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the verdict is in: directv vs dishnetwork (1 Viewer)

Gregory Scott Bass

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Jun 30, 1997
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I posted a few weeks back saying I was going to do a direct comparison between dish and direct and I have completed my evaluation. and the winner is.....drum roll...directv. the test started out with a 1st generation rca box vs a dish 6000 hdtv receiver, between these two both outputing through s-video the 6000 picture was a tad sharper but the colors from directv were so much better that it produced a more pleasing image, also dishnetwork had more visible artifacts. so I took the age of the directv box into account and figured directv was the clear winner.

so I was on my way to pick up a new hdtv directv box and ended up getting a dtc-100 (was going to get the hd200 but I got the dtc-100 with transcoder for 75.00 lol so it was very hard to pass up)

dtc-100 vs dish 6000...absolutely no contest...the dtc-100 blew the 6000 out of the water, hd looked very similar but the sd channels were real superior....they were so good I can now have everything output through component(1080i) with the 6000 I was having to use s-video to even get watchable quality.

my picture looks so good that I wonder if the weird 540p output is actually a marriage made in heaven for my 57swx20b which also uses 540p/1080i I am so happy!

the menus and guides are not very great on the dtc-100 (compared to 6000) but picture quality is what counts.....if any one out there has my tv I would strongly recommend trying the dtc-100, especially for under 200.00.

disclaimer: many will tell you it is pointless to compare directv and dishnetwork because they change compression schemes so much and quality will vary day to day, but I did compare for a long time and although dishnetwork I thought had the edge a yr ago, they have grown really far apart for this test...If I had to pick two leading deciding factors it would have to be color and artifacts. Directv is not perfect but it would appear they are compressing half as much as dish. it looks that way anyway as of today.
 

Mike Up

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
657
Completely agree!!

I switched to DirecTV January of 2002. For me, DirecTV was about $10 cheaper for the same channel package. I had Dish for years and just can't believe I did myself such a disservice by not switching to DirecTV. I had the Echostar 4900 receiver and it was horrid compared to my RCA DRD450RG and DRD485RGs. The 4900 would take 5 minutes to download program info. and many instances, just timed out before ever getting the info. downloaded. In the newsgroups, this was very common, but hey, I was a dish loyalists until their declining customer service, constant price hikes, and the need to have 2 DISHS to gain all of my local channels turned me away.:angry:

As you said, the artifacts with Dish were so bad, many times I felt like I was watching a quicktime video, especially on locals.

DirecTV is SOOOOOOO much better performance wise. Also, compared to OTA and cable, dish's contrast always was less than spectacular. DirecTV's contrast was up to OTA and Cable (and DVD for that matter:) ) quality.

I'm just so glad that the FCC and the FTC didn't close their eyes on how bad the merge would had been for the consumers(at least for DirecTV customers:) ).

Have a good one.
 

Devin U

Second Unit
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Jun 23, 2002
Messages
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wow, where did you get the DTC-100 for $75? Though a store, or other way? Id be interested in one at that price.
 

Jerome Grate

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You got me thinking, I have the old Dish 4721 receiver with the 4900 upgrade, I have noticed the artifacts has increased and maybe it's time for a change. I don't have to keep the dish on a 20 foot poll and this might be the time to get a second receiver hooked up. I'll check the packages since you said Direct is $10.00 cheaper than Dish.
 

Gregory Scott Bass

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devin, it was a local stor that was going out of business...I have heard that radio shack is clearing out theres for under 200 though
 

Joe Szott

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Maybe it has something to do with location, in Denver they both look 99% the same. My friend has DirecTV and I have DISH, we can't tell a difference in quality. I don't know what decoder he has though, mine is the regular DISH unit.
 

Scott Kimball

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PQ of both are extremely similar, and may change not only given the channel and / or the programming, but also over the course of time as each service moves channels from one transponder to another.

If you like the hardware , price, programming or customer service of one over the other, then I certainly wouldn't argue anyone's preference... but judging a DBS service based on picture quality is like tossing a coin. The theoretical upper limit on quality between services is identical, and quality will vary over time based on many factors.

For me, judging a DBS service is a multi-tiered approach:

Programming
Price
Features (hardware / software)
Customer Service

... not necessarily in that order... but picture quality hasn't seen a significant enough variation OVER TIME to be a factor.

Personally, I'd rather both systems get rid of half of their useless core programming - maybe put it on a second satellite for those who want it - and decrease the channel to transponder ratio to improve picture quality. Frankly, both systems have plenty of room for improvement in this area, especially for SD channels on a 32" or larger set.

Before you switch providers, it is most important to make sure that the service you're moving to has the programming you desire.

That's my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
 

Mike Up

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
657
Jerome,

You got me thinking, I have the old Dish 4721 receiver with the 4900 upgrade, I have noticed the artifacts has increased and maybe it's time for a change. I don't have to keep the dish on a 20 foot poll and this might be the time to get a second receiver hooked up. I'll check the packages since you said Direct is $10.00 cheaper than Dish.
My artifacts never increased(or decreased:angry: ), they had always been there. Let me restate that a bit different. Back in '99 when I first installed Dish, it was better. In late 2000, it started to get really bad with digital artifacts, pixels, scaling, what ever you'd like to call it. It never got any better. That combined with the other issues I mentioned, had me thinking of DirecTV or going back to cable.

I made a mistake, I save more than $10. I have Total Choice Plus w/locals for $39.99. I also have HBO for $12. A total of $51.99.

Dish Net's equivalent Top 150 is $42.99. . Their locals aren't packaged together and need to be purchased separately. The locals are $5.99. . HBO is $13.99. Total programming cost with Dish Net is $62.97. I pay $51.99. I pay $10.98 less with DirecTV. BTW, DirecTV's HBO package has 8 HBO channels (they state only 7, leaving off HBO Latino)also. HBO latino requires the Elliptical Dish. Dish Network requires their elliptical dish for most programming.

Dish Network does have one strong hold going for it. It's adult channels can be purchased monthly. DirecTVs are PPV. If you're into that, the local rental store would likely be cheaper than either.

Do your own research for performance, programming, prices, and DISH ANTENNA SITE . You may like Dish better.
 

ManW_TheUncool

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Anybody know what happened to this site for a wealth of info on Dish and DirecTV (plus comparison w/ typical cable)?

Satellite TV Buyer's Guide

It was working until about a month ago and was a great resource.

_Man_
 

Gregory Scott Bass

Stunt Coordinator
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it really was'nt til I upgraded to a big screen hd set that the artifacts on dish became so annoying that I went looking to compare....directv's picture is not perfect either but it does not pixelize like dish did. dish really has degraded over the last year...I think they just added to many channels before they had the capacity for them. I am just crossing my fingers now that direct will not do the same thing......I find it amazing that neither one has based there business model on providing the best picture possible, I would much rather have 75 high quality channels than 150 crappy ones...I think most people would
 

Phil Nichols

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Scott K.,

Well said!!

Maybe the DISH receiver makes a difference. I've been completely happy with my DISH 6000 for both standard and high-def TV. Artifacts vary by channel and, as of several months now are gone or hardly noticeable.

I have calibrated my display for the DISH 6000 however, and I also upgraded the main satellite cable running from the antenna to the 6000 receiver. (I use RG11 instead of RG6.)

If you want to see how technically good DISH can be, just buy a PPV movie of their's some time - looks just like DVD. (Except most PPV movies are P&S instead of WS, which I can't tolerate.) I've noticed that many DISH standard channels are now very close to their PPV quality. Take a look at the HGTV home improvement channel on DISH some time. The CNN channels are also very good and so is the TCM channel, along with many others that are now close to PPV quality. (I have a 58" display, so for satellite to look good at normal viewing distances, it must be good.)

They are both arch competitors of each other so neither will have an advantage over the other very long at any one given point in time. However, I DON'T LIKE DISH's "proprietary" receiver system - DISH needs to see the light and open up their receiver manufacturing for any OEM to competitively sell a variety of models directly to consumers, just like with Direct TV.
 

Jerome Grate

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Mike Up, thanks for the advice, so far I did some price comparison research and DirecTV is $7.99 cheaper than Dish. Total Choice Plus including all locals and a second receiver with way better music selections, 44.98. However Dish Total 150 42.99 plus second receiver 4.99 and locals another 4.99 comes to 52.97. Time to change, I think the wife would go for it light of the 2nd receiver.
 

Gregory Scott Bass

Stunt Coordinator
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Messages
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Hi Phil, I have seen very good pictures on my 6000 and no doubt when they want to they can produce a very pleasing product. I did compare cnn side by side split screen and although both pictures looked good on that particular channel, the directv channel had much better color....I really don't know what echostar is doing to the images to make them so different but they don't look even close to directv and in my experience I would have to say directv looks closer to the ntsc standard. p.s. I have tried to turn the color up on the 6000 image but I still couldnt reach the same color saturation level of direct without hurting the image. you really need to see these side by side, it is almost impossible to compare and see what I saw without having them displayed in the same room at least.
 

Dan Hitchman

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However, if you want HD content DISH is the only way to go at present. DirecTV is having trouble adding additional HD channels because of their lack of transponder space.

DISH is killing them when it comes to available space for HD.

Plus, DISH will have the improved PVR 921 for recording HD programming to hard disc (recording two HD signals at once is possible) with OTA support is coming this summer.

Dan
 

ManW_TheUncool

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I just wish Dish would add the YES network (for Yankees games) to their lineup. That plus the soon-to-come HD PVR will likely convince me to hop aboard.

_Man_
 

Jerome Grate

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O.K. it's official as of 3:25 EST, I'm a DirecTV guy. I called Dish to cancel all programming and she said something that kind of raised my eyebrows. She said do you understand that we are the only "ALL DIGITAL" company out there. So the question is should I be concerned, I have to admit I enjoyed watching Toon Disney and other channels with great sound, will I have the same thing with DirecTV.
 

Phil Nichols

Second Unit
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Jerome,

Perhaps you could have subscribed to both for one month overlap to directly compare them then canceled the one you didn't like!

(This might have caused an antenna mess though - and I guess Greg already did this for all of us anyway!)
 

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