[tacostello]

I welcome any comments re: Dish vs Direct TV. I know Dish has even pricing for two years and Direct apparently has more sports stuff. How about usability and install hassles/successes? Thanks.

[JerryLBell]

Depending on your interests, there may be some channels exclusive to one or the other, but you'd really have to look and compare for yourself for that.

Both DISH and DirecTV get into p*ssing matches with their providers so occasionally you'll find some channel or another that is normally available through them that is not for some period of time. DISH and HBO were duking it out when the "Game of Thrones" final episodes were being aired and that royally cheesed off some subscribers. Of course, this isn't unique to satellite providers; cable companies have the same contractual issues.

I've had either or both services in Michigan, North Carolina and now Florida and I find the quality of picture and sound, the strength of signal and the susceptibility to drop-outs about the same on both.

The installation is normally done by contractors, not by direct representatives from either company, so your experience will vary. Our experience was quite good.

Both have decent setups for DVRs (I've always gone with the DVR option for as long as it has been available) though the last I looked the DISH DVR had more tuners and higher capacity. However, I've never found I really needed to record 14 programs simultaneously and I've never left so many recordings on either one that the drive was ever even 50% full. DISH also has the option of recording everything from ABC, CBS, NBC & Fox from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM every night automatically. If your shows are mostly on those channels, you don't even need to set them up to record. Most of our shows are on other networks so we never really took much advantage of that.

Both companies offer comparable first-year rates (and maybe even second-year rates), but then the rates start to climb. I had DirecTV in North Carolina for several years and the price just got to be ridiculous towards the end. I finally dropped them and went to cable with no contract when I was getting close to retirement and moving here. Some folks go back and forth between companies, dropping their current service as soon as their contract is up and a price increase is about to hit.

Both have apps that allow you to watch your programming on smart devices (smart TVs, tablets, phones, media streaming sticks like Amazon FireStick or Roku) but some devices only have support for one company and not the other. For example, to get support for DISH, I had to go with Amazon FireSticks, Roku didn't support it. Keep in mind that these apps typically only allow one instance to run at a time per account. I have FireSticks on 3 TVs and DISH Anywhere on my PC but can only watch shows on one of them at a time. Of course, if you opt for additional vendor-provided boxes (for which you pay a fee), you can watch on as many TVs as you have the main box and/or the additional boxes connected to.

If you have the main DVR or tuner box connected to the internet, both have quite a lot of streaming shows available from quite a few channels.

If you're into NetFlix, the DISH tuner (if connected to the internet) can integrate NetFlix programming right into the other programming done on the DISH box. Since my 4K TV supports 4K NetFlix streaming where I don't think my DISH tuner does (though I could be wrong on that), I've opted to go with NetFlix on the TV rather than on the DISH box.

Of course, you could skip a satellite receiver altogether and just get everything over the air and/or over the internet. DirecTV even has an internet-only subscription. However, there are SO many streaming services any more that you might find your favorite shows are scattered over several services and you'd end up having to subscribe to all of them to get your shows. That was way more work to my wife and I than we thought we wanted to do despite the small savings. Also, you might get excellent over-the-air reception with an antenna but it depends on so many factors. Some houses might get 40+ channels, some might get zero. It's a bit of a crap shoot.

Good luck with your decision!

[John_W]

I've had Directv since 2008. Originally in Maryland I had Comcast. One weekend that we had a lot of sports coming up, Comcast went out for 3 days and never gave us any updates. I switched to Directv and have never looked back. I moved to TV in 2011 and brought my boxes with me.

The installation is done by a third party called Mastech. I believe they do all the installs, they did mine in Maryland and in TV. It's usually free when you agree to your initial 2 year contract. I had one other contract for 2 years when I got a $200 HD DVR, my original could not record, and then that expired 3 years ago.

I've stayed with Directv for one main reason. I can watch any NFL game I want come Sunday during football season. Not that I dislike watching the Jaguars or Bucs, but they're not my team. If it wasn't for the ticket I might consider other options. I have the Premier Package which includes all the channels they offer, HD on everything, and a DVR that holds 1000 hours of HD programming. I can record 4 programs at a time.

If you're looking for a real bargain, go to Market of Marion on Fri, Sat or Sun and look for the vendor to your left around sunglass alley. My neighbor has a Amazon Fire Stick he bought from Amazon for $50. Take your stick to that vendor and for $30, if you don't have a stick, he has them ready to go for $130. He pays $15 a month and he gets every channel in the world, no joke. It said on start the number was like 6000 channels. Just to see how it was, I said, can you get WJZ. That's the Baltimore CBS affiliate and where most of the Ravens games are broadcast. He pulled up an app and it showed every CBS station in America, he tunned in WJZ and within 30 seconds we were watching Channel 13 from Baltimore.

As far as I know, the vendor will tell you this is legal. I don't know for sure, I would say maybe not, and you may lose some of your programming at some point in time. Then again, you wouldn't be out of that much money.

[Nucky]

I had Direct For many Moons. With the help of many on TOTV'S I decided to try streaming. We have the lowest Starter Package from Comcast with our own Router for $19.99 a month so internet is cheap.

YouYube TV for Streaming at $50 a month. Total $70 a month with more channels than you could ever want. YouTube is the best, for now. No monthly rental of equipment. Just buy the Roku Sticks which are Cheap Now.

I'm thinking of trying the guy at the Marion Flea Market but a pal of mine is trying out his Fire Stick Device. So far so good. I asked the question, is this Piracy and his roundabout answer was no, I think. He sure has some line of Bull! You know how those people from the South Are!

[Kenswing]

It may not matter which you choose. AT&T's DirecTV reportedly considering merger with Dish satellite - CNET

[JerryLBell]

Originally Posted by John_W

If you're looking for a real bargain, go to Market of Marion on Fri, Sat or Sun and look for the vendor to your left around sunglass alley. My neighbor has a Amazon Fire Stick he bought from Amazon for $50. Take your stick to that vendor and for $30, if you don't have a stick, he has them ready to go for $130. He pays $15 a month and he gets every channel in the world, no joke. It said on start the number was like 6000 channels. Just to see how it was, I said, can you get WJZ. That's the Baltimore CBS affiliate and where most of the Ravens games are broadcast. He pulled up an app and it showed every CBS station in America, he tunned in WJZ and within 30 seconds we were watching Channel 13 from Baltimore.

As far as I know, the vendor will tell you this is legal. I don't know for sure, I would say maybe not, and you may lose some of your programming at some point in time. Then again, you wouldn't be out of that much money.

This is illegal. Tempting, but definitely illegal.

[Nucky]

Originally Posted by JerryLBell

This is illegal. Tempting, but definitely illegal.

It feels illegal, it looks illegal, I have searched with no results as usual so could you tell me why it's illegal before I get involved. Thanks.

[Bay Kid]

I have had Dish for many years.

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by Kenswing

It may not matter which you choose. AT&T's DirecTV reportedly considering merger with Dish satellite - CNET

Interesting.

DirecTV has only 1.5M subscribers...while Dish has 22.4M.

DirecTV Now finished 2018 with 1.6 million subscribers; at the end of March, it had 1.5 million.

Also during the first quarter of 2019, AT&T lost 544,000 traditional pay TV subscribers from its DirecTV satellite business and its AT&T U-verse services.

As of April, it had 22.4 million TV subscribers in total.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by ColdNoMore

Interesting.

DirecTV has only 1.5M subscribers...while Dish has 22.4M.

I knew that was wrong before I even researched because the Game of Thrones finally had 19.3 million viewers. Anytime facts are stated on a message board, links are normally required. Last time I checked Directv had 30 million and Dish had 20 million, that was about five years ago.

I just did a quick search and Directv is down, I believe the streaming services are killing them. The 1.5 million refers to DirectvNow streaming, no satellite required. The regular Directv satellite subscribers as of April 2019 is 22 million.

Bleeding DirecTV Subscribers, AT&T Throws Five Streaming Services At The Wall

[2BNTV]

I have had both Directv and Dish in my six years in TV.

My experience has been that Directv says it will charge a certain rate for the first year but my bill never seems to be the same, as it varies form month to month. I was quoted a certain rate by a sales rep and my bill is generally $16 more. I was also told Dish would not do anything for me and that was not true. I could have had my Dish rate reduced so I wouldn't have switched to Directv. Long story...............

Dish gets you the same quality, (IMHO), and it's hopper is much superior for recording shows. Directv will get you more sports programming if one is a sports nut.

I enjoyed having Dish and they stick to their quoted rates. No surprises!!!

Directv has variable rates and they never tell you that the rate will nearly double after a year, as I surmise they give you the lower rate, to make up for it in the second year of the contract.

I will be going back to Dish after it is financially prudent to get out of my Directv contract. I will say with Dish as I am tired of calling DirectV with various billing problems.

That had been my experience. I am the kind of person if someone is providing a service and quotes a rate, then send me a bill for that rate and I will pay it!!! No B.S.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

I have had both Directv and Dish in my six years in TV.

My experience has been that Directv says it will charge a certain rate for the first year but my bill never seems to be the same, as it varies form month to month. I was quoted a certain rate by a sales rep and my bill is generally $16 more.

I've been with Directv for 11 years. I found that when they quote a price, it doesn't include tax, 50 states, 50 different amounts. Just like everything else, since Florida doesn't have income tax we pay more for other stuff. On my bill it is usually about $22 a month just in taxes, maybe you're taxes are $16, that would make the difference. If it wasn't for NFL Sunday Ticket I would probably go with a streaming service, and I believe they record using clouds so it's almost unlimited.

[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by John_W

I knew that was wrong before I even researched because the Game of Thrones finally had 19.3 million viewers. Anytime facts are stated on a message board, links are normally required.

Last time I checked Directv had 30 million and Dish had 20 million, that was about five years ago.

I just did a quick search and Directv is down, I believe the streaming services are killing them. The 1.5 million refers to DirectvNow streaming, no satellite required. The regular Directv satellite subscribers as of April 2019 is 22 million.

Bleeding DirecTV Subscribers, AT&T Throws Five Streaming Services At The Wall

First of all, what I put in my quote...DID come from Kenswing's link.

Secondly, that's why I put "interesting," because I'm not familiar with subscriber numbers from either of them...and was quite surprised.

So thanks for providing your link, as I always appreciate those who do research...and provide proof/links.

However, in just a quick search (gotta go) I can't seem to find...a current comparison of total subscribers.

[Northerner52]

The best option!

[QUOTE=Nucky;1661904]I had Direct For many Moons. With the help of many on TOTV'S I decided to try streaming. We have the lowest Starter Package from Comcast with our own Router for $19.99 a month so internet is cheap.

YouYube TV for Streaming at $50 a month. Total $70 a month with more channels than you could ever want. YouTube is the best, for now. No monthly rental of equipment. Just buy the Roku Sticks which are Cheap Now.

[tacostello]

Thanks to all of you who took time to respond to my Dish vs Direct TV question. I’m a pay for content guy so Marion is out. We also need a good DVR so direct internet streaming is out. I walk a lot in TV and have seen a lot of Direct TV antennas but NEVER a Dish antenna. Strange. Is looking at cable TV even worth the trouble? Haven’t done my research so don’t even know who provides cable to TV. Thanks again to all. TC