[zuiko]

I am getting fed up with the price increases from DirecTV and am considering moving to DISH. They aren't any cheaper on the everything plan, but the 60 channel plan would work for me and that is about $20 a month cheaper than what I'll be paying with the new DTV rates. $60 a month just for TV just seems a little crazy to me.

I was wondering if someone who has had both recently could list the top few annoyances with the newer DISH DVRs. Specifically, how are the season passes (whatever they call them) on the DISH DVR? That is pretty much the only way I watch anything. I do a lot of first run only season passes. Is that functionality there and does it work?

 

[JimSpence]

Here's a link to a Dish Network forum on DBSTalk.
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48

Most members here will tell you to avoid Dish DVRs.
But, to be fair, I have never used one.

 

[Steve1212]

If you think $60 a month is something, try paying over $200. Ahh i love TV

 

[Malibyte]

I have two TiVos on my SD sets and a HD Dish DVR on the HD set downstairs.

The TiVo interface is MUCH easier to use. There's no true "season pass" feature - you can have it record the same time slot every day/week/whatever, which means that it doesn't care if your show gets preempted - it'll record whatever's in that slot, and it doesn't differentiate between first-air episodes and re-runs. You can't change the recording quality.

I have it because it'll do HD and is "plug and play" with the DISH satellite hardware. I've had it for over a year. TiVo didn't have a standalone HD DVR which would work with my setup when I got my HD set. It does what it needs to do but it's not nearly as "smart" as the TiVo.

 

[dishrich]

Well, I have both, but D* is my primary TV service. (I only have distant nets/supers on E*)

First of all, the software on the newer E* DVR's is second rate (I'm being VERY charitable here) compared to what you are accustomed to on your D-Tivo's. Check out this post for an all too common example of what you might be trading your Tivo's for:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=53949

If you page through some of various posts, you'll see a trend here - when was the last time you read a post about a Tivo erasing shows???

While the newest dual-tuner DVR's have "name based recording" (their version of SP's) it is nowhere as accurate as Tivo's.
You didn't mention how many Tivo's you have now, but you are aware that E* charges a $5.98 DVR fee PER UNIT & NOT PER ACCOUNT. If you only have one, not important but if you have 2+ units, obviously your monthly cost will be higher.
Also, if you do not have a land line connected to the dual-tuner units, they sock you another $4.99 "added outlet" fee for the 2nd tuner.

There's other reasons to reconsider, but you might want think about the old saying - you get what you pay for...