# Dish vs Directv



## jagowar (Jan 8, 2008)

I know this has never been done before but I have been away from TV services for a while now and am looking at coming back. Have had both dish and directv in the past but has been years. 

I am looking for a basic hd package and adding hbo to it (at120 for dish and choice for directv). From my research it looks like dish is quite a bit cheaper than directv (esp after the contract pricing) with similar equipment whole home dvr and 2 extra tv's. But for the savings it seems the lineup is more spotty (missing espnu hd, amc, etc). You would assume that would eventually come back but there is no telling. Also kinda like the idea of the primetime anytime service but no telling how long that would last either.

I am also interested in the remote access apps for each platform and being able to stream when away from my home. It seems they are roughly on par but do things in different ways although dish seems to be a bit ahead currently.

Anybody had both recently and can give some preferences on both with the current crop of technology.


----------



## DanB_DISH (Jan 9, 2011)

We would love to sign you up as a new customer. There are a few things you may want to consider for your set up. Our remote access app will allow you to view all of your DVR content including your recorded content. My current understanding may be outdated but I believe you cannot access your recordings with Directv's remote access. Another factor to take into consideration is the amount of live feeds you need. Under our current business rules, if you are servicing 3 TVs we can only set you up with one Hopper and two Joeys. This set up will allow you to view or record 3 live feeds at one time. However, with the PTAT feature you can record the ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX feeds on one tuner during prime time. This feature only works if we carry all four of those local networks in HD. Feel free to private message me if you have any questions!


----------



## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

"jagowar" said:


> I know this has never been done before but I have been away from TV services for a while now and am looking at coming back. Have had both dish and directv in the past but has been years.
> 
> I am looking for a basic hd package and adding hbo to it (at120 for dish and choice for directv). From my research it looks like dish is quite a bit cheaper than directv (esp after the contract pricing) with similar equipment whole home dvr and 2 extra tv's. But for the savings it seems the lineup is more spotty (missing espnu hd, amc, etc). You would assume that would eventually come back but there is no telling. Also kinda like the idea of the primetime anytime service but no telling how long that would last either.
> 
> ...


Well, there are a few issues to be aware of:

1. DirecTV has a history of adding channels, while Dish has a history of dropping them and ending up in court.

2. DirecTV offers superior HD picture quality, while Dish Network utilizes HD-LIte and other methods that result in degraded HD picture quality.

3. DirecTV offers more HD channels than Dish.

They are certainly not on par. DirecTV is the #1 satellite provider by a very large margin. Dish Network once offered their service for free and no one showed up! Made for a very embarrassing event! Haha! I'd rank them right there with your rural telecom providers.


----------



## smitbret (Mar 27, 2011)

Hoosier205 said:


> Well, there are a few issues to be aware of:
> 
> 1. DirecTV has a history of adding channels, while Dish has a history of dropping them and ending up in court.
> 
> ...


I had Dish for six years, prior to signing up with DirecTV two years ago and I can honestly say that is a nice PR spin.

1 - Both Dish and DirecTV have to deal with carriage renewals and contract disputes with programming providers. DirecTV is a little more succesful at getting these negotiations done than Dish without losing programming. They have both lost channels and both add channels regularly. Dish just tends to be more stubborn in negotiations or DirecTVs lawyers are better. Either way, that's one reason DirecTV costs a bit more.

2 - Neither provider has PQ that would rival anything that would be as good as a Blu-Ray or even a good OTA broadcast. Dish and DirecTV both take MPEG-2 encoded broadcasts from local providers and further compress those signals with h264/Mpeg-4 to about 1/4 of their original bandwidth.

Since 2007, Dish downconverts all 1920x1080i broadcasts to 1440x1080i. 95% of Dish's customers (or anyone else's for that matter) won't notice the difference and will actually appreciate the availability of add'l channels because of the resultant available bandwidth. Dish is hardly the only provider that practices this. Interestingly, many of your high action sports/channels (ESPN, Fox, ABC, etc.) are natively broadcast in 1280x720. In general, you'd have to have a TV larger than 55" and sit closer than 9 feet to be able to resolve the difference with the human eye.

3 - DirecTV may offer more channels, but it doesn't mean they are channels you want. If you're not sports fan, you don't care if MLB Extra Innings and the Regional sports networks are in HD. In fact, until the last few months, Dish had some pretty serious channels in HD that Direct didn't (BBC, AMC, etc.) Dish has since lost AMC entirely, but see point #1 for that. The only way to know is to look at the channel lineups and see what fits your needs.

I loved Dish the entire time I had it. I left for 2 reasons:

1 - ESPNU was not offered in HD on Dish
2 - It was cheaper to set up 4 different rooms in my new house with DirecTV than it was to get add'l boxes from Dish. Whole Home was an addition that i didn't know about at the time and now that I've had it, I'm not sure I could live without it. Dish's Hopper does this pretty well, but doesn't offer enough tuners to do the job I need, so I am better off with multiple DirecTV DVRs on a whole-home setup.

Just do a little homework and don't be afraid to ask questions.


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Yeah, in this kind of question, you are bound to get at least one post that seems a bit fanboyish! 

I've had both Dish and Direct and have been pleased overall with both services. I would not hesitate to recommend either service if they had the channels I wanted and the price was right.

The picture quality on Direct in HD is slightly better, but as noted some of those sports and other channels are in 720p, so not a big deal imo. Of course, if you are very picky about HD PQ and have a very big screen and really good eyes, you might see the difference. But I can tell you that after a couple days it isn't even something to comment about.

Currently Direct not only has more HD channels, they have more of the ones you might find interesting, which all depends on what you like to watch. In Premiums like HBO, Showtime and others, Direct has more of them in HD than does Dish.

For the 1st two years for a new or returning customer, the cost of Direct will be either very close or slightly less than Dish. But after that Dish will generally be cheaper.

Once you decide on which service best fits your needs, then consider where you get it. Here's a couple of reasons not to use Dish or Direct from them, but from a local retailer that does his own installations.

1. With Direct, only the HR34 (aka HMC) is guaranteed to be what goes to you if you want one, otherwise the HDDVRs will be whatever is on the truck. And despite Direct's insistence they are all the same, they surely are not!

2. With Dish, if you order from them, you will note that the Dish rep here has said you can only get 1 Hopper with 2 Joeys. If you want to have 2 Hoppers to get more full time tuner availability, then you have to go to a local retailer that does his own installs to get it configured that way.

Here's what I would start with. Go to each of their websites and configure a system with what you want, including equipment and subscriptions. Then compare the prices to see which makes more sense for you.


----------



## jagowar (Jan 8, 2008)

lparsons21 said:


> Here's what I would start with. Go to each of their websites and configure a system with what you want, including equipment and subscriptions. Then compare the prices to see which makes more sense for you.


That's what I did.... really is a somewhat hard decision for me. I am going for the lower end of the packages regardless..... really seems like a battle between espnU and AMC for me and the dish hopper vs dtv whole home dvr. To me dish has the better technology with the primetime anytime and sling adapter (which I would use quite a bit esp if they ever get good pc apps).

AT120 has espnU (but only SD although I would think hd will come eventually).... not available on dtv entertainment package (would have to bump up to choice which would mean a pretty large difference in price).

On the amc side there is a question about if/when amc comes back will it be on at120.... as I understand it amc was on at200 package before.

To me otherwise both the entertainment and at120 packages have generally the same lineup.


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

I wouldn't give the thought of AMC coming back soon to Dish any part of the decision. Assume it won't and go from there. Then if it does come back you can be pleasantly surprised.

The Hopper/Joey combo is a good one, as is the DirecTV HR34 and receivers or the new RVU box.

I'm with Direct because my son wants NFLST and Direct gave me some discounts to keep Premium too. No reason to change, or at least not enough.


----------



## Jimmy 440 (Nov 17, 2007)

I've got it for sports and have never looked back.If your into sports, DirecTv is the way to go !!


----------



## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

"smitbret" said:


> DirecTV is a little more succesful at getting these negotiations done than Dish without losing programming..


A little more? Not even in the same league.


----------



## Ira Lacher (Apr 24, 2002)

It's been my observation that DirecTV seems to treat carriage disputes as a business challenge while DISH Network's CEO seems to take it personally and thus injects an edgier atmosphere into negotiations, which always makes it harder to reach an amicable decision in a shorter period.


----------



## kick4fun (Aug 9, 2006)

Hoosier205 said:


> Well, there are a few issues to be aware of:
> 
> 1. DirecTV has a history of adding channels, while Dish has a history of dropping them and ending up in court.
> 
> ...


This says it all.. :nono2: Can you say Fanboy?


----------



## kick4fun (Aug 9, 2006)

Jimmy 440 said:


> I've got it for sports and have never looked back.If your into sports, DirecTv is the way to go !!


Unless you want the PAC12 Networks..


----------



## kick4fun (Aug 9, 2006)

DanB_DISH said:


> We would love to sign you up as a new customer. There are a few things you may want to consider for your set up. Our remote access app will allow you to view all of your DVR content including your recorded content. My current understanding may be outdated but I believe you cannot access your recordings with Directv's remote access. Another factor to take into consideration is the amount of live feeds you need. Under our current business rules, if you are servicing 3 TVs we can only set you up with one Hopper and two Joeys. This set up will allow you to view or record 3 live feeds at one time. However, with the PTAT feature you can record the ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX feeds on one tuner during prime time. This feature only works if we carry all four of those local networks in HD. Feel free to private message me if you have any questions!


Where can I see the Hopper in Person? I live in Fort Collins and have only seen older equipment at the local Radio Shack


----------



## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

kick4fun said:


> Where can I see the Hopper in Person? I live in Fort Collins and have only seen older equipment at the local Radio Shack


They might not know which retailer would have a setup in their showroom, or even if they have a showroom.

But here's a link that might help you:
http://www.yellowpages.com/fort-collins-co/dish-network

It looks like there are quite a few in the area, give them a call and see which one has the setup to show.


----------



## Curtis0620 (Apr 22, 2002)

kick4fun said:


> Unless you want the PAC12 Networks..


DISH has them in HD now?


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Curtis0620 said:


> DISH has them in HD now?


Yes. Game only like the other RSNs.


----------



## ewingr (May 18, 2005)

smitbret said:


> 2 - Neither provider has PQ that would rival anything that would be as good as a Blu-Ray or even a good OTA broadcast. Dish and DirecTV both take MPEG-2 encoded broadcasts from local providers and further compress those signals with h264/Mpeg-4 to about 1/4 of their original bandwidth.
> 
> Since 2007, Dish downconverts all 1920x1080i broadcasts to 1440x1080i. 95% of Dish's customers (or anyone else's for that matter) won't notice the difference and will actually appreciate the availability of add'l channels because of the resultant available bandwidth. Dish is hardly the only provider that practices this. Interestingly, many of your high action sports/channels (ESPN, Fox, ABC, etc.) are natively broadcast in 1280x720. In general, you'd have to have a TV larger than 55" and sit closer than 9 feet to be able to resolve the difference with the human eye..


I've had Dish since 2003. Since 2004 I had been playing through a 720P projector, and had been very happy wiht PQ. PLayinig on a 92" screen.

About 2 months ago I upgraded to a 1080 projector. What is interesting is that the PQ across various channels in fact varies. Some are excellent. Some are pretty poor. Some even show pixelation.

I have the Hopper, and I love it. Right now I wouldn't change from the Hopper to get better PQ, as a larger percentage is fine.

But once my commitment to them due to getting the Hopper runs out, I may consider moving to DirectTV. But it will depend on the functionality they offer then compared to the Hopper. Here is what I like about the Hopper:


Small Joeys
independent viewing in 3 different rooms.
Prime Time Anywhere
Autohop


----------



## smitbret (Mar 27, 2011)

ewingr said:


> I've had Dish since 2003. Since 2004 I had been playing through a 720P projector, and had been very happy wiht PQ. PLayinig on a 92" screen.
> 
> About 2 months ago I upgraded to a 1080 projector. What is interesting is that the PQ across various channels in fact varies. Some are excellent. Some are pretty poor. Some even show pixelation.
> 
> ...


Well, DirecTV's Genie is the closest thing to the Hopper/Joey. It can provide independent viewing in up to 9 rooms, of which 4 may be in use at any one time. The remote room will run off of a small Client that you can hide out of sight like the Joey and uses RF remote signals. DirecTV has the Genie Recommends system which is a lot like TiVo where it tracks what you watch and record and makes recommendations.

The system does have 2 more tuners than the Hopper/Joey system, but lacks Prime Time Anywhere and Autohop. I wouldn't count on anything like Autohop from DirecTV since they seem to think more in line with their service providers than Dish does. I would expect something similar from DirecTV for the PrimeTime Anywhere if it continues to be popular with the Dish crowd.

Personally, the tuner limitations of the Hopper/Joey would keep me from using it. If they ever open it up to multiple Joeys, I might have to go all in.


----------



## ewingr (May 18, 2005)

My daughter mentioned last night something that Direct has that sounds nice. Apparently you can do a search of past programs, and stream them down.


----------



## TMan (Oct 31, 2007)

Does Autohop really not work the same evening those programs were recorded? I've read that the feature isn't allowed on a given program until after 1am Eastern time following its recording.


----------



## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

That is my understanding.


----------



## TMan (Oct 31, 2007)

Are they trying to throw a bone to the networks with the same-evening delay, or is there some technical reason? 

I hope Dish doesn't have people in the back room reviewing all those programs as they air, noting the exact times of the commercial breaks, and punching that into a computer to be sent out to all the Hoppers to tell them what portions of the recordings to omit. Okay, I'm being facetious there. Mostly.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I've had programs autohop less than an hour after they air. When Autohop was first introduced it was an after 1am thing ... but now it can be earlier.


----------

