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wingfoot321 · 12-23-2004, 12:47 PM

I have had both.

I had Direct while in Texas last winter. Never did get the local channels. They just kept giving me a run around. Wanted me to prove I was mobile. Wanted a copy of my truck and trailer titles faxed to the supplier/seller which happened to be a local phone company that provides the service. Neither Direct or the phone company were the least bit interested.

Dish is much smaller. I think they try harder.

Rob30044 · 01-11-2005, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Over59

Good luck getting a response from DirecTV either about RV use and packages. Three times I've tried and never never never got a response.

I've never inquired about RV use. I have an extra dish and receiver that I take with me while I'm away from home.

Ben

**jcanavera** · 01-11-2005, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Safari Tim

Although Dish has DVR's in just a glorified vcr. With Direct Tivo, you get the season passes, wishlists, suggestion recordings, etc....

FWIW dept. The Dish 522 receivers out in the field were just upgraded over the last 3 weeks with some Tivo like features, much like the season pass quoted above. The 50x, and 510 receivers will be getting the same upgrade in the next few weeks, according to the latest "Charlie Chat" which aired last night.

Supposedly the new 622 receiver will be out this spring. Apparently they will be downloading 30+ movies onto the disk drives at first, with more coming later. It will be something similar to the Video on Demand feature that some cable services are offering.

Jack

sovereignrwe · 01-11-2005, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Safari Tim

We made the change from Dish to Direct. Main reason was that Direct has DVR's (digital video recorders) with Tivo service built in.

Although Dish has DVR's in just a glorified vcr. With Direct Tivo, you get the season passes, wishlists, suggestion recordings, etc....

I never watch an on time broadcast now. I can zip past commercials with the 30 sec skip button!

As a plus, and to keep this trailer orientated, you can unplug your reciever and play your recorded shows in your trailer with out even hooking up a dish. But we never do that as we just burn shows we like to dvd and take those with us.

I would be interested in knowing what DVR you had with Dish. We have Dish and don't watch an on time broadcast either, even when we aren't recording the event.

Our Dish DVR banks time on the channel the receiver is currently on - always. We can pause live-tv when the phone rings, even when not "recording" a show. We can rewind live-tv to watch something again. We can also skip a commerical with the touch of a single button.

The only advantage I see that you have over the Dish DVR we have is the ability to burn shows to DVD, and that might just be because I haven't figured that out yet.

sovereignrwe · 01-11-2005, 03:52 PM

Our Dish DVR also allows us to record "all new" or "all" or "once" versions of a show. With these settings it will record as instructed, only this season's episodes of ER (for example). If we set it to record "all" episodes of American Chopper, it will record every episode on that channel until we tell it to stop.

It also has search features in which I can type in Airstream and search for shows with Airstream in the title or in the information on the show on all channels. I can then select the shows that I want to record from the results.

Safari Tim · 01-11-2005, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovereignrwe

I would be interested in knowing what DVR you had with Dish. .

I never had a PVR when I had the Dish service. My inlaws had it with Dish and showed us theirs. It was nice and we wanted one.

When we contacted Dish to upgrade to the newer PVR they would not let us upgrade two receivers, only one. So we switched to Direct.

My understanding of the Dish vs Direct service is that with Direct you have an actual Tivo service with all their features: season passes, wishlists, auto-recording suggestions based on the thumbs up/down you rate shows as you watch them.

Of course you pause/rewind live TV and all of that stuff as well.

sovereignrwe · 01-11-2005, 04:07 PM

The DVR we have (522) is actually two receivers in one box. It runs our upstairs and downstairs TVs separately. All functionality is available on both TVs. Two receivers are not needed. Any chance there was a misunderstanding?

Safari Tim · 01-11-2005, 04:37 PM

Could have been a misunderstanding. But we are very happy with our new setup.

We can record two different shows while watching third one that has been recorded. Or watch one live and record another live at the same time etc...

Plus as I said, the tivo services are great. And now with TivoToGo coming out that will make it better for a lot of people.

**jcanavera** · 01-11-2005, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovereignrwe

The only advantage I see that you have over the Dish DVR we have is the ability to burn shows to DVD, and that might just be because I haven't figured that out yet.

Not a problem. Dependent upon the model Dish receiver you are using, just connect the AV out from the satellite receiver to the DVD unit. One of my receivers is a 508 which has two outputs available. One went to the TV the other to the DVD unit. I just burned a DVD with all the Airstream programming that has been on the Travel and History channels.

On my 522 receiver I have two outputs on the TV2 side. One is coax which goes to my bedroom TV, the other output is component which runs to my DVD unit.

What's good about the Dish solution is that the video stored on this disk is stored in the original compressed format that comes across from Dish. Unless the Tivo unit operates differently, Tivo units normally have to compress the video prior to it being written to disk. I would be curious if the Direct TV Tivo units have to first uncompress the video received from Direct, then recompress in the Tivo format prior to writing the video to the disk.

If so, it would seem that the quality of the Dish program burned to a DVD would be better since it would only be recompressed once (to burn it on the DVD), where as the Tivo version requiring two compressions (once to write to disk, and second to write to DVD).

Jack

Safari Tim · 01-11-2005, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcanavera

I would be curious if the Direct TV Tivo units have to first uncompress the video received from Direct, then recompress in the Tivo format prior to writing the video to the disk.

If so, it would seem that the quality of the Dish program burned to a DVD would be better since it would only be recompressed once (to burn it on the DVD), where as the Tivo version requiring two compressions (once to write to disk, and second to write to DVD).

Jack

Jack, you are correct that stand alone tivo units must covert the signals to store on the hard drive, lowering the quality.

However, the Direct Tivo units work the same as your Dish PVR, in that they record the digital stream from the sattilite to the harddrive w/o further conversion.

bikrmikey · 01-11-2005, 08:10 PM

I have had Direct for 5 years and anytime I have had anything that needed a human reply, I was on hold for long periods of time and less than satisfied with the response. Direct's human customer service is poor, however by pressing a few buttons on my phone I can turn on and off HBO when the Sopranos season begins and ends.

sovereignrwe · 01-12-2005, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcanavera

On my 522 receiver I have two outputs on the TV2 side. One is coax which goes to my bedroom TV, the other output is component which runs to my DVD unit.

Jack

Do you run yours directly into a DVD Recorder, or do you pass it through your computer into a DVD +RW drive?

**jcanavera** · 01-12-2005, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sovereignrwe

Do you run yours directly into a DVD Recorder, or do you pass it through your computer into a DVD +RW drive?

I run it directly into a Sony DVD player/recorder that sits atop my old VCR. I chose this particular unit because it can write -R, +R, -RW, +RW. You never know what format you may need. I also ran the VCR into the Sony for the purpose of either watching my old tapes or converting them to DVD.

Using the HQ setting on the Sony, I get a recorded DVD that is equal in quality to the original program. Note however that that setting only provides one hour of record time on the DVD.

Jack

Ga Pockets · 01-15-2005, 12:39 PM

I have had DTV for about 5 years, I use it at home (4 receivers) plus 1 for the rv and 1 for the house boat. I have used it coast to coast and other than having to use my signal meter to help me find a "hole" in the trees ( the meter will pick up the satellite long before the receiver starts beeping) DTV has replaced each of the receivers at least once as they became outdated. As long as I am within 300-350 miles of Atlanta, I get all the local programming for a few dollars per month with out an additional dish or antenna. No complaints

markparker22 · 01-15-2005, 01:45 PM

Do you need a telephone connection for your "extra" DirecTV recievers that you use in your RV when you travel? I heard a rumor that they can shut down the extra receiver if not connected to a phone line.

Ga Pockets · 01-17-2005, 02:00 PM

MY account has a phone line which is at my home. Prior to installing the 4 at home and the one at the lake, I only had one which was 100% in the rv and osther than when I initially set it up never has had a hrd line to it. I was in upstate NY when they decided to send me a new updated receiver and I went through the set up, new access card and all using my cell phone so I could talk to DTV, she was aware of this unit being in a RV and had no problem with that.

Big Dee · 01-17-2005, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markparker22

Do you need a telephone connection for your "extra" DirecTV recievers that you use in your RV when you travel? I heard a rumor that they can shut down the extra receiver if not connected to a phone line.

It's an urban legend that DirecTv can shut you down for not having a phone connection. If you don't connect the phone line then you can't use the remote control for ordering. But everything else will work. I haven't connected the phone line on a few of my sat receivers for many years, including my Airstream.