So this past Saturday, my family and I rejoined the ranks of the non-antenna using tv watchers. It has been around 4 years since I had something other than OTA, so I was really looking forward to getting more than the 15 stations we had.

Last year I made the jump into HD, and since then I have been loving watching all the HD I could get my hands on. Thankfully all the local stations in my area broadcast their prime time line up in HD, so we had a pretty decent selection of shows to watch.

The long road to HD

When I began to be frustrated with my viewing choices, I started looking around for options where pay HD content was concerned. My choices were a tad slim to say the least. Since making the move to HD I have steadily become a hater of all things SD. I don't want to watch stuff in SD anymore, if I did I would have bought a Digital SD set, not an HD one.

Much to my dismay, all the providers in my area only offered HD as an add on to a traditional SD package. Since I would never voluntarily watch those stations, it seemed like to high a premium for a couple of HD stations. I was out of luck as they say. Thankfully my luck was about to change.

While surfing some HD oriented websites, I stumbled across a forum post about a rumored HD package coming from DISH Network in February of 2008. One that would only offer HD channels. Hallelujah! I was saved. For 29.99/month you would get ~41 HD channels beamed to your home. Oh and did I mention you also get one of the best DVR's currently on the market? Perfect.

The Payoff

The wait was intolerable, but finally February came, and the package was announced! One 10 minutes signup, and an irritating phone call with a "customer support specialist" located in India later, and I was signed up and scheduled for an install.

The install went smoothly, if not unprofessionally. The gentleman sent to do the install didn't bring his own ladder (he had to borrow mine), and took a number of personal phone calls while on the job. But I can't complain I guess since he brought the wrong forms, and I was able to sign a shorter term agreement than I had originally anticipated. Bully for me.

First Impressions

Having used the system extensively over the last few days, I have to say I am extremely happy. The DVR is wonderful. I am able to record two HD programs at the same time, or record one and watch one. I can also hook up an antenna to watch and record HD OTA. This is helpful since DISH doesn't have my local affiliates in HD on the satellite yet.

The picture quality is just great, and the DVR is very easy to use. All in all I am very pleased. I plan on paying the absurd 29.99 fee to unlock my DVR's usb port so I can add an external drive, but I don't need to do that just yet.

If you are like me, and you want expanded programming, but only HD, then you really should give this package a look. I sincerely hope they continue to add channels to the package over time.

Specifically I would really like to have SciFi HD and USA HD. The addition of these two channels and my locals in HD would make this the perfect package for me I think.