DISH NETWORK

This totally off-topic, but a lot of folks here are very tech savvy so I'm hoping someone can provide advice. Right now I have three TVs. The big one, digital, in the TV room is connected to Comcast cable. The second is in the kitchen, small and digital, is connected only to the roof antenna and it gets only one channel clearly that we watch there. We are in a bad reception area for regular broadcast TV. The third is in the bedroom and is connected to the cable without a cable box. It's an analog TV. The cable is "all-digital" but that really means only the channels over 28 are digital. The ones below that, including all the major network local stations, are analog and those are the only ones we get with that TV.

I have long thought about switching to AT&T U-verse, and had a rep of the company installing the fiber optic cable nearby come to our door and try to sell me on it, but the packages were structured so that I had to buy a lot of stuff I didn't want to get one or two channels I did. Later when I decided to take another look I went online and the website said my street address didn't have U-verse. I wasn't sure I believed this so went to the AT&T store and waited for half an hour before being told I was supposed to have signed up over at the podium (which was unmanned when I walked in) and wait to be called (another half hour). That reminded me why I hated AT&T. But then I hate Comcast too for reasons too long to repeat here. So I stuck with Comcast and TiVo for now. I love the TiVo BTW.

So now I'm considering DISH NETWORK. My neighbor has a satellite dish but I don't know which brand. I got a flyer with a good price offer to include new digital DVR and free hookup to as many as 6 rooms. Satellite reception and service varies by area. I live the SF Bay Area. Does anyone here have experience with the satellite providers, or have other useful advice? I'm not a rapid sports fan and don't care about that much, although I follow college football to some extent, so I don't need major sports packages. We watch a lot of local news. WE don't care about the pay/premium cable channels like HBO. I mainly just want to be able to watch all the regular network channels plus the "standard cable" channels on all three TVs and have a DVR that can play on all three TVs. I'm more concerned about reliability and hassle than expense, but of course price is a factor. We have DSL through AT&T and would like a faster connection, but that is not a major factor for us right now and would settle for just solving the TV problem alone, but I would be interested in hearing anyone's experience with U-verse and Xfinity.

I've been using Dish for a long time. But I'm not too familiar with the current setup, price etc.

I'll direct you to the best dish forum - I'm sure you will find good help there.

http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=101

I was a Dish subscriber for well over a decade. I liked it, but I went to Verizon FIOS when it came to my neighborhood because it could bundle phone, internet and TV in one package for less.

The customer service people AT Dish network were very good. The local installers and servicers can sometimes be a bit spotty. They get pressured By Dish on various metrics and prices and are not always as eager as you would like them to be.

The only problem to be aware of is that in heavy thunderstorms it can go out as the cloud and rain cover can blank out the signal. Snow can also do this, but if you have that problem, the rest of us are in far greater trouble!

On occasion Dish Network would want to upgrade equipment and would substitute out the access cards in the box units that supplied the signal. This was irritating because you would sometimes have to call to get the system re-booted or a some other fix done over the phone. This probably only happened 2-3 times in 12 years.

I know that Dish has some solution for internet access, and maybe now for phone, but these are not ideal. They are really a patch job. In the end, I cancelled out Vonage, Comcast for Internet and Dish to get it all on FIOS.

It you are just looking for a TV solution, then Dish may be a good bet.

Good Luck!

any tv service gets expensive when you are using 3 DVR's. i might consider reducing the DVR needs to one tv. usually they will run an extra $8-13 a month EACH. too much money i think. back when my TV/internet package was $150 it was high because we had 2 DVRs from comcast at $13 per month each. and to have the DVR in the first place you had to have an "extended" digital package that was another $15... it added up fast. we finally dumped the TV altogether. still Comcast for internet (we get 20 mbs for $40 on intro offer for 6 months. then it goes to $55 i think)

i have netflix 2 DVD with unlimited streaming. i have a Roku box upstairs, Wii downstairs. so we see most of our tv that way. although we dont have TV hooked up, we still get local channels up to channel 13 so i still get the news (national news is something i used to pay extra to watch on my phone... ya, i am that bad!!)

the more i use netflix streaming, the more i like it. i just finished the final season of Lost. watched the entire season in 4 days. no commercials. we just sat and watched 3-4 episodes a day which was the same as a long movie. to be honest with ya; with all the plot twists, back flashing and interconnected story lines. i dont think i could have followed the series if i had to watch the show one week at a time

At the moment Direct TV (the main other satellite TV service) has a 3D channel, but DishNetwork (which I have had for many years) does not (yet).

The DishNetwork DVR can record 2 channels at once (hi or lo def), while watching a recorded program. Or, record one while watching another live.

I like the feature of adding a USB external hard drive (1TB, maybe more) to "store" recorded programs. The internal HD will hold about 55 hours of Hi-Def, so it might be only about 150 GB.

One DVR will output "TV1" to one HI-DEF TV and one standard-def "TV2" analog TV. So, you can hook two "remote" standard TVs to TV2 and see the same program on both. Then, TV1 supports the HI-DEF TV.

Much like TiVo, but different (only 10 days of Guide), I record virtually everything I want to watch, and skip-forward through the commercials. Changes entirely how one "uses" TV, but you already know that from TiVo.

If you have other questions, just ask.

My Internet comes via Cox Cable, about $45 / month for over 10 Mbits per second.

ok, why is this topic being resurrected when there is no new posts? apparently someone posted something then deleted it.

but...update; still using Comcast Cable with netflix streaming to now 3 TVs. well for the past few weeks or so, been having computer issues. unable to play videos like u tube, unable to open files and all this is happening randomly. went thru everything i could think of, settings, updates, etc. found a few things, but they did not fix the problem

eventually i noticed a bandwidth drop. i started a trace on my wi-fi to see if anyone had hacked my connect and nothing. or at least they are good enough to make it look like its being transmitted thru one of the wireless connects i know about

eventually i mention this online and immediately i get a response from Comcast rep. we email a bit with the eventual recommendation from him that i try to rent a modem (i have doubts about that solution) then i get a call from lady from "Comcast Executive Care" to schedule appointment to evaluate my connections, config and QOS. so they will be here tues

until then, my internet is flaking out big time. was was a few second delay has now run into 404's collisions, etc. if you see posts from me that make no sense its probably because edited posts never got updated or the post went to the wrong thread.

now, this is not an excuse for my normal off the wall demeanor. that has not changed.

but in the mean time i am relying on verizon LTE thru my phone for netflix which essentially drops our viewing from 3 TVs to one. i am ok with it (its my phone) but other family members are not. the reason we have 3 TVs is that we all simply watch different stuff. now the cable still works but it pauses constantly.

the Netflix setting we have requires a 1.5 Mbps stream and i have tested speeds that are running as low as 150 Kbps

Rat,

I have been I high-end AV integrator for many years and find the Dish equipment to be much better than direct TV. Don't get the ATT universe, it is junk up here. If you can get Sonic Net for your high speed and Dish for TV and you will be happy. If you need help send me a PM. In the last six years, all our customers on Direct have had a box replaced once or more and we have had no issues with Dish hardware and the pricing is as good or better to DTV. Most people can reduce the number of DVRs they need. If you don;t get Dish then go to Direct but not cable and NOT ATT anything :shock: Crap hardware and its ATT.

EVDRIVER said:

I have been I high-end AV integrator for many years and find the Dish equipment to be much better than direct TV. Don't get the ATT universe, it is junk up here. If you can get Sonic Net for your high speed and Dish for TV and you will be happy. If you need help send me a PM. In the last six years, all our customers on Direct have had a box replaced once or more and we have had no issues with Dish hardware and the pricing is as good or better to DTV. Most people can reduce the number of DVRs they need. If you don;t get Dish then go to Direct but not cable and NOT ATT anything :shock: Crap hardware and its ATT.

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I recently switched from Dish to Directv (after a decade with Dish) - because they refuse to even consider adding 3D channels. With 1080p projectors supporting 3D hitting below $2K a lot of people (@ AVSForum) are moving out of Dish.

I think Dish has now become the low-cost alternative to Directv - they are no longer interested in being at the forefront of tech like they were when HD just started.

I work in the professional Television and Feature production field and do 3D as well as 2D. Frankly, interest by the U.S. television population in 3D at home is documentably VERY soft. ESPN is even considering dropping their dedicated 3D channel due to the pullout of the manufacturers sponsoring it and weak consumer response. AVSforum members (of which I am one) unfortunately do not represent the larger market and thus they are not a very good spotlight for actual market trends. I think, for the next few years at least, Dish absolutely made the correct choice in deciding against 3D channels... Plus, Dish historically has had the better picture with less compression artifacts, higher bit rates, and less bandwidth limiting than Direct. I'd rather have higher quality 2D channels than lower quality 3D channels...

evnow said:

I recently switched from Dish to Directv (after a decade with Dish) - because they refuse to even consider adding 3D channels. With 1080p projectors supporting 3D hitting below $2K a lot of people (@ AVSForum) are moving out of Dish.

Click to expand...

evnow said:

EVDRIVER said:

I have been I high-end AV integrator for many years and find the Dish equipment to be much better than direct TV. Don't get the ATT universe, it is junk up here. If you can get Sonic Net for your high speed and Dish for TV and you will be happy. If you need help send me a PM. In the last six years, all our customers on Direct have had a box replaced once or more and we have had no issues with Dish hardware and the pricing is as good or better to DTV. Most people can reduce the number of DVRs they need. If you don;t get Dish then go to Direct but not cable and NOT ATT anything :shock: Crap hardware and its ATT.

Click to expand...

I recently switched from Dish to Directv (after a decade with Dish) - because they refuse to even consider adding 3D channels. With 1080p projectors supporting 3D hitting below $2K a lot of people (@ AVSForum) are moving out of Dish.

I think Dish has now become the low-cost alternative to Directv - they are no longer interested in being at the forefront of tech like they were when HD just started.

Click to expand...

Very limited 3D programming for some time, bad CS, crappy hardware and firmware. The 3D projectors now are not worth buying particularly those under $2K. Dish is smart not to waste bandwidth on this yet. 3D has a long way to go, particularly on Sat.

TomT said:

I work in the professional Television and Feature production field and do 3D as well as 2D. Frankly, interest by the U.S. television population in 3D at home is documentably VERY soft. ESPN is even considering dropping their dedicated 3D channel due to the pullout of the manufacturers sponsoring it and weak consumer response. AVSforum members (of which I am one) unfortunately do not represent the larger market and thus they are not a very good spotlight for actual market trends. I think, for the next few years at least, Dish absolutely made the correct choice in deciding against 3D channels... Plus, Dish historically has had the better picture with less compression artifacts, higher bit rates, and less bandwidth limiting than Direct. I'd rather have higher quality 2D channels than lower quality 3D channels...

evnow said:

I recently switched from Dish to Directv (after a decade with Dish) - because they refuse to even consider adding 3D channels. With 1080p projectors supporting 3D hitting below $2K a lot of people (@ AVSForum) are moving out of Dish.

Click to expand...

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+1. I get a new projector about every year, 3D is not a consideration at this point.

I started with 'Echostar' before it became Dish TV and have seen it get better and better. There has been no major problems with the service or equipment in the last 15 years.

DaveinOlyWA said:

ok, why is this topic being resurrected when there is no new posts? apparently someone posted something then deleted it.

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It would be nice if the moderators decide to delete a post, instead of just wiping it out (especially if someone has commented on it), they instead replace the post with something like

< post deleted >

That way there is less temptation to start commenting on a year old thread. Of course, with everyone being so talkative, it's tough not to comment. You're all such a friendly group of folks.

Rat probably stopped caring about this nearly a year ago, so I'm not sure why I'm posting, but I wanted to throw in a bit of caution. We've had Dish for many years, and it has been better than most of the alternatives. Like Rat, we are in a spot where rooftop can give only a few channels. Until the digital switchover our local cable company had a picture so bad it was hardly viewable. Definitely no FIOS here; it's amazing how underprivileged Silicon Valley is on that.

On the other hand, our dual receiver (VIP612) that matches what garygid described last December has been a continual source of trouble. It has been in for repairs twice, I have to reboot it several times a month, and it never has been able to jump backwards reliably (its 10-second jumps often go back several minutes). The programming is apparently a semi-incomprehensible mishmash of Microsoft code with EchoStar patches. Add to that the long-running patent battles between Tivo and Echo. Now throw in that Dish is losing market share to DirecTV, and seems to be in a precarious financial state. Oh, and Charlie Ergen, their guiding light, appears to be turning over the reins. Finally, Dish has what I consider to be an astonishing number of problems with station and network feeds. It's not a satellite problem, because it affects individual channels and they are able to display "stand by" messages. I sometimes wonder if in their zeal for cutting costs they invite retaliation from their program sources.

Ray