Thinking of switching from Comcast to Dish

1005 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by atmuscarella, Jul 30, 2007

usmaak

Discussion Starter · Jul 27, 2007

Hi all,

My wife and I have been reviewing our options. We've become increasingly dissatisfied with Comcast lately. The reception has gotten worse, even with digital stations. The last straw was them yanking the sports package off of all their digital packages, requiring us to pay an extra 7 bucks a month to get the NFL channel. We already pay way too much for two movie channels.

I know that Dish has their own DVR, but we have two TiVo series 2 units that we want to keep. We have one dual tuner television. I've spliced the cable so that one lead goes to one tuner, and the other one goes to TiVo and then to the other tuner. The other TV is only one tuner, but I have the cable split there as well, and have a switch set up to flip between TiVo and "regular cable". I would like to keep this setup.

I know that Dish has a dual tuner box that we can get.

https://swot.sbc.com/swot/dishProductDetail.do?offerId=1003816&collectionInfo=true

I'm hoping that all that would be needed would be to feed one tuner on the box to one tuner input on the TV, and the other tuner on the box though the TiVo and to the other input on the TV. So I would have the same exact setup as I have now with Comcast, but without the cable split. I would also have another dual tuner Dish receiver on the other TV, and would feed both tuners through the switch, to the TV, so I would have the same setup there as well. Does anyone have a similar setup to this? Can someone verify that this would work?

If this works, then there are a couple more questions:

1. How do you set it up so that TiVo changes channels only on the correct tuner on a box?
2. I know that the dish receivers do not have serial ports on the back. This is the only thing that makes me hesitate. I've always had comcast boxes that use serial and never had much problems. How well do the IR blasters work with the dish receivers?

Thanks

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atmuscarella

· #2 · Jul 29, 2007

What you have outline should work ok. The standard definition (SD) set top box (STB) from dish is a 322. There is also a new high definition (HD) dual tuner STB. The 2 tuners in a 322 STB use separate remotes to control each tuner - one is IR and the other is UHF - your Tivo can only control the main tuner through IR. It works but you will have some setup issues do the the STB going into screen saver mode, with TiVo having no way to reactivate it. There is info in the forum on how to best over come the issues. I have gotten rid of the 322 receiver I used for awhile so I can't give you step by step any longer. I have not used the HD dual tuner STB so I don't know how that would work.

I don't know if your TVs are HD sets or not or if you will be going HD soon. But the best time to get HD STBs/DVRs from dish is when you first sign up. Their HD DVR was ranked very high by CNet and is now free with a $6/mo fee (you do have to sign up for their HD package of channels).

Good Luck,

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usmaak

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 30, 2007

atmuscarella said:
What you have outline should work ok. The standard definition (SD) set top box (STB) from dish is a 322. There is also a new high definition (HD) dual tuner STB. The 2 tuners in a 322 STB use separate remotes to control each tuner - one is IR and the other is UHF - your Tivo can only control the main tuner through IR. It works but you will have some setup issues do the the STB going into screen saver mode, with TiVo having no way to reactivate it. There is info in the forum on how to best over come the issues. I have gotten rid of the 322 receiver I used for awhile so I can't give you step by step any longer. I have not used the HD dual tuner STB so I don't know how that would work.

I don't know if your TVs are HD sets or not or if you will be going HD soon. But the best time to get HD STBs/DVRs from dish is when you first sign up. Their HD DVR was ranked very high by CNet and is now free with a $6/mo fee (you do have to sign up for their HD package of channels).

Good Luck,

Thank you for your reply. I saw something about the logo issue somewhere on this site. I'll have to track it down again. Something about setting a timer to switch to a channel at 4:00 every day, or something like that. I hope it works. Needless to say, it would be bad to get rid of Comcast, which at least works well with TiVo, and go to something else that doesn't work.

We do not have HD at this time. We weren't planning on getting it for a couple more years. We're holding off until we redo our basement. Then we'll get a nice HD set for down there. I have heard what you said about the best time to get HD boxes from others as well.

But that actually raises a couple of questions.

1. If I do get HD boxes instead of regular boxes, do they cost more? We were planning on going with the America's Everything package. Would that include the HD stations? Would I be forced to get the HD stations even if I wasn't going to use them?

2. Does anyone know if the new dual tuner HD receivers have the Dish Logo issue that the 322s have? If I wouldn't have to pay any more for the HD dual tuner receivers, then that should be the route I go.

Thanks

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atmuscarella

· #4 · Jul 30, 2007

You can usually get the any receiver for free when you first sign up however they may charge you for the second receiver if you ask for 2 dual tuner receivers. The second receiver may also have an additional monthly rental fee. If you get an HD receiver you will also be required to subscribe to there HD package which is $20 per month. There are some channels you would not get without the HD package you can check out what's included on their web site.

Good Luck,

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