# Moving to new house, deciding between Dish & DirecTV: Best Deals and Best ways to sign up?



## RockySC

Alright guys, this is my first post but I've been doing a ton of research on this before posting for the first time. Long story short, we are moving from an apartment where we are essentially forced into using Charter for internet and TV and I hate it. We are moving to a house, and while Charter internet is our only option for the speed we want, I'm ditching it for TV. I hate the service, it glitches all the time, and the DVR feels like ancient technology. Not to mention there are channels we don't get on Charter that we can get in the equivilent types of packages on both Dish and DirecTV, and we could do it for less.

I don't mean to start a Dish vs. DirecTV thread, that isn't really my intention. I have checked out both and I'm leaning towards Dish because I had it growing up and the prices and of course the Hopper w/sling technology is very interesting to me. Here are a few things I'm wondering about...

-What I am more looking for is just what should I be paying after any hidden fees?

-Is the DIsh offer where you get it cheaper for a period of time or get the free iPad 2 offer that great of a deal?

-What is the best way to sign up? Online, over the phone, or in person in a store at a kiosk or another kind of retail location?

I'm going in fresh, I've never had DIsh or DirecTV in my name before so I'm a totally new customer. I'm just looking for a bit of guidence on the above topics and whatever else you can think of.

Thanks in advance!


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## dpeters11

If you record a lot of primetime network programming, a Hopper may be the way to go. For more flexibility on recording more than 3 things at once outside of that (without getting a second Hopper), the Genie may be a better option.

For DirecTV, the best deals usually are the referral discount, you and the referrer gets $10 off for 10 months, at one point the AAA discount was pretty good as well. Make sure to follow their procedure, there usually is a special URL or phone number to call. That is required.


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## Curtis0620

See which providor has the channels you want, and in HD.


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## lparsons21

Curtis0620 said:


> See which providor has the channels you want, and in HD.


Absolutely agree! We can argue and fuss and feud about the hardware and how well it works or doesn't, but if the shows/channels you want in HD aren't there, it doesn't matter.

Both services hardware works well with differences in how they work and approaches to controls. But both are producing pretty damned good equipment these days and I sure wouldn't let the equipment be much of a consideration.

As to Dish's sign up discount vs iPad deal. I think most would take the discount deal and that is what my local retailer sees from his store also. But if you really, really want an iPad 2...


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## APB101

Curtis0620 said:


> See which providor has the channels you want, and in HD.


This is also my answer to your question as well, *RockySC*.

If all you care about is the costs&#8230;the programming won't matter. And that may be inviting a different discussion outside the topic of this thread.


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## RockySC

Thanks for the responses so far guys.

Both Dish and DTV are fine for me. I would be perfectly happy with either programming lineup and equipment. My main concern is simply signing up the correct way. I want to make sure that I get the best bang for my buck as a new customer no matter which one I go with. I don't have anything against either one of them, I'm totally neutral when it comes to that.

I like Dish because I've used Dish in the past and I love the concept of the Hopper, although I'm not sure how often I'd use PTAT.

I like DTV because they have a few channels in HD that Dish doens't such as ESPNU HD. The Genie looks interesting as well.

Whichever I go with, I just want to make sure I sign up in a way that I take advantage of the best possible deal, that's all.


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## inkahauts

How many tvs will you have? How many people in the house? A lot or only a little that overlap that you all watch. 

Pac12 important at all?

If ptat is something you will use a lot ten hopper might have an edge. Otherwise I give the genie a big edge. 

Directv is also more versatile as you get bigger and bigger systems.

But both are good.


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## RockySC

-Two TVs right now (living room and bedroom), may add a third. It is just me and my wife.
-No, Pac-12 isn't important to us at all.
-PTAT is a fantastic concept, but to be honest when it comes down to it I think we watch more primetime stuff on cable networks.

When it comes to Dish vs. DirecTV, when it really comes down to it with no tricks or hype involved, how many channels can you truly record at the same time with each? Not counting the PTAT feature which looks like six but I believe is actually only 3 since it counts all four networks at once as one. In other words, I could record PTAT then only have two left over, and if I wanted to record two additional things I'd have to watch one of those two, right?

So if you don't use PTAT, you really only can record three things at once?

With the Genie, is it a flat out truth that you can record five things at once?

The "sling" feature is very inticing though. Does DirecTV offer that?


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## lparsons21

Yes, without PTAT use it is 3 shows at once. But keep in mind that the vast majority of programs on non-broadcast channels rerun their shows quite a bit, so even if you have a conflict at one time/day, chances are excellent that it will show up at a different time/day that won't conflict.

With Genie it is 5 things at any given time.

And no, DirecTV does not have the 'sling' feature though you could get a sling box that should work. At this moment in time, Dish's Dish Anywhere is much better than Direct's Everywhere. But both services are working on improving them.

I was with Direct for a couple years and liked what I had. But I'm more of a scripted show/movie type of viewer and wanted more of that at the expense of losing some sports. With Dish I got Reelz in HD and the EPIX HD movie channels among the changes and those were of great interest to me. And for sports, I'm a boxing and golf fan and both services do just fine for those sports.

I love the Hopper! IMO, much better box than D*'s.


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## inkahauts

Well dtv also is working a lot more from what I hear seen in flat out streaming channels to you anywhere without needing to feed it off your home system. 

There's quite a few channels you can stream live via DIRECTV. There's also genie go which can be better than sling by a long shot if you vacation much because if you know an prepare in advance you don't need to rely on any Internet streaming. 

Genie can truly get 5 recordings at once dish only three outside ptat. To me this is huge especially because of sports. 

I think in the end either will work for you though. 

One other thing. When watching live tv in The second room. 

Just know that with dish one tuner from the hopper is used by a Joey for the second tv no exception unless you get two hoppers. Leaves you with two tuners in main room. 

With dtv you can go for a mini for the second tv that would use one tuner for Live leaving four instead of two or you can get any other kind or receiver from DIRECTV and not use any tuners. Mini lets you have full access to everything the genie does other units let you set recordings and watch an such but not adjust settings of the genie. Personally I'd get a mini. 

With either system though if you record all you watch the whole live tuner discussion is mute.


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## lparsons21

Ink, old buddy, Dish's Dish Anywhere doesn't need slinging off the home system. Only when you are watching a recording on your home DVR. Otherwise it is all internet.

I would agree that for those that watch lots of stuff live, the Genie with a mix/match of Mini clients and Hxx or HRxx receivers would be better. If I were to come back to D* (probably will at some point), I would want either 2 Genies. Anything else would be too limiting for the way I watch/record.


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## gov

And here's a minority opinion:


Get both. I've had D* since 97 and E* for a few months now and LOVE having both. Just enough differences to make it interesting. I have the E* box autotuning all day and recording some HD programming not on D*. D* boxes are my workhorse DVRs, I record series and quite a few search items on 3 HDDVRs. (no Genie yet). Don't have whole home but I do mirror 2 D* boxes and both E* tuners to all the TVs in the house without a satellite box. (the D^ boxes aren't real useful as the E* RF remote really works VERY well at my house and the D* RF reception on all boxes ('ceptin the HR20) is lame.

I have the WPIX, WWOR, KWGN, KTLA pack on E* and really like a restaurant review show from Boston. Watched WPIX 10PM news tonite for the funny local election commercials.


I'm also revered as a near deity here for having both.



:coffee


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## inkahauts

Ink, old buddy, Dish's Dish Anywhere doesn't need slinging off the home system. Only when you are watching a recording on your home DVR. Otherwise it is all internet.

I would agree that for those that watch lots of stuff live, the Genie with a mix/match of Mini clients and Hxx or HRxx receivers would be better. If I were to come back to D* (probably will at some point), I would want either 2 Genies. Anything else would be too limiting for the way I watch/record.


Ok. But dish doesn't let you download a copy to your iPad and take it with you does it?

He was talking about the sling part so I'm assuming he's after recordings on the go not simply the streaming of channels. Could be wrong. Channel wise is there a list somewhere? I know we have a DIRECTV one posted somewhere. Wonder what the difference there is.


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## lparsons21

inkahauts said:


> Ok. But dish doesn't let you download a copy to your iPad and take it with you does it?
> 
> He was talking about the sling part so I'm assuming he's after recordings on the go not simply the streaming of channels. Could be wrong. Channel wise is there a list somewhere? I know we have a DIRECTV one posted somewhere. Wonder what the difference there is.


The Hopper w/Sling will download a copy to my iPad. They have to be recorded shows for that functionality. It is easy to do but not terribly quick at the transfer. I've done it a few times just for the hell of it though I don't do it much because I don't watch shows on my iPad or Android devices, just personal preference. The transfer has to be done on the same network as the DVR, but once complete you can play it anywhere on your iPad.

For the Sling part when you are away from home, anything that is recorded can be slung from what I've read. I tested it while at my mom's house and it worked just fine. But I have pretty slow uplink speed on my DSL from home, so the quality of the video wasn't great. Slinging like that is VERY dependent on having very fast uplink speed which many of us don't have. In my case, it isn't even available from any of our internet providers.

As to which channels are available to stream I can only say I haven't found one I couldn't. If I understand how Dish is doing that, when I go to dishanywhere.com before I can stream the site ensures I'm a subscriber to the channel, then it lets it stream if I am. It is a mix 'n match type thing, some shows will stream directly from that site, some will redirect to the site that is hosting the video. It is pretty complete though I'm sure licensing issues play a part in what is there.

D*'s is not quite there yet, though they keep working on it. I think at some point in time there won't be a big difference between the offerings in the 'anywhere' situations. The one part of it that makes me scratch my head is D*'s insistence on the GenieGo box. I would've thought that transferring to an iPad and/or Android device made more sense.


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## RockySC

Thanks for the additional information guys!

After talking on the phone with a guy from Dish, one scenario that really interests me is the possibility of getting two Hoppers instead of a Hopper and a Joey so I would essentially double the number of tuners from 3 to 6. Hmmmmmmm...


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## sigma1914

gov said:


> And here's a minority opinion:
> 
> Get both. I've had D* since 97 and E* for a few months now and LOVE having both. Just enough differences to make it interesting. I have the E* box autotuning all day and recording some HD programming not on D*. D* boxes are my workhorse DVRs, I record series and quite a few search items on 3 HDDVRs. (no Genie yet). Don't have whole home but I do mirror 2 D* boxes and both E* tuners to all the TVs in the house without a satellite box. (the D^ boxes aren't real useful as the E* RF remote really works VERY well at my house and the D* RF reception on all boxes ('ceptin the HR20) is lame.
> 
> I have the WPIX, WWOR, KWGN, KTLA pack on E* and really like a restaurant review show from Boston. Watched WPIX 10PM news tonite for the funny local election commercials.
> 
> I'm also revered as a near deity here for having both.
> 
> :coffee


Maybe a deity in your own mind. Don't you do install for both? It's a lot easier to have both when 1 or both are free/discounted.

I have 2 providers... no one cares or thinks I'm a deity. They think I'm a dork.


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## gov

I pay full tilt for both, less a month or 2 left on a D* headhunter bonus.

Typically, at most forums, adding a humorous emoticon generally signifies something is intended to be humorous, sorry it didn't register.


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## lparsons21

RockySC said:


> Thanks for the additional information guys!
> 
> After talking on the phone with a guy from Dish, one scenario that really interests me is the possibility of getting two Hoppers instead of a Hopper and a Joey so I would essentially double the number of tuners from 3 to 6. Hmmmmmmm...


I didn't even think hard about 2 Hoppers, I got one with Sling one without when I signed up a few months ago. With the way I use them, it was the only thing that made sense. I use the HWS myself and it covers all I need, my son uses the standard Hopper and it does the same for him. I occasionally will set a recording on his unit online or with my iPad.

You can see both recording listings, but it doesn't have a unified listing. It is one thing I hope comes along.


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## lparsons21

gov said:


> I pay full tilt for both, less a month or 2 left on a D* headhunter bonus.
> 
> Typically, at most forums, adding a humorous emoticon generally signifies something is intended to be humorous, sorry it didn't register.


I'd love to have both but because of the channels I want to have, after the 1st year discounts the cost is just too darned high imo. I figure full retail for both at the level I would want them to be would cost me about $250 and that just isn't gonna happen!

For info, I would need from Dish:
2 Hoppers
T120
[email protected]

From Direct :
Genie + Mini
Choice Xtra

And all the premiums in a mix between which had more of them in HD.


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## RockySC

lparsons21 said:


> I didn't even think hard about 2 Hoppers, I got one with Sling one without when I signed up a few months ago. With the way I use them, it was the only thing that made sense. I use the HWS myself and it covers all I need, my son uses the standard Hopper and it does the same for him. I occasionally will set a recording on his unit online or with my iPad.
> 
> You can see both recording listings, but it doesn't have a unified listing. It is one thing I hope comes along.


So with two Hoppers you can record on one and you can see what you record and watch them from either box? If so that may for sure be what I do.

Can you be in the living room and go to a channel or this or that and set things up to record on the one in the bedroom withing needing to actually go in there?


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## lparsons21

RockySC said:


> So with two Hoppers you can record on one and you can see what you record and watch them from either box? If so that may for sure be what I do.
> 
> Can you be in the living room and go to a channel or this or that and set things up to record on the one in the bedroom withing needing to actually go in there?


You can see what is recorded on either Hopper, but only on one at a time. In the DVR screen you can select your Hopper, the other one, or an external hard drive. But nothing unified.

Setting a recording on the Hopper in another room cannot be done from the Hopper in the room you are in. But you can go online at Dish Anywhere and set a recording on either one, or you can do the same thing with the iOS (iPad/iPhone) device and Android devices that support Dish Anywhere app.


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## RockySC

Ok, nice. Looks like Dish Anywhere eliminates that tiny "problem" for the most part.

Six tuners is very, very inviting.

Or 12 if you want to expand upon Dish's deceptive marketing, heh.


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## lparsons21

Or get 2 Hoppers and 2 OTA modules and have 14!! 

One thing that doesn't get mentioned is that with PTAT turned on, anytime not just primetime, you can record all 4 broadcast HD channels and only use one tuner. You do have to set the timer for each, but it only uses one tuner! Not earth shattering as I think there is very little on outside of primetime on those stations that is worth recording, but it is there...


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## inkahauts

Or get a genie and a second DVR for seven tuners from DIRECTV. You can keep adding and adding if you like. 

As we have said they both have their pluses and minuses.


Sent from my iPad using DBSTalk mobile app


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## lparsons21

inkahauts said:


> Or get a genie and a second DVR for seven tuners from DIRECTV. You can keep adding and adding if you like.
> 
> As we have said they both have their pluses and minuses.
> 
> Sent from my iPad using DBSTalk mobile app


Absolutely! There is no perfect system.

That is why I tell people to look at the channels available, the HD available and the total cost. That's what should be the selection criteria imo

The hardware from both is excellent, especially compared to the stuff offered by the cable guys. But the hardware from both is different approaches to the same solution with differences in how they work. In general the hardware all works as it should and these days is not the biggest concern for me when I do comparison shopping.


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## RockySC

Just to update, I went with Dish as I was leaning before. We close on the 2nd and they will be there on moving day to install it on the 7th. I went with the Dish top 250 pack to start with and I decided on the monthly discounts instead of the iPad offer, but we can change our mind up until installation day they said. I also went with one Hopper and the Joey to start with and if I decide I do in fact need more I'll add another Hopper at a later time, which they said I could do for the same costs.

Do you guys have a tablet that you can recommend to use with Dish Anywhere features of the Hopper if I decide to not get the iPad?


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## lparsons21

Congrats on your selection, I think you'll really like it.

As to adding later, well that somewhat depends on when 'later' occurs. In the first year, there would be a cost upfront to add a Joey or Hopper. I was quoted $49 installed for a Joey. Monthly costs of course are a fixed fee per unit after the 1st one.


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## ajbolit

Just cancelled my 2 years DirecTV contract. They might call me back and make me an offer I can't refused, but given the price is equal, is Dish currently The Satelite provider of choice? Hopper is better than Direc's H34? Picture quality is probably very similar between the 2? I currently have H34 with Whole House DVR on DirecTV - that's pretty much Hopper and Whole House DVR alternative to Dish? I know I can spend all that time looking for answers on the forum, but can someone just confirm my thoughts? Also, since my contract does not expire till the 29th - should I wait till the Chrismas time to sign up? Would that be the best time to get a deal?


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## lparsons21

I don't know if they'll call with a great offer, but if you get what I've been getting offered since I cancelled about a year ago, it will be good. I started getting 'come back' offers before the boxes showed up to send the D* gear back! 

If you are looking at Dish, the Hopper is what you would want. I would go for the Hopper w/Sling for at least one of them, and consider getting 2 depending on your viewing and recording needs. If you tend to watch a lot of live stuff, then 2 Hoppers definitely make more sense as that gives you 6 tuners to use at all times. You haven't mentioned how many TVs you need to feed so you need to consider that carefully if you have more than one.

Otherwise it is important to know what you prefer in HD, is it available with Dish? Are you a heavy sports fan? If so, take a hard look at what E* has to offer in HD for that as it is much different from D* in that respect.

And of course, the total out of pocket upfront which is controlled by what gear you might want, and the total monthly outlay.

Otherwise it is 2 sides of the same coin imo.


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## ajbolit

We have 2 TV's and 1 projector to feed. Most of the time we just using them for kids entertainment and documentaries - prefer to watch Blurays instead of sports, so programming wise it would be a wash. At the end of the day its about trying to lower the bill - we pay $80 a month with nothing really exciting to watch. Might give Netflix another try before going back - its just that picture of streaming services as well as content is still not there((


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