Dish vs. DirectTV as a Brewer fan (Latest: DISH providing few Brewers games in HD)

[YostInfection]

SERENITY NOW!!! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

Thank you both for the insight.

[GormanHarvey]

For anyone that may be interested - I ended up switching to DirecTv today and I feel I got a heckuva deal (relatively speaking anynow-not sure if any tv service out there is a "deal"). The package I ordered (called the Plus HD DVR Package) was supposed to be offered at the promo price of $49.99/mo for 12 months plus $15/mo for the 3 extra receivers I am getting ($5/mo each) bringing my bill to $65/mo for the first 12 mo. I told them that I was switching from Dish and they gave me an additional $10 off per mo for the first 12 mo and cut the price of the extra HD DVR I was ordering in half from $199 to $99. So now my monthly bill is $55 for the first year and will go to $87/mo when all the promos run out. As I mentioned earlier I get free HBO, Starz, and Showtime (not cinemax like I mentioned before) for 3 mo. All my HD programming is included in my package (no additional fees) and I get me locals in HD. They did mention that it was fortunate to called today because their rates are increasing tomorrow from the '08 rates to the '09 rates. Just thought I would put this out there for any of you looking to switch or get Direc. I'm pretty pleased right now!

[Diskono]

I would think MLB.TV is your only bet if you are going to stay with Dish. I would definitely check to make sure they wouldn't black you out from the Brewers though.

FWIW, I used to get Brewers games blacked out via MLB.TV when I lived in Minnesota. It may be due to the fact that I had a WI billing address on my credit card, but I'm not certain onthat.

[OglivieHomePerm]

You can use the following to determine if you will be blacked out from mlb.tv:

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?c_id=mlb#blackout

[chuckcrim]

If I live out of state and have DirecTV with the Extra Innings package and HD DVR, how many Brewer games will be in HD?

Will it be just the games that FSN-WI is broadcasting in HD or will I not get any at all?

[Invader3K]

I'm starting to debate if we should switch to one of the sat providers. We have Charter right now, and pay about $150 a month for TV, phone, and high speed internet. We have the DVR/HD box in our main living room, but regular cable in the other rooms. I guess that's the kicker. It's just I'm kind of miffed because I would like to add a second digital receiver for our bedroom, mainly so I could get MLB Network and some of the other digital channels, and the customer serice rep I spoke to said it would be an extra 10 bucks per month. He wouldn't budget on that at all. I just don't see why I should pay that much extra per month just to be able to get channels we already subscribe to on a second TV.

 

Of course if we still got internet and phone through Charter but not TV, it would probably all end up being a wash cost wise, anyway.

[MJLiverock]

Gorman, I didn't see it answered but I have never been charged an extra fee by DirecTV for not having my DVR's hooked to a landline. I used to run a landline occasionally down to one of them when I wanted to order a pay perview on the remote or when I knew a software update was coming and I wanted to get it right away but not anymore (The old HR10-250 Tivo DVR's had an annoying nag screen if the landline wasn't hooked up, the new (and in my opinion ) much better DVR's don't have this feature and still get the software updates without the land line hook up)

 

I have 3 HD DVR's running and 1 SD DVR and none have a phone line hooked to them, although one HD DVR is hooked to the Internet for On Demand Downloads but this is a recent hook up. The nice thing about DirecTV vs. Cable companies is only 1 DVR fee for unlimited number of DVRs. You still have to pay something like $4 per extra receiver but the DVR access fee of $5.99 is only charged once unlike some cable companies charging up to $10 per DVR. The additional 3 DVR's only cost me like $12/month total.

 

I would say one of my favorite things about DirecTV is their equipment. You can easily hook an external hard drive to the HD DVR's and increase capacity immensely so you don't have to worry about running out of room on the DVR. They are networkable to the internet so you can order remotely, download on demand programming and hopefully coming soom is Multi Room Viewing (meaning stream content from the DVR in the Living room to the DVR in the bedroom).

[mtrebs]

Slightly off topic...but has anyone heard if indeed all the games will be in HD this year?

yes...that is what they claimed at the end of last season.

 

.....

I hope you are right, but I wouldn't bet on it. I remember hearing that all games would be in HD in 2009 near the end of last season as well, but then when there was a JSOnline article before spring training. The article stated that 150+ games will be broadcast on FSN for 2009. It then went on to state that the HD broadcast schedule wasn't out yet and that it would have more games than previously, but it didn't state anything about every game being in HD. Some of my friends and I spent the next day complaining about this to one another at work. I still have my fingers crossed that all games will be in HD, but I have a feeling that this won't be the case.

[Invader3K]

Mtrebs, you are probably right. The closer we get to Opening Day without any info, makes me think it probably won't be all or most of the games.

 

But still, even if we only get half the games in HD, that would be an improvement over last season, I guess.

 

FYI, I think only like five games or so won't be on some kind of TV station throughout the whole season this year, HD or not. We've come a long way, as far as TV coverage of the Brewers. If FSN's analog signal didn't look so bad on our HDTV, I wouldn't complain...but the HD is such a gigantic step up in picture quality and sound.

[GormanHarvey]

Gorman, I didn't see it answered but I have never been charged an extra fee by DirecTV for not having my DVR's hooked to a landline....

Thanks MJ! I never did get an answer on that til now. DirecTv is coming on the 18th to hook me up - looking forward to it!

[OglivieHomePerm]

Just remembered one other little issue with Dish Network as a Brewer fan. When the Bucks are on FSN and the Brewer game is being carried by WMLW, we outside of Milwaukee don't get the Brewer game on Dish. I assume that the same applies to DirecTV.

 

This season, that will apply to 3 games in April:

Saturday, April 11

Monday, April 13

Wednesday, April 15

 

After the Bucks are done, the WMLW games are carried by Dish.

[jhart05]

IF Dish Network doesn't have the MLB Channel, I would go with DirecTV.

 

I like the MLB channel, been watching it alot. Especially the "30 teams in 30 days" show they have right now.

[TSack27]

Just remembered one other little issue with Dish Network as a Brewer fan. When the Bucks are on FSN and the Brewer game is being carried by WMLW, we outside of Milwaukee don't get the Brewer game on Dish. I assume that the same applies to DirecTV.

Yup, happens on DirecTV as well. But sometimes could find those FSN Brewers broadcasts on Extra Innings channels (without being subscribed to Extra Innings)

[OglivieHomePerm]

Any other Dish subscribers out there not get the Brewer game last night. I checked the guide at 8:45, and it was not listed.

[1992casey]

According to last night's in-game thread, the game showed up on DirecTV between 10:30 and 10:54 PM CDT last night. There are times when FSW/DISH/DirecTV stupidity coincides: the game will pop up at the same time on both DISH and DirecTV. Did this happen last night?

[Crew2323]

I have dish, and I checked at around 9:00 and the game was not listed on the guide. I even clicked on all sports alternate channels and there was nothing. Finally, around 11:15 I checked the guide again...still nothing. But I checked channel 444, and there the game was. It was the top of the 9th, and I got to see Zealous Wheeler, this guy who looked like he was 12 and weighed 100 pounds soaking wet, Chris Duffy, and Logan Schaefer face Heath Bell. I was a bit perturbed, to say the least.

[GormanHarvey]

Yeah last nights non-showing and explanations from direc/dish were ridiculous. So frustrating!

 

On a related note, I used to be a Dish Network customer and had it for almost a year and pretty much never lost my signal due to weather in that period of time. I recently switched to DirecTv and have lost the signal 3 times in a matter of 2 weeks due to weather - 2 of which were for over an hour. Anyone else have similar problems or experiences or possibly even some advice. The dishes were both in the exact same location on my roof

[DatHoser]

I had that problem with Directv early on until I fine tuned the dish myself. I just took the tuner and 13" tv outside and it's been very solid since. I only lose the signal during times when I should - extremely heavy storms, etc.

[TheCrew07]

It's your dish alignment... I just got my new dish for the 61.5 location and I haven't had a problem since. Previously my SD channels would still work but my HD channels would crap out during weather.

 

My brother turned me on to this helpful site.

 

He actually aligned his own dishes, he said after every tweak he needed to wait a couple of minutes for the signal to come back but he was able to get a good signal and hasn't had any problems with his HD. He not a tech by stretch, he frames houses, so it's not all that complex to do yourself.

[GormanHarvey]

Thanks a lot for the help guys. I am leary of tuning it myself. I am not what you would call a handy person and would be affraid of making it worse. Apparently the installer from Dish did a much better than the guy from Direc. I will check out that site TheCrew. Thanks again!

[EsoxLazer]

I've been working as a DirectTV tech for a while now and I just typed up a step-by-step walkthrough for tuning your dish but it didn't post for some reason. Its too long to type up again so if you are interested in learning how to tune your dish, please e-mail me at elazenby19 AT yahoo.com. I will re-type the guide or walk you through the process. Its not very hard to do it yourself, you just have to be comfortable with being on the roof and have a 7/16 wrench/socket. DirectTV is actually a very reliable system, it just needs to be installed and tuned properly to maximize signal strength. The satellite itself is 22,300 miles away and the standard dish is aiming at a target the size of a dinner plate whereas the HD dish is aiming at a target the size of a quarter...that should give you an idea of how important proper tuning is to the system.

[GormanHarvey]

I've been working as a DirectTV tech for a while now and I just typed up a step-by-step walkthrough for tuning your dish but it didn't post for some reason. Its too long to type up again so if you are interested in learning how to tune your dish, please e-mail me at elazenby19 AT yahoo.com.

That would be great!! I will email you tonight. Thanks!

[EsoxLazer]

For anyone else thats out of market and looking to watch the Brew Crew, don't let them talk you into buying the MLB Extra Innings package unless you want to watch all of the games they offer. If you are out of market and looking to only watch the Crew, they can isolate those games and get them to you in a much cheaper package. I just got off the phone with 3-4 people and was finally able to work something out with them in order to get the Brewers games. The first 5-6 people I talked with over the last couple of days told me that I would have to purchase the entire package, but my supervisor told me that they had the capability to isolate teams. I'd imagine that they try to keep that on the downlow in order to get more people buying the $200 package. Sorry if this was posted in an earlier thread...I didn't get a chance to read the entire thing.

[TheCrew07]

I've been sending frequent hate mail to Dish Network regarding MLB. This is part of their most recent response, I removed the rep's name and other information..

 

Thank you for your email. Please accept our apology for the inconvenience caused by the MLB Network issue. Wewill not be carrying MLB Extra Innings, the out of market baseball package, and MLB Network this season. The demands made by MLB were not in the best interest of our customers. Fortunately, you can still receive baseball games all season long on ESPN, FOX, Regional Sports Networks, Superstations and local networks.

Which is exactly the lead paragraph from this link which I always reference when I make the point that since consumers want the MLB Network it's in their best interest to provide it, or we'll take our business elsewhere... way to go the extra mile and put absolutely no thought into your response at all dude...

[OglivieHomePerm]

Giving this a Bump, based on a topic that is somewhat buried in the "What's Bugging You?" thread. Dish network has not been broadcasting all the FSN-WI Brewer games in HD this year...I estimate that about 1/2 the games have been in Standard Def. (Obviously, the WMLW games will be in SD...but many FSN-WI broadcasts have been as well). I'd like to hear from DirecTV customers....are all the FSNWI games in HD there? Has anyone else called Dish Network on this?