Cable or Satellite?

[Nomo]

Time Warner Cable here. If only they had the Fox network in HD. I need to hear the Packers lose in 5.1

 

[bpape]

Digital cable because I also have VOIP with them AND cable internet service. HD cable in the living room. Downstairs, I run a normal digital cable box but get my local HD from OTA since the cable company is still fighting with a couple of the networks for HD.

 

[Ron Simpson]

I have had DirecTV and cable for years and finally this year I tried to rid of my Comcast cable local channels only to be told that they would tack that charge onto my Cable modem bill. I got angry on the phone with Comcast and they said they would give me 6 months of basically free local channels. I really don't care, as the quality of local channels on DirecTV is far superior.

 

[S.R. Johnson]

dish all the way!!
I HATE Cable!!

 

[Mega2000]

i ahve comcast w/ the HD box with built in DVR. I also have cable internet through them and I can't complain at all.

i thought about Voom a while back but although they have 5324146 HD channels i would say 90% of them i would never watch. seems like Comcast get 1 or 2 new HD channels every few months

Right now they have
Discovery HD
ESPN HD
INHD (2 channels)
ABC,NBC, CBS, FOX and WB(newest one)
PBS HD
HBO HD
Showtime HD
and i think thats it.

a few of my friends have Direct TV and Dish network at at least 2-3 times a year they have to go on thier roof to mess with the dish. In my 10+ years of cable I have never had to have the cable company come to my house to fix service. Only time they come over is to give me new boxes and stuff. They even ran new wire at no charge to my garage so I can set up my home theater and run the computer router from there. That saved me like $50 and half a days work.

 

[Nicholas Mosher]

Hate TV, and I don't have cable/satellite service.
DVD's and SACD/DVD-A for me!

Only thing I like is watching the Red Sox, so I go to my dads house to catch the games.

 

[no man]

I currently have satilite and its awesome exept when theres a thunderstorm...then it just dies out, but thats not really a problem because i just start watching Space Balls (great movie-must see) or i just go on the computer. There is no real differnce between digital cable and satilite. Both provide relitively the same channels, same cost, and same picture quolity. I had just regular cable...there were very few channels and we relied on the tv guide for times, with either digital cable or satilite its much easier...but in the end its your choice.

 

[REWJR]

1080P is real HDTV

I have 4 sources :

1. Panasonic DTV SAT
2. BEV model 6000 SAT
3. OTA tuner for off air
4. 8300 HDTV cable because it has HDPVR and with SATA I to SATA II coversion cable I am able to double my recording using external box with 250GB hard drive ( internal inside external box with conversion cable ).

Info for extending hard drive recording -

http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000585.html

 

[algernon]

I have Cable now, as others have mentioned, solely for broadband. I have had DirecTV in the past, and believe it is far superior to cable, even digital cable, in both quality and value. I am considering getting Dish Network in my new home and paying the extra $10 a month for broadband without television service. Dish now has Sirius radio, which is a nice plus, and better than the generic music service that cable provides.

Also, the lies the cable companies promote about the satellite service really turn me off:

1) purchasing equipment: there are almost always specials for dish equipment packages for no or little cost. Remember, cable charges rental fees for their equipment. $8-10/mo times 12 mos= at least $96/year. Oh yeah, and $0.56/mo for the remote. I got my first dish receiver and dish for $50, and I owned it.

2) weather interference: Grossly exaggerated. I live in south Fl where we have daily thunderstorms in the summer. The worst I ever lost a signal was during the height of a storm for about 5 minutes when lightning is crashing all around. I tend to turn off my electronics in these situations. My cable service goes out during electrical storms much more that my satellite ever did.
Remember, cable is ultimately getting their feeds off satellite too, then running it thru miles of cable, just waiting for an electrical surge.

But broadband does rock, and I'll never go back to DSL or Dial up.

 

[jaxvon]

I have Dish Network now, but I have reception issues (need to trim the trees).

Regarding internet...

I used to have cable, but I just recently got DSL and it's a MUCH better deal. For $30 a month I get a 4-port, 802.11G router (I had to buy that, it's also the DSL modem), but for speed I get 1.5mbps to 3mbps. That's pretty fast. And I get 512kbps upload. Comparatively, the cheapest cable broadband in the area is $40 a month and that is 384kbps down and 128kbps up. I wonder which you would choose?

 

[algernon]

I have Dish Network now, but I have reception issues (need to trim the trees).

Regarding internet...

I used to have cable, but I just recently got DSL and it's a MUCH better deal. For $30 a month I get a 4-port, 802.11G router (I had to buy that, it's also the DSL modem), but for speed I get 1.5mbps to 3mbps. That's pretty fast. And I get 512kbps upload. Comparatively, the cheapest cable broadband in the area is $40 a month and that is 384kbps down and 128kbps up. I wonder which you would choose?

If I lived where you do, I'd choose DSL. However, If you lived where I do, you'd get cable. 4.6mbps vs. ~2mbs/sec max. Plus, to get a $30 rate for DSL, you gotta buy the whole sprint solutions thing. Now i'm using VOIP, and ditched Sprint altogether. Local service alone was $42/ mo. VOIP is $22/mo. So, my $45 broadband bill becomes $25/mo after the "discount"
beep...beep

 

[westcott]

How much longer can cable support Video?

I have heard rumors that most cable companies are troubled by bandwidth issues broadcasting digital video and the problem will only get worse as HD requirements increase and programming expands. Can anyone elaborate or confirm this issue?

I use DirecTV for SD and HD, and Time Warner Cable for internet. At the time I subscribed, cable refused to consider a discount for bundled service.

The macroblocking on some SD stations is annoying but is not consistently a problem. Storms do interfere with the signal but that is what DVD's are for.

As far as competence of the installers or knowledge of their products, that is a joke. Their HD10 does not provide a 480i signal from the component output as advertised and DirecTV does not care to correct the problem or their literature. Their staff has no idea what I am speaking of and heaven forbid if you have a billing issue with them.

I would switch to Dish Net. if I did not have so much invested in HD hardware already!

 

[Geno]

I've had Dish for several years now, and recently upgraded to HD. Superb picture quality, Dolby-D audio.
The frosting on the cake is that I can take the receiver with me in my motorhome. Try that with cable

 

[Bryguy]

I have satellite but the one thing I really miss that only cable has is the local city community channels. I do love though, that I can get Sirius through my satellite.

Bryguy

 

[shokhead]

Pretty cool XM going to Direct.