Need Sat Dish equipment advice (1 Viewer)

[Toby Flanigan]

I have just purchased a Missubishi 55807 HD TV for my new house. I have gotten digital cable for the short term till I can get a dish.
Here is what I am thinking. I am having a hard time spending $500 on a HD dish receiver, + the dish or dishes,
+ extra receivers, etc... for the limited amount of channels currently available HD. I bought the TV because I was going to buy a big screen TV anyway, and felt the picture was superior, even without a HD signal, and it positions me to receive the HD signals in the near future.
I think I want to prepare myself to buy the HD decoder box, meaning, I want to by a dish/dishes which will allow me to add the decoder down the road (when the become cheaper, and we get more HD channels. For now, just a box with DD outputs is acceptable. My ultimate goal is to have my HD TV get HD signals, and I want 2 other TV's hooked up, with one TV possibly sharing the signal from another (I have a TV on the wall in my bathroom and another in the master bedroom, and I think it is acceptable to have just 1 of these on at a time).
I am favoring DirectTV, mainly for the Sports packages, even though I have read alot about limited bandwidth, over compression, and other issues with DirectTV.
Any thoughts anyone has would be appreciated.
Thanks, Toby Flanigan

 

[Robert_J]

You get a subsidized system as a new subscriber so why not use that to get an HD receiver. You can get a second receiver for under $100 at most discount stores.
As for programming, DirecTV has HBO-HD and a demo/PPV channel. Dish on the other hand has HBO-HD, Showtime-HD, PPV and a demo channel. Since you mentioned the DirecTV sports package, I assume that you are a sports fan. It has been announced that CBS will be carrying some college games this year in HD. Last year the CBS NFL playoff games were in HD. ABC is increasing their HD prime-time offerings. CBS prime-time is loaded with HD shows. Fox has a lot of 480p offerings. Maybe one day NBC will catch up.
-Robert

 

[Erik Pontius]

I would advise getting that HD receiver now, if you are a new subscriber. I got my Dish 6000 system, including both dishes and installation kit, for around $400 (I think it was less)...plus you get the $199 rebate once you sign up. So you get some pretty discounts being a new subscriber...lot harder to plop down the extra cash for another receiver later...

 

[JerryLA]

If you can get those kind of deals as a new subscriber to DISH I would go for it now. I don't think you'll be disappointed with DISH. I've had it for about 5 years and just upgraded to the 6000 receiver, it was a cool $500. Although I have not seen DirectTV I've been told the picture is a bit better through DISH. From everything I read it looks like DISH may be poised to buy DirectTV anyway.
Good luck
Jerry
------------------

 

[Toby Flanigan]

Eric, where did you find such a deal? For that kind of money, I am definitely interested. Please let me know.
Toby Flanigan

 

[Robert_J]

I could not find the $199 rebate so I think that Dishnetwork promo has expired. Dish Depot (www.dishdepot.com) has the new subscriber 6023 System for $299+$35 S&H. It has all of the equipment to get you started. They have the 8VSB module for $145 (Sears may still have it on sale for $99). That is required for OTA HD. Finally, extra SD receivers range from $80 to $300.
-Robert