This was hashed out a while back but things change. Which is the best sat TV service provider? Dish or Direct are still the main ones, right? I am getting ready to switch and I want to make sure I am not shooting off any toes.
Thanks,
John
We've had DirecTv for many years and have had no issues, moved several times and now full timing. Never had any other service so nothing to compare to. When we moved into Dreamscape I called them to "Set Up" the KVH Tracvisvision dish and receivers, has worked great here in Abilene and on our last trip to the Eagle Rally at Breaux Bridge LA. Only drawback is they will not give us local channels because we live in an area that we get a strong signal, so we use our off air Winegard Batwing, which gets great reception for the local HDTV channels. Cost about 68 bucks a month for our package.
Paul
Paul,
You are probably better off getting the local channels with your batwing. If you get them through DirecTV, you pay an extra $5 per month and they are "spot beamed" (you get any further than about 100-150 miles away and you will not receive them). Our results with our DirecTV have been the same as yours. We have 2 recievers in our house and 1 in our coach. We have found that the HD receiver looses signal quicker in rain conditions than the non HD receivers. Jack
Jack,
I agree with the HD comment on loosing it in the rain, during this past few weeks of thunder storms it will drop out (No Signal), then pop back on. It seems more sensitive than with analog. Our batwing has as very high quality clear picture, as good as satellite. We get more local channels than before, even if we live in the "Big Country"!
Paul
I don't see a clear cut winner between the two. I think the answer depends on several factors regarding the way you would intend to use the system. Many folks feel that DISH offers better receivers if you plan to record programs using the DVR capabilities, assuming they survive the legal battles with TiVo. Both providers offer good sports coverage, but for hard-core sports fans, DirectTV offers extended packages like NFL Sunday ticket that give you every game.
If you plan to use a roof mounted system with in-motion tracking, make sure you read all the details for the unit. DISH uses only the Ku band for their transmissions, so they will all handle that. DirectTV uses both KU and Ka bands. Some in-motion systems will not handle the Ka band, so you may not receive all the channels.
Thank you all.
Paul....good news for me on the Batwing.
Wec...I was clueless about the band angle so I might have shot myself in the foot right there.
Jack...I was going to go for the local channel thing to use it here but I had no idea it would crap out at 150 miles from home. Maybe I was missing something but I thought I could get local anywhere. Thinking about it again, I guess it makes sense it would have to be localized.
Thanks again for saving me money and frustration.
John
Dish doesn't or didn't require a contract.
The only drawback is that they use 2-different satellites
to cover all of their channels. Odds & Evens separately.
Most of the newer automatic dish systems have the option
of automatically switching sats as needed.
I vote for Dish.. It has worked for me for years now.
I literally HATE DirecTV for the crap they pull. (Sorry!)
( Goes back to bait and switch and nasty customer treatment!)
OOOOOOOO!
Thanks Dave
Jack, Paul.
If you are loosing signal in heavy storms, you could have a signal strength issue.
Bring up your signal strength meter in the menu page and see what your reading is.
It is possible to fine tune your signal to 98% by adjusting your dish very carefully.
Anything below 90% will cause loss of picture in storms even though you seem to have a perfect picture in normal weather.
My HD dish did that when DTV installed the new dish on my house. After my fine tuning, I havn't had an outage in a year now.
As fas as DTV, I think they are very customer friendly and treat long time customers like your valued... I also like referring customers
to them cause I get 100 bucks and the new customer get 100 bucks. Can't beat that with a stick.. Anybody who wants to get 100
bucks off their bill, and is a new customer to Direct, just ask me for my account #. ;D
Nick-
We have Dish and no problem with the spot beam thing so far.
Our Base is in Central Calif. We were in the mountains just north
of Palmdale, CA. for three weeks on a project and had no problem
watching the local Fresno news.
John, since I know approximately where you live, I should warn you that Dish is currently not offering CBS (Fisher Broadcasting) in your area. They have been negotiating since last November with no results. It s..ks!! I happen to enjoy most of the programming that CBS offers and out here in the toolies it's not available. I still can't believe I missed the whole last season of Survivor and CSI-- >:( >:( On a side note-we have never lost the local programming while traveling, but then we pay an extra 5 bucks to be mobile since we don't have a permanant address.
Will
BTW-Thanks John for giving me a reason to reply. I'M NO LONGER A SENIOR!!! ;D ;D I feel younger already LOL
John,
We had Dish in our house & now have Direct in the bus. I went with DTV in the bus because I could get the TV and internet on our Motosat dish. We have no interest in HD or watching TV while in motion so this was the best solution for us. I have not had a real good experience with DTV customer service so far. I hope it improves. Once I got the bugs out of the system it works fine. You can get a waiver to receive the national networks feed for your receiver that is in the bus. You choose if you want the east coast or west coast feed.
Go to both dish & DTV websites & check their station lineup against what you want to see VERY carefully before you make a decision. Having had both systems, I know there is a big difference between what they carry. If you like a lot of "religious" (I hate that term!) programming, DTV carries more than Dish. It appears that DTV also carries more sports. I am not sure because I don't watch sports. Sean has a good post on the whole TV/internet deal on his blog.
Do your homework & you will not be disappointed.
TOM
Sorry Guys~n~Gals...
On the otherhand I also just don't like being roped into a contract that puts a subscriber on the losing end which they are notorius for. ( That's what that referral fee/reward is! ) Being Fined by a company for not having enough money to pay
your bill just isn't right.. Beware of "AutoPay" They have full uncontrolled run of
your account for any whim or excuse. Take back control of your finances before
it's too late...
Everyone has their personal choice.
As for signal loss in rain. It's the nature of KA/KU Transmission. Rain can
fade (absorb) the signal and cause drop outs on any satellite system.
Just look at weather radar.. It's the same technology. It is blocked/reflected
by rain and water vapor/sleet/snow & storms. The difference is that radar
reads back reflected signal to build and image....
Kinda like Hunting.. Shoot ---- Listen ---- Shoot ---- Listen
DUH....
Yeah.. I am a bit grumpy today.. Sorry again...
Quote from: DrDave-Reloaded on June 07, 2009, 12:07:34 PM
Dish doesn't or didn't require a contract.
The only drawback is that they use 2-different satellites
to cover all of their channels. Odds & Evens separately.
Both DISH and DirectTV utilize multiple satellites. Each of these services use 5+ satellites, to provide coast to coast coverage (with a clear line of sight) in the U.S. There is some overlap of channels, so that you can pick up a particular channel from 2 or more sats. To determine whether DISH or DirectTV has the edge over satellite simplicity, you would need the longitude and latitude, plus info about unobstructed sky for the area where you are.
When u first subscri bed to Direct, I had no local channels but when I called about it, they asked me if I had any other means such as an attenna for local stations and I answered no, and with a flip of a switch on their end, we had all local channels and have had them no matter where we travelled!
We have 2 receivers in the bus and one at home! With us doing so much more now we barely watch tv at all unless its a late movie or the news! We watch more while away in the bus and again its usuallly before bed or during the day for the various music channels! Sometimes the weather channel has come in handy too but that's about the extent of it!
Ace
And to ALL: my sincere thanks. And to Dr. Dave: don't be sorry....I was loving it.
Thanks again,
John
Nick, Last I checked we had 94%, we only loose it for a short period during rain, and that is not all the time. I agree with you on DirecTv, I have never had any issues that could not be resolved......EVER!
As far as telling someone you cannot get a local signal and getting the East or West feed, that would mean that I could not, period. It's really not a big deal to me. Because we can get a strong local signal I'm happy to receive all the channels we need on our Batwing. When we traveled to LA, each time we stopped I could lock in on Sat. and local in about 5 minutes. Even thought we have an in motion system, never use it while driving.
It's always all about how you feel about any product that we consumers buy. One is happy, one is not. That's life!
A Very Happy Camper!
Paul