I need some feedback on direct tv (dish) good or bad?
Question:
Answer:
We've had Directv for years now and we love it. We bought the actual unit at a local appliance store and installed and programmed ourselves. The guy who sold it to us told us because we were in a densely wooded area we would not get reception because it's satellite-based but we get 99% clarity reception. We just messed around with the unit on the rooftop, me with my 2-way radio in the living room and husband with his on the roof until we got it! Funny thing was it was when he kicked the little dish in frustration that the reception kicked in from the 70%ile range to the high 90s. It was a hoot! The clarity of the transmissions we receive is perfect.
We rarely lose the transmission except in very, very foul weather (violent thunder storm might freeze the dish or cause a little digitized look on the screen off and on) but it usually comes back quickly and restarts. We have never had a service problem or needed anyone to come out to handle any issues. At one point my husband thought we had a problem (the picture would just freeze when we were watching) but it turned out something else was wrong and he (he's a phone guy) was able to trouble shoot it on his own and things went back to normal. I think we might have replaced a transceiver once but we've had Directv for many many years now and we did not feel that this was unreasonable and the cost to replace was not that bad.
They have kept their rates fairly stable and their increases have been moderate and infrequent. They have never messed up a billing that I am aware of and we read our bills we don't just automatically pay them.
We do pay a good sum to watch certain things...like we get all the NFL games all season except a few that are occassionally blacked out but very often they are on network instead. Plus, we've got that feature where you can watch several games at the same time if you want in little boxes, or you can program which scores from which games you want on the screen as other games are being played while you are watching the game you are most interested in.
I think they were bought recently (the past year? year before?) and I think there was the expected increase but, once again, we think it was a moderate increase. We're a little nervous though that now that they are newly owned we may see more increases.
We have heard so, so many complaints about cable, cable service, waiting for cable repairs, cable price increases and so on, we are pretty much thrilled with our Directv by contrast. We can't get cable where we are anyway...we are in the boonies.
There are a variety of packages to choose from, just like cable, but we have tended to go with a pretty basic package because who has time for all those choices anyway.
We have two tvs and one of us can watch network/local stations in the kitchen while the other watches a Directv selection in the living room. Or, we can hook up both tvs and watch the same thing while I am in the kitchen on the computer watching the TV at the same time. I think that might mean we have two transceivers but it's worth it because two people don't always agree on what they want to watch. We can plug in the Directv cable for the kitchen tv at will and we are constantly taking that tv on and off the transceiver so we can watch different programs that the other of us doesn't want to watch.
Their pay per view is inexpensive. We can see a movie that is fairly current but has left the theaters and is now on DVD for something like $3 or $4 bucks...can't remember exact number but seems like a cheap alternative to going to the movies. We can record anything we watch and store it in our system.
In short, we don't have any complaints about this service.
i've had directv at my house for like 3 years. i would say the same thing as the person above but the only trouble I have had is that during a thunderstorm, the quality of the shows skydives. a lot of times you cant even watch anything during a storm
i ve had direct tv and dish network network hads down the clarity is the same and youll have the same problems except that like she said they blackout some of the games and more than likley itll be the one u want to watch. also they charge you fopr local channels cbs nbc abc pbs cw upn and dishnetwork doesnt youll actually get your own local nbc cbs with direct youll only get east or west coast la or ny hope it helps i didnt see any difference in what they offer theyre both the same except local channels
oh yeah most of the games direct tv blacksout are the ones on the local channels near you for me i had to get both cbs and abc east and west just to watch and i had the nfl package im still pised
What ever you do do not EVER use Direct TV. They will lie to you to get your business and then go back on their word. I ordered Direct TV and was told I have a 30 trial period and it was after I cancelled I found out that there was a charge after 7 days for the equipment. Then they started harrassing me about paying the bill BEFORE I received it in the mail. I protested it and they sent my bill to a collection agency without sending me another bill. I turned them into the Better Business Bureau and they did not care they still insist on me paying for a bill that their employee lied to me about. I cannot say this any better except "STAY AWAY - Direct TV sucks!!!!" and they do not care
I've had both. Dish picture quality is not as crisp and clear as Direct TV, but like anything, I believe it really depends on the installation.
I've had my dish moved 3 times with Direct TV because of poor local HD
reception; the last time they put it on my roof. I am calling back for the 10th time to get my problem escalated. Not sure they know the meaning of escalate.
More Questions & Answers...