# Dish vs DirecTV (was ESPNNEWS HD)



## bholtz3 (Feb 22, 2008)

ESPNEWS HD launched today and of course DirecTV is carrying it and not Dish Network. :nono2: Any word out there if/when it'll show up on Dish?


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## 0pusX (Jan 11, 2008)

direct tv has it already?????? i gotta ditch dish this sucks


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## booger (Nov 1, 2005)

0pusX said:


> direct tv has it already?????? i gotta ditch dish this sucks


I must admit I felt the same way until my Dad had Direct installed a week ago. The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming. From here you can see Hd only but if you select a channel then channel up or down, you're back to all the channels again.

The several times I've been over to watch Sci-Fi and USA-HD, I have yet to see actual HD programming. I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I thought there would be more.

I do like their Starz HD pack. With 5 or 6 movie channels in HD, I'd buy it if Dish offered them.

Just overall, I left feeling that I can wait until Dish offers more HD. I just didn't like the feel of it. Now if for some reason I don't get my locals from Dish in May, I may be singing a different song.

Just my 2 cents.


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## rey_1178 (Dec 12, 2007)

booger said:


> I must admit I felt the same way until my Dad had Direct installed a week ago. The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming. From here you can see Hd only but if you select a channel then channel up or down, you're back to all the channels again.
> 
> The several times I've been over to watch Sci-Fi and USA-HD, I have yet to see actual HD programming. I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I thought there would be more.
> 
> ...


yeah i fell the same way for now.


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

booger said:


> I must admit I felt the same way until my Dad had Direct installed a week ago. The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming. From here you can see Hd only but if you select a channel then channel up or down, you're back to all the channels again.
> 
> The several times I've been over to watch Sci-Fi and USA-HD, I have yet to see actual HD programming. I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I thought there would be more.
> 
> ...


I had the opportunity to use a Dish HD DVR for a couple of days, it felt and seemed a little odd to me, although it worked fine. I suppose it is all according to what you get used to.


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## syphix (Jun 23, 2004)

davring said:


> I suppose it is all according to what you get used to.


+1. I had TiVo prior to having Dish Network, and it took a while to get used to the new menus...and I never really did. I moved to DirecTV (and back to TiVo), but then removed the TiVo's in favor of an MPEG2/4 HR20 from DirecTV. I _hated_ it at first, but after a year, it seems easy to use.


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## ZBoomer (Feb 21, 2008)

0pusX said:


> direct tv has it already?????? i gotta ditch dish this sucks


Man, I've only been reading this board for a couple months, but GOD it has the most whiners I've ever seen, by far.

Good lord man, it's a NEWS CHANNEL. Who gives a fly'n F if it's HD. Yeah, it would be OK to be HD, but to raise it to the level of saying you gotta ditch Dish over a News Channel not being HD? Wow, that's all I can say.

I wish folks like this would just freaking get D* and stop whining, wow.

If anyone just read this board and had no idea what's going on they'd think E* just sucks - whining about HD, whining about receivers, whining about EVERY DAMN THING.

Holy crap, go outside and do something. Go camping, go ride your bike, do something. The world is in HD, enjoy it.


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## TulsaOK (Feb 24, 2004)

ZBoomer said:


> Man, I've only been reading this board for a couple months, but GOD it has the most whiners I've ever seen, by far.
> 
> Good lord man, it's a NEWS CHANNEL. Who gives a fly'n F if it's HD. Yeah, it would be OK to be HD, but to raise it to the level of saying you gotta ditch Dish over a News Channel not being HD? Wow, that's all I can say.
> 
> ...


:righton:


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## peak_reception (Feb 10, 2008)

> Good lord man, it's a NEWS CHANNEL. Who gives a fly'n F if it's HD.


I give a fly-n F. News channels are more than just talking heads. I may be in a minority but I'm hoping that CNN HD is coming soon too. HDNews on VOOM is quite stunning visually but they cycle such little content so frequently that you can watch for about 10 minutes and see everything they've got for a whole hour.

ESPN News OTOH is bursting with content and it will be a pleasure to view HD sport highlights otherwise unseen.

For example, yesterday I recorded the basketball game between Kansas and Davidson. Last night I watched it and it was a fantastic game! Only problem was, I neglected to extend the end time and the recording ran out before the game ended. So I missed the all important last five minutes. Ugh. Yeah it was my own fault but it would've been nice to then tune into ESPNews and catch the highlights of that ending in HD. Sure I still get to see who won, but it's underwhelming in SD by comparison.

So ESPNews will be a welcome addition to the DISH line-up in my book when it's added. Same with CNN HD (fingers crossed).



> If anyone just read this board and had no idea what's going on they'd think E* just sucks - whining about HD, whining about receivers, whining about EVERY DAMN THING.


I don't think there's a lot of whining about DISH receivers. It's generally agreed that DISH receivers, and the DVRs in particular, are top drawer. Now, if we have them shut down by court order via the TIVO litigation, that'll be a problem. No one expects that though.



> Holy crap, go outside and do something. Go camping, go ride your bike, do something. The world is in HD, enjoy it.


Sure the world is in HD. How much of it can you run around and see in person? 
Most of us don't have that kind of money. HDTV is the next best thing which is why there's so much buzz about it.


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## up north trip (Mar 11, 2008)

ZBoomer said:


> Good lord man, it's a NEWS CHANNEL. Who gives a fly'n F if it's HD.


Wrong. It's a 24/7 sports highlight channel. Many, many people got HDTV's especially for sports, including myself.


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## Hound (Mar 20, 2005)

booger said:


> Just overall, I left feeling that I can wait until Dish offers more HD. I just didn't like the feel of it. Now if for some reason I don't get my locals from Dish in May, I may be singing a different song.
> 
> Just my 2 cents.


I have had D* since Jan 19th. Two HR 21s. Still have E* HD only with a 622 and 722.

I have the Starz HD pack but will not continue with it because I do not watch it. Very happy with D*. HD PQ same as E*. No discernable difference. It all comes down to getting the programming you want. Got to watch the Devils Rangers Islanders and Knicks in HD for three months. Well worth it to me. MLB EI in HD starts today. Almost every game in HD. I do not understand why E* did not get MLB EI through In Demand after last year's negotiations did not work out in their favor. Just because D* has better terms?


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## steve053 (May 11, 2007)

booger said:


> I must admit I felt the same way until my Dad had Direct installed a week ago. The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming. From here you can see Hd only but if you select a channel then channel up or down, you're back to all the channels again...


On the DirecTv HR2x you can create a favorite list, there is also a setting that will default to only HD channels on the guide. You can make the HD only channels the default setting OR you can do the Menu 2x like you indicated.


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## bartendress (Oct 8, 2007)

rey_1178 said:


> yeah i fell the same way for now.


I hope you weren't hurt too badly.


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## 0pusX (Jan 11, 2008)

ZBoomer said:


> Holy crap, go outside and do something. Go camping, go ride your bike, do something. The world is in HD, enjoy it.


I have no problems going out to go fishing, golfing, walking etc..... too bad its 40 degrees and raining/sleeting here today. Not everyone lives it the perfect climate year round. here in michigan we get snow Dec-March.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

booger said:


> The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming.


If sorting by HD channels is that important, you can have the 'categories' guide come up first, instead of the grid guide... In the categories guide, HDTV channels are at the bottom, so one press of the channel down button would jump down to the bottom... then hit select...

so it's actually 3 key presses to have an HD channel only guide... and a favorites list is not necessary....


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## PCampbell (Nov 18, 2006)

booger said:


> I must admit I felt the same way until my Dad had Direct installed a week ago. The receiver I didn't like the menu's, how to access HD. With my 622 I can hit guide and access my HD then channel up only through those HD channels. Not with Direct's. You have to create a favorite list and remove all the channels you want. If you hit guide twice you thumb down 5 or 6 times to HD programming. From here you can see Hd only but if you select a channel then channel up or down, you're back to all the channels again.
> 
> The several times I've been over to watch Sci-Fi and USA-HD, I have yet to see actual HD programming. I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I thought there would be more.
> 
> ...


Set to hide SD dup channels then enter the same channel number as the SD channel, it cant get any simpler.


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## gmw1 (Nov 15, 2007)

> I have had D* since Jan 19th. Two HR 21s. Still have E* HD only with a 622 and 722.
> 
> I have the Starz HD pack but will not continue with it because I do not watch it. Very happy with D*. HD PQ same as E*.


Why do DirecTV and Dish customers insist on using the E* and D* acronyms? I am NOT a satellite customer, but am considering a switch from cable. However, these coded references are confusing to those of us who are not yet in the loop. I can never remember which service is a reference to DirecTV and which one is short for Dish.

Why not simply use the two names the services actually are known by?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

gmw1 said:


> Why do DirecTV and Dish customers insist on using the E* and D* acronyms? I am NOT a satellite customer, but am considering a switch from cable. However, these coded references are confusing to those of us who are not yet in the loop. I can never remember which service is a reference to DirecTV and which one is short for Dish.
> 
> Why not simply use the two names the services actually are known by?


I have to say I agree with you here. Dish is a very short word... DirecTV is not much longer. I happen to dislike abbreviations in general anyway... but especially in situations where they are easily confusing. The immediate newbie seeing "D*" doesn't know what to think... and even some older-timers have to think for a moment to understand that "E*" works for Dish because of Echostar, but then one could argue with the split of Dish and Echostar into two entities recently that acronym is not as appropriate as it once was either.


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