[rodge827]

I live in an area of S. Jersey where I can't get FIOS.
Apparently there is no respect for us Piney folk and we're stuck with a cable company that broadcasts in 1080i  only.
So in order for me to get 1080p, I'm told that Dish or Direct is the way to go.
I will still use the cable company for internet.

My neighbor is a Dish fanboi, but the guy at BB loves his Direct TV.

So if ya'll could be so kind and post your experiences with either Dish or Direct, it would be much appreciated.

Please no flames or arguments just truthful experiences.

Chris

[Big Red Machine]

I love DTV.  Have had it since its inception in the 90's.  I am co-habitating a house now with WOW cable and it is horrible compared to DTV.  I see regular hourly glitches in reception and with DTV the signal only gets out of whack when the thunderstorm is directly blocking the dish which is rare.

Programming seems to be much better with DTV.  The lower price of Dish gets you fewer choices from all my friends who have tried Dish.  Basic programming, adding HD, NFL Sunday Ticket, and 5 receivers ran us about $100/month including their top DVR.

[ajzepp]

I've had both Dish and DTV and DTV is my preference by a very large margin. I will say, however, that DTV has COMPLETELY dropped the ball with me once I had to cancel my acct. I'm moving into another apartment temporarily that has no line of sight to the satellite (we've had two DTV techs out here to try....). I went from being THRILLED with the service as an active customer to completely shocked at how poorly they have treated me once I cancelled. It has truly left a bad taste in my mouth. But in terms of the service itself, for me it's DTV. Not to say that I had anything negative to say about Dish, cause their product was solid. But for me, especially as a football fan and as someone who also benefits from 3D programming, DTV was the clear winner.

[jarcher]

I've had both, as well as comcast cable.  I'm not sure there is a clear victor.  DTV had a very strong signal and would work in just about any conditions except if the dish was seriously snowed on.  Their DVR though was a total piece of crap though - buggy / laggy / etc.  This was over three years ago though, so their DVR equipment has probably gotten a lot better.  With DISH, for a long time I couldn't get line of sight, but then they put up another satellite at higher orbit, and I was able to get the service.  The pricing was good and the DVR was great - on par w/ the TIVO I have now.  BUT, I did have more issues with reception dropping out in bad weather than DTV.  My main concern now w/ DISH would be their ongoing feuds with the content providers.  I don't know that I would want to give up AMC, for example, as much as I agree w/ their trying to combat price gouging. 

So in sum, not a clear victory for me for one side or the other.  That's why I keep the DISH + DTV dishes on the roof along w/ cable and do the shell game from time to time to see who gives me the best offer.  Surprisingly it's often Comcast, as their internet is overpriced, so for a bit more they will offer a TV package as well after you cancel the TV portion to get your business back.  Even then I've decided to go without the TV service and use OTA / internet / Netflix / etc + a slingbox to a relative's cable TV service hooked up to a TIVO I used before.

[sharpsuxx]

I would have to say direcTV as well, mainly since Dish is just such an unprofessional enterprise. They subcontract the majority of their installers and thus often have a sub standard installation.  As far as customer service and the like DirecTV is second to none.  Dish has slightly cheaper promotional rates and the hopper is apparently a world class piece of hardware, I would imagine the Genie is now on the same tier though.  Push comes to shove you can do as I did and when I couldn't get IPTV anymore, I switched to DirecTV, and have been relatively satisfied.

[decal]

Like any other business, they both have their pros and cons. I currently have DTV and have no complaints,so far. I had Dish for 5 years with no complaints until I had a run-in with non English speaking/comprehension CS reps and dumped them.  When will these companies come to the realization that they SHOULD have CS reps that speak and comprehend the English language?

[rodge827]

Gents,

Thanks for the info.
It looks like DTV is the way to go. 
I'm going to give them a call and see what is up with the Genie, from the commercial she looks like a girl I knew in college. 
I did call Dish a few days back and experienced the language barrier, the guy kept asking me leading questions to put me back on my heals and answer to him. The kid learned a thing or two about salesmanship and and how to handle an undecided potential customer with respect!
Dumb ass!
He was the reason that I started this thread.

Chris 

[wilsynet]

I used to be a DirecTV fan.  I was a long time subscriber and then I moved to a place without line of sight to the satellite and so I gave it up.

A few years later I moved again and was happy to return as a customer.

Installer came out and we got everything set up.  For whatever reason it wasn't working very well, and the PVR/DVR software was crap (note this was a few years ago, could be better now) and I was dissatisfied with the quality of the HD channels.

I called to cancel after a week and they said I couldn't, that I had signed up for a 2 year commitment, and if I want to cancel early, there was an early termination fee.  I disagreed and said I never read any such thing, no such terms were presented to me, and no paperwork I had in my possession stated this, and I didn't sign anything agreeing to those conditions.

They said by having someone come out, I implicitly agreed.  I said no, that's not the case.  But if they thought it was, to please take me to court.  Or show me the paperwork I signed where I agreed to this and I would happily pay the termination fee.

They declined to present me with any evidence.  I proceeded to return the equipment to the DTV return center and moved on.  A month later, DirecTV charged my credit card with the ETF anyway which I disputed with my credit card company, and I won.  Then DirecTV sent my account to a collection agency.  Someone called me every few months for years.  Every time they called, I told them if someone would just show me some documentation that I agreed to pay an ETF, I'd happily pay in full.  Or alternatively, take me to small claims court and we'll resolve it in front of a judge.

No one ever did.  DirecTV was totally unresponsive.  I got phone calls and letters from collection agencies for years.  And every time I got a letter, I would dutifully respond with a copy of the documentation I had and an explanation that I didn't believe the charges were legitimate.

I will never buy anything from DirecTV again.

[geowak]

I have dumped cable TV and SAT TV. I have internet for the computers and added a ROKU box for streaming TV. I also have NETFLIX that I watch mostly. We pay $7.99 for Netflix streaming and roughly $40.00 for internet.

No contract at all. 

[Doublej]

wilsynet,

Did they try to put anything negative on your credit report?

[wilsynet]

That comes from the collection agencies reporting into the credit bureaus doesn't it?  Every time they contacted me, I wrote back disputing the legitimacy of the charges and sent it registered mail.  I think this prevented them from filing anything with the credit bureaus, but I don't really know how those credit bureaus work anyway.

Last I checked, I still had a credit score north of 810, so I suspect even if it did manage to show up somewhere, it really wouldn't weigh my credit score down all that much.

[LadyDog]

Somewhat in the same boat.  Cutious is either Dish or DTV charges you per receiver box like AT&T does?  5 boxes with AT&T adds another $40-$50 into the overall price.  Thanks.

[Nick77]

Directv has a new DVR that eliminates the need for charging more for extra DVR receivers.

Were in temporary housing right now and switched from DTV to cable, cant wait to switch back to DTV. Their PQ and remotes are far superior to my TW cable.   

[electricbear]

I can advise from two different perspectives. Firstly that of a consumer and secondly that of a Dishnet retailer.
The first thing you should do is to compare the pricing on the packages of programming that you want. They should be fairly close in price but you never know.
As a consumer I have been very happy with Directv. When we moved houses the transition was very smooth. I am able to call Customer Retention every year and negotiate some discounts to keep costs down. The only time I had a service issue it was dealt with in a timely manner. I have been with them about 12 years now.
As a retailer of Dishnet I have found them difficult to work with. We do all our own installs so we have not had issues with substandard subcontractors but I have heard horror stories. I can only hope they deal with client issues better than they deal with their retailers. We have had such a frustrating time with them that we are about to cease doing business with them. Based on my experiences with Dishnet I would tell friends and family  not to use them.

[Big Red Machine]

Somewhat in the same boat.  Cutious is either Dish or DTV charges you per receiver box like AT&T does?  5 boxes with AT&T adds another $40-$50 into the overall price.  Thanks.

DTV charges for all rented boxes.  I own one and no rent on it but rented 4 others.  $10 for HD service, and then $5 for each box rented.  $7ish for their DVR which takes 2 cables so you watch one channel and record any of the others.  They also have instant HD rental movies that you watch right then, but also gets recorded to your DVR so you re-watch it for up to one month and then it gets erased automatically.  And while you watch it you can pause it like some of the other services out there.

[rodge827]

So we had Direct TV installed today and WOW 
The picture and sound is sooo much better than what the cable Company can broadcast.

Thanks again for all of your help. 

Chris