Is one significantly better than the other in Houston ? Im leaning towards getting Directv because they carry Rockets games but just want to make sure with everyone here because I've heard some bad stuff about Directv about how peoples bill's keep creeping upwards all the time. I'm not that huge on the Rockets any more (sorry Le$) so I'm willing to get Dish if people here have had good experiences with it. I'm mostly gonna be watching soccer so I only really need the NBC Sports Network and Fox Sports 1.
This is one of my concerns as well. When I see an asterisk at the end of a price quote on the Directv website I get really anxious.
Have you used both ? How big of a difference is the quality exactly? Can anyone else please chime in on this.
I love my Direct TV. The wireless genie boxes are great for moving TV's around/outside on the deck etc. If you go direct TV I'd love the referral. Save me $10 per month.
I'm currently with Direct TV and had Dish before Direct, on my TV (Panasonic Plasma) the picture quality was about the same, Direct might be just a bit better but nothing significant. However, my Dish did not go out as much as the Direct TV goes out due to the weather at my house. I'm planning on going back to Dish once my contract with Direct TV runs out!
Sticker shock in 12 or 24 months is the only thing holding me back from converting to DirecTV from U-Verse. Price seems to be the only downside to DirecTV.
DirecTV and Dish prices are very similar. They both are offering 24 month guarantee prices. At one time, they both offered 1 year prices and the promo would fall off after 1 year, but that appears not to be the case anymore. Reliability of service all depends on installation. It doesn't matter which service you have, if iits not pointed right, you will have issues. I know with DirecTV the antenna has to be pointed exactly right or the receivers will not activate. Generally people seem to be happier with DirecTV than Dish.
Dish always has Carrier fights with broadcasters. You will see twice a year a channel being blacked out because Dish and that channel(s) can't come to an agreement. The reason is...Dish is operating on the cheap, doing just enough. Currently, they are in a fight with the NFL over the NFL Network and the Redzone channel (NFL Network is currently off Dish Network). http://www.cedmagazine.com/news/2016/06/nfl-network-not-available-dish-subscribers Plus, Navigating Dish Guides and Menus is HORRIBLE.
I have Dish, having switched from DirectTV about two years ago. I'm in Austin, though, not that it matters. On your first point, yes, Dish does somewhat regularly have carrier fights. I'm not sure that's a negative though. It's certainly annoying. But to the extent Dish is slightly cheaper than DirectTV, now you know why. You, the customer, are paying for those price increases. Now, to the extent Dish is just a crappy, poorly ran, low margin business and they just can't afford price increases, maybe, but I don't see that as the case either. There's probably some of both, but I honestly appreciate the fact that Dish is fighting to keep prices down... especially in this world where increasingly I'm not watching a ton of channels. Regarding the menus and navigation guides, as with anything different, it's different than DirectTV, but a few months in I liked it better and still do. Maybe DirectTV has improved in the two years since I switched. But I got used to the Dish menus and ultimately see why they do it the way they do... a lot of it is just better at the end of the day, but again just different. It was like switching from Windows to Apple OS. I suspect DirectTV has this as well now, but they didn't when I was with them - watching tv from the app. I can watch live tv from the Dish app, or my DVR. It's not the best performing app ala HBOGo or Netflix, but its the next tier. Not a ton of crashes or anything. It's great.
I forgot all about this, but it's def one plus for Dish over DirecTV. To be honest... I'm really just looking forward to the day that I'm comfortable enough with cutting the cord. After I cancel, the first thing that I'm going to do is remove the signal reader thing from the dish on my roof and use their hardware/cable to install an OTA antenna in its place and connect it to a Tablo DVR receiver. What a glorious day that will be!
Playstation Vue would be perfect for me if it had Root Sports Houston. Hopefully they have it by the time Basketball season starts. Northeast cities have started getting ROOT so there's hope.
I've had DTV since 2000, since I was 20, and for a couple of years there all I had was NBA TV and League Pass and no channel package. Somehow they let me get away with that. I'm not exactly rolling it, have mostly had the basic package save for a few summers spent with HBO, but the prices don't seem too outrageous. I can't speak to the deal things because I haven't really ever priced things out too much. And as a Tivo fan, it's incredibly sad that they couldn't come to terms with that company -- the "Direct TV Tivo" they send out is an absolute abomination. Planned obsolescence of the worst kind, bent on forcing you to throw your hands up and use their DVR. That said, it's a free DVR. And they're constantly emailing me with offers for several free HD DVRs. And they were offering me scores of cheap deals back when I was a broke-ass in a basement apartment with only one year (and not 16) under my belt as a subscriber. And when we needed to lose service for a few months when my wife opened up a small business in 2011, wiping out our bank account, they were patient and understanding and did everything they could to keep me on board. Great, GREAT customer service. Technicians and phone help that will go out of their way to try to fight charges, weather, MLB blackout laws, fees, the whole thing. Cannot recommend that end enough. For all I know Dish might be better, but I'm super happy with Direct TV. In terms of the weather/dish issues? It's a weird thing that makes no sense, but it's been the same at just about every place I've lived with the company. The first big rainstorm of the season in April (playoff time, no less) seems to knock the reception out. And yet a twice-as-crazy rainstorm in July will result in perfect reception. So weird. It's as if the dish itself gets used to the weather. On average I'd say maybe two or three reception issues per year, nothing that lasts a whole afternoon or evening. When I'm covering a game off of the TV I'll usually leave if the reception goes out to head to someone else's house, and 10 minutes after I get there my wife will text to say that the signal is back on.
