Does anyone have dish TV?

[Flip]

So, ive been pretty lucky in the fact that for 2 years i have not paid for cable. When i moved into my place in DC the cable, when hooked directly up to the TV, just worked and i didnt think about doing anything else about it. I'm not picky with my channels, HD would be nice (i do have HD TV's) but i can live without it, and a DVR is in the same boat. Free basic cable channels (all the local stuff plus things like Food, Discovery, MTV, ESPN, etc) was A.O.K with me.

Well, now with the digital switch most of my channels arent working anymore, the ones that do i assume are analog but will soon be switching to digital only. I could buy one of those converter boxes but you have to register then with your cable company and i dont have an account # so i dont really want to have to call them and admit that, lol.

I'm thinking about getting a dish because they are fuckload cheaper than cable and finally biting the bullet to pay for TV. I've been pricing them out and even the basic cable ive been getting plus maybe a few DVR/HD boxes is like 80 or 90 a month!... The dishes are half that but im unsure how they connect to your TV.

When installed, do you have to run a wire through your window? Does it hook into your coax somehow and work through those existing lines? Let me know how much this will mess up my life/windows/walls/outlets.

[Lox]

I have DirecTv.

The satellite dish gets hooked up outside and then coax is run from the dish to any number of TVs in the house. Each TV will have a receiver (standard, standard DVR, HD, or HD DVR are usually the 4 options) and will take coax as input. If you have cable already, they should be able to leverage the existing coax cable without a problem. That's what they did at my house I moved into last December and it wasn't an issue. With DirecTv, the DVRs need 2 coax inputs to work so they might have to run some extra cable for that, but most companies should run the cable without charging you.

[Flip]

OK cool, that isnt too bad. The more i am researching this the more i am getting angry at Comcast and think i will try a dish instead of cable.

Supposedly, my TV should still work because it has a digital tuner inside. But, that only means it will show unscrambled digital channels. Comcast is going through and scrambling most channels so that you NEED a cable box to see them. Gone are the days where you can just order basic cable and hook it directly up to your TV, if you want AMC, E!, G4, Bravo, Food, Gameshow, etc, you will need a cable box to descramble the picture. So, even if i was a typical basic cable customer, i would need to order 3 boxes for my 3 TVs and rent them at the $6 apiece or more if you want HD/DVR or a combination of the two.

Clearly, dish required you to have a cable box per TV, too, but that has at least always been the case. Cable had that convenience over dish, but now they are the same and cable is twice as much.

[Lox]

Yup, those days are definitely gone. I had basic cable for a long time before switching to a dish. I've been very happy with it. I've never really had an issue with the signal even during storms or snow. The only thing that will get me to switch is when I eventually get FIOS.

[Flip]

Cable is one shady as fuck industry. ALL the articles tell you, if you have a TV with a built in digital tuner, you will be fine after the digital switch, you will not need anything. And that is true, until Comcast decides to scramble most of their channels that only their boxes can unscramble. Comcast has no free box option, by doing this they are forcing you to at the very least rent the $4 a month basic box, jacking up your rates.

[Shellie]

Wow. I think with our service you can use your TV if it has a digital tuner, and if it doesnt, and you don't have our service, the first box is free, every other box after that is a dollar a month. If you do have our service, you get 2 free boxes, and the rest are like 75cents a month.

[Flip]

For comcast in DC if you want an HD/DVR box its $16 a month. I have 2 TVs that would be nice to have on, but no way will i pay $32 on top of the already $50 a month service... oh but you need to add $10 to that if you even want the HD channels. Think about that, no matter what package I choose I would need to add $42 on top of it for HD, its a nice picture but WTF?

I guess i look at my TV as simple entertainment and cant mentally lump it into the utilities expense of my budget. I need elec and water; which runs about the same as TV, which i can live without. If i step back, $70 a month isnt that much for allll the entertainment that TV can provide, especially when i spend that on a nice dinner out sometimes, but its really hard for me when its just TV! Really big mental block for me for some reason.

[SineSwiper]

DirectTV and Dish still fuck you over with HD DVR costs, charging $10/mo just to use the HD on a $6/mo DVR. (As opposed to getting a $16/mo HD DVR, which mostly amounts to the same thing.) And don't get fooled with the $30/mo commercials. It's only for the first 3 months or so.

My mother-in-law is stuck in Bardstown, KY, where the selection is Bardstown Cable or the dish guys. The local cable company blows, and so does the dish. They lied to her about the free DVRs and she's paying something like $160/mo for just the video (from DirectTV). Plus, they act like they have all of these HD channels, but there are literally 40 Fox Sports channels and a ton of shopping channels.

Of course, Comcast just gives the cable industry a bad name, so I hate them, too. They are the reason why the dish guys can talk about the cable industry the way they do.

[Imakeholesinu]

I have DirecTV and I love it. I have the package with all of the channels sans their extra HD tier which only has 1 good channel that I can do without. I pay $138 a month, have HD, 1 HD DVR and 1 SD DVR. I've never had a problem with their equipment or service. Their ondemand only works if you have an internet connection and a newer DVR but it is still on-par with others. The only thing I'm missing is HBO OnDemand because HBO wants to charge DirecTV for their ondemand.

DirecTV hooks their dish up to coax and then to a multiswitch. I had the guy run the dish cables into my house first and then to my switch in the basement since I did inwall coax and cat5 throughout the house. Everything worked flawlessly before the DTV tech left. He did a great job and wasn't messy. Hell, the way we had to set the dish up was on top of my shed in the middle of the yard (that's where the original people had their dish network dish set up) and then piggy backed the coax on top of the AT&T phone line to the house. We did the same thing but since we were running not just 1 but 4 new cables the weight on the line caused the lag bolt that held the AT&T wire to the house to fall. No big deal, DirecTV tech had a 3" lag bolt (original one was a 2") and we anchored it into the wall 4" below the old hole. The attached the cable with zip-ties to the AT&T cable, put the hooks back up to the lag bolt and everything is great. Winds have been blowing all week and it is holding up just fine. That took more than 2 hours in the rain to get it but we got it.

[Zeus]

I had Dish for a few years and I loved it. Great selection (particularly if you get it opened) and a lot of channels you can't just get normally. Bell is actually better IMO, though (they're on the same platform)

[Tessian]

Comcast has no free box option

What makes you say this? Because it's not true... Comcast, unlike FiOS, does offer a free converter box (FiOS comparable box is $3/month). It's no frills but it works.

I personally have no complaints about Comcast. They've been awesome to me, rarely ever had a service interruption and they were normally quite good about helping me too. I currently have their Digital Preferred + HBO through my apartment along with internet and HD DVR. I know others like Shrinweck will rant about how horrible their Comcast is, so it seems to differ depending on your location. My boss, on the other hand, had DirecTV and hated it. Said the picture would go out anytime there was a bad storm and even on occasion when there was too much cloud cover. He switched to FiOS and is happy with that, but I personally can't stand their STB's UI and much prefer Comcast's.

[SineSwiper]

FCC needs to push Tru2Way and the new generation of CableCARD, so that we can finally get some good competition for STBs and DVRs. I'm tired of leasing shit.