[rmc_ss]

I really never post here since nearly any question you can dream up can be answered but I am shopping for opinions. I'd prefer if possible from folks who have jumped ship from E* to D*.

I have been frustrated for some time with football coverage here; if you don't like the Jaguars you are out of luck on Sunday afternoon. I realize that the blackouts of other games is driven by the NFL not the broadcasters but I was considering the shift just for the Sunday Ticket!

Currently we have E* SD DVR (622) driving 2 rooms and a standard dual (322) for the other 2 rooms and the Top 120 pack- paying $55 a month.

As for the actual complaint:
- The UHF remote used in the living room- eats batteries and works half of the time. With a UHF remote, can't use my Pronto remote
- The PQ seems poor (no HD since the rcvr is not in the LR) but I have nothing to compare to since I've never had D*.
- Signal seems poor; will drop out and pixellate for no apparent reason and dish has been re-pointed to tweak in with no improvement. Sometimes it's just the audio, but generally it's the whole signal- moreso on one bird (the 110 I think). With anything more than a VERY light shower, break out the DVD's.
- Customer service is a joke, even when you get someone who sort-of speaks english.
- As mentioned, no NFL Season Ticket.

It looks like I could get comparable service with D* Total Choice pkg and with 2 DVR/2 regular rcvrs it would run about $60 per month, and I could add a 5th regular rcvr for a total of $65. After the 1st year, it would go up 5 bucks- a little more than I'm paying now but comparable.

As I see it, I would have the option of adding HD later, since the rcvr will actually be in the LR vice the dual tuner crap plus the NFL ticket available for next year.

With all of that (rambling ) what is the prevailing between D*/E*?

I am leaning toward D* but the grass always SEEMS greener on the other side- what say you?

Thanks in advance!
Allen

PS- Since NFL ST is part of this, how do the NFL blackouts come into play with ST? Do you actually get all of the games?

 

[cybrsurfer]

I really never post here since nearly any question you can dream up can be answered but I am shopping for opinions. I'd prefer if possible from folks who have jumped ship from E* to D*.

I have been frustrated for some time with football coverage here; if you don't like the Jaguars you are out of luck on Sunday afternoon. I realize that the blackouts of other games is driven by the NFL not the broadcasters but I was considering the shift just for the Sunday Ticket!

Currently we have E* SD DVR (622) driving 2 rooms and a standard dual (322) for the other 2 rooms and the Top 120 pack- paying $55 a month.

As for the actual complaint:
- The UHF remote used in the living room- eats batteries and works half of the time. With a UHF remote, can't use my Pronto remote
- The PQ seems poor (no HD since the rcvr is not in the LR) but I have nothing to compare to since I've never had D*.
- Signal seems poor; will drop out and pixellate for no apparent reason and dish has been re-pointed to tweak in with no improvement. Sometimes it's just the audio, but generally it's the whole signal- moreso on on bird (the 110 I think).
- Customer service is a joke, even when you get someone who sort-of speaks english.
- As mentioned, no NFL Season Ticket.

It looks like I could get comparable service with D* Total Choice pkg and with 2 DVR/2 regular rcvrs it would run about $60 per month, and I could add a 5th regular rcvr for a total of $65. After the 1st year, it would go up 5 bucks- a little more than I'm paying now but comparable.

As I see it, I would have the option of adding HD later, since the rcvr will actually be in the LR vice the dual tuner crap plus the NFL ticket available for next year.

With all of that (rambling ) what is the prevailing between D*/E*?

I am leaning toward D* but the grass always SEEMS greener on the other side- what say you?

Thanks in advance!
Allen

PS- Since NFL ST is part of this, how do the NFL blackouts come into play with ST? Do you actually get all of the games?

For sports which are big for you, DirecTV will be superior. By the end of 2007 DirecTV will have the capacity to offer up to 150 national HD channels and will have 94% locals available in HD for all the US. Also they have many Regional Sports Networks in HD now also. Don't get me wrong, Dishnetwork has bad lawyers who have not leveled the playing field. It shouldn't matter who your carrier is! So DirecTV has been stronger in the court room, and has some advantage at the moment. That doesn't mean six months from now Dish wont turn the tables on DirecTV. Murdoch is wanting out of DirecTV and trying to exchange shares because he thinks it's a big "Bird Terd". So do your homework, and make a decision that works.

 

[geaux1]

I would not do it at this time, as a longtime D customer since 1996 I canm tell you DTV has gone from the gold standard to crap customer service and crap equipment with the HD systems from the dish to the DVR. They lie, their equipment does not work, etc., and you will not have a track record of over a decade at a high rate like I do so they will have no incentive to even work with you like they do with me. Now if you just get SD service absolutely their equipment is proven and tested and works 110% and I would get it, even with their drop off in customer service to third world levels the last year or so the quality is so good you shuold never have a problems. But if you are getting HD I would not get DTV until at least next summer or so and see if they get their act together. I was hopefull but am getting less so. Still am a little bit but it's getting dimmer.

 

[carl6]

Well, with two replies you've gotten about as opposite a couple of opinions as you could ask for. Typically you will find the real world lies somewhere in between the extremes.

You are only looking at SD for the moment, so the equipment you will be getting is the R15 DVR and most likely the D11 receiver. Having and using both, I can say I am overall happy with my service, however the R15 is still suffering it's growing pains. It was introduced prematurely, and over the past year has had a number of software updates which has improved it, but not yet made it perfect.

Please review the various threads in the R15 forum to get a better overall understanding of what you will be getting. Keep in mind that forums, any forums, tend to run negative. When you are having problems, you find the forums and you post your problems. When everything is running fine, you tend not to do that. There are tens of thousdands of R15's in service, with many of them working just fine.

Specifically with regard to football, the NFL season ticket will certainly give you more football to watch each Sunday, no doubt about it, and DirecTV has the exclusive contract for the time being.

I would pay no attention at all right now to any discussions about hi-def, as you won't be going there at the present time. At such future time as you do decide to upgrade to HD, you can explore the options at that time. Today, DirecTV is not the leader, but indications are they will be a much more viable option with regard to HD sometime next year.

Your comment about customer service with E* is applicable also to D*, I wouldn't expect any significant improvement in that area.

As far as signal strength and signal dropout, with a properly installed and aligned dish you should not have a problem short of a really heavy rain - but that is also true for E*. Almost all of your D* programming will come from the 101 satellite, not the 110, so that may help with regard to your location and signal strength.

Let us know what you ultimately decide, and a few weeks after the change (if you make the change), what your impressions are.

Carl

 

[jimbo09]

There are 7 weeks left in the season, there will be Thursday and/or Saturday games on NFLN, NBC has flex scheduling now 'til the end of the season, and the networks (outisde of the local teams) should be showing the best match-ups they have.

Why would you wait so late in the season to get NFLST? Just curious.

 

[rmc_ss]

...Why would you wait so late in the season to get NFLST? Just curious.

We received a flyer in the mail recently offering D* and it got me thinking harder about it. We just fulfilled a contract with E* so I have the option to drop them now (as of Nov). I have been pissed with E* for some time now and their flyer was well timed so I am looking harder now!

I really don't intend to switch now- the offer is actually not all that great and as you said the season is in full-swing. I am hoping that D* will get the bugs worked out of their new receivers by summer of '07. Based on what rumors are blowing around here, the new D* birds should be up for HD content and the back log on the new rcvrs should be gone.

I am also speculating D* will offer strong packages in the summer to switch in preps for the football season to gain subscriber numbers. I have nothing to base this on, but it makes since to me. I also figure all of the dust will have settled with the GOV poking their nose into the D*/NFL deal.

Bottom line is I am looking now to make an informed decision. From what I have gleaned so far, it looks like I will not be moving "up"; maybe sideways since the service is similar and I will be paying much more but getting the NFL. And I gain having individual rcvrs vice duals allowing a 5th room and adding HD in my LR if I so choose.... but paying alot more than I'm paying now for buggy equipment (for now). :goodandba

Did I miss something? Leaning more toward shifting but waiting 'till summer