I can't believe it but I switched back to cable..and I'm happy.
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I cannot get good reception unless I use a big antenna & I don't want a big antenna on the house. So, I guess it is more asthetics than even geography... Although I live where there are lots of trees and a few mountains close by.
I too was contemplating switching back to cable because I was having serious issues with Directv's pixelated, grainy picture. I had D* send out techs to my house twice (D* paid the bill) and one tech said bad receiver so then 2nd tech came out with new receiver and it didn't change a thing. I am talking about picture quality on SD channels because I do not have the HD package. Well, the second tech told me that the picture quality was a problem D* had broadcasting in my area (central Illinois). After the tech left I was to say the least ticked off. Then I thought about maybe it was the tv. I would strongly and I mean STRONGLY recommend that you try tweaking your tv. I have an RPTV and after calibrating and doing convergence the picture quality was dramatic! Now, I am planning to upgrade to HD for the new year. Does D* still have its problems? Yes, but in my case cable is more expensive.
I switched from cable to D* almost 10 years ago (or whenever D* became widely available). My biggest problem with cable was that they REQUIRED me to be home whenever I had a problem, even though I didn't have one of their boxes. About twice a year, I would lose my lower channels. I would have to take a days vacation, wait for them to show up, only to find out it was the splitter on the telephone pole that went bad 
. After several years of the same thing, I switched to D*.
A lot has changed with cable since that time, but that still does not make me want to go back. To top it all off, when they built my house, the cable company put the cable distribution box in the wrong place, so there is no cable to my house. The cable company said that they could run a cable AT MY EXPENSE
, and they would have to staple it to the outside of my house (all around the house) . No thanks. I'll stick with D*
. After several years of the same thing, I switched to D*.A lot has changed with cable since that time, but that still does not make me want to go back. To top it all off, when they built my house, the cable company put the cable distribution box in the wrong place, so there is no cable to my house. The cable company said that they could run a cable AT MY EXPENSE
, and they would have to staple it to the outside of my house (all around the house) . No thanks. I'll stick with D* 
Cable might be getting me back soon... Dish has about 4 months to shape up or I am shipping out... In about 4 months I will be free of all commitments to Dish.
When I first switched from Time Warner Cable TWC to Dish 4 years ago, Dish was *much* cheaper than TWC. Now TWC is actually cheaper than Dish and when you consider internet service ($15 discount) it is much cheaper.
TWC in my area offers free Discovery-HDT and Fox sports SW in HD. HDNET/Movies INDemandHD1&2 packages are both in the HD pack which is $5. UPN/WB are included saving the superstations package (but I still have value on the supers and will miss them). The movie packages are $7 each and have more channels than each of the packs Dish offers.
Essentially the base price of cable is a lot higher than Dish (78 analog for $44), but all the add ons are a lot less (internet, HD, movie packs) so my total bill will probably be about $35/month less with TWC in my area (assuming I get the HD-DVR which costs $10/month vs Dish free but had to buy a $989 921 grrrrr).
It is a tough choice (and this applies to my cable system since every cable system is different):
Dish Pro: 921 paid for already with a large Disk, Cable HD-DVR has less capacity
Dish Pro: 5 superstations, cable only has 1 UPN and 1 WB
Cable Pro: with cable card ready TV extra TV is $1.75, all the analog TVs are free
Cable Pro: less money, mainly $15 internet, $15 in extra boxes, $5 Hd pack savings, $6 superstations, -$10 rental on DVR, -$1 everything pack equivalent on cable is $1 more
Cable Pro: VOD free with the movie packs and a lot of other networks
If the same is true when my Dish commitments run out in 3.5 months or so, I will be selling all my Dish stuff on Ebay (can get a lot of $10/month rentals).
It is just too much effort right now to have Dish...
When I first switched from Time Warner Cable TWC to Dish 4 years ago, Dish was *much* cheaper than TWC. Now TWC is actually cheaper than Dish and when you consider internet service ($15 discount) it is much cheaper.
TWC in my area offers free Discovery-HDT and Fox sports SW in HD. HDNET/Movies INDemandHD1&2 packages are both in the HD pack which is $5. UPN/WB are included saving the superstations package (but I still have value on the supers and will miss them). The movie packages are $7 each and have more channels than each of the packs Dish offers.
Essentially the base price of cable is a lot higher than Dish (78 analog for $44), but all the add ons are a lot less (internet, HD, movie packs) so my total bill will probably be about $35/month less with TWC in my area (assuming I get the HD-DVR which costs $10/month vs Dish free but had to buy a $989 921 grrrrr).
It is a tough choice (and this applies to my cable system since every cable system is different):
Dish Pro: 921 paid for already with a large Disk, Cable HD-DVR has less capacity
Dish Pro: 5 superstations, cable only has 1 UPN and 1 WB
Cable Pro: with cable card ready TV extra TV is $1.75, all the analog TVs are free
Cable Pro: less money, mainly $15 internet, $15 in extra boxes, $5 Hd pack savings, $6 superstations, -$10 rental on DVR, -$1 everything pack equivalent on cable is $1 more
Cable Pro: VOD free with the movie packs and a lot of other networks
If the same is true when my Dish commitments run out in 3.5 months or so, I will be selling all my Dish stuff on Ebay (can get a lot of $10/month rentals).
It is just too much effort right now to have Dish...
Wow, this kinda became cableguys.us huh? I am still glad that jl8010 is happy but digital cable isn't (other than premium and PPV) and as far as HD there will be no competitor in any market in April of 2005.
Second E* is and always will be second to D* ... unless international channels are your thing. This is proven by hardware reliability, availability and pricing. Let's also not forget that D* hedges on subs by more than 3.1 million. Voom is in last where they will stay for eternity unless they sellout to someone whom can make them profitable. It is an endless money pit for Cablevision. If you want to talk HD only they are surly the leader, however, with the amount of technical difficulties they are right there with cable.
Just my opinions, no need for flaming. I would love to see anyone compete, because then the consumer is the winner and not the service provider.
Second E* is and always will be second to D* ... unless international channels are your thing. This is proven by hardware reliability, availability and pricing. Let's also not forget that D* hedges on subs by more than 3.1 million. Voom is in last where they will stay for eternity unless they sellout to someone whom can make them profitable. It is an endless money pit for Cablevision. If you want to talk HD only they are surly the leader, however, with the amount of technical difficulties they are right there with cable.
Just my opinions, no need for flaming. I would love to see anyone compete, because then the consumer is the winner and not the service provider.
I think that the point of a lot of posts in this thread is that cable has woke up in many areas and is very competative with DBS. DBS providers are starting to look like cable 10 years ago when they thought their markets were secure and no need to innovate since they had a nice monopoly. DBS providers are starting to act like they have a monopoly on pricing and that they do not have to worry since cable would always be more expensive, have poorer channel selections, and bad quality.
It is time for DBS to innovate again. DIRETV seems to have announced plans for HD LIL and a huge number of HD channels. But, that is a couple of years in the future and now people are suffering with very poor HD PQ. Dish has better PQ since they have better HD technology for the moment, but Dish has not given any indication of what they are planning to combat DIRECTV much less cable. VOOM is trying, but seems to have started with the worst possible cable pricing model combined with the worst possible DBS pricing model. VOOM's new program (the $1 + commit deal) seems to be on the correct track now, perhaps they will be able to build some subs.
It is good for the consumer since it looks like most of the country will eventually have a cable system that can compete with DBS. This will pressure DBS providers into better pricing and service.
It is time for DBS to innovate again. DIRETV seems to have announced plans for HD LIL and a huge number of HD channels. But, that is a couple of years in the future and now people are suffering with very poor HD PQ. Dish has better PQ since they have better HD technology for the moment, but Dish has not given any indication of what they are planning to combat DIRECTV much less cable. VOOM is trying, but seems to have started with the worst possible cable pricing model combined with the worst possible DBS pricing model. VOOM's new program (the $1 + commit deal) seems to be on the correct track now, perhaps they will be able to build some subs.
It is good for the consumer since it looks like most of the country will eventually have a cable system that can compete with DBS. This will pressure DBS providers into better pricing and service.
robert luzzi said:
Which is exactly the same as what Dish/DIRECTV/VOOM do with their standard definition. They receive the same satellite downlink of the channel that a cable does compress the heck out of it, and uplink it to their satellites to be picked up by your receiver. Analog C-Band can look *very* good, better than most DVDs...
Note that a lot of channels are now uplinked digitally. Dish/DIRECTV/VOOM/Cable can decompress and recompress them to whatever bandwidth they want.
mike,, youve said this time and time again.
mike , ANALOG SUCKS
directv pq is the best in sd, read 90% of the posts
my opinion and im entitled to it , analog my butt, if you have an antenna on your house you are living in the last century
mike , ANALOG SUCKS
directv pq is the best in sd, read 90% of the posts
my opinion and im entitled to it , analog my butt, if you have an antenna on your house you are living in the last century
dziko said:
I have VOOM too oh wait, if it doesnt work do i really have it ? does a bear *hit in the woods, the only viewing ijm getting on my crappy voom equipment is the lights that flash when you reset the box
OH BY THE WAY, i also have directv they dont have as many hd channels BUT THEY WORK ALL THE TIME
so im cancelling VOOM and ILL STICK WITH DIRECTV
robert luzzi said:
I have an antenna on my house and receive 4 ATSC signals. 2 of which carry the HD feeds (ABC/CBS). I can bet you that the OTA signals are *FAR* better than standard definition channels you might get on DIRECTV.
You need to read up on how DIRECTV works. They have uplink centers where they receive the ANALOG cable channels via satellite, they then MPEG encode them and uplink them to their own satellites. Here, maybe you will believe DIRECTV http://www.directv.com/aboutus/pdf/facts/5337SYST.pdf
Note they say DIGITALLY COMPRESSED programming. They do exactly the same thing that Digital cable does. Note that YOUR LOCAL cable company may do a poor job and over compress compared to DIRECTV, but just because your local company does it, does not mean that *EVERY* cable company has worse PQ. A high quality cable company has *FAR* less compression than DBS.
I have never said your ANALOG cable channels in your area are better PQ than DIRECTV. But, in some areas of the country they are better. Yes it is possible to have a better analog delivered channel than DIRECTV. High quality cable systems have fiber optic networks that have a *LOT* less compression than DBS companies to the neighborhood.
My analog channels from Comcast are better than the 100% Digital quality local channels I receive from DirecTV by far. I can't watch the Salt Lake locals from DirecTV on my big screen TV's... I can only stand it on the 14" TV I have in my office (mostly because I don't look at it!). The Comcast analog channels are different but about the same PQ as the best digital from SD from DirecTV.
When it comes to HD my old fashioned antenna on the roof and Comcast are tied for the best HD available. Dish Network (when I had it) was second and DirecTV is by far the worst HD I can get. I'm not sure what DirecTV does to their HD (other than lower the resolution and bandwidth on some) but there is no question that Comast in Salt Lake beats the pants off of DirecTV for HD. For me Comcast has more channels and they are REAL HD not the wanta-be HD Lite stuff from DirecTV.
I spent an an afternoon at a friends house comparing the Sci-Fi channel between C-Band, Digital Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network. We ranked them in the following order:
1st - C-Band.
2nd - Dish Network
3rd - DirecTV
4th - Comcast Digital
The analog C-Band was way out in front. Better color, higher resolution, better contrast, no digital artifacts.
Dish Network and DirecTV were close but we gave a slight edge to Dish Network as it had a little less artifacting but both were pretty washed out and nasty looking compared to C-Band.
Sadly - Comcast Digital had the least amount of detail. A little less digital garble but the softest picture of the 4. I say sadly because when it comes to HD Comast, OTA and C-band are all tied for first!
Just because something is digital doesn't make the picture better. I'd say its possible to get a better digital picture than an analog picture but non of the providers consider SD PQ important enough to do it well. They care more about quantity the quality so the picture quality suffers.
When it comes to HD my old fashioned antenna on the roof and Comcast are tied for the best HD available. Dish Network (when I had it) was second and DirecTV is by far the worst HD I can get. I'm not sure what DirecTV does to their HD (other than lower the resolution and bandwidth on some) but there is no question that Comast in Salt Lake beats the pants off of DirecTV for HD. For me Comcast has more channels and they are REAL HD not the wanta-be HD Lite stuff from DirecTV.
I spent an an afternoon at a friends house comparing the Sci-Fi channel between C-Band, Digital Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network. We ranked them in the following order:
1st - C-Band.
2nd - Dish Network
3rd - DirecTV
4th - Comcast Digital
The analog C-Band was way out in front. Better color, higher resolution, better contrast, no digital artifacts.
Dish Network and DirecTV were close but we gave a slight edge to Dish Network as it had a little less artifacting but both were pretty washed out and nasty looking compared to C-Band.
Sadly - Comcast Digital had the least amount of detail. A little less digital garble but the softest picture of the 4. I say sadly because when it comes to HD Comast, OTA and C-band are all tied for first!
Just because something is digital doesn't make the picture better. I'd say its possible to get a better digital picture than an analog picture but non of the providers consider SD PQ important enough to do it well. They care more about quantity the quality so the picture quality suffers.
Around these parts, (SE PA) I think Comcast intentionally gives customers in New Jersey the good stuff, and leaves the crappy stuff for this area. Our area's digital cable had poor PQ, digital boxes with slow, cumbersome navigation menus, advertisements in the menu, poor channel lineup and it was expensive. Hence our switch to D* which we have been extremely happy with, save the occasional spontaneous receiver resets, rain fade, and that mysterious half hour locals outage a few weeks ago.
My father-in-law lives in NJ, and while visiting there I got to sample his 62" HDTV with the New Jersey version of Comcast. The menus were quick, intuitive, and the picture was awesome. Still could tell that there were artifacts in the HD broadcast, but it was pretty minimal. Also told us that when they had a problem with the signal being insufficient resulting in some problems Comcast was right out there promptly to fix it. Their channel line up was pretty extensive as well. Had we had that level of service in this area I doubt we would have been compelled to switch to D* other than the price.
However now Comcast has thouroghly pissed us off and now having experienced the pleasure that is D*, it is highly unlikely that we would ever switch back. They would just about have to give us a year for free and pay us for the privilege of being their customer and even then I would have to question surrendering my beloved dish. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with NFL ST next year.
My father-in-law lives in NJ, and while visiting there I got to sample his 62" HDTV with the New Jersey version of Comcast. The menus were quick, intuitive, and the picture was awesome. Still could tell that there were artifacts in the HD broadcast, but it was pretty minimal. Also told us that when they had a problem with the signal being insufficient resulting in some problems Comcast was right out there promptly to fix it. Their channel line up was pretty extensive as well. Had we had that level of service in this area I doubt we would have been compelled to switch to D* other than the price.
However now Comcast has thouroghly pissed us off and now having experienced the pleasure that is D*, it is highly unlikely that we would ever switch back. They would just about have to give us a year for free and pay us for the privilege of being their customer and even then I would have to question surrendering my beloved dish. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with NFL ST next year.
Mike Greer said:
I agree with all of what you posted here 100% I can't quote Voom but heard there sd is a bit better than dtv/dish and HD is pritty good but still not as sharp and clear as big dish and of course OTA, cable I seem to see it depends on where your are and who provides it.
20th century again
by 2007 c band is dead, washington WILL resell the spectrum
in areas that are either flat land or a compressed area, antennas work fine , try that in pittsburgh
by 2007 c band is dead, washington WILL resell the spectrum
in areas that are either flat land or a compressed area, antennas work fine , try that in pittsburgh
If C-band went away so would pizza dish and cable, where do you think they get the programming from...
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