The Fedex guy just stopped by the office with an interesting package. Lately Directv has been going after Dish Network lock stock and barrel with a new campaign "to tell the truth," in an effort to show they are superior to Dish Network. I like Dishnetwork - and Directv has some cool stuff as well. So, ..... who's right? Let's compare some of the things I personally find good and bad about both companies.
In the new campaign, new Directv customers can receive 2 years of discounts off the regular price of service. This is new as of today. Yesterday it was just 12 months! That's pretty cool! Definitely a step in the right direction. I hate it when the promo period ends and people get sticker shock when their bill goes up to the regular price. Now it looks like they are giving the standard $29 off a month for the first 12 months, and $14 off for the second 12 months. In my opinion, this is much better than before. Remember that the regular price for the choice package is $58.99 without HD and without DVR. Customers are charged an additional $10 for HD and $7.00 for DVR and $5.00 for any other TV they want connected.
Multi room DVR: Dish Network has had multi-room DVRs for years, which has been fantastic! It seems that Directv has finally clued in and is now offering a comparable service. This is another step in the right direction. One thing of note about the multi-room DVR with Directv is, you must have a second set top box for any other tv hooked up for the multi-room DVR function, and this box must be HD!
Pros: now you can share DVR with multiple rooms in HD with Directv. Cool right? I agree cool indeed! But lets remember a few things. With Directv, in order to have an HD receiver in your house, you have to pay the $10.00 HD access fee. That's probably not a big deal if that is what you are getting the system for. Both companies charge the same fee. However, if you haven't upgraded to that shiny new super thin 120 hertz plasma or LCD beauty, then you probably don't really care. That's where, Dishnetwork shines. The dual tuner 722 is HD ready and is included in all DVR installations. And, there is no second tv fee! Other than the $6.00 DVR fee, you pay nothing to watch, record, DVR, and enjoy life on a second tv away from the pains of Days of our Lives playing on the first. You can also access your DVR's recorded list from your second TV and watch anything on the hard drive. With Dishnetwork, no set top box is required for any second TV, and you can split the signal to show up on that old TV you have sitting in the craft room or garage! Chalk one up for Dish!
Cons: So you want Dishnetwork and you want HD on that second TV, well sorry that's not going to work. The TV 2 picture is only in "Standard Definition" which is almost a 4 letter word in the TV industry these days. If you have that sexy new plasma or LCD in your second room the picture won't look so great, but if you still have that bulky but reliable tube tv it will look just fine. One more con, let's say you want another 2 tv's with their own tuner. Well of course you want little Tommy or Cindy to have a TV in their own room, what kind of parent would you be not letting your little angel have their own mind sucking machine. All antics aside, if you do want 2 more rooms with DVR it's not going to be cheap. Try an additional $17 a month for those 2 cherished children. Is it worth it? You make the call. It's a bit steep if you ask me. In a nutshell, if you need just one box to run two TV's, Dish is a great choice. You get a 2 room DVR, HD receiver whether you subscribe for HD service or not, and you can add other occasionally used tv's to the mix.
Ok, my fingers are getting a bit sore now because I'm a satellite geek, not a English major. Let's continue our little Dish vs Direct Discussion another day. I've covered multi-room DVR's, Directv's 2 year discount. I'll post some more about this silly boxing match and who is getting closer to the K.O. Happy TV!
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