[bflatmajor]

Someone help me out on this.

I've been a long time D* customer, I have never tried E*.

The opportunity has come where I can switch.

So, can someone tell me why would a longtime DTV switch EStar?

Pro and Cons....

The only thing i can think of is more HD content.

Thank you

 

[FTA Michael]

Superstations? Cheaper Sports Pack? Slightly different channel set?

 

[boba]

You think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence?

 

[bflatmajor]

FTA;

Superstation WGN and what others are available on E*
Is the picture quality the same?
Since I have two hd sets, I want more hd content. I understand that E* has the old voom channels, but is there anything else coming in the future that you know of.

boba;

Is the grass any greener on the other side of the fence?
Have you or anyone else tried D* and E* and decided E was better, if so why?

As far as sports, well the only thing I really enjoy and can get my money's worth is NBA League Pass.

I tried the NFL ticket but wasting an entire day watching a couple games just didn't seem to be cost effective.

Comments are welcome.

Thank you

 

[TNGTony]

FTA;

Superstation WGN and what others are available on E*

WGN Superstation is really not a "super station" it is a cable station that shares about 50% of the broadcast schedule with WGN 9 Chicago. Dish and DirecTV have that one. On Dish WGN Superstation is part of the AT120 pack. AT60 is the basic package.

The only remaining FCC defined Super Stations are:
WPIX (CW) New York
KWGN (CW) Denver
KTLA (CW) Los Angeles

WWOR (MyTV) New York

WSBK (Independent) Boston

They are available in most of the country. Check the "local" qualification on the Dish Network site to see if you would qualify for these.

They run $1.50 each or all 5 for $5.99.

Is the picture quality the same?

As far as SD channels go, I think it is better described as "comperable". Dish is better on some channels. DirecTV is better on others. Each have different artifacting and compression issues.

I cannot comment on HD PQ on Dish or DirecTV.

Since I have two hd sets, I want more hd content. I understand that E* has the old voom channels, but is there anything else coming in the future that you know of.

All anyone can do now is guess. Nothing has been announced. INHD was uplinked for a while but never made available so I think that one will not be available any time soon. see http://ekb.dbstalk.com/dishlist.htm for the monster channel list for Dish. The National HD channels are all in the 9400 range.

As far as sports, well the only thing I really enjoy and can get my money's worth is NBA League Pass.

That is available on both systems. The NBA channel is available on America's Everything and with the League Pass.

I tried the NFL ticket but wasting an entire day watching a couple games just didn't seem to be cost effective.

Dish Network does NOT have NFL Sunday Ticket and it will not have this package for at least years, but realistically, I do not see Dish EVER getting this package.

If you are happy with DirecTV, I wouldn't switch. If you want something that is on Dish but not on DirecTV then switch. Price points, channel packages, selections are all comperable (not the same but comperable).

See ya
Tony

 

[isuzudave]

One thing that E* has that I don’t think D* has is the dual tuner receiver that runs two TVs (only one in HD). I like being able to watch a recorded program in my living room or bedroom.

 

[gooders]

I'm from England and recently moved to the US so I need to ask a question where the answer is not obvious to me - what's a Superstation???

 

[boba]

FTA;

Superstation WGN and what others are available on E*
Is the picture quality the same?
Since I have two hd sets, I want more hd content. I understand that E* has the old voom channels, but is there anything else coming in the future that you know of.

boba;

Is the grass any greener on the other side of the fence?
Have you or anyone else tried D* and E* and decided E was better, if so why?

As far as sports, well the only thing I really enjoy and can get my money's worth is NBA League Pass.

I tried the NFL ticket but wasting an entire day watching a couple games just didn't seem to be cost effective.

Comments are welcome.

Thank you

As a dealer for both and as a subscriber to both, the difference is the promotions they are offering. Directv has been better at building/writing software for their receivers(except recent models). DISH has a history of crappy software where it normally takes a year to stabilize a receiver then they replace it and start the cycle all over again. Programming is about the same, channels offered and quality of the picture on SD. HD, DISH currently offers a larger number of channels but nothing that is really important to most people. Directv has a capacity limitation that should change drastically in 2007. So I say the decision is which side of the fence has greener grass to you. After 12 years of selling the small dish my choice is D* but they both serve a customers needs.

 

[Michael P]

I'm from England and recently moved to the US so I need to ask a question where the answer is not obvious to me - what's a Superstation???

In the early days of satellite TV several "local" TV stations were uplinked to satellite, making them available nationwide. The first IIRC was WTBS-17 in Atlanta, followed by WGN-9 in Chicago and WOR-9 in NYC. At the time all were independent of any network affilliation. WTBS became the cable network TBS which differs slightly from the over-the-air ch 17 slightly, ditto for WGN in Chicago, which is the cable network "Superstation WGN" which differs slightly from the "OTA" ch 9 in Chicago.

No new superstations are allowed by the FCC, the ones that exist are "grandfathered". There are a couple of local religious stations that, while not officially "superstations" effectivly are the same thing: GTN which differs slilghtly from the "I" affilliate in Columbus, OH and "Safe TV" in Springdale, AR.

Today most of the superstations have affilliations with one of the "netlets" CW or MyTV (formerly The WB and UPN). There are many smaller markets in the country which lack a local affilliate for one or both of the netlets so the superstations come in handy for them. For the rest of us they are just a duplication of programming we alredy get form a local station.

 

[TNGTony]

Actually SuperStations pre-date satellite. The term "Super Station" was first used by Ted Turner when he uplinked his station (whatever it was called just before it changed its call letters to WTBS). Remember that cable systems grew out of Community Antenna sytems. Cable TV's abreviation is still CATV (Community Antenna TV). Ever since the first commercial cable system in Scranton PA, the operators have been trying to pull station in from "distant" areas. Scranton cable provided New York City and Philadelphia local channels. Eventually some operators started setting up microwave relay systems for what were to become "regional super stations". Locally some cable systems got WTTV from Bloomington for IU games and other indy programming. Every major league city with an independent station that had one of these at least. Some eventually went up on satellite after Ted thought of ddoing that to distribute his programs (and Braves Baseball) nationally.

But the problems started imediately after that! Teddy and his friends were distributing programs to areas where other stations had exclusive rights. The copyright battle has been fought ever since!

The law defining super stations is one that says "yes, they are infringing on your copyrights. So what. Here is a remedy for a while." This law sunsets at the end of 2009. If no action is taken, "Superstations" (taking a local channel and redistributing the channel nationally despite copyright issues) will cease to exist. Some claim that super stations will end with the analog-digital station switch-over earlier in 2009 because the law specifically names the 5 supers with the suffix -TV. All the digital stations have the suffix -DT. But I suspect that in the time it takes for some one to bring a civil action to test that it will be well into the 2010s.

See ya
Tony

 

[gooders]

Thanks for the education guys!

 

[James Long]

Actually SuperStations pre-date satellite. The term "Super Station" was first used by Ted Turner when he uplinked his station (whatever it was called just before it changed its call letters to WTBS).

WTCG. The new call sign WTBS was assumed on August 27th, 1979. (Per the FCC)