Hi, Jim.
<font color="blue"> Second reason was the way Dish does their receivers. We have 2 receivers each having 2 tuners in them. This can be used for PIP or, as we did, run a cable to another room and have TV in that room controlled by a UHF remote control. </font>
I have called both DirecTv and Dish to see how each compares. Each has a limit on the numbers and types of receivers they will lease. However, this receiver sharing by Dish is a mandatory thing. On the phone, I tell the lil' darlin' at Dish that I want (1) an HD DVR, (2) an HD receiver and (3) a standard def. DVR. 3 pieces of equipment. She says I can't do that because I can share the 2 tuners in the HD DVR with the 3rd TV. I tell her that I don't want to share, that I want a seperate, standard def. DVR for the 3rd TV. No can do. She tells me that if I want a stand alone receiver for the 3rd TV, I'll have to contact a reseller and buy one.
So, I call some satellite installer in a town close by and told him what I wanted. "Not a problem" he says. So I ask, how much for the standard def DVR? "Nothing", he replies, "That one is free". He has no idea why lil' darlin' at Dish HQ couldn't put that package together.
Quite honestly, I'm fed up with the business models at both places. Neither will lease more than 1 HD DVR per household. To my way of thinking, if I had 4 or 5 HD televisions (which I do not) and wanted the features of a HD DVR on each one, as long as I want to pony-up the $ for it, I don't see why they would have a problem with it. Now, you can go buy the HD DVRs from some resellers, however, traditional outlets like Circuit City and Best Buy only sell "leased units" (what an oxymoron). And, with DirecTV, I've read on the Tivo Forum that when you try to activate a new receiver that you truly bought (not leased), you have to go through several folks to make sure they have it in their records that you own it, that it is not leased so they won't lay claim to it once you deactivate your service.
So, right now as I see it, DirecTV will cost me about $150 more in up front fees to upgrade to HD the way I want it (provided that the Dish installer knew what he was talking about). Programming fees for DirecTV are about $17 per month LESS than Dish for what I see as comparable programming packages. However, Dish does have a much more robust HD listing than DirecTV so you are not really comparing apples to apples on this.
As a current DirecTV customer, I have 2 functional standard def DVRs that i can use as I want to. And, years ago, I bought the lifetime subscription to TIVO and they will still honor that, so no monthly TIVO fees. And, if I go through my local phone provider, I can get an additional $10 per month discount.
So, as I type this up, it seems like my monthly savings with DirecTV will quickly erode the $150 upfront premium I will have to pay for the equipment upgrade. I'll double check my figures and if this is right, looks like I may stay with DirecTV.
