Going to Dish Network this weekend

[lukeduke 8]

For the DISH network subscribers out there, I have a few questions:

1) How often is the signal lost on a cloudy/stormy day?

2) How is their DVR interface compared to Tivo?

3) Is the HD quality better, worse or the same as cable?

4) I have heard not to put the dish in a location that gets a lot of sun, is that true?

5) I need an HD antenna for the local channels...does this hook into the DVR box?

[mowegl 4]

1) This has to be one of the most overexaggerated parts of satellite coverage. I haven't had cable in a while (other than here at school some), but I would say total down time is as much as satellite. And if your cable goes out, you're sitting there waiting for hours for them to fix some line thats messed up. Satellite - goes out for a minute maybe..then you're back in action. It takes a pretty good storm to mess up your signal..it really doesn't have anything to do with clouds or anything..mainly really heavy rain. If it's really heavy it can block the signal.

2) Don't remember the tivo coverage we had much (cause it was a short time and I was mostly at school), but I think the only really difference is with Tivo you like rate the programs with thumbs up/down and it finds programs it thinks you like.

3)I think HD quality should be the same, but not 100% sure.

4) I have never heard anything like that about sun/shade with the dish.

5) Yes it hooks into the DVR. It's a nice feature because the box has like 2 (usually) tuners, so with the antenna you can be recording/watching 3 things at the same time

Are you having a dish network person come and install it? They will know the best location for the dish. You can ask about the sun thing, but I've never heard anything like that.

[WarTiger 3,927]

For the DISH network subscribers out there, I have a few questions:

1) How often is the signal lost on a cloudy/stormy day?

2) How is their DVR interface compared to Tivo?

3) Is the HD quality better, worse or the same as cable?

4) I have heard not to put the dish in a location that gets a lot of sun, is that true?

5) I need an HD antenna for the local channels...does this hook into the DVR box?

I've been a dish network subscriber on 2 different occasions. first in pensacola for 9 years, now here in alabama for a year. The signal outage is not very often really. It will go out in a really heavy rain, but its usually not out for very long and there's no waiting for a technician to come out and check the line.

2. No experience at all with Tivo so I can't answer that.

3. No experience with HD here either, sorry...

4. Never heard of this at all. Our dish is mounted on a poll next to the house and we get great reception, except for one thing. Here's a bit of advice. If your home is already wired with coaxial cable and they want to use it to connect your dish, be polite, but ask them for new cable. I have a big screen downstairs where they used existing cable and the signal isn't nearly as good as it should be. I just haven't had the time to call them to come out and replace the cable.

5. If you get an HD package, you should be able to get your locals in HD from dish network, and wouldn't need a separate HD antenna.

LIke I said, I've been a dish network subscriber for nearly 10 years now and I would NEVER switch to anything else. I love dish network. It has everything I need on it and the price is fairly reasonable. Good choice in my opinion.

[TitanTiger 20,531]

I didn't have Dish Network, I had DirecTV in Nashville and loved it. I think in 4-5 years the picture went out maybe twice. And while the sun/shade thing isn't true, you do need a clear view of the sky in whatever direction it's pointing. If you have a bunch of trees blocking the view of the dish to the satellite, you'll have problems.

[chinook 0]

i just switched to verizon fios dropping dish network after 5 good years.

1. i live in oregon with more clouds than sun and never had a problem. i will say if you live in a snowy area the dish will go out. in the valley we never had that problem but in central oregon at the ski cabin it can be a problem.

2. the dish dvr will do just fine though i would give the edge to tivo.

3. nothing beats verizon fios hd quality but quantity of channels at this point is less than the competitors.

4. i have never heard of such about too much sun.

5. when i had dish, i had to pay 5 dollars a month for locals. i would think your antenna for locals would be directly wired to your tv not through your box.

i switched to verizon's fiber optics because of better quality, faster internet and the ability to bundle tv, internet and phone. also, i switched because dish network's video on demand teh sucks.

[LegalEagle 22]

I hate Dish TV.

It goes out much too often in rainy weather. If your wife is watching Oprah, no big deal. However, if you are watching the Auburn Alabama game and you miss a quarter and a half, well. . . Stormy Weather. . .

They are jerks. They contracted to provide the "local" channels from Nashville. When it came time for contract renewal with one of the stations, and they didn't get the deal they wanted, they just cut out the channel that I contracted for! They sent a little antennae that fit on the dish, but it only ranged 20 miles - not the hundred I needed. When I sought to have it removed, they expressed their clear intention to bill me for the remaining months on my contract. Hey, I probably could have gone to court and won, but it was not worth the hassle. I had it removed on the day my obligation ended.

If I ever need a dish, I'll try Direct TV first.

Good luck.

[TigersTalons 10]

Been with DishHD for 9 or 10 months love it so far no DVR.OK your sun question got me so looking I found this."The time of year when the sun lines up with the satellites line of sight is called Equinox it happens twice a year around March and September for a period of a couple of weeks.Going from satellite to satellite I think I have read that it lasts for a few minutes which could result in a total black-out of reception or physically the LBN can melt if the dish surface is too bright."The person asking the question was in Zimabwe,found this on ask.com.This is the first I've read on this if I learn more I'll post.

[jared52 4,354]

Check out http://www.satelliteguys.us and http://www.dbstalk.com for good satellite forums.

[lukeduke 8]

Thanks for all the help guys. As for the sun thing, I went out yesterday right at 5:30 when the afternoon sun is hitting the back windows, and the area I imagine the dish will go in was still in the shade. It fits into a corner where our master bedroom is further back, and the sun sets behind the bedroom casting a shadow over this spot. From this location, the view to the southwest sky is completely open. There are no neighbors to that side of my house, and the treeline is probably 300-400 yards away.

As for the locals, apparently Dish doesn't have a contract for the Montgomery stations digital feed. The analog channels will come in, not the digital locals. My neighbor has been through both Dish and DirectTV. DirectTV told him that he would get local channels, and after the installation, it turned out they were local to New York, Chicago, etc. I'm glad the HD antenna hooks directly into the box, I was worried I would have to change inputs on the television to view them...the three shows at once is an added bonus on that. I'm just getting ready to finally get some of the HD channels I've been missing (Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic, and the NFL network this fall).

I've still got to drop a phone line connection behind the entertainment center. That is the one plus Tivo had was the wireless connection, where I am going to have to hook the Dish DVR to the DSL line.

[Ranger12 46]

I worked for DirecTV quality assurance for 5 years, and I have also had Dish.

The signal for both should be the same. That type of thing depends more on who good your installation is not the signal itself. I never had any problems with my signal except for very bad storms with high winds and torrential downpours. In very bad weather, even the best installation can't help you.

DirecTV offers more HD channels then Dish.

DirecTV DVR/TiVO is much better then Dish. Dish Network's DVR service works differently then DirecTV. I got rid of my Dish because of that. DirecTV DVRs allow you to have two tuners per TV with their boxes, so you can watch one thing and record another on the same TV. I actually had two different DirecTV DVR boxes in the house, so I was able to record or watch two different programs on two TV sets, meaning I could record up to 4 programs at once. This really helps if you and your wife combined have 3 programs that you like on at the same time.

With Dish, I think their free installation package usually only allows one DVR box, but they may give you two of them now. Even then, unless something has changed, Dish DVR boxes actually connect to two TVs instead of one, unlike DirecTV which connects each dual tuner box to one TV. That means with Dish, you have only one tuner per TV set, but with DirecTV you have two tuners per TV set.

DirecTV DVR has a 14 day programming guide. Dish has a 9 day guide I believe. Also, DirecTV has the season pass where it makes it easier to record a whole season of a particular show, whereas Dish did not use to have that capability. You still had to know the date and time to record the whole season of a program. That may have changed since I had Dish.

Dish packages are cheaper then DirecTV, but they also offer less in their packages.

Both are much better then cable, so you are better off with either. However, I prefer DirecTV because I just think the the quality and features are overall better.

The whole dual tuner thing can be confusing and I may have confused you even more. Bottom line is that with DirecTV DVR, you can record two programs at once (or watch a program and record another at the same time) on the same TV. With Dish, you can only record one program per TV because their dual tuner DVRs are made for connecting to two TVs, not one. With Dish, you can't watch a program and record another at the same time on the same TV if somebody is watching a program on the other TV the system is connected too. So, with DirecTV, you can have two of their DVRs connected to two separate TVs and be able to record 4 programs at once or watch one program while recording another one on each TV. However with Dish, they connect one dual tuner box to two TVs, only allowing you to record up to 2 programs at once or watch one program live on one TV while recording another on on the TV currently not being watched.

This may help you get a better idea of dual tuner DVRs and how each company's systems are installed:

Dish DVR

DirecTV

[mowegl 4]

I actually missed that you said Dish and not DirectTV. Had each a couple of times, but right now we have DirectTV. I'm not completely sure about the antenna input in that case, but it's probably the same.

I think one time a couple years ago, my dad said something about "sun spots" affecting our reception when it was going out a lot more than usually. But he seems to find mysterious explanations for things as we know in my family. Anyway, I wouldnt worry about the sun.

And also since we have Direct I was talking about it's DVR service and not Dish's. I don't have much if any experience with Dish DVR.

I got dish here in Auburn, and I think when I do it again, I might just add the New York or Chicago HD channels. That way you can have all the major networks in HD for your shows/games no matter where you take the dish. And if you wanna watch your local news or something you can use your HD antenna.

[lukeduke 8]

I understand the dual tuner thingymabob...I've had a DVR for about 3 years from the cable company, then a TiVo box. From what I was reading on the DISH site, it appears the 612 box has the dual tuner capability, but since your post, I am going to confirm that with the installer before he starts.

We only have two tv's in the house, and only one will be using the DVR (we rarely ever watch the other one, but the receiver was no extra charge). I won't hesitate to give them a call and chew them out if the service is not good. I think Charter has a file on me at this point....oh crap, is that LukeDuke calling, here come the four letter bombs.

[CCTAU 3,353]

We just got dish about 2 weeks ago. It has gone out several times. Of course we have been having some pretty tough storms here in N. Atlanta here lately. But my cable never went out during a storm. We have underground utilities that usually don't have any issues. I don't like the DVR thing. I would like to record a show while watching the other one without getting up and moving to a different TV. Could have gone with Comcast but the wife thought it would be better to keep our bundle price going with AT&T. I'm still not sure. If after one season of football, I miss any at all, DISH will be gone. We'll see.

[WarTiger 3,927]

We just got dish about 2 weeks ago. It has gone out several times. Of course we have been having some pretty tough storms here in N. Atlanta here lately. But my cable never went out during a storm. We have underground utilities that usually don't have any issues. I don't like the DVR thing. I would like to record a show while watching the other one without getting up and moving to a different TV. Could have gone with Comcast but the wife thought it would be better to keep our bundle price going with AT&T. I'm still not sure. If after one season of football, I miss any at all, DISH will be gone. We'll see.

You can program to record on the other tv from the one you are watching, so you don't have to go to the other tv unless you really want to. Al you have to do is set the options for the default tuner to use to record to the other tv. Once you do that, it will always record a timer recording to the opposite tuner. I do this all the time. IF I get time I'll write the menu number sequence to get to it in the DVR. Once you do it, you can either leave it that way, or switch them around. It can be switched from either tv.

[Ranger12 46]

We just got dish about 2 weeks ago. It has gone out several times. Of course we have been having some pretty tough storms here in N. Atlanta here lately. But my cable never went out during a storm. We have underground utilities that usually don't have any issues. I don't like the DVR thing. I would like to record a show while watching the other one without getting up and moving to a different TV. Could have gone with Comcast but the wife thought it would be better to keep our bundle price going with AT&T. I'm still not sure. If after one season of football, I miss any at all, DISH will be gone. We'll see.

You can program to record on the other tv from the one you are watching, so you don't have to go to the other tv unless you really want to. Al you have to do is set the options for the default tuner to use to record to the other tv. Once you do that, it will always record a timer recording to the opposite tuner. I do this all the time. IF I get time I'll write the menu number sequence to get to it in the DVR. Once you do it, you can either leave it that way, or switch them around. It can be switched from either tv.

I think what he is talking about is that he would like to record one thing and watch another without having to go to another TV. Like I said, with Dish, most of their DVRs are two room dual tuner boxes. DirecTV, and most cable companies, use nothing but single room DVRs, which means you don't have to record one show and watch another one live at the same time on two different TV sets. I never could figure out what Dish/Echostar produced DVRs with that limitation, knowing their competition was offering better DVR equipment. The 612, see below, is Dish's answer to that problem, but it took them a ridiculous amount of time to catch up to the competition. Dish still lacks far behind DirecTV with the HD programming they offer, but they are still much better then what most cable companies offer.

luke, the 612 is dual tuner made for one room. I forgot that they just came out with that one. It is the only "one room" dual tuner DVR they offer. I do know there have been some issues with the HDMI connection on it with a lot of audio dropping out. Also heard that some current customers have been denied upgrading to it because Dish has some strange policies about upgrades, because you are leasing the equipment with them whereas with most DirecTV installations you own the equipment. With you being a new customer, you are getting their newest HD DVR and supposedly their best DVR box they have. Let us know how you like it.

[lukeduke 8]

We just got dish about 2 weeks ago. It has gone out several times. Of course we have been having some pretty tough storms here in N. Atlanta here lately. But my cable never went out during a storm. We have underground utilities that usually don't have any issues. I don't like the DVR thing. I would like to record a show while watching the other one without getting up and moving to a different TV. Could have gone with Comcast but the wife thought it would be better to keep our bundle price going with AT&T. I'm still not sure. If after one season of football, I miss any at all, DISH will be gone. We'll see.

You can program to record on the other tv from the one you are watching, so you don't have to go to the other tv unless you really want to. Al you have to do is set the options for the default tuner to use to record to the other tv. Once you do that, it will always record a timer recording to the opposite tuner. I do this all the time. IF I get time I'll write the menu number sequence to get to it in the DVR. Once you do it, you can either leave it that way, or switch them around. It can be switched from either tv.

I think what he is talking about is that he would like to record one thing and watch another without having to go to another TV. Like I said, with Dish, most of their DVRs are two room dual tuner boxes. DirecTV, and most cable companies, use nothing but single room DVRs, which means you don't have to record one show and watch another one live at the same time on two different TV sets. I never could figure out what Dish/Echostar produced DVRs with that limitation, knowing their competition was offering better DVR equipment. The 612, see below, is Dish's answer to that problem, but it took them a ridiculous amount of time to catch up to the competition. Dish still lacks far behind DirecTV with the HD programming they offer, but they are still much better then what most cable companies offer.

luke, the 612 is dual tuner made for one room. I forgot that they just came out with that one. It is the only "one room" dual tuner DVR they offer. I do know there have been some issues with the HDMI connection on it with a lot of audio dropping out. Also heard that some current customers have been denied upgrading to it because Dish has some strange policies about upgrades, because you are leasing the equipment with them whereas with most DirecTV installations you own the equipment. With you being a new customer, you are getting their newest HD DVR and supposedly their best DVR box they have. Let us know how you like it.

Will do, I will be looking at this non-biased to Dish. I'm getting a HD antenna for the local stations, so that is not really a concern to me. If I don't like anything about the service, I'll cancel it after about a week (I always give something a week to try) and call DirectTV. There is no way I am going back to cable though after the last six months of dealing with Charter.

[Ranger12 46]

Will do, I will be looking at this non-biased to Dish. I'm getting a HD antenna for the local stations, so that is not really a concern to me. If I don't like anything about the service, I'll cancel it after about a week (I always give something a week to try) and call DirectTV. There is no way I am going back to cable though after the last six months of dealing with Charter.

I know what you mean about Charter. We are renting right now, so I can only have cable, but in a few months, we will be moving and will not be renting. I will be getting DirecTV then.

I was talking to a Charter rep the other day and asked them when Charter was going to start offering more then the handful of HD channels they currently offer, because DirecTV has tons of them. The agent tried to flat out lie and tell me that DirecTV does not offer anymore HD then they do. I laughed and started spouting off all the HD channels that DirecTV, and even Dish, offered that Charter did not. The rep had nothing more to say after that except that they would be freeing up some bandwidth when they get rid of the analog channels in 2009.

[WarTiger 3,927]

We just got dish about 2 weeks ago. It has gone out several times. Of course we have been having some pretty tough storms here in N. Atlanta here lately. But my cable never went out during a storm. We have underground utilities that usually don't have any issues. I don't like the DVR thing. I would like to record a show while watching the other one without getting up and moving to a different TV. Could have gone with Comcast but the wife thought it would be better to keep our bundle price going with AT&T. I'm still not sure. If after one season of football, I miss any at all, DISH will be gone. We'll see.

You can program to record on the other tv from the one you are watching, so you don't have to go to the other tv unless you really want to. Al you have to do is set the options for the default tuner to use to record to the other tv. Once you do that, it will always record a timer recording to the opposite tuner. I do this all the time. IF I get time I'll write the menu number sequence to get to it in the DVR. Once you do it, you can either leave it that way, or switch them around. It can be switched from either tv.

I think what he is talking about is that he would like to record one thing and watch another without having to go to another TV. Like I said, with Dish, most of their DVRs are two room dual tuner boxes. DirecTV, and most cable companies, use nothing but single room DVRs, which means you don't have to record one show and watch another one live at the same time on two different TV sets. I never could figure out what Dish/Echostar produced DVRs with that limitation, knowing their competition was offering better DVR equipment. The 612, see below, is Dish's answer to that problem, but it took them a ridiculous amount of time to catch up to the competition. Dish still lacks far behind DirecTV with the HD programming they offer, but they are still much better then what most cable companies offer.

luke, the 612 is dual tuner made for one room. I forgot that they just came out with that one. It is the only "one room" dual tuner DVR they offer. I do know there have been some issues with the HDMI connection on it with a lot of audio dropping out. Also heard that some current customers have been denied upgrading to it because Dish has some strange policies about upgrades, because you are leasing the equipment with them whereas with most DirecTV installations you own the equipment. With you being a new customer, you are getting their newest HD DVR and supposedly their best DVR box they have. Let us know how you like it.

Well, it can still be done, so there. AND, furthermore, what you are talking about can be done too. If you have a TV with dual inputs, and they can be either s-video, coaxial, or RCA jacks. With coaxial you can put a splitter from the out jack and split the signal where one goes to the other tv and the other goes to the secondary tuner on the TV. Then its just a matter of switching the tuners on the television. I have one of my dual tuner DVR's connected to 2 tv's and 2 computers. I can only watch 2 shows and whatever I have on is gonna be on the other tv (on output 2), but we rarely use that tv anyway. I connected tuner 1 to my tv via coaxial cable, and to the PC via s-video. I then used a splitter to connect tuner 2 to the second tv AND my pc. IF you have a tv with PIP, then you can easily use both tuners of the tv on one set. THe only drawback to all of this is that the second tv will be forced to watch whatever you are tuned to, but hey, you can't have everything.

[SouthLink02 8]

Had DirecTV for several years now

1) It does suck when raining hard as it goes out but it clears up immediately when the rain slows down and if you have a DVR, you make due

2) DirecTV/Dish DVR's are solid from what I hear