Might come back to satellite

[lparsons21]

Well the Mediacom tech came by. He surprised me by being quite upfront about the issue being theirs and not from my stuff. Turns out in my neighborhood the 'node' is crapping out. Scheduled to replace after midnight Wednesday after the part comes in. I've agreed to give them until the end of the week to see if things have improved to my satisfaction.

 

[harshness]

Opinions of the majority of their responders.

Consumer Reports doesn't typically rely on survey data for other than reliability evaluation.

You can tell because more than a few of their "Buys" get some nasty reviews from those who take the time to respond.

The only way to tell is to personally conduct a test on the channels you watch. I'm fortunate to have a local storefront that has both in their showroom hooked to the same TV.

Anecdotal reports here on both sides regularly indicate that some channels are better than others with either service. As one service or the other adds additional channels to their transponders, the evaluation of quality changes as well.

 

[harshness]

Well the Mediacom tech came by. He surprised me by being quite upfront about the issue being theirs and not from my stuff. Turns out in my neighborhood the 'node' is crapping out. Scheduled to replace after midnight Wednesday after the part comes in. I've agreed to give them until the end of the week to see if things have improved to my satisfaction.

Good thing you asked.

 

[Troch77]

I read in the latest issue of Consumer Reports that Direct has better picture quality than Dish. I don't know how they arrived at that conclusion, though.

They come up with that because Dish is HD Lite with 1440x1080 HD
And Directv is 1920x1080 Full HD.


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[gadgtfreek]

Consumer Reports doesn't typically rely on survey data for other than reliability evaluation.

You can tell because more than a few of their "Buys" get some nasty reviews from those who take the time to respond.

The only way to tell is to personally conduct a test on the channels you watch. I'm fortunate to have a local storefront that has both in their showroom hooked to the same TV.

Anecdotal reports here on both sides regularly indicate that some channels are better than others with either service. As one service or the other adds additional channels to their transponders, the evaluation of quality changes as well.

I fully understand content fluctuates, but overall you do not have to have 20/20 vision to tell Direct has better overall PQ. This has been going on here for years, yet almost every time a long time sub switches they admit. I remember a couple of years ago when several long time Dish subs and supporters switched (during the period of constant contract issues) and they immediately noticed. Everyone glazes this over year after year, but it does not change the fact Directv's PQ is better than Dish's. We record the same channels/programs year in and year out, and Dish has more issues. Dish's locals also look worse than Directv here.

I'm over it, basically you can't put down your fanboy sign if you have had both and cant accept the truth.

 

[lparsons21]

A bit of a stretch on your part. yes, subs that switch do see that D* is slightly better in general, but it sure isn't a night and day situation at all. I've had both at various times, including a period when I had both at the same time. The biggest difference is in fast action sports, for most of the rest of the shows, the difference is minimal to most peoples eyes.

Now let's compare the SD! E*s on the eastern arc and soon on the western one is hands down much better.

Lastly, my personal experience with both services hardware is that E*'s equipment is more advanced with few problems.

 

[david_jr]

I recently rented a vacation place that had D*. The TV was a Westinghouse so I wouldn't judge picture quality on it. It looked OK though. There was a little box smaller than a Joey in the cabinet that had a HDMI out to the TV. I stayed there 3 days but did not watch a whole lot of TV. I did notice that the channel changes were much slower than my slowest Joey and light-years slower than my HWS's. I had a hard time with the guide being a dish guy and the package they had had no ESPN!! Overall I was very unimpressed.

 

[Hall]

They come up with that because Dish is HD Lite with 1440x1080 HD
And Directv is 1920x1080 Full HD.


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I don't believe someone can look at a TV picture and "see" either resolution, let alone see a difference.

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[Troch77]

I'm just stating the facts.
Whether it can be seen or not is in the eyes of the beholder.

I agree that Directv has a sharper HD image. I went with dish because it was more important for me to have better working equipment and better programming.
IMO.


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[KAB]

I don't believe someone can look at a TV picture and "see" either resolution, let alone see a difference.

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Let us know when you ACTUALLY make the effort to go out and compare them!

 

[Hall]

Let us know when you ACTUALLY make the effort to go out and compare them!

Why would I? Sorry if your reading comprehension doesn't understand what I said...

 

[Hall]

They come up with that because Dish is HD Lite with 1440x1080 HD
And Directv is 1920x1080 Full HD.

I'm just stating the facts.

If this is from the April 2015 issue, they do rate D* with a "5" and E* with a "4". They give no useful details on how they came to this conclusion and most certainly don't mention 1440/1920 x 1080 resolution numbers. All they do say is

Picture
Based on average scores on a scale from very poor to excellent

 

[ChadT41]

I have to agree with a previous statement. I think the difference is minute, but the difference in the quality of equipment is night and day. Overall, people always throw out OTA to compare, which is unfair as it is uncompressed. If Dish or DTV only had to offer a handful of channels, they would be uncompressed as well... so lets rule that one out. In all honesty, if someone wants to say DTV is better, or Dish is better... it is their own opinion, and not fact. You cannot convince me DTV is better, as I prefer the features of my Hopper and Joey. I use DTV on a regular basis at my brothers house, so I am trying to adjust to it, but I still prefer my equipment. Best thing about Dish...I can customize the price and equipment and package to suit my needs. Cannot do that with anyone else really. DTV is $6.50 no matter which box I get. Even If I do not want a fee, I could go 211, and with DTV I would still be paying. Dish is lower in programming costs, and their Customer Service is better... GO DIRT... So when you look at all aspects of what matters to someone like me, DTV doesnt stand a chance. It is the exact opposite argument with my brother, who will never leave as long as they have NFLST. Its a matter of preference to each individual. PQ is completely comparable, however, PERIOD.

 

[n0qcu]

OTA in most definitely compressed.
The only place you might find uncompressed HD is in the master studio.

 

[Hall]

OTA in most definitely compressed.
The only place you might find uncompressed HD is in the master studio.

It's still the most "uncompressed" signal that regular TV viewers can access though, right ?

 

[Scherrman]

RUN AWAY from Mediacom! I'm a Dish guy but I'd rather see you go to D* before staying with Mediacom. I'm not sure how anyone can put up with their terrible equipment and service.

 

[lparsons21]

RUN AWAY from Mediacom! I'm a Dish guy but I'd rather see you go to D* before staying with Mediacom. I'm not sure how anyone can put up with their terrible equipment and service.

The equipment isn't an issue as I own both the Tivo Roamio Plus and the Cable Modem. I'll wait until the end of the week to see whether they improve things enough to stay with them.

As to their service, well so far I've had good experiences with their social guys and their truck roll times have been reasonable, so I can't ding them for that. If you're talking about the video, well it isn't quite up to D* or E*'s quality it was more than good enough until these issues started up.

 

[harshness]

It's still the most "uncompressed" signal that regular TV viewers can access though, right ?

Not necessarily. Some cable systems offer feeds from TV stations that don't suffer being multiplexed with the subchannels of the OTA feeds. My area ABC affiliate sends their HD signal via fiber to my cable provider. I've heard that this happens in a few cases with DISH and DIRECTV as well.

 

[Hall]

RUN AWAY from Mediacom! I'm a Dish guy but I'd rather see you go to D* before staying with Mediacom. I'm not sure how anyone can put up with their terrible equipment and service.

That same Consumer Reports article that I mentioned above actually listed Mediacom in last place. Granted, they don't review every single cable provider in the US, so I presume the system has to have a certain (minimum) customer base.

 

[lparsons21]

Mediacom catches a lot of well deserved hell, but they aren't as terrible as some would like to believe. Here's my complaints about them:
1. You cannot find out what regular, non-promo, pricing is by going to their site. The story they like to tell as to why is that it varies by market. Well that is true for other cable providers and they seem to be able to handle it.
2. You cannot make changes to your subscriptions online, you must call in because of 'security reasons' according to them. Of course they don't mention that if you call in and make a change they will usually charge a $2 transaction fee.
3. I don't think you can even complete a new sign up online nor do they email whatever you've agreed to with them on the phone. So unless you are recording your calls to them, you have no way of holding their hands to the fire.
4. If you cancel the TV service, they charge a $30 (I think that's the right amount) fee to climb the pole and put the block on.

If you happen to get a standard rate sheet for your area you will find it is the most convoluted mess you've seen in years! Damned near impossible to make sense of.
Because of these issues I knew going in, when I signed up I made sure and recorded the call to them about it, to not be under contract.