels, locals in HD, 28 more movie channels for a total of 70, and I'm saving $30/m to boot!

I'm a happy cable camper! :icon_da:


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## Doug Higley (Dec 31, 2005)

SBC makes the difference rather glaring...for Dish.

Free 1st month then $52.99 for the 180 pkg with locals...*Free 625 *DVR (*they* own it so NO cash outlay)...500 Dish for 119 & 110
3 mths free Premium packages as well as a $50 Visa Gift card.
So installation was $49 offset by the free 1st month plus the $50 gift card, you're ahead $50 +.
Since there is *NO* *contract* you can dump it at any time and they collect there equipt. (or replace it!)

So IF you have SBC as your phone provider it's a dunk. Nice too is that the billing is all on the phone bill. So far Customer Service is solid.

When installed (up high) I noticed that there was no ground wire...immediately came out next day and installed a ground (Roof to water faucet). Both calls so far have been calm and not rushed. We'll see the bottom line tomorrow when a Tech is due to determine why I'm not getting the 110. (grrr)

Thanks
Doug


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

It seems like DirecTv's Total Choice is a better deal since it has some of the channels that Dish Network's AT180 has but at the AT120's price. I like the dual tuner Dish Network receivers because it saves on additional outlet fees but due to the fact that they want a DVR fee per DVR that pretty well does away with that advantage.


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## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

I'm kind of suprised nobody has commented on the original poster's premise that E* has better signal than D*

This has nothing to do with the various services, and everything to do with how carefully your dish was originally aimed at the individual satelites and what signal strength you get. If everybody you know has the same problems, I'd be willing to bet that your D* installer in the area isn't doing a good job in setting up the dish's. The signals coming from the satellites are all the same strength.


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## CopyChief (Jan 17, 2005)

I'll second the poster who said the Dish/SBC relationship makes the decision a little easier. The customer service is great... and any problems seem to escalate to Dish's higher-level techs pretty quickly. I, too, had initial install problems (no grounding and more) and Dish/SBC sent a team to inspect the situation along with a tech who spent three hours making it right.


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## Doug Higley (Dec 31, 2005)

Copy Chief...the guy today said that they only ground when asked to. hmmm.
Said the lightning would only fry the reciever...guess that is NO big deal since it's NOT our recievers and they would be replaced NC...but still odd thinking. I'd say it's the install time goes overboard if they also have to run a ground...

My 110 problem mentioned above was an LNB going bad (a new one too!)...replaced in a jiffy NC (no charge). Happy Camper.



Sig strength at 85-87 on both sats. Could be stronger if I could re-angle the stick but can't due to a roof angle...never mind...87 is ok...nice sharp picture.


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## koji68 (Jun 21, 2004)

Doug Higley said:


> Copy Chief...the guy today said that they only ground when asked to. hmmm.


I don't know if you can say it's illegal not to ground the system, but it is against the National Electric Code. Probably a misdemeanor as it is must be a local code violation.

And by the way, that's what probably killed you LNB.


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## markh (Mar 24, 2002)

Danny R said:


> I'm kind of suprised nobody has commented on the original poster's premise that E* has better signal than D*
> 
> This has nothing to do with the various services, and everything to do with how carefully your dish was originally aimed at the individual satelites and what signal strength you get. If everybody you know has the same problems, I'd be willing to bet that your D* installer in the area isn't doing a good job in setting up the dish's. The signals coming from the satellites are all the same strength.


I'd have to disagree with you, Danny. I've had D* for a little over two years and have had more rain fade than I did with E* in the four years I had them. With D* I have a phase III dish with the signals ranging from mid 80s on the weaker transponders to mid 90s on most. The exceptions are local channels which are on a spotbeam, they're 100. I had a Dish 500 with the signal strength as high as I could tweak it. If I remember that was over 100 out of 125 on the signal meter on all transponders.

Rain fade still isn't much of a problem. It seemed like Dish handled the storms better than DirecTV does. We had to have almost a Biblical deluge to lose signal with Dish and a healthy thunderstorm will make D* fade. The locals do hang in pretty good, though. Maybe D* should change their signal meters to 125 and that would help. Because after all, eleven is louder.


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## jfalkingham (Dec 6, 2005)

Danny R said:


> This has nothing to do with the various services, and everything to do with how carefully your dish was originally aimed at the individual satelites and what signal strength you get.


Exactly! I have my DirecTV dish on a 6' pole, mounted in the ground in the woods in back of my house pointed to get a little sliver of sky between trees for the 101. We get plenty of snow up here, and I have lost signal (that I know of, I don't watch it 24x7) once, during a huge thunder/lightening/rain storm this past summer. I never lose it during a snow storm, hell we got 60" during a 2 day span last year and we did not lose the signal once.

We really should be talking the merits of satellite over cable or IPTV, because either way, you are keeping the satellite industry going. We may have a different debate on our hands when Verizon FiOS and AT&T IPTV get more approvals from municipalities to deploy their service. Seeing what they will be doing, helps understand why DirecTV is going so pro MCE, portable video, etc...


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

i like directv because of nfl sunday ticket/xm

i was with directv for 3 years no problems what so ever


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## videobruce (Aug 13, 2004)

Services and reliability aside, has anyone that has or had both notice any difference in the PQ on either? IOW's, do they both look like compressed smear?


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

videobruce said:


> Services and reliability aside, has anyone that has or had both notice any difference in the PQ on either? IOW's, do they both look like compressed smear?


I had E* for five years, from 2000 - 2005. Within the last three years, I noticed that compression on E* improved to the extent that, depending on the quality of the original source content, picture quality had improved noticeably, with PQ on locals being remarkably improved, and the PQ on _QVC_, my "benchmark" channel for PQ, being the very best.

If you have observed so-called "smear" in recent times, it could well be attributable to the quality of the source program, not the degree of compression dialed in by EchoStar engineers.


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## videobruce (Aug 13, 2004)

> and the PQ on QVC, my "benchmark" channel for PQ, being the very best.


 QVC a "benchmark"?? :grin: Guess they really want to sell you something.

Every satellite service I have seen on every TV looks like smear. A 30 year old Sony Smearitron out of focus.
If they would put up a multiburst pattern, I would be willing to bet the channel couldn't pass 1.5 MHz! 

A beta 3 tape looks better (minus the noise).


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Maybe it's your eyes...? :shrug:


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## videobruce (Aug 13, 2004)

You are absolutely correct.

I can *CLEARLY* see the difference between a 'sharp' image with normal full resolution and one that looks as the upper video frequency is well less than 2 MHz!


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## jrbdmb (Sep 5, 2002)

Picture quality - the only consensus I have seen in multiple threads about PQ between Dish and DirecTV is that (1) Dish tends to be a little less sharp than DirecTV, which may be good or bad depending on your preference, (2) DirecTV PQ noticably degrades during NFL ST. 

Loss of Signal - generally Dish and DirecTV are equal as to strength of signal / rain fade / etc. However, the original poster still could be correct; since the footprints for the D* and E* are different, you could find areas where E* has stonger signals than D* in general; . Or it could be that the D* installer in that area is a hack.


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## videobruce (Aug 13, 2004)

Thanks for the reply, now we are getting someplace.


> Dish tends to be a little less sharp than DirecTV, which may be good or bad depending on your preference


 Why would anyone want anything 'softer' that what it is now?  :nono2:


> NFL ST


 I'm not into sports. What's "ST"?
As far a signal strenght, that's isn't any issue. Just what my eyes see. 
I can't believe so many people pay for that poor of a picture. Yes, there isn't the 'noise' problem associated with cable, but the trade off is worse. On a 13" or maybe a low end or older 19" set, it might not be that bad, anything larger especially a Microdisplay or any HD set, forget it! 
Might as well just watch cartoons...............:lol:

The first time I saw a satellite image I thought the guy had a really bad patch cable leading to the monitor. I changed it and it still looked bad. I connected to to another monitor (composite video on both) and it looked worse. I switched over to cable and it was fine (within the limitations of noise and a RF signal through the tuner, no STB).


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## jrbdmb (Sep 5, 2002)

The "softer" picture of Dish may hide compression artifacts a bit better than DirecTV. Personal preference here.

As for cable vs. satellite ... again up to the viewer's taste. I have limited basic cable along with Dish. I remember flipping between the (analog) cable and satellite versions of a World Series game. The cable version was noisier, and was perhaps a bit less sharp. The satellite picture had virtually no noise, and in a way was a bit sharper (and at least for this channel at this time had no blocky compression artifacts). On the bad side, large areas of grass tended to lose detail and become one big blob on Dish, where the cable signal kept the detail and appearance of grass.


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## videobruce (Aug 13, 2004)

> The "softer" picture of Dish may hide compression artifacts a bit better than DirecTV.


 If I wanted a "softer" picture there is always the 'sharpness' control! Don't short change me out of the box.

Same can be said about speakers that are short on the high and low end. Easier to attenuate then it is to boost.


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## shaysweet (Jan 13, 2006)

cmg925 said:


> Do you think DishNet is better than DirecTv?
> 
> I do because since we got DishNet 2 years ago our reciever has only gone out once and that was during a really bad snow storm... Even while the one reciever the DVR went out the regular 322 kept its hold on the signal so we were still able to watch tv.. When we had DirecTv it went out all the time.. When it rained/snowed/or the wind blew it would go out.. All the people I know who have DirecTv say the same.. All the people I know who have Dish say that their signal holds strong too.. There are alot more things I like about Dish too...


being that i work at dishnetwork i will give my unbiased answer.

sometimes dishnetwork customer have problems with signal just like directv does.. but its all about the installation. sometimes ur dish just needs to be realigned. maybe u had old equipment. i think satellite is satellite. i even heard that dishnetwork rents out their satellites (in space) to directv.. but who knows if thats really true.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

shaysweet said:


> i even heard that dishnetwork rents out their satellites (in space) to directv.. but who knows if thats really true.


It is NOT true. Both E* and D* have their own fleets of satellites independent of each other.

JL


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## shaysweet (Jan 13, 2006)

Danny R said:


> I'm kind of suprised nobody has commented on the original poster's premise that E* has better signal than D*
> 
> This has nothing to do with the various services, and everything to do with how carefully your dish was originally aimed at the individual satelites and what signal strength you get. If everybody you know has the same problems, I'd be willing to bet that your D* installer in the area isn't doing a good job in setting up the dish's. The signals coming from the satellites are all the same strength.


rock on!


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