Just looking at hardware prices and nothing else.
Dish Hopper/Joey - $10 DVR and MRV fee, $7/hopper or joey after the first one.
DirecTV - Lease fee is $6 for each unit after 1st one. DVR+MRV is $11 with D*
So from strictly a hardware lease cost per month basis, it is nearly a wash.
But with Dish, if you wanted DVRs everywhere, the cost would be higher HDDVRs start at $10/month per unit after the first one and go up to $17/month. BTW, the $10/month version (Vip612) is literally the equivalent of the HR series from DirecTV in all that it does with the exception that you can't do whole home with it or any other DVR from Dish. Hopper/Joey combo is the only way to do that with Dish.
With just two people in the house, I would think the Hopper + 3 Joeys would do well for you to cover 4 rooms. To go to the 5th room, you would have to have 2 Hoppers. Assuming you do 4 rooms, here is a hardware cost breakdown:
Dish - $10 MRV+DVR, $21 for lease of 3 Hoppers (3 x $7) = $31 in hardware lease fees.
Direct - $11 MRV+VR, $18 for lease of 3 units (3 x $6) = $29 in hardware lease fees.
Both services have advantages and disadvantages.
Dish Hopper can have an external HD added to it to give you more storage for the DVR. Direct doesn't do it that way. You can add an external HD, but it then is the only HD that is used.
Dish's equipment is much quicker in operation.
Direct has slightly better HD picture, many can't see the difference. Dish has much better SD picture by a big margin.
Dish Hopper/Joey - $10 DVR and MRV fee, $7/hopper or joey after the first one.
DirecTV - Lease fee is $6 for each unit after 1st one. DVR+MRV is $11 with D*
So from strictly a hardware lease cost per month basis, it is nearly a wash.
But with Dish, if you wanted DVRs everywhere, the cost would be higher HDDVRs start at $10/month per unit after the first one and go up to $17/month. BTW, the $10/month version (Vip612) is literally the equivalent of the HR series from DirecTV in all that it does with the exception that you can't do whole home with it or any other DVR from Dish. Hopper/Joey combo is the only way to do that with Dish.
With just two people in the house, I would think the Hopper + 3 Joeys would do well for you to cover 4 rooms. To go to the 5th room, you would have to have 2 Hoppers. Assuming you do 4 rooms, here is a hardware cost breakdown:
Dish - $10 MRV+DVR, $21 for lease of 3 Hoppers (3 x $7) = $31 in hardware lease fees.
Direct - $11 MRV+VR, $18 for lease of 3 units (3 x $6) = $29 in hardware lease fees.
Both services have advantages and disadvantages.
Dish Hopper can have an external HD added to it to give you more storage for the DVR. Direct doesn't do it that way. You can add an external HD, but it then is the only HD that is used.
Dish's equipment is much quicker in operation.
Direct has slightly better HD picture, many can't see the difference. Dish has much better SD picture by a big margin.
