Comcast HD vs. Dish HD?

[dvrexpander]

First of all, that article is from 2003!! Just a little has changed since then, wouldn't you say?

HD has always been free with Comcast, the satco's are just catching up to that.

If you are in a World Of More or XFINITY market, Comcast now has more HD channels than Dish, including HD channels that they do not and probably will not carry (the Rainbow channels for one, and the Disney/ESPN channels).

As stated above the High Def ON-DEMAND (FREE and PPV) kicks both Dish and Directs ass all over the place.

Does it really matter? First one I hit looking around so big deal but Dish still has more HD channels for the majority of the US customers between Comcast and Dish. Comcast is much more expensive for the channels they offer and the DVR boxes are much better as already mentioned in this thread. I'm also a comcast customer as I am a Dish customer for two different things and both excel at those two different things. It would take a hell of a lot of HD channels to drop from Dish before I went to Comcast for them.

 

[lparsons21]

By Dish customers in denial. Have you ever actually tried to watch an RSN in HD on Dish?

Yep, no marked difference between the two. Tested on a 54" Panasonic Plasma with both a HR21 from D* and a 722k from E*.

 

[lparsons21]

Note that Dish Network uses HD Lite, which some will claim to not notice, but for their 1080i channels they downconverty the resolution to 1440x1080i instead of 1920x1080i.

They all down convert to the lower resolution level. What's more inportant is the bit rate. Who's higher gthagt I don't know. Probably depends on which channel you've selected.

Ron

HD Lite, the term D* fanbois like to use when talking about how much better their HD picture is. Of course, as I said, in the real world of actual eyeballs, the differences are very slight. Having had both, and for awhile both at the same time, I and friends that watched at my house, couldn't tell which was better though some (including me) noticed slight differences.

 

[jgurley]

If HD content is important to you, then this channel lineup comparison just might be of interest:

Official AVS National HD Channel Lineups - Cable/DBS/Fiber/IPTV - Updated 5/10/10! - AVS Forum

 

[TigerpounceTN]

Yep, no marked difference between the two. Tested on a 54" Panasonic Plasma with both a HR21 from D* and a 722k from E*.

LOL. There is no point in arguing this. As for the other poster who said that all of the providers do a hatchet job on the resolution: No, they don't. DirecTV also uses higher bitrates than Dish. But they aren't really supposed to be in this discussion. Comcast does not lower resolutions.

 

[joenhre]

First of all, that article is from 2003!! Just a little has changed since then, wouldn't you say?

HD has always been free with Comcast, the satco's are just catching up to that.

If you are in a World Of More or XFINITY market, Comcast now has more HD channels than Dish, including HD channels that they do not and probably will not carry (the Rainbow channels for one, and the Disney/ESPN channels).

As stated above the High Def ON-DEMAND (FREE and PPV) kicks both Dish and Directs ass all over the place.

I live in Comcast's home town and we are in a "World of More" / XFINITY market and Comcast still has less HD Channels than Directv and Dish. Comcast may claim "HD is free" yet the fees they charge for each HD DVR (which suck compared to Dish's and even Directv's) and additional outlets make them no cheaper than Dish or Directv. Sorry I have service with all 3 companies, while Comcast has improved their HD lineup they have not caught up yet, at least not here.
ON-DEMAND is the only area where they have a big advantage but personally I have never found much use for that service.

 

[ronfelder]

They all downcovert the resolution to the lower resolution level? Who is "they"? Some do downrez, some do not. As of last check, Directv does not, nor does FIOS.

You are correct on bitrate.

Not what i've heard from a friend of mine who works in broadcasting and previous posts

 

[cditty]

I have dish, but comcast in my area is very good. They are a potential for me when my dish contract is up.

As my daughter is getting older, I won't be able to have just one receiver much longer . It will depend on who has the best whole home dvr in 11 months.

 

[whatchel1]

Brave Man

That is the best answer. If Comcast has a very good lineup in your area I'd get that though. There will probably be no contract and depending on how far into the transition to digital they are, they may have even more HD than Dish. You also won't have to worry about as many contract disputes pulling your favorite HD channels off the air. Comcast in my area has AMC HD, much better sports coverage for my local teams and much better picture quality than Dish. Note that Dish Network uses HD Lite, which some will claim to not notice, but for their 1080i channels they downconverty the resolution to 1440x1080i instead of 1920x1080i. You will definitely notice if you watch a lot of HD with full resolution and then watch Dish.

Is this true of both EA & WA? I was pretty sure that I had read that EA is run 1920X 1080i in MPEG 4 on EA. The brave man comment was related to the fact that you post this on a Dish net forum.

 

[clydesam]

Just switched to Comcast. The only thing I dont care for is the bundle doesnt incl a dvr. It cost another $15.95 a mo. I am trying to figure out how to use it with my tivo on the bedroom tv. Even thou the tivo is not hd and the boxes are. The tv in the bedroom doesnt have hdmi . So I have to use component cables and the box has only one set of rca connections. Of course since component connection doesnt incl sound. So I have too use the red and white rca connections. Then nothing left to connect to the tivo. Right now I have it so the tivo just gets the basic cable channels without the box.

 

[tsummerall]

Hi everyone, thanks for the info. (I'm the original poster.)

It turns out that asking Comcast to add TV to my (home-based) business internet and phone account makes their brains melt. After being ping-ponged between their home and business offices an amount of times that started out as funny and ended up in more of a Franz Kafka kind of place I am just going to go with Satellite for now as a blood pressure lowering strategy.

I'll let you know if Dish manages to ruin my day as well.

 

[ronfelder]

They all downcovert the resolution to the lower resolution level? Who is "they"? Some do downrez, some do not. As of last check, Directv does not, nor does FIOS.

You are correct on bitrate.

From a previous post on this subjectThe picture quality is dependent on bitrate, not resolution.

Satellite has lower bitrate than FIOS, hence lower PQ.

The less resolution actually helps quality at low bitrate (that is why they do it).

A 1440x1080 frame requires less data per frame, which means more frames for that given bitrate.

 

[JohnC]

Dish HD wins hands down in my area

I have Dish HD with 2 50" and 1 60" HDTV and 1 622 and 2 722 DVRs receiving from 61.5, 110, 119, and 129. Dish has much more HD in our area than Comcast. I do not have the problems that some others have reported in this thread. My HD is very similar in quality to that of a son that has Directv with a 47" HDTV. The HD quality on our 2 RSNs is very good. I watch a lot of TV with almost all being HD and do not understand why I have almost no glitches and others have frequent glitches. My only guess is that it could be occurring on local stations that might have a great deal of variation in their quality. I am in the Atlanta DMA and all of the local stations now have excellent HD quality both OTA and through Dish. In the earlier days their HD quality was variable and maybe that is still the case today in some markets.