# Would appreciate info from someone that used to have DirecTV



## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

I've been a DirecTV customer for 9 years. I've been growing increasingly tired of the slowness of their HD DVR (both the HR20 and HR22). Mainly the menus and keypress responses is what I have an issue with. Since they recently hiked the prices, and no longer have VS, I have been seriously considering converting to Dish. Have any of you converted from a DirecTV HR20 or HR22, to a VIP722? Can you give me some feedback on the speed of the VIP722 vs the DirecTV stuff? Any other observations would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dave


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## dakeeney (Aug 30, 2004)

Maybe I can help you. I was a DTV customer for four years and got tired of the slow rollout of HD. I made the switch to Dish and so far I'm very happy. I don't have any audio dropouts or pixelation as I had with DTV. So far the
722K has performed flawlessly and is faster than DTV's dvr's. Some of the picture quality seems to better but that's all in the eye of the beholder. Some may not see any difference at all. Hope this helps.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

That does help. Are you comparing the speed of the unit to that of a DirecTV HD DVR? Or to other DTV receivers? I guess since the HD DVRs are the slowest of the bunch, you saying it is faster is all that really matters. 

Thanks,
Dave


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## altidude (Jan 13, 2010)

I just switched from D* to Dish yesterday, primarily for Versus.

I can't compare the D* HD DVR but the Dish 722k that I have now is at least as responsive as the Series 1 Tivo I'm coming from. The Dish DVR takes some getting used to but so far it's much better than I expected. At least as nice as the Tivo in my opinion. No complaints from my wife so that is worth at least two thumbs up.

There are some really good tips here for using the Dish DVR. Timers vs. DishPASS helped me most. I would have set up all my programs with DishPASS if I hadn't read here about timers.

I can compare only SD to SD picture quality, but I think Dish picture quality is better.


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## Jhon69 (Mar 28, 2006)

altidude said:


> I just switched from D* to Dish yesterday, primarily for Versus.
> 
> I can't compare the D* HD DVR but the Dish 722k that I have now is at least as responsive as the Series 1 Tivo I'm coming from. The Dish DVR takes some getting used to but so far it's much better than I expected. At least as nice as the Tivo in my opinion. No complaints from my wife so that is worth at least two thumbs up.
> 
> ...


It is because Dish SD is 544x480i.


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## butters (Sep 25, 2007)

All I can say is that my Dad just got Direct with 2 HD-DVRs about 6 months ago and when I came down to visit for a week I couldn't believe how slow the remote response was. I actually thought something was wrong until I did some research. It drove me crazy.


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## huskerhead (Oct 27, 2002)

Left Directv 6 months ago in favor of Dish and their 722k HD DVR's. Directv's HDDVR's are so much slower than the 722k and I no longer have any audio or video dropouts like I had constantly with Directv (what did everyone call it? Briips or something). Love Dish but am concerned with the upcoming price increase as I have two 722k's and am not sure how much of an increase I will see.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

I switched from the HR20 to the 722 over a year ago and am thrilled. I do still get pixilation and sound dropouts on CBS only. I've compared the CBS off air feed to the Dish feed and the problem is only with the Dish feed. Strange. Other than that I love Dish vs "D".


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## peano (Feb 1, 2004)

The Dish Network 722 and 722k HD PVRs are far superior to the HR series in every single way.

Unfortunately, if you have more than one, you have to pay $17 a month extra for each one after the first. With that in mind, I would stick with DirecTV if you want more than one receiver.


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## dodgeboy (Sep 15, 2007)

peano said:


> The Dish Network 722 and 722k HD PVRs are far superior to the HR series in every single way.
> 
> Unfortunately, if you have more than one, you have to pay $17 a month extra for each one after the first. With that in mind, I would stick with DirecTV if you want more than one receiver.


Very good info. Does that apply only to HD DVRs with Dish? I only need an SD DVR as my second receiver...


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## peano (Feb 1, 2004)

Single Tuner SD DVR is $10. Dual tuner SD DVR is $17.

I would go with a 211K HD receiver and add an external hard drive to make it a DVR. $7 per month plus a one time $39.99 charge to activate the EHD feature.


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## CABill (Mar 20, 2005)

dodgeboy said:


> I only need an SD DVR as my second receiver...


No DirecTV or HRxx experience (except renting houses at the ocean), but you *MIGHT* be able to get by with just a 722k and use its TV2 coax for whatever you were going to feed with the 2nd receiver. That won't cost you extra, but if you needed two sat tuners to record at each location, already have some use for the TV2 output, don't want to share with the front room, ... it might not be a good pick. If the 2nd DVR was for the master bedroom and you and the wife could get by "sharing" the DVR in the front room, it works great for us to pause/stop the playback at the main TV and just resume it in bed. You are probably aware that the independent TV2 output of the 722 is different from DirecTV - just wanted to make sure.


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## RVRambler (Dec 5, 2004)

dodgeboy said:


> I've been a DirecTV customer for 9 years. I've been growing increasingly tired of the slowness of their HD DVR (both the HR20 and HR22). Mainly the menus and keypress responses is what I have an issue with. Since they recently hiked the prices, and no longer have VS, I have been seriously considering converting to Dish. Have any of you converted from a DirecTV HR20 or HR22, to a VIP722? Can you give me some feedback on the speed of the VIP722 vs the DirecTV stuff? Any other observations would also be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dave


Do not forget that Dish does not have HD locals of CW or PBS (for most areas) if this is a concern. Also, distant locals thru Dish are impossible, in case you take a camping trip/etc for any length of time where locals may not be available via antenna.

On the other hand, Dish is cheaper (at least for now)!!


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## bgothard72 (Oct 25, 2007)

I had been with Directv for over 4 years and I made the switch and I have never looked back. My 722k took only a few min to get used to and I was so happy I made the switch. The HD DVR is so much faster than the Directv HD DVR's! You will not be sorry if you switch!


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## joshjr (Aug 2, 2008)

bgothard72 said:


> I had been with Directv for over 4 years and I made the switch and I have never looked back. My 722k took only a few min to get used to and I was so happy I made the switch. The HD DVR is so much faster than the Directv HD DVR's! You will not be sorry if you switch!


Not if hardware is all you are interested in that is.


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## dcbag (Oct 1, 2006)

After 10 years with Direct I switched to Dish 2 years ago, because Dish was more cost effective, at that time I would say Direct had the sharper HD quality, don't know about now. Maybe the 722 I have works better than the HR20 I had, don't have any issues with 722, but didn't have any with the HR20 either, having said all that I still miss all the extra features of the HR20. The 722 is much more basic but a lot of repeats to do what simple features it has. If I could get the same programing from Directv at the same cost as Dish I would change back in a heart beat. Of course I could for the first year, but then in the 2nd year cost would be over $20 more. Just my opinions!


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

dodgeboy said:


> I've been a DirecTV customer for 9 years. I've been growing increasingly tired of the slowness of their HD DVR (both the HR20 and HR22). Mainly the menus and keypress responses is what I have an issue with. Since they recently hiked the prices, and no longer have VS, I have been seriously considering converting to Dish. Have any of you converted from a DirecTV HR20 or HR22, to a VIP722? Can you give me some feedback on the speed of the VIP722 vs the DirecTV stuff? Any other observations would also be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dave


Welcome to Dishnetwork


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