I'm thinking of picking up one and I don't know what one to go with. What is the difference between them? Is there one brand not to buy? Thanks for he help.

We have DirectTV and it's been pretty good, no real complaints.

If things keep going the way they are, it wont really matter.  Dish Network is planning on acquiring DirectTV.  So, you may end up with Dish Network regardless of which one you pick.

USPC40

-------------------------------------------------
[b][blue]NRA Life Member[/blue][/b] - [url]www.nra.org[/url]
[b][blue]GOA Life Member[/blue][/b] - [url]www.gunowners.org[/url]
[b][blue]SAF Supporter[/blue][/b] - [url]www.saf.org[/url]
[b][blue]SAS Supporter[/blue][/b] - [url]www.sas-aim.org[/url]

[img]www.ar15.com/members/albums/USPC40/alabamaflag.gif[/img]

Dish has better quality, customer service, prices, and a fellow AR15.com'er works as a MPEG Specialist there.  Plus our 7th satellite goes up this morning at 5am [:)]

I have Dish Network. It has a special pkg. of Fox Sports channels from all across the country. You get about 20 diff. ities for only $5.00/month. If you surf the channel guide in the summertime, you'll find almost every one has a different Major League Baseball game on. If you select one, other than a game from your "home market" team, you'll get a message that that game has been BLACKED OUT in your area. In the Fall, each of those 20-odd Fox Sports channels from all across the country has THE SAME football game on. Also, the Dish Network CANNOT get you the "NFL SUNDAY TICKET" package for games out of your area,ONLY Direct TV has the rights to that. Also remember that unless you plan on also buying a VERY GOOD TV antenna, or you live very near ALL the transmitters in your area, your "regular" network TV reception will SUCK to the point of being unwatchable, and Dish Network cannot/will not provide you with network (NBC,CBS,NBC,PBS,FOX) TV.
One more thing, don't plan on watching TV if it's raining outside. Dish'll quit every time.

I've had both, and my experience with The Dish Networks coustomer service sucked.  When I moved last fall, tried to get my service switched from my old residence and could'nt get the damn thing to pick up a signal at my new residence, went back and forth with them over several days, and finally told them to cancel my subscription.  Two-three days later they call and tell me they're sending someone out to look at my system and they are going to give me a month's free service, and waive the service charge for the guy coming to check out the system, and would I mind speaking to a supervisor to which I say sure.  Long story short they were going to charge me $50 to reinstate my service, I told them to suck it.  Went to RCA bought a Direct TV package installed it myself, it costs $5-6 more per month.  It also seems to be a little harder to knock out in inclement weather than the Dish was.  Other than that they are about the same.

I hav Dish and like it.  yes it will quit in the mega heavy downpour, but so does direct tv.  You also can get your local channels on the dish (and direct tv) if you live near a major city.  Right now Dish is offring a packag of up to 4 rooms and recievrs(yes, you can watch differentshows on each) installed with 3 months free and free installation.  I think there is a one time $50 "activation fee"  it sounds like a pretty good deal.  It sucks for the rest of us who already have Dish bcause we still hav to buy our equipment if we want any extra rooms.

note: True-direct tv is the only one with sunday ticket right now because they have a contract with them.  I would expect that when the ontract is up (which i belive is very soon) they will offr it to most everyone.

The only think I have found bad about the dish network was that the cheapest package I could buy was $39.95 around me and the only stations I want come standard on the lowest price package but they don't give out the cheaper package round me.

Also I have seen the dishes that have two prongs or receivers on the dish. What is the advantage of getting that? Also is that TVIO and  it worth getting?

Dish Network has been pretty good SINCE we scrapped their high end receiver with all the "bells and whistles."

We had replaced it three times, had CONSTANT outages, I spent some 30 hours on the phone with their customer service dept. A nightmare.

When we got their basic receiver, everything has gone pretty well.

No major reception problems with rain.$50 for the 150 channel package PLUS the local netwotk channels. (I think the key to getting NBC, ABC, CBS local affiliates is telling the cable people you CANNOT get them via an antenna.)