# Which U.S DBS provider currently offers better equipment?



## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

Which U.S DBS (small dish only-please) provider currently offers (on average) better receivers and/or DVR's? Please don't make comparisons between cable DVR's or ATSC only DVR's in this thread. 
~have anything related to the topic you would like to talk about, other than, "mine is better"? please post it below.


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## amit5roy5 (Mar 4, 2004)

I feel DirecTV's equipments aren't buggy. They work like a charm. Echostar's equipment are very buggy, and you hope that updates will fix them.


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I think that Dish has very great ideas in the 522 /322/544 multi dvr receivers and I also like the idea of the 921 and the 811. Unfortunately they have trouble delivering these ideas as a reality without a ton of bugs and problems. Directv seems to have more rock solid receivers as of now, but who knows, when they start making just one Directv brand. Then they might have the same problems as dish does now. I think the key is using a good company that can actually build rock solid electronics .


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## Big Bob (May 13, 2002)

Unless you have adequate experience with many receivers from all of the companies, how could you ever make a decision like this one?


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Exhibit 1-Stand Alone Receiver: Dish 301 vs. Hughes HBH-SA
The 301 can hold only 44 hours of program data, while the HBH-SA can hold seven days of program data. Also, there was a problem with the 301 for a long time where it couldn't hold all of the program data due to memory issues relating to the adding of all the locals at the beginning of 2002. (This was fixed just prior to my switch to DirecTV).
The HBH-SA allows you to sort through the channels alphabetically as well as numerically.
The "one-line" program list function on the HBH-SA gives more information than the browse function of the 301.
One neat feature of the HBH-SA is that you can set up three lists of nine channels to "turbo tune" to.
The Dish receiver is better able to handle and not list non-subscribed channels than the HBH-SA.
Winner: HBH-SA

Exhibit 2-Dish 501 receiver vs DirecTiVo:
Named-based recording function on the DirectTiVo works better than timer-based function of the 501.
You can easily expand the disk capacity of the DirecTiVo, while you are stuck with the drive Dish provides on the 501.
The 501 allows you to have four favorite lists. The DirecTiVo is limited to one.
You can browse the program guide as well as set up recording while viewing a recording in progress on a 501. But not on a DirecTiVo.
The 501 has a approximate space remaining meter. No such creature exists on the DirecTiVo.
The 501 has a recording protection feature which requires you to enter a code to confirm deletion. No such precaution exists on the DirecTiVo with programs set to "do not delete".
Winner: While the 501 receiver has some features that are lacking in the DirecTiVo, in the most critical functions of actually recording the program and hard drive space makes the DirecTiVo the better choice.

Why the selections? Beause I have used the receivers.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

No contest from a former Dishplayer,501,3000 & 6000 owner. I now have 2-HDVR2's and a Samsung 360 that work like a charm.


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## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

Thanks for everyone's votes so far! PLEASE VOTE, if you haven't already!


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

No hesitation I sell them and believe Directv#1, Voom#2, DISH distant3.


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## Karl Foster (Mar 23, 2002)

I've been both a D* sub and an E* sub and so far, I very much prefer the D* equipment. Anyone who had a Dishplayer will agree. YMMV.


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## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

PLEASE VOTE! We need your vote, I want this poll to be as accurate as possible. vote right now or post your opinion now.


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## TANK (Feb 16, 2003)

I only haveD*.
The RCA receivers always had some problem,switched to Samsung. So far so good.


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## Guest (Jul 22, 2004)

mini1 said:


> PLEASE VOTE! We need your vote, I want this poll to be as accurate as possible. vote right now or post your opinion now.


Accurate?!?!? this is a non-scientific poll..there is no way it could be construed as even remotely accurate!!!!!


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## RAD (Aug 5, 2002)

On E* I've had a 301, 501, 508, 6000 and 811

On D* I've had a Mits HDR400, HNS E86, Sony A1, Sony A55, Sony HD300, HNS SD-DVR40 and a DirecTV HR10-250.

So I think I can make a educated selection. As someone mentioned, E* comes up with some great ideas and features for their receivers, they just can't execute them worth a damn. While it's nice to have things like UHF remotes, on screen caller ID, four favorite lists etc, it doesn't mean a thing if PVR's miss recordings, EPG,s don't show ATSC OTA channels, blue/gray whatever screens of death, dark video output... You buy DBS to watch TV and with D* hardware that's what you get to do. Since I went back to D* I have yet to call D* about any hardware problem with anything. Yes, my HR10-250 has the missing logo's and HDNet dropping audio problem but I saw about that on the net and it really doesn't bother me (like OTA not working well on the 921 doesn't bother folks that don't use OTA ATSC). I wonder how many more customers E* would have if their hardware worked better?


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## Mike D-CO5 (Mar 12, 2003)

I think that the money they would spend in building good stable receivers would more than pay for itself with more customers and good word of mouth. Dish should think long range and see the big picture. In cutting the cost in building cheap receivers they are being penny wise and pound foolish.


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## kb7oeb (Jun 16, 2004)

I liked my old DirecTV box, it was the RCA DRD440 with dolby digital and a RF remote. The 301 sucks in comparison, when I first got the 301 it used to take 30 seconds to download the guide every time you advanced two hours into the guide. They finally updated it to the 44 hours so now it is better in that regard because it doesn't loose the PIP when advancing the guide like the RCA did.

I also miss the channel logo on the Directv boxes, the OSD on the 301 is so boring. It feels like 1995 technology. Even my 2nd gen directv box had a nicer looking guide and channel info bar.

But all of that doesn't matter much, even though the OSD is plain it does work and when you are watching tv you aren't looking at any of that stuff.

I voted that Directv has a nicer IRD even though I would never subscribe to them again.


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## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

Un-lucky said:


> Accurate?!?!? this is a non-scientific poll..there is no way it could be construed as even remotely accurate!!!!!


yes it can. It may not be "scientific", but people may only vote once. (and, yes I know there is ways to get around that too)


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## Cholly (Mar 22, 2004)

Why even bother? I have no experience with Voom, and only limited experience with DirecTV (from a visit to my son's home), but as stated by so many others, Dish receivers all seem to be a work in progress. Feature laden for the most part, but suffering from a myriad of bugs both in software and hardware. Kudos to Dish for having receivers that are microprocessor controlled and software upgradeable, but they are spending too much effort trying to support too many receiver models. DirecTV, by contrast, has only a few models (yes, I know there are several models from several vendors, but most of them are based on the same electronics with cosmetic differences) and they are for the most part rock solid. If Dish gets their act together with the forthcoming 942 and concentrates on fixing the 811 and 301/311 bugs, they wouldn't be losing subscribers over hardware issues.


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## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

Please Vote!


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## mini1 (Jan 25, 2004)

vote!


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## jbrooks987 (Jun 5, 2004)

Over the last 7 or 8 years I've had E*'s 1000, 3000, 508 and 301 - and not a single issue with any of them. I can't compare to Direct's equipment since I've never used their service. I may be one of the "lucky" ones - but again, I've never had a single issue with Dish hardware.


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## retiredTech (Oct 27, 2003)

I've owned a E*3000,2700 for about 5 years and not a single issue.

a E*721 for 19 months and NEVER missed a single recording.

one factor to consider in your poll is the number of actual E* and D* members here.
not repeated posts by the same members, I believe the ratio is a big factor in the
complaints here. The antidote evidence is just that, not scientific.


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