But you always have to convince the wife...

[gcutler]

A friend of mine had a real D* brochure from Circuit City or one of those stores and was trying to convince hid Wife to make the jump. Their cable is terrible, decent # of channels from what used to be, but reception is terrible (but happens to have all the Lifetime and Oxygen channels, which I believe she only watches). The Wife is convinced it is a scam of sorts (because the price on a 2 tv system saves them about $5/month). She must have studied all the Anti-DBS propoganda, and I tried to debunk it. But she is somehow afraid. What is funny is that their cable has been out for hours tonight, and only an Average rain storm for around Georgia, usually no rain fade or perodic 1-2 seconds of pixelation at most.

Besides Poison Mushrooms, what tactics have you used on "Convincing the Wife" scenario. I think when she sees that # of channels, she might be afraid that the husband will never leave the TV????

My Sister-In-Law had the same problem when my brother tried to convince her, and money wasn't the issue. :rolleyes:

[Bob Haller]

Ahh if they have a friend with DBS borrow a receiver and dish for a couple days, ideally with PVR. That will do it.

The BEST way to sell DBS is by this DEMO. When I ewas a dealer thats what I did, everyone got a 3 day free trial.

I didnt want chargebacks..

[jlabsher]

I bought her a $300 curio cabinet, then 3 months later said "Honey, now I get a gift..."

[Karl Foster]

Mine was pretty easy. When AT&T dropped TLC and E! from our cable linup and raised the rates $5 per month at the same time, she begged me to get DBS.

[gcutler]

Originally posted by jlabsher
I bought her a $300 curio cabinet, then 3 months later said "Honey, now I get a gift..."

A different friend of mine got his wife a "Coach Bag" before he brought up DBS. I don't know if I should be proud I have no idea what a Coach Bag or A Curio Cabinet are :D

[cnsf]

When Cablevision tore up our lawn and broke our stone path, convincing her was easy......

[Bogy]

Originally posted by gcutler
The Wife is convinced it is a scam of sorts (because the price on a 2 tv system saves them about $5/month). She must have studied all the Anti-DBS propoganda, and I tried to debunk it. But she is somehow afraid.
Yes, she is afraid, and the problem is that depending upon how strong the fear is, you often can't overcome fear with logic.
The last thing I want to do is turn this into another thread whining about unfair anti-DBS commercials, but there is one currently being run by Cox that has an element that I think applies. The scene is the customer service desk of a BB/CC, with a huge crowd of people holding dishes they have come to return. The Customer Service manager is forming lines according to reasons for dissatisfaction. One of the women states that her reason is, "It's to complicated." Hey guys, most of us like things complicated, right. The more complex the better, and especially for most of us who come to this site. But lots of people are afraid of complicated. They want things simple. Even if it could look better, if its simple, its ok. They can more or less understand a cable coming into the house, bringing the TV signals. If they grew up with an antenna on top of the house, this isn't that much different. But a satellite dish, with signals being sent from space, its gotta be complicated. You must have to be some kind of rocket scientist to use it. :D With analog cable all you need is the cable hooked up to the back of your cable ready TV and you can turn it on and change channels. But with either digital cable or DBS you've got a "complicated" box hooked up to your TV. My mother comes to see us quite often, and I don't know how many times she has just sat in the kitchen watching a 13" tv rather than try to figure out how to turn on the 27" TV in the family room, connected to the digital cable box, DVD & VCR. All she needs to do is push one button, but half the time she pushes the wrong button first, and then she can't get it figured out.

My wife likes things simple, although she also likes things good. She knows what a DBS picture looks like, because it was our only option in our last home. She's not as picky as I am, but if our picture was crap it wouldn't take her long to go back. Of course one of the things she didn't like when we had DBS was that I had two boxes running five TV's. It was "complicated." She also likes getting one bill for our TV, phone (local & long distance & internet. It's less "complicated." :rolleyes: :lol:

[Mark Holtz]

Well, I'm still living at home with my mother, so I'm responsible for the rent (which goes directly to the mortgage on the house) and the cable/DBS bill, which I pay 100%.

I had dropped some hints, and told her what it will entail, and she agreed with it (albiet reluctantly). Once she got used to it, it was easy.

However, the 501 ended up in my room, since I'm the only one who time shifts programming.

[pez2002]

Convince the Whife Simple Put the Cable In your Name Not hers That way you can make the choices :)

[Nick]

Be a man. Tell her you love her cooking, and leave the tech stuff to you. Some guys cave way too easily, imho. If you have to ask if you can do such and such to the TV system, you're whipped.

Sorry, but it's true. :rolleyes:

[gcutler]

Originally posted by Nick
Be a man. Tell her you love her cooking, and leave the tech stuff to you. Some guys cave way too easily, imho. If you have to ask if you can do such and such to the TV system, you're whipped.

Sorry, but it's true. :rolleyes:

My Friend, who this thread was started about, lives in Lawrenceville, You can tell him in person. He'd kick my a*s if I said that to him. :blackeye: :lol:

[Nick]

Sorry, g... I no longer live there. I'm livin' large on a rusty barge in the middle of the Golden Isles. ;)

Seeya...

[MrAkai]

I guess I lucked out, I had the dish move in before the female, didn't leave her a lot of choice.

That being said, she's a big geek like me (Games programmer) so she was unintimidated by the system :)

[Bogy]

Originally posted by Nick
Be a man. Tell her you love her cooking, and leave the tech stuff to you. Some guys cave way too easily, imho. If you have to ask if you can do such and such to the TV system, you're whipped.

Sorry, but it's true.


Nick, just how long was it you said your marriage had lasted so far? :rolleyes: :p :D

[Nick]

Sorry, Bogy, but your inappropriate smilies are not appreciated. You know nothing about me or my family situation, and you certainly do not have the privilege of commenting on the circumstances of my marriage in such a trivial manner.

And by asking the question, you give yourself away. The man is ordained to be the 'head' of the family? But, just as nature abhors a vacuum, so it is for leadership. If leadership of the family is abdicated by the man, someone else will take charge, usually the wife, sometimes even a child. :eek2:

These days, not too many men know how to lead their family, nor how to be a man for that matter. If a man does not rightly and justly lead his family, he will be resented and scorned by his wife, for a woman desires her man to love her with all his heart, protect her with all his might, and lead the family in the path of righteousness.

So many men today are pitiful excuses for manhood. They are like children themselves, asking, or even afraid to ask, their wives for 'permission' to do something. No woman can respect a man who has forfeited his moral authority.

Oh, to your question? I was married over 26 years, during which time I never once "asked" my wife if I could change something with the TV/audio system.

[Bogy]

Nick, I am sorry if I offended you. But your earlier statement, which says if the husband can't do what he wants, without input from his wife, is not "moral leadership." That is domination. To infer that any man who consults his wife when making decisions which will affect both of them is "whipped," is arrogant. In my experience with a 30 year relationship and as a pastor doing marriage counseling, domination and arrogance do not make for a healthy marriage. Plus, I really am not really sure deciding between cable or DBS really falls into the "moral leadership" or "path of righteousness" categories. I always consult on things like that with my wife. Usually we get what I want anyway, because she respects my knowledge and judgment, but I would rather make her a part of the process. That is different than asking "permission." That is a partnership. And that, if you understand what the Bible is really commanding, is what you need in a marriage.

[DarrellP]

I have a home theater, a Dish 6000 and a Dish 501. I sub to the AT150 & HBO, Portland locals plus I get all the local digital channels (4 HD, 2 SD).

My wife still watches cable on a 13" TV in the bedroom (AT&T at that). Go figure. She could just care less about PQ, picture size, clarity, sound or anything else. I have to practically tie her down to get her to watch a DVD with me.

We just bought a house and she is now going to have to either: 1) Watch her 13" TV hooked up to an off air antenna or 2) Break down and watch it via a Dish receiver. When I move, I will acquire an extra receiver from the seller of my new home.

On the plus side, I will now have a dedicated Home Theater room so she can have the Living Room back.

[Geronimo]

I had that problem as well 3 years ago. I had to show my wife that for a slightly lower fee we could get more channels. One reason I went with E was that they were willing to rebate me back the cost of the equipment and D was not.

I dont resent the fact that my wife cares how I spend the money we both earn. She makes reasonable compromsies and she did stop me from a bad decision or two.

[gcutler]

Well hard to believe, but the Wife in my original post had to deal with two seperate days of 24 hour outages in the past 2 weeks (no "Lifetime Movies") so they are going to get Sat soon.

They will probably be going for the cheapest ways (two 301s if Dish) and AT50 or AT100 with Atlanta Locals.

[TimL]

We first got DBS for Sky Angel only and kept Cable for a while..Had to talk my wife into trying Dish Network..first with One 2800 and Cable in the other room. Eventually got a 501 and 301 and put the 2800 in storage. She has gotted to love the PVR and believe it or not, the Playin' TV games..She likes to do the quizzes in the TV mag too. Going back to Cable she would miss the PVR I am sure.but she is still intimidated by some of rhe technology but overall she is pretty used to it by now.

Tim Lones

[bunkers]

My wife is totally hooked on the PVR. Recording Dr Phil, Opera, Trading Spaces, Soaps, Lifetime shows ... has her very satisfied.

The PVR is also a godsend for couples with very little time because you can have it record the things you like and then watch them when you have time and skip commericals and boring parts very easily.

We find ourselves to be dedicated PVR watchers after putting the kids to bed each night and we get about 2 hours worth watched in 1.25 hours or so.

Its also handy to have a PVR with some kids shows recorded, so when the kiddos get cranky, you can pull out a kids show in a bind.

[lee635]

My wife was skeptical at first, but was ok with the 30 day, no-questions-asked money back guarantee from E*.

After 30 days we were both hooked.

[Mark Lamutt]

All it took to convince my wife was AT&T cable moving the Sci-Fi channel from their digital tier to analog in MONO sound. We had a dish on the roof 2 days later and haven't looked back. (Although I still have the lowest tier of cable ($12 a month) for a couple of other tvs in the house and as a backup to the dish.)

[Cyclone]

I brought my wife to tears when I came home with the Dish 500 (no, not the good tears that men get when bringing home new tech). She was furious. I told her to cut it out and that later she would think that this was the greatest thing in the world.

Sure enough a week later, and then 2 months later when our new neighborhood was still not wired for cable, she readily agreed that it was really the coolest thing.

hehe, then of course I had to get the surround sound :D Again, she was pissed. But now, she loves it when she has friends over to watch a DVD.

Now, I just about have a Plasma on the way. She is just resigned to acceptance. (and she's pregnant too).

Its good to be a man.