[Neil Derryberry]

After last night's tech chat, I've just about had it with Dish. My wife and I really wanted a 721, but there is no way in hell I'm going to pay $549 for one. I did some initial research, and what I found makes me even hotter.... minidishes.tv has a 2 room deal on Sony UTV recievers that would cost me $49 after rebates, and they are dual tuner!

My questions are these:

Is there a more reputable dealer that offers anything close?
UTV or TiVo?
Will the Sony UTV reciever utilize my cable modem if I want?
Does Directv carry the NASA channel?

subjective question:
Who has better PQ?

Thanks guys...

 

[Karl Foster]

Here is my expience so take it for what it's worth.

I bought a UTV receiver from www.orbitsat.com back in February and it was $39 after rebate as I was already a subscriber. It arrived on time and in good working order. I would buy from them again. YMMV.

I bought a 2X6 multi-switch from minidishes.tv and it arrived in two days. I would also buy from them again.

The UTV receiver will NOT use your cable modem. It has a built-in modem, but the MSNTV feature is pretty worthless if you have a home computer. If not, MSNTV is better than nothing, but not much.

To get NASA, you'll have to get a system with an elliptical dish. www.orbitsat.com has a Sony two-room UTV setup, including the elliptical dish for $49 after rebate. The advantage with the Sony over the RCA is that the Sony comes with a keyboard, the RCA, you'd have to buy the keyboard separate.

I can't answer you question whether to buy UTV or D*Tivo. I've never used the D*Tivo units, but offer similar functions.

You can also easily upgrade the UTV receivers to have a larger hard drive. Many people have upgraded to a 80GB hard drive and larger. Check avsforums to get instructions if you are interested in that.

 

[markh]

Neil, on the subjective question of PQ. I think that right now the best Dish channels look about as good as Direct's. But it also looks to me like Dish has channels that are worse than Direct's worst channels. I think that overall across the board that D* has the edge right now.

I'm basing that on looking at my TVwith E* and my Dad's TV with Direct. I haven't done any sideby side comparison or anything like that but that's my overall impression. But, hey that could change after E*8 goes up.

 

[Dmitriy]

This will help you http://dbstalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2967
I was thinking about switching too.