UVerse vs. DirecTV vs. Dish
 

So, I've recently made the switch to UVerse and love the selection of HD channels and it is pretty affordable relative to cable, however, the limitation of 2 HD/2 SD streams is really starting to get annoying a month in. We have 1 HD DVR (all they allow per household), 2 HD receivers and an SD receiver. So if my brother is out watching FSN HD in the TV room and I want to watch NBC HD in my room, our renter cannot watch HD TV in his room. It's getting ridiculous. Add into that if there is an HD program recording on the DVR, that only allows for one other HD stream in the whole house. I was not aware of the 2 HD stream limitation when signing up, nor of the 4 total streams regardless of definition limitation. Would be nice if they presented this up front, but they might lose some sales, so I see why they didn't.

However, I don't want to go back to cable (Time Warner). I'm sick of their crappy boxes (love the Uverse Motorla boxes) and reception problems caused us to switch to Uverse - though some reception problems I'm sure could have been fixed with a call to a technician.

So I'm looking at DirecTV - $75/month for NFL Sunday Ticket + Free programming is a great deal to get you started and then I could back off of the package options at the end of the 4 months. However, the initial cost is throwing me a bit. $200 per HD DVR and $100 per regular DVR? That's $700 - $200 free HD DVR for NFL Sunday Ticket signing up = $500 up front! Plus, you don't even own these receivers as far as I can tell. On top of that there's a $5 per HD DVR leasing fee so you get to pay a monthly fee for these boxes that you paid $200 each for up front? In the long run, past 20 months, it works out vs. cable - where you pay $15/month to rent the boxes from them.

But what are your simultaneous stream options with DirecTV? When trying to sign up, they say you can have 6 boxes, so I'm assuming 6 streams. So we could have 4 TVs going at once and 2 programs recording at the same time? That should be plenty...but it's just the up front costs that put me off a bit again.

And then there's Dish. I haven't done much research when it comes to Dish, but basically, I'd need the same number of boxes and need to know how many simultaneous streams we could have. NFL Sunday Ticket is nice, but I don't need it. I just need my HD channels and a reliable service with more than 4 streams.

If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them. Thanks! :)

Doesn't this type of question fit better in the home theater forum?

A google add for this promotion sent me to a site that when I clicked through offered a free upgrade to HD DVR for the additional boxes. So you could get 4 HD DVRs total for about $300 up front, and $15 a month lease fee.

The limit is 6 boxes, not streams. For example, you can get up to 6 DVRs, and each DVR has two tuners built in, for a maximum of 12 simultaneous streams. Satellite is like cable where all the video information is being constantly sent, and your box just has to tune into it. The 6 box limit is more a limitation on what they feel is reasonable for one household to be able to use on one home account than any technical limitation. They don't want a hotel or apartment building putting in tens of receivers and trying to use them all with one "home" account.

Keep in mind you'll need broadband access to your DVRs with DirectTV, so you may need to run some LAN lines in your house, or settle for non-DVR boxes on some.

Dish is more complicated. Dish only goes up to 4 rooms of service, at least via online signup options, and some of Dish's receivers are "two room" ones, where one receiver is used on two different TVs (via two tuners in one box). The remotes then operate the box through the walls. Looking at their offerings, the most you're going to get is 3 boxes total, with a maximum of 2 of them being DVRs.

For example, this option:
(2) one room HD/DVR receivers, (1) two room HD receiver.

Would give you 2 rooms with their own HDDVR, each one able to tune into 2 streams. Then you'd split a dual-tuner HD receiver in the last 2 rooms, say your brother's and the renter's, so they'd each be able to view one HD stream.

Why would you need network capabilities for DVR? Program guide?

I do have all rooms networked, so that's not an issue, just curious. Do I also need to get that $25 network box to access On Demand features on DirecTV?

But DirecTV seems like a pretty good deal since we're hitting problems with stream limits. Of course, I thought the DirecTV pricing was really good until I realized the Time Warner and UVerse options included internet which I would now have to get a la carte from AT&T or Time Warner...

I thought from the forum description it's more about gear, but it looks like this has been moved to TV Talk from Tech talk already. Not sure where exactly it belongs

Wow, if I could find that I'd probably do it. We need 3 HD DVRs @ 200 each + 1 DVR @ $100.

So normally that's $700, but they're offering one free HDDVR which brings it down to $500. If I could get another free HD DVR, I'd more than likely switch.

Re-reading the info, it looks like network capabilities is only for on-demand programming. If you can live without on-demand, you don't need it. The program guide is supplied via the satellite feed.

According to this link, the internet connection kit is for if you didn't have ethernet access in your rooms already:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-...ction-kit.html

Again, the config I looked at said 4 HDDVRs for $500 - the one free HDDVR for a total of $300.

I picked "FREE DIRECTV® HD Receiver Upgrade " for the 3 additional boxes, at $100 each.

I went through this link:
http://directv-satellite.tv/

Although you may be able to get the offer without clicking through that referral site first.

I thought I'd piggyback in this thread instead of making my own... I think I'm signing up for Direct TV this weekend and dropping Comcast.

I really wanted UVerse but although it is available in my zip code, it is not available at my house and the CSR rep would not tell me if there were plans to make it available. I told him that I'd gladly wait for UVerse and give them my money if they'd just tell me if it was coming soon to my area, but I guess the folks in India aren't familiar with the layout of my Florida neighborhood.

Then I thought I'd go with Dish Network but I looked at the Dish Network webpage and I seriously couldn't make heads or tails of the packages and the extra options. I couldn't tell what I would be charged and what I wouldn't have to pay for until the first bill, plus for the channels I want they seem to be more expensive.

So, some questions for those of you who maybe once had Comcast/cable but now have Direct TV:

* If you've recently done the same thing I'm doing, do you miss anything about Comcast? Any regrets that maybe I'm not seeing?

* I notice that Direct TV's website shows that they don't have HBO or Cinemax on Demand. Is that true? That's a Comcast thing I would actually miss.

DirecTV has some kind of VOD now. I don't know how it works - it ties into your high-speed internet connection I think. Regardless, it's not at all like the Comcast VOD you are used to.

Another thing I miss about Comcast was the ability to split your line however many ways you wanted to - made it very convenient for multiple tv setups. You can't do that easily with satellite.

Also, no AMC-HD on DirecTV as of yet, so if you are a Mad Men fan, that sucks.

I've had my share of problems with both DirecTV and Comcast, but since DirecTV has Sunday Ticket, a comprehensive sports-pack, and Mega March Madness, that trumps.

It's not so great. Basically it just downloads shows onto your DVR. So, it's not exactly "on demand".

Wasn't there a Dish/DirecTV merger in the works a while ago? What ever happened with that?

Heh, well...

Just spent an hour on the phone with DirecTV. After all the haggling and discount coding I managed to get EVERYTHING (all channels, all HD channels, all premium channels) plus NFL Sunday Ticket for $45 per month. Awesome.

But then after all that, and after getting charged for the equipment, I was told that the first available installation isn't until October 24th. Blargh!

I got the exact same installation date when I called on Monday. I think their installation setup is being upgraded to account for all the sub-contractors they've bought out but either the CSRs don't know or aren't allowed to admit it. When you try to log in to your account through their website you get a "try back later" message as well. I decided to cancel the whole deal and will try again when and if they get their act together.

I had weaseled the HD Plus DVR package down to $34 a month for a year with all sorts of freebies and I'm not looking forward to going through all of that again but I didn't want to be charged in advance for something they can't even deliver in a timely manner.