Well, we finally dropped the ax on Dish Network in favor of Directv today. For the second time in about six months, the DVR hard drive crapped out and when it craps out, it craps out spectacularly. Last time we got about another day’s worth of television in before the whole thing died. This time, it died mid-program and without any warning. Unhappily, I had two more Premier League Review shows to watch and I’m not best pleased about missing those.

The new setup through Directv is slightly more expensive overall at face value, but we’re getting a lot more for what turned out to be about $8 or so more per month. More importantly, the boatload of discounts Directv offers new subscribers means that we’re still coming out about $100 ahead over the life of the two-year contract.

In the end, I would say Dish Network was only okay but they kept dicking around with the channel lineup. I was unhappy that they axed the Voom network, thereby eliminating some of my La Liga fix; I was irate when they dropped GolTV, thereby putting Spanish football out of reach on the tele and leaving me with just Fox Soccer. With Directv’s Sports Pack, I get Fox Soccer plus Fox Soccer Espanol (which has some different programming) as well as GolTv. Bonus.

In addition, there are a lot more HD channels on Directv, there’s Directv-on-demand that has about 4K free movies, and Internet programming for the DVR. Dish has none of this. The only thing Dish has done (at least that I’ve noticed) is axed two of the channels I valued most.

Still, this isn’t sheer giddy enjoyment. Googling “Directv reviews” brings back pages of unhappy people, but the same is also true for Dish Network. I’ve also heard the Directv DVR isn’t as good as Dish’s, but frankly the Dish DVR never impressed me either, especially searching for shows.

We’ll see how it goes. My excitement is also tempered somewhat by the fact that we’re heading into the doldrums of the soccer calendar, where the main event this summer will be World Cup Qualifying. I haven’t done a close analysis but I suspect that all the top-notch games will either be on PPV regardless of your satellite provider, or free on ESPN for the US matches. I think GolTv might have the odd CONMEBOL qualifier but I’m not sure. Needless to say, it doesn’t really get the pulse racing anyway.

I’m sure I’ll have plenty to complain about in time…

Current Mood: Wary |