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DirectTV vs. Dish Network


paoutdoorsman

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Dana - I don't know if Sling will work with a DirecTV device or not (just called my sister who has DirecTV, she didn't know), I don't see why it wouldn't though as long as you can connect to the receiver via USB (which you should be able to do) and DirecTV software has provisions for Sling, it should work. In order to get HD content to your new TV you have to come right out of the back of a satellite receiver and into your TV - if you stream remotely using a sling adapter that won't be in HD. Likewise if you feed to another TV via RF, it won't be in HD because of encrypted content (digit rights management by the content creators). You have to have a satellite receiver located at each TV you want to get HD to display. I love my satellite service. I wouldn't change anything. Thanx for asking! Randy

 

Randy, the sling thing sounds interesting. Are you saying that is only available with Dish?

 

Not sure how to answer what is important to me when watching TV. In reality I don't watch a lot of TV as I'm into lots of stuff and on the go or tinkering in the shop a lot. I guess I'm interested in getting more HD content with the recent purchase of an HD TV.

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Dylan - yes - it's a niche market and there's only a handful of us addressing it. Saw the post about working in the prison's market - my few times in those cells and day rooms - made certain I'll be the best person I can. No one needs to ask me to do better.

 

Funny story actually... I bid, engineered, and oversaw a project that put multiple channels of satellite TV into the cells of 4 different Riverside County Prisons, including the big SW Detention center where they keep the really sick ones.

 

The money for the TV installs actually was a reallocation of the money that went to weights and other strength training equipment. Problem they were seeing is scumbag would get arrested, go into do his 10 years, get HUGE while in the joint, come out angry and find the people who put him there and beat the hell out of them. So when the state said "No more weights" the only other thing they could think of was TV (keep them fat, and docile I guess)

 

They got channels like Discovery and National Geographic... no sports, no local news (don't want them knowing whats going on in their neighborhoods or getting riled up about someone coming in soon) It was an unreal experience and I got so see some things that really made sure I NEVER WANT TO GO TO JAIL.

 

The only cells that didn't get a 15" TV with a couple channels were maximum security and solitary. Everywhere else got TV including common rooms.

 

 

 

HAHA! Cool... Hotels was a market we never got too big into. We were #1 in commercial (private, semi-private, and public accounts) for a couple of years when I was working in the business. We did a lot more board corporate board rooms, bar/restaurant setups, lobbys, etc.

 

The few hotel accounts we did were serious work... you're definitely in a unique field b/c not many guys want to get into that side of the business.

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...or snow storm, especially if it's heavy wet and coats the dish. Then it's get dressed, grab the broom and ladder and climb and clean. A ginormous downpour will knock out the signal as well.

 

Dish Heater by Ice Zapper "On/Off Sensor"

 

Never had to install one on my setup, but we had a client up at a ski lodge in mammoth mountain and with this never had any ice or snow problems.

 

Dylan - yes - it's a niche market and there's only a handful of us addressing it. Saw the post about working in the prison's market - my few times in those cells and day rooms - made certain I'll be the best person I can. No one needs to ask me to do better.

 

No kidding... I saw a guy killed with a toothbrush... the thing that will never leave me is the guard who was in charge of us while we were in the areas with the inmates says "Just so you know, we have a no negotiation policy. If you get grabbed we will be firing bean bags whether you're standing in front of him or not, so don't get grabbed."

 

At which point my installers kind of did this: :willy::help:

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Dylan - Prisons & Jails - the "Trustee's" wandering around always bothered the heck out of me - never saw anyone killed but had an old neighbor who was a guard at one of Texas' toughest prisons, he had plenty of stories.

 

Dana - ditto what Dylan said on static - with digital you have signal or you don't (think analog vs. digital cel phone, how many times have you called someone back to find out if they hung up on you). Ditto also on the Dish Heater - last year in Atlanta, I lost signal because it was too cold, icy and a lot of snow for here, started working again a day later (don't have heaters down here). Rain storms, yes you'll lose signal on a small size dish but it's never been objectionable from a time standpoint plus with the DVR, you will find plenty of content stored that you need to watch at some time. And - yes - you can remotely tell your DVRs what you want them to record (I really like this feature a lot, I use it - time shifting these days is where's it's at. Make it fit your schedule.) BTW- I'm originally from W.PA, town of about 5k people (ie. the sticks), was watching my Dad "borrow" cable before I was 10, he used to put up TV towers with rotors so we could get more than 3 channels of TV. I think no matter which satellite provider you go with, you'll be happy with what you decide to watch on TV (now hopefully you bought a TV that is the manufacturer I work for - which I'm not disclosing :) - and you're helping me get to retirement so I can polish cars instead of greeting people at Wal-Mart....:D

 

Dish Heater by Ice Zapper "On/Off Sensor"

 

Never had to install one on my setup, but we had a client up at a ski lodge in mammoth mountain and with this never had any ice or snow problems.

 

 

 

No kidding... I saw a guy killed with a toothbrush... the thing that will never leave me is the guard who was in charge of us while we were in the areas with the inmates says "Just so you know, we have a no negotiation policy. If you get grabbed we will be firing bean bags whether you're standing in front of him or not, so don't get grabbed."

 

At which point my installers kind of did this: :willy::help:

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I've been a Dish customer for 12 years now and never really had any problems with them but, we only had it on two TV's. So, this coming Friday I am switching over to U-Verse so we can have different shows on five TV's. Also, upgrading to 12 meg internet from 6 and since we also have our phone with AT&T we are saving money. I also like the idea of having the wireless receivers.

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I have had both. Iam currently with DirecTv and will never go back to Dish. I had a route a few years back and I had a customer that did home theatre systems and he used DirecTv as well. He named off several reasons why he used them over Dish, but I don't recall the specifics now. A cheap sytstem installed for him was $50,000.

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I have had both. Iam currently with DirecTv and will never go back to Dish. I had a route a few years back and I had a customer that did home theatre systems and he used DirecTv as well. He named off several reasons why he used them over Dish, but I don't recall the specifics now. A cheap sytstem installed for him was $50,000.

 

Well the main reason us AV guys love using DTV is because they offer a control protocol called RS232 with 2 way feedback. This is not only 100% reliable but you dont have IR emitters falling off the front when the cleaning lady dusts the system requiring you to roll a truck because the receiver is no longer responding.

 

This also means its instant, direct into the box. Say for instance you wanted a button on the remote that has the History Channel Logo. In an IR system you would press that and it would have to shoot the macro for 2-6-9-enter. With a RS232 system theres a code writen for that channel to instantly change to 269, zero lag for any/all buttons on the remote.

 

Another is 2 way feed back, it tells the control system if the box is on/off rather then making a work around or placing a voltage sensor on the box to keep it in line with the TV on macro. It also tells the remote what channel your on rather then a programmer "tracking" and faking two way feedback.

 

It is the only system that supports 1080p out on some channels/PPV.

 

it is the only system out there that is purely digital and does the systems we install any justice. If you put up 4 identical TV's set identically and put DTV, DISH, FIOS & Crapcast there is a huge difference in quality. What "digital" cable does to shows and movies is beyond criminal. Its so compressed and grainy it is near unbearable for me to watch.

 

And the boxes are much more reliable then the garbage Dish,Crapcast/Fios/Uverse bring out. This past month ive rolled a truck 3 times because the cable box keeps taking a dump:mad: the systems that i do, if the cable guy gets ahold of it will trash it beyond belief. Even if they are labeled in big red letters on how to disconnect/re-connect properly. Idiots:willy:

 

 

 

Brendon,

 

You ever work with any of the larger Spaun distribution systems? That used to be my specialty. I could design a 500 drop SMATV system for a hospital like it was nothing. For some sick reason I enjoyed engineering them - our guys on the other hand hated installing them LOL. This was also back in the day of modulated signals for large distribution... hotel style. We did a prison once that ended up including a rack of 200 4 channel modulators! It was a monster!!

 

That is AWESOME! i actually had a spaun system specked for a pretty large job but i lost it to a guy that was literly $1000 lower then me. :mad: Come to find out the project went bankrupt mid way through and the installer never got paid but had the backbone stuff installed. Its currently in bankruptcy and will be tied up for another 3 years. Man was that the big guy upstairs looking out for me. It single handily bankrupted that integrator:willy: and to think i was that close.

 

That was before the economy tanked, although i do alot of commercial work now its only been Boardrooms/Small-Medium sized restaurants and resi work 50k and under. I love commercial though, something about it man :thumbsup: I supose its more engineering making stuff that should never work together "Work together" **reliably** 110% of the time. Jobs also pay better and i dont get priced shoped nearly as much, if at all.

 

Im thinking that ill be changing my business model in the next two years to residential consulting/contracting and Commercial design and installation. Our industry in the 10k-75k range is slipping away at an alarming rate.:willy:

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Randy, the sling thing sounds interesting. Are you saying that is only available with Dish?

 

You can get sling for Direct now too. Dish has a DVR with a sling installed inside, or you can add it to your existing DVR 622 or higher...

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I currently have DTV and absolutely love it. I actually have had both and I prefer DTV to Dish hands down. My father in law has Dish and the remote and UI of their menu drives me crazy. I have also seen the difference in picture quality. Not particularly impressed with their HD.

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