dishnet or dtv

[Nrmf]

if i am a subscriber to one of these services which is the way to go and if i want to run it through a hauppauge card so that i can record what card should i go with or does it even have to be a hauuppauge one. my goal is to scehdule satelite shows for recording. send help please

[JUC]

I'd say go with DTV--better support for serial control. Just be carefull about which STB you get because some won't work with serial connections--namely D10-300's (of the newer ones).
JUC

[Crashless]

The general rule of thumb is:

If you like sports (the PPV variety) go with DTV.

If you want foreign language programming go with Dish.

FWIW, I'm a sports guy that went with Dish, and was fine with it. I never got NFL ticket or the like, so I didn't mind. One thing though, I had a VERY bad experience with Dish when I had to cancel because I moved. They acted like two year olds about the whole thing, and I don't ever plan on using them again for that reason.

It's really sad that the cancelling experience ruined it for me. They had impecable service leading up to that.

JUC also has a good point about serial control, but didn't DTV recently have issues with CS because they turned off serial control on their boxes with an 'upgrade'?

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0...w=wn_tophead_2

[JUC]

That's right about problems with DTV and serial control. I thought that they would have fixed it by now but I guess not. One more thing to consider is that the OSD for the newer DTB boxes is HUGE!! Really ugly.
JUC

[Crashless]

So, all that said - there is no good TV provider, because with the problems both dish companies have, and the fact that all cablecos are owned by the devil himself, your only option that allows you to keep your soul is rabbit ears.

I hear people have been getting good luck with the OTA HDTV plugins lately.

Nrmf - I would just go with the company who has the most channels that you want for the best price, they really are about the same once you put SageTV on top of their service, so you might as well get the channels you want and save a couple of bucks.

[dagar]

There is a workaround posted in the HW section IRT the D* tuner serial issues. Haven't tried it yet.

Cruise some of the D* and E* forums (www.satelliteguys.org is a good start). Also check the various Tivo and ReplayTV forums IRT the D* serial issues (where I found it first).

If you do go with E* be careful which STBs you get. Those 2-in-1 are screwy (in general) but I think they have RF remotes (only). The E* guys on this board can better answer those questions though.

[kevpriest]

The Dish 2 in 1 (specifically, the 311) does have RF remotes. Unit 1 can be set to use IR, but Unit 2 MUST be RF, and is therefore incompatible with Sage using an IR blaster. I recommend 2 301s in that case. I still have the 311, but I only use one of the tuners.