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DirecTV and Dish Network – The Big 2

In the battle of ”Satellite TV Provider land” there are 2 major contendors, DirecTV and Dish Network. Not surprisingly they are constantly trying to outdo each other by providing lots of new features to their Satellite TV service, encouraging (or trying to) more subscribers to side with their product.

DirecTV & Dish Network

It will come as no big surprise either then, to find that they are extremely similar in what they provide (and the prices are kept within a touch too).  Dish Network do seem to have the upper hand in the customer service department, and are also extremely proud (and rightly so) of their DVR which can cope with 500 hours of recorded programs or 50 hours of HD, plus the ability to record up to 4 programs all at the same time . . . they’re way ahead of DirecTV with that one. If you think that’s a great plus point, however, think about it logically for just a minute . . . how many times can you honestly say that you need (or even want) to record 4 different programs which are on at the same time. I suppose, however, that still puts Dish a point ahead.

DirecTV & Dish Network Receivers

If you start right at the very beginning, with the receivers, there are some subtle differences which can certainly help to sway your decision.  They all offer a variety of receivers so we’ll just take a couple of examples:

• Dish ViP 622 or 722 receivers
• DirecTV HR 20 receiver

No contest really on this one, the features on the Dish Network receivers fared much better than the features available on the receiver from DirecTV. Another point to Dish Network.

DirecTV & Dish Network Sports Cover

If, however, you are a sports enthusiast then there really is no contest in the DirecTV versus Dish Network cover. DirecTV is head and shoulders ahead for sports cover, delivering loads of different games from a variety of sports – cricket, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball as well as sports from the major colleges.  If you’re a subscriber you can also watch games which are on MLB Network and NFL Network on DirecTV. 

DirecTV also leads in the HD service, delivering more than 300 channels to subscribers, with many more HD channels than you can access from the Dish Network.  They’ve got a few other features up their sleeves too . . . Media Share,  DirecTV2PC and Quick Tune, none of which are available on Dish Network.

DirecTV vs Dish Network – The Bottom Line

The bottom line is that both providers do offer a brilliant service, but the differences in the features they provide means that you should simply choose the one which is better for your own particular interests. Sorry, but there it is, they’re both great!