This Review Was Updated: July 20th 2009

Many people have found that satellite television is the right kind of service for their home needs. It’s not uncommon for bars and hotels to have satellite TV’s playing the days sports games, as satellite TV subscribers have access to some of the best sports programming available.

If you are looking at getting Satellite TV you’ve probably heard of Dish Network. If you are in the continental United States you have two options when it comes to Satellite TV providers – Dish Network and DirecTV. We decided to sign up for Dish Network and see if the service to lives up to what it promises. Below are the Pros and Cons of our Dish Network experience.

1. Affordable Pricing

With pricing starting at under $30, Dish Network is clearly one of the most affordable tv providers out there. Their typical program is $29.99 a month, and it includes 100 of America’s top channels as well as 30 HD channels. If you’ve got a high definition TV they have a 100% HD programming package called Turbo HD that starts at $24.99 a month. Basic cable (if you are even in cables access area) is $20 a month in itself, and that’s for fewer than 30 channels. Overall we were impressed by the programming package price points.

2. Great Hardware

We love the idea of being able to incorporate a DVR to our home theater setup. In fact, if you are with Dish Network, you can obtain a DVR for a surprisingly low cost ($200 by itself, or free on an 18-month contract). The DVR that comes with the contractual commitment is capable of storing over 100 hours of television programming, sending an audio/video signal to more than one television, and can actually act on two separate TV’s.

Upgraded DVR options allow for HD recording, HD playback, larger hard drives (for more television storage), and more overall functionality. We have yet to see another major competitor come along and match the effectiveness of Dish Network’s DVR solutions.

3. Turbo HD is Great

The base package offered by Dish Network offers 30 high definition channels, and the expanded packages offer as much as 34. Keep in mind that these high definition channels are not including the high definition pay-per-view channels where you can rent high definition movies.

With the latest LCD and plasma TV’s offering unreal image quality, having to restrict your high definition enjoyment to Blu-Ray or HDVD movies is unreasonable. There is no other network that can compete with the high-definition content available from Dish Network.

4. Solid Package Selection

I really liked the flexibility that Dish Network gave me when choosing a programming package. Although at first I thought they may have had a few too many packages to choose from, I realized that there really is a package for everyone.

• Dish Family Package: $19.99 a month
  Dish Network provides 40 channels, including popular sports, movie, and news channels, for $19.99 a month. Users can also opt to include specialized or local channels for a small monthly premium.

• America’s Top 100: $32.99 a month
  Over 100 channels are included for $29.99 a month, including the Disney channel and the Discovery Channel. As well, America’s Top 100 offers 30 high definition channels for you to enjoy on your high definition television.

• America’s Top 200: $44.99 a month
  Just as the name implies, America’s Top 200 includes 200 of the top channels in America. You’ll find a huge selection of premium channels, movies, specialty channels, and commercial-free music channels. Pricing is $47.99 a month with local channels.

• America’s Top 250: $54.99 a month
  Over 250 channels, including premium services like the Speed Channel and the Golf Channel, high-quality streaming music, and all of your favorites. This package, along with local channels and high definition content, is $57.99 a month.

• America’s Everything Pak: $94.98 a month
  This package features over 280 channels, including 31 movie channels offered by Showtime. This package has everything that’s worth watching, including local channels, and is $94.99 a month.

1. Sports Packages

If you are an avid sports fan then you may be a bit dissapointed with Dish Networks current sports packages. Although they have some solid packages, they lack NFL Sunday Ticket which is HUGE on DirecTV. I wouldn’t necessarily call this a deal breaker with most sports fans, but if you are a die hard NFL football fan you may want to look at DirecTV.

2. No Online DVR Scheduling

DirecTV just added a really cool feature that allows you to schedule your DVR to record shows right from your computer. This means that if your at work and remember that there is a show you want to record you can just go on your computer, set your DVR, and when you get home the program will be recorded. Although this isn’t a necessity, its definitely something we want to see Dish Network add in the near future.

Finding a satellite solution that adequately meets your needs is never an easy task. Overall we were impressed with Dish Networks variety of programming packages and reasonable prices. Dish Network has the best programming out there for families and HDTV buffs and should have enough to satisfy just about everyone even though they do lack some sports programming like NFL Sunday Ticket.

You can get more information and sign up for Dish Network here.