“We” are probably going to push the DTV HD local launch back till jan because we are so far behind on installs right now we don’t need a service call spike. At least that is what I heard this morning. The off air ant that we install is pretty damn good. Its about 14" by 12" and I almost pick up all the locals whereI have installed it. It all depends on where you are.
As far as the HR20 (HD-DVR) it does suck and I hate installing them, they rushed them out to quick and at the moment are working on a software update.
thats not the list directv posted, heres the real list
The 25 local markets to receive HD programming will include the following:
Albuquerque, N.M.; Mobile, Ala; Buffalo, N.Y.; New Orleans; Des Moines, Iowa; Norfolk, Va.; Flint, Mich.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Ft. Myers, Fla.; Portland, Me.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Providence, R.I.; Green Bay, Wisc.; Reno, Nev.; Greensboro, N.C.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Greenville, S.C.; Spokane, Wash.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Springfield, Mo.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Toledo, Ohio; Little Rock, Ark.; Tulsa, Okla. and Madison, Wisc.
Also i have a DB4 antenna and a silver sensor, the db4 is outdoor which was 35 bucks, and the SS was like 40. both work perfectly
Grand Rapids and Providence are the only cities set to launch this month.
Yeah, I have the Terk one that looks a lot like the silver sensor, but it’s amplified. I hooked it up after the game and found that I could lock 2, 4 and 7 at 100 with it in one spot. I’m going to watch some TV using that tonight to make sure it’s good but I think I’ve found my local HD solution.
2,4,7 are in alden fox and WB are in GI, you should have no problems getting either of them with that terk.
2 4 7 are in colden and southwales
Okay then what would be the best reccomendation for my situation:
-No internet connection wanted.
-I am purchasing a plasma TV in the next couple weeks.
-I would like to have some HD programming (which offers more than others?)
-Dont really care about the DVR crap, but it would be nice if it didnt cost me any extra.
-I will only be running 1 tv or possibly 2 in the near future
Jeller
yeah colden, lol i always mix those up, they are right near each other too, which is nice.
I can’t seem to pull in fox HD from the antenna anymore. I noticed on antennaweb.org they have bumped fox way down the list saying it requires a much better antenna. What gives?
hmm wierd i get it better than 2,4,7
Yeah, me and (tour) work together. And we did hear Monday morning that the HD locals that are set to launch by Dec 31st, are going to get pushed back to Jan because “we” are so far behind right now. But that should give you guys an idea on who is better. People who spend a lot of time reviewing this are willing to wait for weeks to have DirecTV installed rather than get Dish immediately. And as has been mentioned the HR20 is junk, but should be fixed soon with an over the satellite software update.
My biased opinion leans towards DISH Network. You’re allowed up to two MPEG 4 HD receivers for free without DVR. DISH currently has 30 nationwide HD channels. (Yes, a lot of them are voom channels but they are commercial free and are exclusive.) DISH also broadcasts their HD in higher resolution. The current promotion will also give you $20/per month for 10 months. Also, if you get an off air antenna for your HD locals you can drop $5/month off your bill by dropping standard locals.
Better in what way exactly?
HD receivers that you guys even say suck? More channels yes. But how many of those do you actually watch? I have every channel I want. More HD channels, no. HD is the wave of the future. Too bad DTV spent so much on the NFL Ticket and left so little for R&D.
So true. They lose so much money being exclusive to the ticket and to top that off they still net about 100,000 less than DISH in the 3rd quarter.
I’m in the same boat as JayS… Primetime OTA HD shows are a priority around here.
Looks like I’ll be stopping at the shack. I’ll have to pick up a set of rabbit ears to experiment with, for tomorrows games & such.
My only concerns about SatTV is OTA HD & weather outages. Even so, TimeWarner has continually fallen by the wayside.
…and I’m definately on the DTV bandwagon at this time. A few conversations & demonstrations at friends homes have settled that.
I’m up and running on Dish Network, 4 room install, gold package with HD Dvr, as of Friday at 4pm.
So far, very impressed.
DVR is a billion times better than Time Warner. The whole interface is nicer, it works better, it’s smoother. It has not locked up on me (an almost daily occurance with the TW box). When you are using triple fast forward and hit rewind it goes to double fast. Hit rewind again, single fast. So much better than the TW box that would jump right to rewind giving you no possible way to slow down the fast forward.
The 622 receiver does HD upconversion and had a pretty good “partial zoom” that fills my entire widescreen HD without greatly messing with the picture. Upconverting to 720p looks better than upconverting to 1080i. I liked the “Wide Zoom” that my Sony set offered for a 480i signal better, but the picture quality of the 720p upconversion looks better so I’m using that. Besides, I’ve found no simple way to switch between 480i and 720/1080. That was one good feature of the TW box. If you set the picture mode to pass-thru it would automatically switch modes for you.
I’m getting NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, WNLO and WNED locals, all in HD, all from my little indoor amplified Terk. I got mine at Radio Shack but the one on their site doesn’t say if it’s amplified or not. Mine is and the amp makes a big difference. It was around $50 when I bought it a couple years ago. All without needing to move the antenna. The installer was really impressed with the Terk and said he was going to buy one. The stations were added to the guide using the search feature, and I’ve had no problems recording HD programs from the antenna. Analog locals via the dish also came with my package, so if the antenna has any issues I have a backup.
There is way more HD programming than TW had, but as has been said, a lot of it is crap. I don’t see INHD and INHD2 though. Since those were the channels Versus simulcast the Sabres games in HD I’m a little concerned. I’ll probably look into that later.
The remote looks and acts like it wasn’t designed by a 2 year old retarded monkey. Buttons are raised or dimpled so very quickly you learn to use it without looking at it. It can be set to control the audio functions of a stereo receiver, and even have the volume button automatically know to switch to aux. No more pressing function buttons each time you want to adjust the volume. Have it on Dish mode, hit the volume, the remote automatically switches to aux, works the volume, then switches back to Dish. Adelphia had a remote that could do this then TW discontinued it. Fucktards.
I’ve got 2 receivers operating 4 rooms. Each receiver has a dual tuner, so all 4 rooms can watch different channels. The 2 remote rooms get RF remotes so they can control the receivers in the main rooms wirelessly.
They sent two installers, who actually worked with me to run the wires the way I WANTED, unlike the dipshit from Adelphia who did such a shitty job I ended up re-wiring it about a week later. We spent about 15 minutes before they started anything just walking around my house talking about the cleanest way to do it. Huge :tup: to these installers, they did a great job. They had to install 2 dishes, one for regular programming and another one pointing a different direction for HD. I’m guessing that other dish is pointing at the old VOOM sats.
I had to call customer service once so far. When they did the install I didn’t have phone jacks near the receivers, so they set me up as a non-phone house. There is a $5 surcharge per month if you don’t have a phone hooked up. Yesterday morning I got up and extended phone lines/jacks to each receiver. The call to CS went ok, picked up quick, but the rep had a pretty bad accent and was very hard to understand. Not India, maybe Mexico. Maybe it was just the one rep I got, but hopefully I won’t be calling often. She was polite at least, which is way more than I can say for the reps I’ve talked to at TW.
There’s a pretty cool little instant weather thing. You pick your city/st and you can get your local weather any time.
Did I mention how much I love this remote? 
You can customize the guide size. On my big TV in the living room I have it setup to show a TON of shows, with a small font. On a 51" TV it’s still very easy to read. On the TV in the bedroom, a little 19" one, I changed it the other way. The font is huge, can’t show as much, but I can read it clearly. A much better “customize” feature than changing the stupid color like TW.
I’m dropping off my TW box on Monday. On the 30th Verizon says my DSL will be hooked up and I will be 100% Time Warner free.
JayS, did you go through Dish directly or did you go to a retailer?
congratulations on making the switch. I haven’t looked back
Glad your happy man. Just make sure you put the DSL filters on the phone lines when you set it up or you’ll never get it working right. Do you know the names of the installers? I’ll tell the bosses of your review so they get their props.
I feel bad, but I’m terrible with names. There were two guys, both probably in their 30’s. I looked through my paperwork and there are no installer names or initials anywhere. Sorry I didn’t get a hold of you about having you do the sale/install. I stopped by intertech in the mall on my lunch just to talk prices and packages on Wednesday and he said if I signed up right there they could have it installed by EOD Friday. I was so sick of TW at that point I jumped.
As for the DSL, not an issue now. When I canceled my digital cable and dropped off the box I found out TW has a “lite” version of roadrunner. It’s 256/256 and only 24.95 a month (27 after fees). I’m going to give that a shot for now since the DSL I was looking at was just 786/128. I don’t play any online games or do any big downloading. Vonage only needs 90kbps up/down so having 256/256 is probably safer than 768/128.