[davids]

I live in the Grand Rapids, MI market area which currently doesn't have HD Locals by Dish. Direct TV has recently added HD locals for this area and I plan to switch to Direct in about 3-4 months after they have a chance to eliminate the bugs from the HR20 receiver. Does anyone think that Direct is now placing added pressure on Dish with the addition of local markets not currently carried by Dish. Or is Dish helpless because they don't have the necessay capacity on their Sats. I really like Dish so it makes me mad that they can't keep up with Direct on their services. I understand Direct is going to add two more Sats. this coming year and a lot more HD channels. That could be a killer to Dish.

 

[kdwebsol]

I am in the Providence market (but live in MA). My contract is up in April and I am thinking of switching to D* because they offer local HD and NESN (RSN). I really like E*, they offer more HD channels and the 622 has been very good to me. I wish E* would just get moving on locals and RSN in HD, April in coming “very, very soon” and I would love to stay with them.

Ken

 

[Stewart Vernon]

Dish has channels DirecTV doesn't have... DirecTV has channels Dish doesn't have... Cable has channels neither satellite company has... I see no additional recent pressure from DirecTV that has changed opinions.

 

[whatchel1]

I live in the Grand Rapids, MI market area which currently doesn't have HD Locals by Dish. Direct TV has recently added HD locals for this area and I plan to switch to Direct in about 3-4 months after they have a chance to eliminate the bugs from the HR20 receiver. Does anyone think that Direct is now placing added pressure on Dish with the addition of local markets not currently carried by Dish. Or is Dish helpless because they don't have the necessay capacity on their Sats. I really like Dish so it makes me mad that they can't keep up with Direct on their services. I understand Direct is going to add two more Sats. this coming year and a lot more HD channels. That could be a killer to Dish.

What D* has is really good marketing. They have to do a lot of work to get the HR 20 stable. Read the D* post on it. The new sats that D* are putting up are KA band which is a higher freq than we are on now. There are only a couple of sats up there running on KA band. So it may be great may be garbage. Also sat co's that are having trouble w/ the systems now are going to have as much if not more problems aligning a KA band system. The higher the freq of a sat the the tighter the beam which means higher accuracy in pointing the dishes. It also means possibility of more problems w/ rain fade. I will re-evaluate what is going on in the next year to see which one is a better offer to me.

 

[odawgx]

I am actually getting rid of D* and switching to Dish. I just bought an HDTV and they are offering a much better deal than D*. FSN has already been uplinked and should be ready to go within the next few months. DirecTV has a horrible selection of HD channels and they need to get that resolved ASAP. They don't plan on doing that until next year.

The fact they have half the amount of HD channels and a faulty receiver (HR20) is enough reason for me to get a better deal from Dish. They are cheaper monthly too and the $20/mo. off helps in my decision.

Frankly, I hate the DirecTV DVR interface and have heard nothing but complaints. I'm not saying the 622 is THAT much better, but at least I know it's more stable.

I don't feel like paying money to D* to beta test their equipment.