Just switched from DirecTV to Dish and I'm disappointed [Archive]

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 01:48 AM

Hello,

I was one of the first DirecTV customers and have had it since. A buddy of mine told me that Dish Network was better then DirecTV and I should give it a try (he's never had DirecTV). Foolishly I took his advice and signed up for Dish's new Digital Home Plan with a 301 & 501. After being quoted the wrong price on the phone (was told my bill would be $72.99/month when I ordered on the phone but come to find out they tack on $10 and it will be $82.99/month) the installer comes, rips out my old DirecTV antenna and installs the Dish Network one. I'm initially impressed by the 501 and the PVR portion but soon discover Dish Networks shortcomings. First, I've never seen so much "Paid Programming". After midnight almost every channel is "Paid Programming". This was never the case on DirecTV, they had some but it was no where near as bad as on Dish. The Discovery Channel switches to "Paid Programming" at midnight and on DirecTV I could watch the discovery channel well into the morning.

Secondly, there is a quarter of the pay per view movie channels that DirecTV had. Pay per view movies was one of the biggest reasons for having DBS now we're severely limited in the movies and times they show.

So far I'm not impressed with Dish Network. Am I missing something? I guess it's my fault for listening to a friend without researching it myself.

:confused:

brmann

04-27-02, 02:52 AM

Secondly, there is a quarter of the pay per view movie channels that DirecTV had. Pay per view movies was one of the biggest reasons for having DBS now we're severely limited in the movies and times they show.

Hi Ray,

I subscribed to DTV the first day it was available in Florida, Then I subscribed to E* the first month it was available (6 years ago this month). At that time there was a definite price advantage with Dish, but suspect now they're both rather competitive. I do remember that at one time it was almost impossible to get DTV on the phone with a complaint or question, but that has probably also changed. And if you follow some of these threads you'll soon discover that many dbs lurkers seem to think of dbs provider preference as sort of a religion. In general I prefer Dish but I think it's a little like asking which is a better truck, Ford or Chevy? They're both pretty damn good.

As to the PPV selection, I agree DTV always has outclassed Dish in that category. But, with the 501 (it totally changed the way I watch tv) it's not really import what time something comes on - you simply record it whenever - then watch at your leisure ... again and again and again if you're so inclined.

The same also goes for those channels with paid announcements - what do you care? Record what you want and ignore the rest. In short, with PRV, with the exception of special events (news, sports, etc) I seldom watch live tv. Come night fall you'll find me watching last nights best, while recording tonights best.

Stick with it a bit and I predict that soon you'll agree that it makes little difference weather you say toe-may-toe or tah-mah-toe. They're both juicy and tasty.

Burt

dvdguyjt

04-27-02, 08:33 AM

**After being quoted the wrong price on the phone (was told my bill would be $72.99/month when I ordered on the phone but come to find out they tack on $10 and it will be $82.99/month)**

What was the extra $10 for? I'm about to subscibe to dish, and I would like to make sure this does not happen to me!

**I've never seen so much "Paid Programming". After midnight almost every channel is "Paid Programming". This was never the case on DirecTV, they had some but it was no where near as bad as on Dish.**

Does Dish insert paid programming, or was it just a fluke that there was lots of paid programming on that particular night you watched. I'd be curious to check a program guide of Dish vs. DTV to see what the deal is.
JT

MarkA

04-27-02, 12:26 PM

DISH doesn't modify the channel's programming. You are seeing the exact same channels. However DirecTV is still better, because DISH has a worse picture and their receivers are buggier tan those of DirecTV

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by Mark
DISH doesn't modify the channel's programming. You are seeing the exact same channels. However DirecTV is still better, because DISH has a worse picture and their receivers are buggier tan those of DirecTV

Mark,

Are you sure about this? I thought the same thing until I got Dish Network and seen that almost every channel is "Paid Programming" after midnight. Like I said, I never had trouble finding something to watch on DirecTV in the early morning but on Dish there is nothing but advertisments. It looks to me that Dish Network is selling channel space to advertisers after midnight. I may be completely wrong but that is what it appears like to me. Anyone have more information on this?

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 01:04 PM

Originally posted by dvdguyjt
**After being quoted the wrong price on the phone (was told my bill would be $72.99/month when I ordered on the phone but come to find out they tack on $10 and it will be $82.99/month)**

What was the extra $10 for? I'm about to subscibe to dish, and I would like to make sure this does not happen to me!

**I've never seen so much "Paid Programming". After midnight almost every channel is "Paid Programming". This was never the case on DirecTV, they had some but it was no where near as bad as on Dish.**

Does Dish insert paid programming, or was it just a fluke that there was lots of paid programming on that particular night you watched. I'd be curious to check a program guide of Dish vs. DTV to see what the deal is.
JT

The extra $10 is....$5 for the second reciever and $5 for the Digital Home Plan Warranty (they will replace your reciever if it goes bad). When I ordered Dish Network I was specifically told on the phone that my monthly bill would be $72.99 + tax. When I called back to inquire about locals and the superstations I was told my bill was already up to $82.99. I also thought I was getting new equiptment when I ordered but that's not the case either, they send you remanufactured equipment (which is not that big of deal).

As far as the paid programing...I never noticed the amount of paid programing on DTV as there is on Dish. After midnight you'll be hard pressed to find something to watch on Dish where I could always find something on DTV. It doesn't matter what night it is, every night it's nothing but paid programming after midnight. Even some of the premium movie channels go "off air" after midnight, this NEVER happened on DTV.

Neil Derryberry

04-27-02, 01:07 PM

"Even some of the premium movie channels go "off air" after midnight, this NEVER happened on DTV."

I've never seen that - I have AEP and I wtch HBO, etc. quite late. E* doesn't generate programming, so the times you see it are when the programmers want you to see it. E* just retransmits what they recieve.

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 01:24 PM

Originally posted by Neil Derryberry
"Even some of the premium movie channels go "off air" after midnight, this NEVER happened on DTV."

I've never seen that - I have AEP and I wtch HBO, etc. quite late. E* doesn't generate programming, so the times you see it are when the programmers want you to see it. E* just retransmits what they recieve.

Thursday night I was up late watching TV and two premium movie channels (showtime extreme was one of them I don't remember the other one) were both "off air". I just looked over the next two days and they have programing all night. Thursday was the second night I had Dish and I wasnt impressed by finding channels "off air".

04-27-02, 02:45 PM

Here's some possible answers... as to the Paid Programming, I'm going to guess you live on the west coast. Dish carries the East Coast feeds of most channels like Discovery, so actually, the Paid Programming comes on at 3am ET, which is Midnight PT. If Direct carries West Coast Feeds, that would be the difference. As to the Premiums going off air, I too have noticed this phenomenon, and belive it may have something to do with the new Satellite that was launched,and realigning what channels are on what birds. That being said, most of the time if the EPG says off air, there is actually still a movie on. Again, this seems to affect us West Coast types more, since more of us are awake at Midnight our time, or 3 am ET.

Pat in Spokane

EricG

04-27-02, 02:48 PM

Ray-

The DirecTV equipment theat the installer "ripped off" your house was yours, you should not have let him take it.

It's unfortunate you found this forum AFTER you made the switch, I agree. You could learn a great deal from others' mistakes.

Your buddy didn't let you watch his TV before you made the jump to Dish? I'd say "ex-buddy".

Charles Oliva

04-27-02, 02:53 PM

Ray,
The reason those channels were off the air is due to Dish moving from one satellite to a new one. Dish has been doing these changes between 3-6am ET when viewership is low, over that last week. Most of the changes have been completed, so these late night interupts should be minimal as they finish tuning the new satellite.

Mark Holtz

04-27-02, 03:31 PM

Your timing is just bad, that's all.

Echostar 7 went on-line last week, and Dish is migrating programming over to that satellite. The best time to do that is during the overnight hours when very few people are watching, thus some of the off-air notices in the program guides. Compression is also turned up at the moment.

With the exception of the home shopping zones, the paid programming is inserted by the channel provider. This kinda sucks since most of Dish's feeds are east coast and I'm on the west coast, so starting at 9 PM, paid programming goes up.

As for Pay-Per-View programming, there is a tie-in between DirecTV and Blockbuster, so there are more PPV channels. Dish also had to drop a few PPV channels and combine some barker (promotional) channels to make space for the must-carry locals at the beginning of the year.

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 03:37 PM

Originally posted by Pat
Here's some possible answers... as to the Paid Programming, I'm going to guess you live on the west coast. Dish carries the East Coast feeds of most channels like Discovery, so actually, the Paid Programming comes on at 3am ET, which is Midnight PT. If Direct carries West Coast Feeds, that would be the difference. As to the Premiums going off air, I too have noticed this phenomenon, and belive it may have something to do with the new Satellite that was launched,and realigning what channels are on what birds. That being said, most of the time if the EPG says off air, there is actually still a movie on. Again, this seems to affect us West Coast types more, since more of us are awake at Midnight our time, or 3 am ET.

Pat in Spokane

Pat,

I'm your neighbor, I live in Lewiston Idaho. :)

What you say may in fact be the case, I didn't think of that. Also, I was told by the installer that Spokane locals are suppose to be available any day now. He said they were suppose to be available a week or so ago but they had a satellite issue they were working on and we would have them any day. Do you or anyone else have information on this? This would make up for any shortcommings if I could get network TV from the DBS and I could get rid of cable all together.

Thanks,

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 03:43 PM

Originally posted by EricG
Ray-

The DirecTV equipment theat the installer "ripped off" your house was yours, you should not have let him take it.

It's unfortunate you found this forum AFTER you made the switch, I agree. You could learn a great deal from others' mistakes.

Your buddy didn't let you watch his TV before you made the jump to Dish? I'd say "ex-buddy".

EricG,

Maybe a bad choice of words on my part. I didn't mean he "ripped off" as in stole my equipment, he just removed it from my house leaving six large holes in the siding that I'll have to repair. I had hoped he could use the same mounthing pole for the Dish Network antenna but he said he could not get the Dish signal from there so he mounted his antenna in a different spot. He left my equipment when he was done. Sorry about the confusion.

MarkA

04-27-02, 04:07 PM

Ray, the DirecTV installer was LIKELY making up nonsense to make his install (aiming the dish) easier. If you could see DISH from that spot it's most unlikely you couldn't see DirecTV (though it is possible, I'd have to see the situation to tell you for sure).

Second, I highly doubt you'll see Spokane locals until sometime after the DirecTV-DISH Network merger.

AFAIK DirecTV and DISH share the same feeds so the west coast thing I don't think would be the issue. Did you check what programming was actually on where it claimed paid programming? There could have been a mistake

Steve Mehs

04-27-02, 07:04 PM

Dish Network and DirecTV use the same program feeds so whats ever on Dish Network on ESPN at 3AM is the same exact thing that on ESPN at 3AM on DirecTV. Most programming providers (Viacom, TW, Disney) put paid programming on in the middel of the night to reduce their costs by not showing reruns that most people arent watching since theyre sleeping. On some channel in the middle of the night it says 'Off air' on the guide, but did you ever tune to these channels? Most are on air but dish isnt passing along the programming information for some reason. As for PPVs its my rough guess DirecTV and Dish are showing the same movies its just that DirecTV shows the same movie on 5 or 6 different channels to maximize start times.

04-27-02, 08:47 PM

You mention Showtime Extreme going off the air... I did not think that channel was on DTV? Maybe things have changed?

Kevin

04-27-02, 10:08 PM

Showtime Extreme is going off the air? I didn't hear anything about that, and it would be a shame because it's a good channel.

Ray Trautman

04-27-02, 10:41 PM

Originally posted by Bowling For Soup
Showtime Extreme is going off the air? I didn't hear anything about that, and it would be a shame because it's a good channel.

It's not going off the air, you need to reread what was said. I was flipping through the channels Thursday (on Dish Network) and it said it was "off air". This channel was not on DTV, I'm talking about it on Dish Network.

Karl Foster

04-28-02, 12:16 AM

Originally posted by Guest
You mention Showtime Extreme going off the air... I did not think that channel was on DTV? Maybe things have changed?

Showtime Extreme is on channel 542 on Directv.

My Discovery Channel and History Channel both have paid programming in the middle of the night on Directv, but the other Discovery Channels - Discovery Civilization, Science, Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Health, Animal Planet, and Discovery Wings all have 24-hour programming, as does History International.

Ray Trautman

04-28-02, 12:41 AM

Maybe it is just bad timing, I'll give it some time and see if it grows on me. Thanks for all the input.

04-28-02, 01:28 AM

Ray-

I hate to tell you this, but it's going to be a bit longer. I actually work for one of the stations here in Spokane. Our best guess is August for locals being on the Dish... that being said, Dish Networks will get Spokane locals before DirecTV. I just spoke with our Chief Engineer about this issue Thursday, so I believe the info to be reliable. ALL of the Spokane stations should be on Dish by August, regardless of the merger. Hope that my post helps you to stick with Dish. I've had good luck with them over the years... can't wait until I can get my station on there!

Pat in Spokane.

Originally posted by Ray Trautman

Pat,

I'm your neighbor, I live in Lewiston Idaho. :)

What you say may in fact be the case, I didn't think of that. Also, I was told by the installer that Spokane locals are suppose to be available any day now. He said they were suppose to be available a week or so ago but they had a satellite issue they were working on and we would have them any day. Do you or anyone else have information on this? This would make up for any shortcommings if I could get network TV from the DBS and I could get rid of cable all together.

Thanks,

BrettR

04-28-02, 08:35 AM

DirecTV has a channel called All News Channel. Its like CNN Headline News. However, its not All News. There is paid programming now on the channel for about 2 hours a day, or atleast on weekends. Unless they consider advertising to be news now :rolleyes::lol:

OhioianKev

08-03-03, 05:50 AM

I've had DirecTV & Dish. I've had less service outages due to rain with Dish Network over Direct TV. I hooked up my friends dish and my dish with signals of 122 (Dish 1-125) and 98(1-100% Direct TV) but everytime it rains on our street the Direct TV goes out and our Dish goes unharmed. As for the premium outtages i've seen this on Dish, DirecTV and the Cable company. I always thought it was the parent companies doing service upgrades to the channels.

Also Dish Networkings Packaging is better than Direct TV's (unless you want sport packages like NFL Ticket and such)

In the area I live Direct TV will not give me UPN because it is to far away (New York) but on Dish I have access to the Boston and New York feeds of UPN on the top 100 package.

ChrisPC

08-03-03, 10:35 AM

Jacob S

08-03-03, 12:34 PM

I have had some people try to tell me that they see more commercials or advertisements on Dish Network than their cable system or other satellite service. When they tell me this it makes me think that they either think this since they just switched over and looking over the channels more than what they normally would noticing the commercials more or just giving me a hard time. The channels put the commericals on the programming, not the satellite companies. Also I find the majority of those that I have switched from DirecTv to Dish Network have no complaints and have liked Dish Network better those that switched over from DirecTv I find to be better customers that do not churn nearly as bad but occasionaly someone will like DirecTv better and switch from Dish to DirecTv just the same.

Things are changing though and DirecTv has improved a bit in customer satisfaction and their service. Sometimes when you switch services it takes time to get used to it before you begin liking it more because you are so used to the other system you were on. Each system has their own advantages. A few things I like about DirecTv over Dish is that the DirecTv channels change quicker than Dish does and the DirecTv receivers are smaller and cheaper as well. Their PVR's also seem to have better software, and the hardware is cheaper when you go to buy them. DirecTv got the J.D. Power and Associates award for customer satisfaction for a reason after Dish Network had it.

Mike Richardson

08-03-03, 01:45 PM

MarkA - Dunno if you were joking or not, but the DISH Network-DirecTV merger is off. Has been off. For a long time.

To the original poster: DISH Network might appear to have less PPV but they still have all the same movies that DirecTV does. Just use your PVR to record, like, a 3 am showing of the movie you want to watch (the PVRs can record pay per view can't they?), and then watch that movie at your leisure.

DISH Network has more movie channels too. Last time I checked, DirecTV does not have ActionMax, 5 Star Max, HBO Comedy, Showtime Beyond, Starz Cinema East, Starz Cinema West, TMC Xtra East, and TMC Xtra West. To be fair, DISH Network does not have HBO Family West, but with a PVR, that's a very minor issue.

Mike Richardson

08-03-03, 01:46 PM

Oh crap, I just noticed this is an anchient topic. Disregard most of what I've said above!

moedog

08-03-03, 01:50 PM

Can't believe the giganic amount of misinformation on this thread! First off--and I can't believe no one has mentioned this---the Direct/Dish merger is dead! Killed by the Justice Department at least 6 months ago. Now Fox media mongol Rupport Murdock will buy Direct (one strike against Direct, and the real reason Justice nixed the merger in the first place. Rupport has lusted for Direct for years). And does anyone seriously believe that Discovery Networks or any other program provider would actually allow Dish to preempt its programing, and even if so, that Dish would pre-empt programing they had paid the provider for? If you're not sure check the listings of TV Guide, ZapToIt, or your local tv listings against what you recieve on Dish. Yes, the All-News Channel is history. Shut down operations right before the beginning of the Iraqi War, when we needed them the most. Regarding PPV, I can't go back and count the PPV channels on Direct vs. Dish since I no longer have Direct, but my impression is they are comparable. I believe it is true that the number of PPV channels varies from day to day on both services. Regarding Blockbuster on Direct, there was recently a thread on this site which discussed the impending dissolution of the Direct/Blockbuster partnership. One poster got it right--both services are damm good, however, my own experience is that DIsh is better. Better PQ and more reliable, a few extra channels, and in my case LIL. Peace Dang---how did this old thread get resurrected? Guess me and Richardson seem kind of out-of it now! Anyhow, hope the origonal poster ended up happy with what ever service he ended up with! :eek2:

Nick

08-03-03, 01:55 PM

Jacob S

08-03-03, 04:17 PM

Jeeze, I did not realize it was an old post that I was replying too. There has been quite a few old posts resurected lately that I have seen. Some it would not be bad to resurect but others make no sense to do so as they cause confusion.

Marcus S

08-03-03, 04:35 PM

And while he wonders why his universal remote wont control his DVD player, then he sits back and wonders more...

DS0816

08-03-03, 06:33 PM

Why do people post these messages? You know, the ones that say, I just switched from this service to that one -- and, boy, oh, boy, does it suck!?

Perhaps this particular posting is legit. But whether it is isn't what's important. For now on, I'd like to advise those who feel inclined to offer up one of these messages, and here is my advice: Go back to the service you had before. And don't bother letting us know all that's transpired. There is no perfect system when it comes to choosing cable or satellite. Keep that in mind. It's that simple.

Mike123abc

08-03-03, 07:55 PM

Posts that are more than 3 months without updates should go read only... People can post a reference to the old thread in the new thread if they need to comment on them again.

Jacob S

08-03-03, 09:22 PM

I agree on this as well. Perhaps a reply to old thread option would be nice but one could copy and paste if they need to reference an old thread bad enough. This probably does not happen often enough to worry about it but if it starts happening a lot more frequent like it had been lately then perhaps that is when one should take note of the problem even further.

BobMurdoch

08-04-03, 11:50 AM

Well Duhhh

08-04-03, 09:14 PM

Who keeps finding and resurrecting these ancient threads anyway?

Anyone want to talk about the '88 elections? :rolleyes:

Admins: ever consider closing threads that are over six months or a year old?

P.S. I hear Dish has a new IRD coming out with a hard drive. Called something like a 'dishwasher'...

It's the related threads that appear at the bottom of most threads.

Some of those are stinky old.

Guests and members have dug up the past and I think thats how they are doing it.