If you had a choice:Satellite or Cable

[David Dietzel]

Satellite vs. Cable.

Keep in mind that not all cable providers in all locations are created equally. Some offer better picture quality than others and a wider HD channel lineup than still others.

For example, in Rancho Cucamonga, Kalifornia, the cable provider is Charter. They offer Scientific Atlanta hardware (as of April only the 8000HD was available, not the newer and better 8300HD), not Motorola, and only offer seven HD channels without premiums. Premiums add only two more. The 8000HD has clunky 8-bit Atari 2600-like channel guide graphics and is slow to change channels, locking up on occasion if one insists on changing to fast. Picture quality of HD was acceptable, but lacked punch; SD picture quality was so-so on most channels.

Satellite picture quality can vary depending on the provider and your location on the earth's surface, as well as the number of days you get heavy rain storms as heavy rain can sometimes cause picture fade or pixellation. In general, most folks think Dish has better overall HD and SD PQ than Direct. My experience with Charter and Dish is that Dish has significantly better PQ in HD and SD than cable. Rain fade is a modest issue with my channels from the 61.5 satellite only as it is very low in the sky on the West coast. The Dish SD DVR has a wonderful programming guide that is better looking and faster than the Charter box. My 811 unit changes channels incredibly fast with never a lockup.

Needless to say, I'm totally sold on Dish over cable. Yes, I had to pay $199 to get an 811 installed next to my 501 DVR and a second dish, pole, switch and new run of cable -- but considering the hardware and labor, $199 was a very fair price. Now I get great SD PQ with my SD-DVR and terrific HD PQ with my 811 and my VOOM is back.

Life is good.

 

[Ceas2182]

Dish Network all the way!!!!

 

[techweb]

Although I currently have only 15 HD channels, cable is a better choice than satellite for me right now because:

1. Cable has full 19.4Mbps bandwidth, so HD picture quality is excellent (no HD Lite).
2. SD PQ is as good as or better than satellite.
3. No commitment or contract required.
4. No up-front cost for HD DVR, and only $6 a month to rent it.
5. Don't need to mount another dish and put even more holes in the house.
6. Service is excellent. For example, lawn service recently cut underground cable while trenching, and cable tech was out within an hour to replace it.
7. Discount on cable broadband by also having cable TV.
8. No rain fade -- ever.

 

[EMIFIELD]

Just tried new satellite provider

Has anyone heard anything about this company. I got a call from them to do and install. I was quite impressed with the performace of there service.

Network Innovation Associates

 

[rsprec1]

Satellite is the best choice here. Last january, cable took NBC off and this winter CBS will go off cable. The only way to get them is OTA or locals on Dish. I'll stick with satellite.

 

[jollygrunt]

I left Time Warner on great terms, but now I'm not happy with them. At the time I closed my service, they owed me a bit more than $50 since I cancelled early. They told that I would be getting my refund within 4 to 6 weeks. Now they're claiming that i didn't turn in a component cable and they're charging me $50 for it. The thing is that they never gave me any such cable, and anyway, the only things they'd asked me to return were the cable boxes & the remotes although I did return the extra cable wiring they had left behind to connect the cable box to the cable outlet. So now I'm gonaa have to go to their offices and discuss this with them.

 

[josem3]

Hi techweb,
You said on Cable "you never got rain fade-ever"
I would like you be here in Florida few months ago when we got three huracanes and missing the cable for a month!!! With the satellite you can watch TV before and after the huracane.
I will say; Cable can get Huracane fade even after few weeks later.

 

[maximum]

I have a choice between Cox Cable, Qwest Choice TV, Dish Network and Direct TV. I've had Cox and Qwest in the past and am now on Dish because it had the best cost/feature mix for us. Maybe we'll give D* a try some day just to do the full gamut.

The biggest downfall we see with E* is their unreliable equipment (see my title) and poor customer service.

 

[ayrton]

I'll be going Comcast as of this Friday May 27.

I'm happy with Dish quality both SD and HD, but am sick of doing nothing but pumping money into hardware. To upgrade my current system to a 942 (HD DVR) and Voom will cost about $ 1,000. After going through a lot of other upgrades in the past, this is the end.

My installation was extremely sloppy. Coax connectors not done right, (pulled apart) power cords from removed equipment left hanging behind entertainment center.

My friends with Comcast in the Sacramento, CA area have very good service and picture/sound quality on all broadcasts.

 

[GaryPen]

Please see my particular Dish vs. Cable experience in the following thread:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=70300

 

[Zookster]

I'm currently with both Cox cable and Dish to optimize my HD experience. Once my 811 upgrade contract is up at the end of the year, I may drop Dish unless they can really come up with a good deal for current customers to get an HD DVR, like I currently have with cable. I believe in the long run cable is more expensive, but without an HD DVR, any TV service provider is pretty much worthless to me at this point.

 

[joshschuler]

What I love about cable is On-Demand. I got a special promo for 1 YEAR, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TMC all On-Demand plus about 25 more channels on demand. Right now I have Time Warner DVR, DigiPic-2000, all the movies channels + On-Demand, Digital Phone, and Roadrunner, for $130 a month. The picture's not as good on some channels (old analog), but all the one's I actually watch are always digital.
I was a die-hard satellite guy (had it all my life, as long as I ever had tv) until I got this On-Demand from Time Warner. Until satellite comes out with a similar On-Demand service, I'm stickin' to cable.
The 625's gonna have On-Demand, but from what I've heard, you have to download it at night to watch it the next day. My parents have the DirecTV version, and they said it takes up to a week. Not for sure what's gonna go on with E*'s On-Demand (I doubt Charlie knows what's gonna happen with it yet.) But who knows what the MPEG-4 and the other (might have this wrong) 8PSK upgrade might hold for the future.

Basically, my cable over what E*'s got to offer.

 

[gale1220]

I have to say I would choose Satellite anytime over cable but it is not available to me by Verizon here in my rural area. I do have rain or weather fade even with the Direcway too.

 

[Ray_Air]

Long ago in 1999 I had Comcast Digital Gold (all Showtime and HBO) for $57.95 mth. When I moved one county away that same package was over $75/mth. I had Comcast Digital Plus and HSI for awhile, I switched to Dish 2 months ago, but I still have Comcast HSI for the "with-cable" price. I am happy with Dish and as soon as DSL becomes availbale here, if it is cheaper than Comcast I will get it.

 

[j25a]

I was a Comcast Cable customer for the past 5 years. The only complaint I had was that I thought the price was a little high. Last month I switched to E* to save about $12 a month for similar programming. I can't say I notice a difference in PQ but I am not HD yet. Also I have had 3 rather lengthy rain event outages of my satellite signal in less than a month. I currently see myself going back to
Comcast once I am eligible for their Dump the Dish promotion.

 

[Matt]

When I came to the US 8+ years ago, I had DirecTV, for 5 years - then Time-Warner, later sbc/dish - now just Dish . The worst was Time Warner, the pic quality rotten, even more rain fades, I ever had with D* or E* - as far as I know, they get their TV signals from Dishes as well - their service sucked - together with their internet "service"
D* behaved like the mafia when they thought, I owe them money, which I could prove, that I don't. I would have stayed with sbc/dish is they would have offered the Voom Hd channels. Their service is top notch - just today I received another call, where they asked again, why I cancelled that part of the bundle.
Unfortunately sbc's plans depend on the Texas legislation, which is unable to drive a nail straight in the wall.

 

[JH1949]

Cannot receive OTA and Cebridge cable in my area has no HD so I continue with satellite: first Primestar, then D*, then Voom, now E* with Voom.

 

[Zen79]

Just wondering about this. Obviously there are many places you just can't get Cable, some seem to choose satellite over cable due to price, some choose satellite due to portability. But if you had a choice what would you pick? I have choices for both so I picked satellite just because I like the content they provide.

Until satellite meets or surpasses cable as far as internet speed and stablility, Im going to stick with cable package.

 

[el_triad]

Time Warner in my area seems better. I loved the Voom channels but the Dish or Direct equipment for HD DVR is so EXPENSIVE! Picture quality of HD channels is as good as Voom - the SD channels on TW not so good. All my locals - no OTA. $8 a month for HD DVR, and now just over $7 for multi-room DVR service.

If the equipment breaks I just take it back to the office. Don't have to worry about anything that might be a hassle

It is more expensive though and I can't believe my service bill is edging over $170 for cable/internet. If the dish companies weould offer similiar service / pricing as Voom (plus a HDDVR) I would switch.

 

[hometheaterman]

Satellite. I had cable didn't like it finally switched to satellite and like it much better. Our local cable didn't have the channels I wanted which most other providers had in the digital line up even this provider in other areas and most of the analog channels where in mono and I couldn't stand that. Plus costs like $15 more a month than what I'm paying now and got less channels.