# Is Dish HD Worth it



## Austin316 (Dec 9, 2007)

I know I asked quite a few questions lately but this one is of personal prefence. 

Do you feel that you are getting your moneys worth out of DishHD for the 20 bucks a month they want plus 6 dollar HD enabling fee plus 6 dollar dvr fee.?

I am really on the edge and trying to balance it all out.


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## Gilitar (Aug 1, 2004)

There is no $6 HD enable fee if you subscribe to the HD pack... right?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Austin316 said:


> Do you feel that you are getting your moneys worth out of DishHD for the 20 bucks a month they want plus 6 dollar HD enabling fee plus 6 dollar dvr fee.?


Technically your question isn't accurate.

No one pays both the $20 HD fee and the $6 enabling fee. You pay the $6 fee if you don't want any HD channels from Dish. I don't know why anyone would want the HD receiver and not want the HD channels... but there you go.

The other fee you mention is the $5.98 per DVR fee for certain DVRs (like the ViP722 for instance). If you don't want a DVR, you can get a ViP211 or ViP222 and not have the $5.98 DVR fee. You could also have a DVR and subscribe to America's "Everything" package and have no DVR that way too.

All that said...

Right now I have no problem with what I am paying for the HD I am getting with Dish. Nobody else offers me more for cheaper. DirecTV offers more for about the same price, but I have no reason to think Dish will not eventually catch up in number of channels... and especially with the writer's strike going on, there isn't much new HD being produced at the moment so I can be patient.


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## Austin316 (Dec 9, 2007)

just a question about the hd enable fee 6.00 is that replace the 5.00 addition reciever fee or additional. 

Yeah I would want a dvr I cant live with out them now. Had a 7200 may it rest in piece, and currently have a 301. 501, 721 

figure I would remove the 301 and add the 722 or what ever HD DVR they can give me under the current promotion.


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## RTE (Aug 26, 2007)

It is worth it to see the beauty of HD that you can't experience in SD. Should we ever see increases in that Cost? Hell, NO! That price is enough for permanent entry, no more is due. As they add available channels to HD, you should get them if they are in your subscriptions. 

Of course if you are happy with quality of picture now and aren't an innovator, you can wait til more channels are added in HD. 

I can remember paying $750 for my first VCR in 1979 and my first hand held calculator cost me $375 in 1972. I couldn't wait and I enjoyed each purchase.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Austin316 said:


> just a question about the hd enable fee 6.00 is that replace the 5.00 addition reciever fee or additional.


There is a $6 lease fee for HD leased receivers (or a $6 additional receiver fee if you owned it). I'm not sure how things work now, especially with upgrades... but some packages include the 1st receiver in the package price.. so you may or may not have a $6 lease/receiver fee to go along with a $6 enabling fee.


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## jrb531 (May 29, 2004)

HDMe said:


> I don't know why anyone would want the HD receiver and not want the HD channels... but there you go.


I did it for over a year. The 622/722 is one great box and the extra recording space well worth the $6. It's kind of funny that some of us can justify that bogus $6 DVR fee "per" box but we cannot justify an extra $6 for the 622/722 with all the extra recording space.

Just shows you how we each have different priorities 

-JB


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## TechnoCat (Sep 4, 2005)

Leaving all the baggage out of this, yes, I feel that the extra cost for "HD" is worth it. The image is much better than Dish SD, which was better than Comcast SD. Don't know of Dish HD == Comcast HD, and don't care since comcast isn't really a current option for me.

Living north of Seattle, my only gripe is that the Voom stations are often flakey due to low signal. Which makes it hard to follow the character development and plotline of the zombie movies on the MonsterHD channel.


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## maddog2727 (Aug 22, 2007)

In question to your $6 fee:

You pay $5 for any additional receiver on your account, $6 if it's an HD receiver

You pay a $6 enabling fee if you have HD equipment, but no HD programming. This is my current set up as it's much more expensive to upgrade than just get it when you sign up.

As for value, that's up to your personal preference. While DirecTV may have more channels in "HD", how much of the programming is true HD anyhow.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

im cool with the price, just wish we had all the HD channels D* has for the same price...or is it cheaper now?


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## DStroyer (May 9, 2007)

maddog2727 said:


> You pay a $6 enabling fee if you have HD equipment, but no HD programming.


If I ever need to cut $14/month out of my budget and decide to drop HD but keep my 622 and pay the $6 fee, can I still receive/record - and get guide data for - OTA HD locals?


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## Hound (Mar 20, 2005)

Austin316 said:


> I know I asked quite a few questions lately but this one is of personal prefence.
> 
> Do you feel that you are getting your moneys worth out of DishHD for the 20 bucks a month they want plus 6 dollar HD enabling fee plus 6 dollar dvr fee.?
> 
> I am really on the edge and trying to balance it all out.


Its only worth it, if you are getting all the HD channels that you want. For example,
if you want an HD RSN and E* does not have it, but you can get it from another
provider, then it is not worth it.


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## baudilus (Jun 13, 2007)

TechnoCat said:


> Don't know of Dish HD == Comcast HD, and don't care since comcast isn't really a current option for me.


From experience I can tell you that the difference is negligible - plus the VOOM channels are interesting to watch every now and then.


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## jrb531 (May 29, 2004)

DStroyer said:


> If I ever need to cut $14/month out of my budget and decide to drop HD but keep my 622 and pay the $6 fee, can I still receive/record - and get guide data for - OTA HD locals?


Yes


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

What get me is that on this site and at the dish network site, it says that HD locals are included if you subscribe to locals.

Stop saying that. HD locals are NOT included for no added charge -- You must pay $6 per month for HD. So it's misleading. It would be accurate to say HD locals are included when you subscribe to locals AND pay the $6 per month HD fee.

In this thread http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=106841&highlight=hd+locals+cost+dish a poster asks specifically about the cost of HD locals and the reply is, "If you pay for your SD locals then the HD locals are free of charge." There are numerous replies, but no one corrected the misleading reply. And I don't care that you say how wonderful HD is, the point is a question was asked about the cost of HD locals and inaccurate information was given.

The EKB is also misleading on this topic. I didn't read anything about a $6 monthly HD fee on that site, but if it's there I apologize in advance. However, this page http://ekb.dbstalk.com/hdlocal.htm includes the following misleading statement, "As clarified on the February 2006 Tech Forum, if HD locals are available they are included at no extra cost when you subscribe to the standard locals." Again, you need to append to the end of that sentence, "and pay a $6 monthly HD fee".

The dish website is no better. The locals qualification page lists locals in HD. I see now that the fee is connected to the HD "receiver", but it doesn't change the fact that in order to get HD locals there is an extra monthly fee over what I'm currently paying. I just bought an HD receiver on ebay wanting to get only HD locals and everything else in just SD since my small town only has PBS in HD. I thought it would be a cheap way to get some more HD channels since we get the family pack plus locals. Now I find out that it's an extra $6 a month for HD locals. I wish I had known that beforehand.

And it really chaps me that I did try to research this purchase and went to a site that usually gives excellent information, but this time DBSTalk disappointed me.

Lee


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

lee635 said:


> What get me is that on this site and at the dish network site, it says that HD locals are included if you subscribe to locals.
> 
> Stop saying that. HD locals are NOT included for no added charge -- You must pay $6 per month for HD. So it's misleading. It would be accurate to say HD locals are included when you subscribe to locals AND pay the $6 per month HD fee.


Perhaps it is just semantics... but the HD locals are in fact free as long as you subscribe to the SD locals and have one of the ViP receivers.

That $6 HD enabling fee for the ViP receivers is something you must pay if you don't subscribe to the $20 DishHD pack, and is completely independant of subscribing to locals. For example, you could have a ViP622 and pay the $6 enabling fee because it is required when you drop your HD package... BUT you also choose to drop the $5 locals package and you will not get SD or HD locals. You would still get HBO/SHO/MAX/Starz HD if you subscribe to those premiums and access to the PPVHD channels with the $6 enabling fee though.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

lee635, as I started reading your post, I realized that needed to be clarified on the EKB page. Then I got to ¶4. No apology necessary, I take corrections publicly or by e-mail. This way we all learn something.

Besides, I've been waiting too long to update that page, so if there are no markets to add it may as well be a bit more informative.

Look for the change later this morning.


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