I have had just about enough from Charter cable. There is so much noise coming through. I am looking to switch either to their digital service or to a satellite digital service. I want to abandon Charter so I am looking for all the pros and cons to signing up with a satellite service.

I was hoping there was a forum or a review site where I could find out this information myself. I haven't been having much luck with Google. (I'm just pulling up a bunch of advertisements).

Does the Otter have any suggestions?

I've had DirecTV since June of 97. I love it.
Try www.dbstalk.com

Is the 1year commitment per account or per receiver?

I want to get the 3room package with my roommates, but I won't be here for a full year and will be taking my DirectTivo with me (that I'd upgrade to from the 3room package).

qs Directv is your answer along with the directivo unit, you will be in heaven..

Could also try www.dbsforums.com
Great resource site.
I have had both Dish and Direct TV, each has its pros and cons. The biggest reason I switched was Direct TV offered my local channels, Dish couldn`t even give me an ETA on getting them. Also, got a good deal on 2 room setup with TiVo (How did i Live before TiVo??!!). I got my set up from Expert Satelite and had it up and running in a week.

I enjoy DirecTv. The signal doesn't go out as often as the commercials make it seem. Oh sure, maybe once or twice every six months or so, but that is only in really heavy rain clouds. I do think that local channels ought to be included as a special service to subscribers, but that's me.

You can take the dish with you, so you can continue your coverage at your new place, as long as you have the right line of sight, etc.

-pedagogue

I picked up Dish Network in August of '97, then switched to DirecTV in January '02 (my Dish Network remote had gone bad and I could either buy a $50 remote (UHF), or get a free system through DirecTV).

Both are nice though I personally prefer Dish Network. A big advantage of Dish is that they have a $25 package, the cheapest package on DirecTV is, I believe, now $34. Also, I wanted a combination English / Spanish package, and DirecTV now has a better combination package (more English stations though fewer Spanish stations). Though Dish Network has Playboy in Español in their Spanish package...

In a nutshell:

Dish Network is better if money is an issue and you want a cheap package with good channels (plus they are a couple bucks cheaper per comparable package), or if you want foreign language channels.

DirecTV is better if you want as many sports packages as possible (they have exclusive deals with the NFL package, and I believe the basketball and hockey packages too, though they aren't cheap ($200 for the football package, for example)). However, the costs for getting exclusive rights are passed on to everybody which is why their packages are slightly higher than Dish Network's packages.

One more thing: on both Dish and DirecTV the menus are worlds ahead of the scrolling menu on 1/3 screen with ads that cable companies use. Both systems are at your control, scroll up, down, forward (up to ~ 36 hours), delete stations you don't have, and, at least with DirecTV, you can browse the menu while still watching TV. Also, both provide pretty detailed descriptions of almost all shows, and you can easily set it to switch to a certain program when it starts.

Here are a few examples of descriptions: Instead of just saying "M*A*S*H", my menu says "NR (Not Rated) 10:45 - 11:15 "Inga" A visiting Swedish surgean upstages Hawkeye. (CC), and for the movie Stalag 17: NR (Not Rated) - 11:20 pm - 1:15 PM - War. William Holden, Otto Prenninger, Robert Strauss (1953) A cynical US sergeant is pegged as a barracks informer in a Nazi prison camp. Directed by Billy Wilder. Bester actor Oscar. Growing Pains NR (Not Rated) 11:00 pm - 11:30 pm "All the World is a STage" Mike competes with an established actor for a role. You get the idea, even sitcoms come with useful descriptions about what episode it is and a brief synopsis.

The menu alone is worth moving from cable to satellite.

Yes, you can take it with you, but in my opinion it would be better to not take it with you and instead sign up as a new customer in your new location since you would then get new equipment, free installation, etc. Plus you can sell your old equipment on ebay.

had directv for a few years - it ROCKS w. Dtivo.

Never going back to cable/digital cable.

Plus Danny DeVito reads funny letters.

actually, you don't even need to bring your dish with you. they want you to leave it at your old place, and they'll hook you up with a new one for free at your new place.

I think the most recent "moving" commercial I saw said it costs $25 now. Could be a regional thing though too.

I got a quick question. I'm looking into going to either DirecTV or Dish Network but I'm told I can't get local channels. Which means I can't get ANY NBC, ABC, FOX, etc without an antenna. So here's my problem. I have a ReplayTV (which I can't live without). Is there a way for the ReplayTV to switch between the antenna and the satellite and get all my shows or am I just screwed?

Thanks

Who told you this and why?

Direct TV carries locals depending on where you live and what locals you should get. I would check this before jumping to conclusions.

I have Dish Network and Love it. My perception of which to choose is if you are a movie watcher go for Dish Network. If you are into Sports pick Direct TV.

I get all the NYC and NJ local channels through DirectTV for about $6 a month. My total package, for three rooms, 150 channels, 7 HBOs, the NY area sports networks (YES, FSNY, MSG) and the 35 or so digital music channels for about $65 a month. The similar package on my old cable system (Cablevision, non-digital) was $90 a month and I only had 2 HBOs and 80 channels. The $25 a month savings for me make it well worth the few times I lose signal in a heavy downpour.

I've had DishNetwork for the past four years. I love it. I'll never go back to cable.

A fully intergrated, functioning, two-tuner DVR should weigh heavily as well.

There's nothing out there that currently tops the DirecTivo that DirecTv offers.

I had Replay before switching to a DirecTiVo. The Replay has no problem going between antenna/cable and a dish.

So say my roommates and I go for the 3room system (with me upgrading to the DTivo). I'd move in about 6 months, taking the DTivo with me. DTV doesn't care that the 3room system is now only a 2 room system?

I had Dish Network for 2 years and switched to DirecTV 4 months ago. DirecTV has far surpassed my expectations, but the main reason for that is the DirecTiVo. Without that, I wouldn't have been impressed. The basic receiver and guide layout is better on Dish Network, but the DirecTiVo is 10 times better than anything Dish has. And, since you can get the DirecTiVo for only $99 including installation from www.directv.com you can't lose.

Dish has a few more channels in their AT150 package than Direct has in thier Total Choice Plus package, but they are channels that I never watched and don't miss. My package with Direct runs about $62 a month and that includes the Total Choice Plus w/ locals, one extra receiver and the TiVo service.

Cat

nope. Just make have them remove yours and add another as primary.

I'll second that. I just switched from cable on Saturday. If not for the TiVo, I probably would have just stayed with cable. Sure it costs more and the picture quality doesn't come close to what my dish provides, but I could have lived with cable. But the DirecTiVo is what pushed me over the edge. After 5 days of playing with it, if I had it to do over again, I would pay $300 without blinking (I actually only paid $99 for the DirectTivo, extra receiver, dish and install two weeks ago and the deals are even better today.)

I'd say do a lot of research between the DVRs offered by each service. I can't understand why someone would go with the Dish DVR to be honest, but that's something you'll have to consider based on your particular needs. For me, the extra few dollars a month for DirecTV is FAR outweighed by the features of their DVR.

Sounds good. But what about people that get the 3room system, activate the 3 receivers and then ebay 2 of them? Is that possible?

I have Dish Network, Directv and Bell Expressvu (Canada's satellite service). I started out with only Dish (after switching over from expensive ATT) in Dec of 2001. I bought a Dish high-definition receiver for cheap from someone and got all my locals for free in full high definition quality. But DirecTivo wooed me away and now I sub to only the highdef package on Dish, while Directv takes care of the rest. I just added Evu too.

Another highly satisfied Dish Network customer here. Excellent service, and all the channels I want. I hooked up a Tivo this week, and I couldn't possibly ask for more.