View Full Version : Dish DVR Service Vs DirecTv


CalifLove
03-19-09, 11:30 PM
I posted this in another thread, I have edited to *hopefullY* not put people off....

I am a new subscriber to dish coming from DirecTv. With Direct, I had 1 Hr21, and 1 Hr22, along with non dvr hd receiver.

I am *really* hoping someone can tell me I am an idiot and point out ways to better use my DVR because currently, I have a LOT of problems with the usability of my 2 Dish 612's.

I must say, to date, the overall the experience of the DirectV setup was much better. Granted, the guides were fairly slow to navigate and some things (deleting recordings) took too many clicks, overall I liked the way it worked better.

My problems with teh 612 are:

#1 - The thing makes WAY too much noise when it powers on to receive network updates. The fact that you can't do manual updates or otherwise prevent it from powering on at whatever time (the update time is user changable) annoys me - only because of the noise it makes while it updates. I have seriously considered opening the thing up and removing the fan!!!

#2 - If I come home from work a @ 8:10 and power up the TV and DVR, and see somthing on I want to see from the begining (8), the thing doesn't "remember" the previous 10 minutes because it wasn't "on". With Direct, you could come in, turn on and see up to 90 past minutes, even if the unit was turned off. (I realize that the easy solution to this is to never turn the DVR off but I would really like to see a "lower power keep DVR alive setting".

#3 - Similar to 2, if I leave the box on and walk away for 30 minutes, come back and hit record... it records from that point on, it does not record from the start of the buffer of the current channel. I have called Dish network and they tell me to choose the Start early end late option when I hit record, but I do not have the option EVER, for recording shows that are in progress, only for future scheduling

#4 - I have to hit record, and then hit OK to start recording. (Or hit record once and wait 30 seconds for the record options window to go away.

#5 - If I record from the middle of a show and had buffer before the record point, I loose the buffer and cannot rewind back even to watch what WAS in the buffer.

#6 - On-line scheduling doesn't exist for me. I know the dish.sling.com deal works for some users, but apparently it is not avalible on the 612 dvr.

#7 - completely subjective, but I liked the look of the Hr22/21 better than the dull big boxy look of the 612.

#8 - Direct signal quality was better, though not a deal breaker as the Dish stuff still looks WAY better than Comcast.

#9 - There doesn't seem to be an easy way to get rid of SD/HD duplicate listing in the guide... I like that I can create several guide list, but having a simple filter for hiding duplicates would be AWSOME!

As you can see, I am not a happy camper right now and am heavily regretting the switch to Dish and the fact that I will be stuck with them for the next 23 months short of paying an early termination fee. If it were not for the technical signal difficulties I had with Direct, I would have never had a reason to switch...sigh.

All that being said, I can't help but think I am missing somthing here as it seems that everyone else who have Dish DVR's rave about them... surely I must be doing somthing wrong?!?!?!

ncted
03-24-09, 05:22 PM
I posted this in another thread, I have edited to *hopefullY* not put people off....

I am a new subscriber to dish coming from DirecTv. With Direct, I had 1 Hr21, and 1 Hr22, along with non dvr hd receiver.

I am *really* hoping someone can tell me I am an idiot and point out ways to better use my DVR because currently, I have a LOT of problems with the usability of my 2 Dish 612's.

I must say, to date, the overall the experience of the DirectV setup was much better. Granted, the guides were fairly slow to navigate and some things (deleting recordings) took too many clicks, overall I liked the way it worked better.

My problems with teh 612 are:

#3 - Similar to 2, if I leave the box on and walk away for 30 minutes, come back and hit record... it records from that point on, it does not record from the start of the buffer of the current channel. I have called Dish network and they tell me to choose the Start early end late option when I hit record, but I do not have the option EVER, for recording shows that are in progress, only for future scheduling

If you rewind the buffer to the point from which you want to record, and then press record, it will record from that point.

#8 - Direct signal quality was better, though not a deal breaker as the Dish stuff still looks WAY better than Comcast.

Picture quality should be about the same. Dish is up to 1440x1080 while DirecTV is 1280x1080i. That said, bandwidth will be higher on some channels than others.


#9 - There doesn't seem to be an easy way to get rid of SD/HD duplicate listing in the guide... I like that I can create several guide list, but having a simple filter for hiding duplicates would be AWSOME!

As you can see, I am not a happy camper right now and am heavily regretting the switch to Dish and the fact that I will be stuck with them for the next 23 months short of paying an early termination fee. If it were not for the technical signal difficulties I had with Direct, I would have never had a reason to switch...sigh.

All that being said, I can't help but think I am missing somthing here as it seems that everyone else who have Dish DVR's rave about them... surely I must be doing somthing wrong?!?!?!

Dish's DVRs are generally better, but they will not meet your expectations if you are expecting the same behavior as DirecTV's DVRs. Both will differ from other DVRs in operational details. I have had DVRs from DirecTV, Tivo, TWC, and Dish, and they are all somewhat different. The Dish DVR is about as good as it gets, but it is still not perfect.

Ted

CalifLove
03-24-09, 08:39 PM
thanks ncted,

I realized the deal about having to rewind to the point you want to record from not too long ago. That will just have to work!

I guess from what I can tell, I may have made myself a victim by buying into the hype - my fault I know. Maybe one day, they will give us options to make it work however differently we want from one another.