DirecTV or Dish - Any prefs if using HD-PVR and USB-UIRT

[Savage1701]

My poor wife has about had it with our cable company. She liked their good DVR, but they ran out and downgraded us to a piece of junk when ours pooped out. Go figure. Anyway she wants to switch to Dish or DirecTV. I have an HD-PVR controlling a Motorola DCT5100 STB via USB-UIRT blaster. It is flawless in handling the tuning. Anyone recommend one satellite provider over another ? I'd get a second non-DVR HD tuner from them and hook that up to my Sage system via USB-UIRT blaster. Does either service work better than the other with USB-UIRT? I'd rather not go down the firewire or serial channel changing thing.

Thanks for any help.

[HelenWeathers]

I can't tell you which service to choose, but I can tell you that the DirecTV STBs work flawlessly with the USB-UIRT.

And the STBs put out a very stable signal for video and 5.1 audio for your HD-PVRs.

[sic0048]

I think most people end up with a stable system when using the USB-UIRT. Of course you are at the mercy of the STB and how long it may take to change and lock in a new station. I guess this is the root of your question.

I doubt there is any real different between the two sat. providers. Channel changes on Dish with my HD-PVR and Hauppauge IR unit feels about 4-5 seconds, but I haven't really timed them. It is slow enough to prevent real channel surfing. You'll surf the program guide instead - changing channels only when something on the guide catches your eye.

[HelenWeathers]

I agree. Make the decision on content/price.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by sic0048

I think most people end up with a stable system when using the USB-UIRT. Of course you are at the mercy of the STB and how long it may take to change and lock in a new station. I guess this is the root of your question.

I doubt there is any real different between the two sat. providers. Channel changes on Dish with my HD-PVR and Hauppauge IR unit feels about 4-5 seconds, but I haven't really timed them.

I've been using the USB-UIRT with Dish and HD-PVRs for months now. Don't think I've ever had a bad channel change. The long channel changes are the result of the HD-PVR and necessary delay in Sage, not the USB-UIRT or STB themselves.

Personall I prefer Dish because it's cheaper... even with just the Bronze TurboHD package and locals there's probably 10 times more interesting TV that I can watch anyway, considering I can record anything at any time.

[eric3a]

I have no channel changing problems on my 2 Dish Network boxes using USBUIRT.

BUT....

I do get the occasional lockup on my HDPVRs, and I strongly suspect my VIP 211Ks receivers.

If I could I would try DirectTV, just to see if their receivers lock up the HDPVRs or not.
Unfortunately one of our most watched channels isn't available on Direct TV.

Eric

[SWKerr]

When I switched to DirecTV from dish it was mainly because the way the packages worked it was cheaper to get DirecTV than to continue with Dish. They have probably have each changed package 20x since then so I would just review what you watch and price it out for each. I would also compare Netflix to the Premium channel options as well.

Right now I have DirecTV HD and my dad has Dish HD. I can't say I see any difference in picture quality or reliability. They both work. Both have clunky DVR interfaces.

[toricred]

I sometimes wonder if the people using the HD-PVR with 5.1 completely stable are using DirecTV. That's what I'm using and I've had only one lockup that I didn't cause by powering off the satellite receiver.

I also wouldn't be too concerned if you decide to go with serial tuning. It really is pretty easy. That said, the USB-UIRT you already have will probably work great too.

[Savage1701]

Thanks to all. Sounds like the USB-UIRT is key here, and that's what I have. I don't care about the 4-5 second lag, because I get that on my cable box also. No big deal.

Just wanted to make sure one service or the other did not have any deal-killers as far as using them with the HD-PVR.

Thanks again.

[davephan]

Be careful if you choose DirecTV. I recently switched from DirecTV to cable when DirecTV jacked up their rates and cable had a good two year deal. If you do sign up with DirecTV, do not put the account on auto-pay.

I had to replace a bad DirecTV box when I had six months left on my contract. I was told that the contract would not be extended when a receiver is replaced because it went bad after a DirecTV firmware update. When I later cancelled the DirecTV service, they charged me $300 for early termination. I had to flight with the DirecTV customer service people to get them to reverse the extended contract, and refund the $300 termination fee. After a couple of months calling DirecTV customer service, I finally got them to admit that the contract should not be extended when a bad receiver is replaced and credit my account, but I still haven't received my money back yet. Whenever I call DirecTV, I always record the conversation, since DirecTV customer service cannot be trusted, and the recording may need to be used as evidence against DirecTV.

My brother-in-law had trouble with Dish Network, where the installer forged his signature on a two-year contract. My brother-in-law had to contact our state attorney general to get Dish Network to reverse the illegally forged contract.

All that said. DirecTV and Dish Network do work great with the USB-UIRT. Occasional rain fade in the summer, and rare snow fade is a pain with the satellite providers. I'll probably switch back to one of them when cable jacks up the rate in a couple of years. However, all calls with them will be recorded and I won't do auto-pay.

Dave

[Beefcake550]

I know you mention the USB-UIRT, but I thought I'd mention that if you chose DirecTV, you could use serial to USB as a method to change channels which some consider even more reliable that USB-UIRT. I have never owned a USB-UIRT, so I claim nothing. I've always gone the serial approach since I once had a blaster that lost it's stickiness and had troubles ever since.

Good luck.

[Savage1701]

Again, thanks for the further suggestions and warnings. I appreciate it.

[Fuzzy]

In the channel changing front, they both have different key features. The advantage of DirectTV is the possibility for serial (or USB) control. The advantage of Dish is the multi-addressable remotes, so one USB-UIRT can easily control MANY (8+) dish boxes, with no zoning required. I went Dish because of the ability to use the R5000, but that ability is no longer there on the newer boxes.

More importatnt than the way you change channels, though, is the what you actually watch (that IS why we have sage, right?). So start off looking at what channels you want. Figure out how much that would cost from each provider, and then, based on the pricing difference, make your decision.

As for the customer service complaints. Keep in mind the MASSIVE number of customers each has, and take the few significant complaints in perspective. Billing mistakes, bad installs, etc, DO happen.. sometimes.. but the silent happy customers of both FAR outweigh the few with problems.

[sic0048]

I agree with the complaint issues. Both companies rely on third party installers. They run the spectrum as far as ability and professionalism. Most are probably great, while some are worse than you can imagine (it's no different than any other profession in that regard).

I would make sure you are home during the installation and supervise it as best you can. If something looks wrong or you don't like how they are installing something, be sure to ask about it or make them change it.

Make sure they are burying the lines, and not simply 1/2" in the ground as most installers will do. Make sure the dish support structure is secure. My initial installer put the pole the dish was mounted to about 3" into the ground. It blew over the first strong wind we had

But other than those few initial problems, I love my DishTV service. I was lucky enough to get in with the intial HD only packages and now get about 95% of the HD channels on Dish for about $30 per month.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by toricred

I sometimes wonder if the people using the HD-PVR with 5.1 completely stable are using DirecTV. That's what I'm using and I've had only one lockup that I didn't cause by powering off the satellite receiver.

I'm using Dish with 5.1 audio and two HD-PVRs and it works flawlessly now.

[Chriscic]

Originally Posted by eric3a

I have no channel changing problems on my 2 Dish Network boxes using USBUIRT.

BUT....

I do get the occasional lockup on my HDPVRs, and I strongly suspect my VIP 211Ks receivers.

If I could I would try DirectTV, just to see if their receivers lock up the HDPVRs or not.
Unfortunately one of our most watched channels isn't available on Direct TV.

Eric

For what it's worth, I doubt it's your VIP211K's. That's what I have and everything is working flawlessly now. I had tons of lock-ups with Comcast and intially with the same Dish receivers that are now working perfectly. RMAing my bad HD-PVR is what fixed it.

[sic0048]

I also have a VIP-211k and a HD-PVR setup that works just fine. No lockups or other problems (but I'm too chicken to try digital audio ).

[Tiki]

I'm currently using Comcast Cable and it has been about a year since I last looked into switching to satellite, but there is one thing you need to watch out for (at least I assume you still need to watch out):

DishTV likes to use 2-tuner/2-output boxes, where the first tuner is controlled by an IR remote and the seconds is tuned by an RF remote. So, if you order a typical 4-tv setup, they will often give you 2 of these 2-tuner boxes. The problem is that the USB-UIRT cannot replicate an RF remote, so that 2nd tuner cannot be controlled by Sage and is basically useless.

As I understand it, you can request 4 separate 1-tuner boxes, but you need to be careful or you may end up with an installation that doesn't play well with Sage.

[toricred]

Actually Dish now has a device to allow IR control of the second tuner.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by toricred

Actually Dish now has a device to allow IR control of the second tuner.

As discussed here.