Dish TV or Direct TV

[deipert]

I have a choice of going to Dish TV or Direct TV for a business office. I am already an experienced Comcast Cable user at home with control over multiple Comcast Cable boxes using SAGE TV with the USBUirt.

I am wondering if it makes any difference which service I subscribe to in terms of contolling two boxes with the USBUirt. Is one easier than the other? Anything that I need to be concerned about?

Thanks.

[stanger89]

DirecTV supports Serial control via Paterson adapters which could prove more reliable.

As far a the USB-UIRT goes, Dish might be better because you can configure boxes to use different IR codes so you can control multiple boxes with a single UIRT without having to use zones and "tents".

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by stanger89

DirecTV supports Serial control via Paterson adapters which could prove more reliable.

As far a the USB-UIRT goes, Dish might be better because you can configure boxes to use different IR codes so you can control multiple boxes with a single UIRT without having to use zones and "tents".

@Stanger89
Could you give make directions on how to change remote codes? I have not been able to locate any information on how to do this.

Thanks

[stanger89]

Actually I'm not sure how myself, I've not needed to try. Seems like it's in one of the STB's setup menus.

[Olias]

DirecTV also allows you to use two different codes for IR control. I was using this feature on two H23 boxes connected to SageTV. I recently got the Paterson device to perform switching on one of the boxes, it's a lot faster.

Are you planning on recording only SD or will you want to capture HD also?
Modded Dish boxes can stream SD and HD via USB to the Sage box. But there is no mod for the new mpeg4 DirecTV channels, you would have to use something like the HD PVR for DirecTV.

[Beefcake550]

Just to add to stanger89's comment. You don't need to spend $47 on the Patterson Tech device.

(2) USB->serial converters - only need 1 if you have a serial port
(1) mini null modem adapter

All can be found at monoprice.com. converter is about $5-6 and null modem adapter is $1.

I'm working this now and it has been flawless.

-Brian

[briands]

Originally Posted by jerryt

@Stanger89
Could you give make directions on how to change remote codes? I have not been able to locate any information on how to do this.

Thanks

To change Dish boxes to have unique IR codes see Chapter 9 of the manual.

[dagar]

Another Andy in the making

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by briands

To change Dish boxes to have unique IR codes see Chapter 9 of the manual.

Thanks

[scat]

Direct links to the Serial Adapter hardware provided by Beefcake550 see post #12

http://forums.freytechnologies.com/f...ad.php?t=35663

[davephan]

I've found that cable, Dish, and DirecTV set top boxes can all be controlled reliably by the USB-UIRT after tweaking the IR file. The USB-UIRT may be slower than the serial connection on DirecTV, but using the USB-UIRT makes it easier to switch between services.

If you shop the competition about every year or so, you can save quite a bit of money. I switched from Dish to cable about one and a half years ago. Then I switched to DirecTV about 6 months ago, after cable jacked up the price. At the time I switched, DirecTV was far less expensive than cable or Dish. I do not have any loyalty to any of the program providers. If one of them offered "a la carte" programming, that would be different. But for now, you're stuck with 'packages' that always include 90% garbage channels to get the 10% of the channels you really want.

If you like movies, DirecTV has Stars and Encore tied together, which is cheaper than cable and Dish, which sells them separately. The Dish remote code channels are easy to change to run two boxes in the same room without physically blocking the IR signal. Cable might be a bad choice if the cable box cannot create custom lineups - then you can never delete the shopping channels and other garbage channels from your lineup when using cable without SageTV.

Dave

[sic0048]

Originally Posted by davephan

If one of them offered "a la carte" programming, that would be different. But for now, you're stuck with 'packages' that always include 90% garbage channels to get the 10% of the channels you really want.

Dave

I don't know what channels you are looking for, but for my family, the Turbo HD packages from Dish pretty well fit this bill. We got in under the original plan, but they still offer only HD channels, but we got about 45 channels for $30/mo. The price is a little higher now, but still reasonable. For my family, the 90% junk was all the SD channels. The 10% that we wanted were all being offered in HD and therefore available through the plan. There is only 1 or 2 channels that I wish we had (like Speed and FX), but it certainly wasn't worth paying double the cost (or more) to pick up that 1 or 2 channels.