Checked out Dishnetwork last week

2373 Views 17 Replies 15 Participants Last post by dtrell, Aug 14, 2008

RJRGator

Discussion Starter · Aug 12, 2008

I spent last week in Florida where both my mother in law and my father have dish HDTV.
My father has a 50" Panasonic "Viera" Plasma & a 42" Panasonic Plasma hooked up to component cables. I'm sure this made some difference.
My mother in law has a 60" Sony sxrd with HDMI cable just like my 50" version.
Dish has a lot of HD channels & few channels like History, Universal HD & a few others that rival the quality of Directv but overall I was disappointed in the sharpness & quality of their HD picture.
I did not like the industrial look of their hd box either plus it did not have any visible screen resolution lights on the front like directv.
The remote was foreign to me but I did not care for the layout of the buttons and while I did not look very hard I never did find the button to display the DVR programs.
As for the HD menu options that one pulls up on the screen - I did not care for them either. I missed having the Native on setting and felt as if I did not have as much control of the settings like I do with my directv.
It's always good to look at the competition to see what they offer but long story short it was very satisfying to see the Directv product I have is the best my eyes have observed.

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

tonyd79

· #2 · Aug 12, 2008

Biggest issue I had when I played with Dish HD was the location and duplication of channels. It was a mess.

It was hard to determine PQ because my friends (who I was at) do not have the best HD TV in the world. In fact, it took until Day 2 to realize that while the box was hooked up right (component), it was outputting 480 rather than 720. The only way I could really tell was that the color was way too strong.

bidger

· #3 · Aug 13, 2008

RJRGator said:
It's always good to look at the competition to see what they offer but long story short it was very satisfying to see the Directv product I have is the best my eyes have observed.

I guess. All I know is that for me DISH didn't offer enough of what I want in comparison to DIRECTV. That was true 10 and 1/2 years ago and it's true today. I know that my statement isn't true for several million people, but I'll let them make their own choices.

rey_1178

· #4 · Aug 13, 2008

RJRGator said:
The remote was foreign to me but I did not care for the layout of the buttons and while I did not look very hard I never did find the button to display the DVR programs.

there is a button on the Dish remote that's labeled DVR. it couldn't be any easier

Redlinetire

· #5 · Aug 13, 2008

I agree that previously Dish looked 'softer' than DirecTV.

But now with the recent switch over to MPEG-4, Dish HD looks just as good as DirecTV in my opinion. The SD as bad, perhaps worse than DirecTV.

Here's a picture of the remote.

It's pretty simple to operate. As rey_1178 pointed out, the DVR button is pretty prominant.

Notice also the Picture-In-Picture setting for use with Dual Live Buffers.

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Mertzen

· #6 · Aug 13, 2008

I did an HD install simultaneously with the Dish guy. So I could see both HDs on the same 52" samsung back and forth. Dish's looked grainier. No a lot of difference though.

Stuart Sweet

· #7 · Aug 13, 2008

Having seen both, well I don't like either remote to be honest

However, I think both companies offer value to their customers, and it just depends what you want. I did feel that the Dish SD picture quality was worse than DIRECTV's, with weirdly distracting motion artifacts.

Jason Whiddon

· #8 · Aug 13, 2008

Dish is slightly softer, period. Was not very happy with the decrease on my 50" 1080p Panny. Main reason I came back to D*.

drx792

· #9 · Aug 13, 2008

Havent seen much of Dish HD so i can't comment on that.

But even though i can make out the remote it just looks odd and crowded. They have a button for everything, which is good and bad. some people like a simple button, id rather have less buttons and have menus then have a crowded remote. also I hate how the volume is up at the top (i think its the only remote with that)

Jason Whiddon

· #10 · Aug 13, 2008

Its not a bad remote and the 622/722 are great dvrs. I like the HR20 remote better, but it may just be that Im more used to it.

RJRGator

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 14, 2008

Let me clarify that I meant I did not find the button that would display the programs that had been recorded via the dvr function. I was well aware of the DVR button and the FF & RW buttons.

Redlinetire

· #12 · Aug 14, 2008

RJRGator said:
Let me clarify that I meant I did not find the button that would display the programs that had been recorded via the dvr function. I was well aware of the DVR button and the FF & RW buttons.

To display your recorded programs (aka "My Recordings" screen in Dishland) you press the DVR button twice.

Or press the DVR button once, and Select "My Recordings" from the menu.

This applies to the newer ViP series, not sure if it's different for older boxes.

harsh

· #13 · Aug 14, 2008

drx792 said:
They have a button for everything, which is good and bad. some people like a simple button, id rather have less buttons and have menus then have a crowded remote.

Given that one of the biggest complaints about modern DVRs is the number of buttons you have to push to get to certain functions (especially closed captioning), fewer functions sounds like a bad idea. The colored button thing is my biggest complaint in that you must literally learn how to use the remote or read which button to press and then glance at the remote to get something to happen. The one advantage to the colored buttons is that the legends don't wear off.

The E* DVR transport buttons are a model for how it should be done in my mind.

JLucPicard

· #14 · Aug 14, 2008

harsh said:
Given that one of the biggest complaints about modern DVRs is the number of buttons you have to push to get to certain functions (especially closed captioning),...<snip>

This is something I have to give DirecTV HUGE kudos on! Pop up a menu, choose captioning on or off and you're done!

I'll take this over the "To Do List" option anyday. Sorry to those who disagree.

rudeney

· #15 · Aug 14, 2008

I don’t care about the physical design of the receiver box or it’s front panel buttons and indicators because all my receivers are behind cabinet or closet doors and rarely get touched. As for the remote, I don’t care about that either as I user Pronto programmable remotes. I wouldn’t mind a few of E*’s features like DLB, portability of external hard drives, and the ability to use the second tuner separately on a second TV. Regardless, for the things that matter most to me, which is what I actually see on the TV - picture quality, OSD’s, and channel selection - I prefer D* hands-down!

lparsons21

· #16 · Aug 14, 2008

I'm with you Rodney. I like the Dish Vip HDDVRs better than Directs from an operational standpoint, but like the PQ and channel selection I get from Direct better. Since I watch the TV and not the remote or DVR a lot less than the TV, I switched to Direct.

Jhon69

· #17 · Aug 14, 2008

How out of touch is Dish?.Dish doesn't even have a Backlighted Remote Control where DirecTV has two.

dtrell

· #18 · Aug 14, 2008

Redlinetire said:
Notice also the Picture-In-Picture setting for use with Dual Live Buffers.

ahhhh picture in picture...just like my time warner sa8300hd box (with dual live buffers)...an HR21 with picture in picture...now theres a flippin novel idea...

1 - 18 of 18 Posts

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