CIN3MA

Several months ago, I posted my experience with signing up with AT&T’s U-Verse TV service and then canceling it a few days later. It generated several comments from curious minds as well as curious victims. I thought I’d add how I settled with Dish Network… for now.

Dish Network was attractive for 2 reasons: price and programming.

The important feature to investigate was the picture quality, so I ordered the TurboHD Silver package along with the ViP722 receiver, which supports two completely separate outputs for two rooms; one HD and one Standard Definition (SD). I didn’t care at all for the SD output, but I did care about the extra hard drive storage, which would allow me to record up to 55 hours of HD programming. Any extra processing power, if any, was a bonus.

Prior to the installation day, I was instructed by Dish Network to get permission from my landlord to have a dish installed on the premises. Permission granted, as long as the handy-man was supervising the whole thing. No problem.

So on that glorious Saturday, the installers came and assessed the site and the room. Since I live in an apartment, I can’t have them bring in a wrecking ball (or a drill) to pave their way, so:

“Hey buddy, you gotta purchase a flat coaxial cable for ~$16 to be able to slide it under the window.”

“Okay.”

As for the dish itself, they told me they have no idea what’s under the concrete of my entrance/ patio area so:

“Hey buddy… You would either have to wait until we check what’s under there, which would take several days, or install the dish on this heavy, foam-like two-layer slab thing.

“Can it withstand harsh winds, etc.?”

“It sure can, buddy.”

“Okay, let’s do it then.” (And I’m not your buddy!)

Installation took no more than an hour. They fired up the receiver and started going through all the diagnostic tests and configurations. Once the picture of a football game appeared, I knew I wasn’t going back to U-Verse for a good while. The picture was clear and crisp. Much better than what U-Verse had to offer and perhaps as good as what Time Warner Cable (TWC) offered, if not better.

It was time for the installers to leave and the main guy charged me on the spot for the flat cable, so I gave him a $20 bill. He turns to me and says:

“Sorry, buddy… I don’t have any change. I bought my friend here lunch and I’m all out.”

“Err… okay. Just keep the change I guess.”

“Thanks for the tip, buddy!”

It’s not a tip, BUDDY. You left me no choice. Although I should have been more of an ass and slapped my checkbook in your face. This same guy asked me to give them a rating of 8 or higher when the I got the survey phone call. They were lucky I missed that call…. Just don’t call me buddy.

Anyway, to summarize, after I’ve been watching TV for several months, here is what I like about Dish Network:

• Very good picture quality from a reasonable distance, sans a couple of crappy ones (CBS’19 Action News in the morning is pixel heaven);
• Responsive receiver and menu system with tons of options. TWC’s menu system was slow as hell. Honestly, U-Verse’s menu system was the best—it was fast, stylish and previewed every channel you browsed through the guide;
• Flexible scheduling options. With TWC, if I set it to record only new episodes of The Daily Show, I get 5 recordings of the same exact episode on the weekends. With Dish Network,  I have more flexibility to set a specific time and day;
• Tons of storage space—55 hours of HD recording no longer has me thinking twice about what to record and what not to;
• Faster fast-forward than TWC;
• The ability to jump ahead 30 seconds and jump back 7 seconds.

Here is what I don’t like:

• It rained a bunch of times during the summer, and I’ve had signal blackouts for 1 or more minutes when there were heavy clouds and storms. It’s the nature of the beast and it should be expected I think;
• Menu system, while configurable, is a little on the bland side;
• Some international channels’ programs don’t match what’s in the program guide, making recording hellish.