Cable Vs. Satellite

C

corytrib

Enthusiast
The cable company in my area doesn't have component outputs in their cable boxes. I am using a Denon 2200 dvd player and a Denon 2803 AVR. Both are hooked up to a plasma with component. Since the cable company doesn't have hdtv should I go with Direct T.V.? Can you buy a composite (cable box) to component (dvd player & receiver) converter?
Help
 
JVC

JVC

Banned
Even if the cable company did have it, I'd still go with DirecTv. I have no use for a cable company! I did the cable thing for many years, but never again, if I can help it. DirecTv is ten times better than cable, and cheaper. If you're worried about bad weather outages, they only last for a few mins. I've been with DirecTv for about 5-6 yrs., and weather has caused an outage maybe 5-6 times. And as I said, only for a few mins. each time.
 
rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
JVC said:
Even if the cable company did have it, I'd still go with DirecTv. I have no use for a cable company! I did the cable thing for many years, but never again, if I can help it. DirecTv is ten times better than cable, and cheaper. If you're worried about bad weather outages, they only last for a few mins. I've been with DirecTv for about 5-6 yrs., and weather has caused an outage maybe 5-6 times. And as I said, only for a few mins. each time.
I disagree on the 10 times better than cable statement. I have had good and bad experiences with both cable and satellite providers. A lot has changed with the cable industry in the last 5-6years so your statement is a bit dated.

I really think it depends on where you live. I moved from a city with the population of about 25,000 to a city with over 350,000 and the differences in the cable companies was amazing. With my cable provider I have every channel available with HD service for around $80. I also get discounts since I use their high speed internet. Which is 3 times faster than DSL. Satellite companies like to "give" away free hardware if you sign up for a contract, and require you to have a home phone line. (I only use cellular)

So what it really boils down to is how good is your cable company? I currently have Cox service and have no plans to change to satellite.

(sorry if this sounded like a cheesy commercial.)

:p
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
The answer is yes and no to the original question. You can purchase cable set-top boxes with all the features, though the manufacturers (E.*. Sciantific Atlanta) only deal with the cable company--so it wouldn't be "official." However, if you local cable company doesn't carry HD you stuck with the alterative until they do.

Talk to the tech's at your local cable company. They should be able to tell you if they have newer boxes available and or if they're planning to offer HD. In fact, the FCC has forced them to make updated set-top's available as of April 04(i.e.DVI, 1394). I hope this was helpful.
 
Shinerman

Shinerman

Senior Audioholic
I guess I am the exact opposite of JVC. I will never go back to satellite unless I have to. I had a dish for a year, per contract term, and I constantly had outages due to rain and even wind. If it rained fairly hard and the wind really picked up, the signal was GONE and did not come back until the weather got better. It never came back in a few minutes. I complained to no end and when the 1 year was up, I had a crushing party in my back yard with all the dish equipment. I really got out a lot of frustrations. I thought about making the dish a birdbath, but it was a lot more fun to beat it into oblivion with a sledge hammer. I had cable before the dish and I have it now. I have digital cable and could not be happier. I also have the high speed internet. I get the cable and internet for about $100 a month. Not to bad. If it cost $150 a month I would pay for it. Why would I pay for satellite when I am without a picture during bad weather? That's the time I need reception the most. Does satellite have a better picture that digital cable? I'm not sure and any differences are minor. Except, cable cearly has a better picture when the satellite reception is gone.

Shinerman
 
JVC

JVC

Banned
I still stand on what I said.
rgriffin25........
We have Cox here too, and their regular cable sucks! I can't even imagine going with HD with them.....
Shinerman.......
You probably just didn't have a good signal strength to start with. Sounds like your's needed to be fine tuned (pointing dish to sat). I setup my dish myself, and it's pointing between two tree limbs, and I've not had all that trouble. The FEW times it's gone out, it was only for a few minutes, each time. Regular cable is more expensive than sat., and digital cable is outrageous! There's no way I'd pay $80-$100 to any cable company, for anything. I guess that's just me though. A lot of people do. I also see where a lot of people have problems with digital cable, at different forums. So, for me, it comes down to who I think gives the best service and who I'd rather give my money to. On both counts, it's DirecTv over cable. Have had both, and there's no comparison.......
 
Shinerman

Shinerman

Senior Audioholic
JVC said:
I still stand on what I said.
rgriffin25........
We have Cox here too, and their regular cable sucks! I can't even imagine going with HD with them.....
Shinerman.......
You probably just didn't have a good signal strength to start with. Sounds like your's needed to be fine tuned (pointing dish to sat). I setup my dish myself, and it's pointing between two tree limbs, and I've not had all that trouble. The FEW times it's gone out, it was only for a few minutes, each time. Regular cable is more expensive than sat., and digital cable is outrageous! There's no way I'd pay $80-$100 to any cable company, for anything. I guess that's just me though. A lot of people do. I also see where a lot of people have problems with digital cable, at different forums. So, for me, it comes down to who I think gives the best service and who I'd rather give my money to. On both counts, it's DirecTv over cable. Have had both, and there's no comparison.......
That sucker was tuned and retuned many times. By the dish service people and by me. No better. I did get a great picture with the dish 90% of the time and it was very easy to use. I was happy with it until bad weather and then it fuzzed out. I just can't seem to give money to something that works 90% of the time. I would rather pay a little more and have reception 100% of the time. I can count on one hand the number of time my cable has gone out in a period of 12 years or so.

Fo those people who swear by dish, more power to them. If they are happy that's all that counts.


Bye th way, at least where I live, Digital Cable costs are not outrageous. Digital cable is about 3 or $4 dollars more than a dish. I think this is due to good marketing on part of the dish providers.

Shinerman
 
U

Unregistered

Guest
apple and oranges!

I won't argue for or against cable and or satalite however I can comment on the picture and sound with each. It's all or nothing. The precessors take the digital signal and from it picure and sound are created. The quality, if you are receiving a signal, is as good as the D/A processors in the the set-tops. It can be argued that cable, which is what I use, utilizes satalite prior to being directed to our homes. Though the dishes are about the size of an apartment.

It comes down to price, signal reception(in all whether conditions), programming available, and customer service. My guess is that this is variable in each region, therefore we may be comparing apples to oranges.

Also, if you want a discount, complain to the cable company. They frequently have "keep the valued member" programs which will provide discounts on your future bills. I know of a few people including myself who have received 20% off the next three monthly bills. I'm sure the DISH companies have the same programs.

All I can say now is that is is nice to have options.
 
rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
I think JVC is lucky only loosing his singal a few times for short periods of time. I live in Kansas and the thunderstorms we get here can cause you to lose a satellite signal for hours, no matter how strong your signal is.

I used directv for 4 years and Cox for 3 and I must say that customer support is much better with Cox. I am usually on the phone for less than 5 minutes when needing assistance. Also, when I shut off my directv I had a credit of $85 that I did not receive until I made several phone calls. Finally 6 months later a check arrived.

To me the quality of the picture and sound is the most important. I believe that it is really a wash on which company is better. As, far as customer support goes Cox wins that one hands down. Like I said earlier it all depends on where you live.
 
Shinerman

Shinerman

Senior Audioholic
rgriffin25 said:
I think JVC is lucky only loosing his singal a few times for short periods of time. I live in Kansas and the thunderstorms we get here can cause you to lose a satellite signal for hours, no matter how strong your signal is.

I used directv for 4 years and Cox for 3 and I must say that customer support is much better with Cox. I am usually on the phone for less than 5 minutes when needing assistance. Also, when I shut off my directv I had a credit of $85 that I did not receive until I made several phone calls. Finally 6 months later a check arrived.

To me the quality of the picture and sound is the most important. I believe that it is really a wash on which company is better. As, far as customer support goes Cox wins that one hands down. Like I said earlier it all depends on where you live.
I have Time Warner Cable here and customer support is average. I also get Roadrunner high speed cable line through them as well. Roadrunner's support is 2nd to none. I have had a couple of problems with my computer and they have been awesome. They take the time to help you even when it's really not their problem. I even got an email the next dayfrom the support tech that helped me out. He asked if the specific problem was still fixed and gave me some pointers. Really nice guy. I have had nothing but good experiences with Roadrunner. Granted this is a little off topic, but Roadrunner is also another reason I stay with cable. I can highly recc. them if anyone has them in your area.

Shinerman
 
zipper

zipper

Full Audioholic
I've had DTV for a few years now & won't go back to cable. The cable is always the 1st thing to go out in a storm & the last thing to get restored. I live a little north of Seattle so the only issue with getting a dish is the line of sight. I've only lost the signal a couple of times during halacious downpours which,around here,only last a few minutes. One of the things I love about the dish is getting the east & west feeds of the major networks.This is HUGE during football season. Or watching "Jeopardy!" at 4:30 in the afternoon. Even with having to pay for local chans it's still cheaper than cable.
Whether it's Viacom,AT&T,Cumfast,etc., I've seen the same crappy service. They can change the name but the service is always bad.
The only issue I have with satellite is that very few programs are broadcast in Dolby Digital. Even the premium & PPV chans.
As far as being 3 times as fast as DSL, I doubt it. I've got DSL & have used a friends cbl modem but don't notice any difference. He has problems getting online(something about no dedicated IP address) & ,of course,loses service a lot. Fortunately,my phone line hasn't gone out for years.
 
rgriffin25

rgriffin25

Moderator
Like I have said before I do believe that it varies from area to area. I am not sure how fast your DSL is but here in Wichita KS. the cable internet blows away DSL. I have had both and I couldn't have been happier going back to Cable. With DSL my download speeds were appox 150k sec. With Cable I get 350-400k a sec. I do have a friend that has cable internet which is a tad slower than DSL. So I know for a fact that this can vary as well.

I guess what it boils down to is what makes you happy. When I graduate next year and move on to another city to get my masters degree I may have to change my tune. But for now, Cable is clearly the best choice in my neck of the woods. :cool:
 
M

mediafrk

Enthusiast
Apple to Oranges

Finally registered!

I have had cable--Cox Communications(West coast)--for 4 years and the only time it has lost signal is when we have lost power. I cannot blaimthat on the cable. There customer service has been excellent. I cannot complain about the quality. HD is incredible. Many of the station have DD 5.1 surround i.e. HBO, Showtime, Discovery, ESPN, ABC, InDemand 1 and 2, Stars(STARS is not HD...yet!).

Note: They recently provided a new cable Box which allows transfer in all formats and will up convert to fill wide screen--if desired--at all times. It will minimize the HD signal when browsing the guide--previous didn't. The fire wire is active and has composite component, coax and optical out.

Next topic: Bottom line! Cable internet is faster than DSL...with exception. The nice thing about DSL is that you have a download and upload rate that is generally fixed. Cable on the other hand is dependant on the equipment(wire, routers, line quality, etc.) used by the cable company in your region. Also the cable speed is decreased by the number of people using it. Therefore, if the local company set up for a certain number of users and they are nearing or exceeding that number( which I suspect does happen) the download speed will decrease. For example, when I first signed up for high speed internet I was exceeding 3200kbps download speed. This has decreased in the past 2 years for one of two reasons. Our providers frequently limit the download speed and by adding new customers the speed will also decrease. Also upload-speed does make a difference. Data does need to be sent back to the source when downloading therefore an extremely slow upload can effect you download performance. Upload speed is OK with Cox HSI but download speed has exceeded any personal-use DSL internet that I have seen. Maybe we can get an expert to comment on this. It may have to do with the way the information is being transfered. Bottomline is, if your cable provider is updating there system the internet speed should be fast. Go to www.dslreports.com and check your download and upload speed. You can also use there tweaking tools to increase the performance--little effect from my experience.

You may not have the same experience in you "neck of the woods!" To anyone who has not decided on which. Send in a thread and give your location. I'm sure someone from your region can give you there personal experience.

Let me restate a fact. As of April 2004 cable providers should make available set-top boxes with functional DVI and or firewire. This is one way to get your local company to provide the most updated set-top, even if you don't use the ports. Have success!
 
goodman

goodman

Full Audioholic
I'm just glad that my cable company, Time Warner, has competition from Direct TV, Dish, and now Voom, because the competition seems to have awakened them in the past year or two. Until about two years ago, Time Warner wouldn't even answer my questions about HDTV. Then, when they finally made HDTV available in my area, by ordering a digital package, I was able to get it. At first, there were reception problems. After Time Warner replaced some of the cable in my house, and then the splitters that were really the cause of the trouble, the problems disappeared. In the beginning, there were only a couple of high-def channels. Now, I get eight high-def channels, including, at extra cost, HBO and Showtime, with two more channels availalbe if I wanted to pay for them. Two of the high-def channels are local. Last year, Time Warner replaced the cable boxes with improved ones. I'm don't think the new boxes made any difference, except to improve pay-per-view accessibility, which I have never used. Instead, I subscribe to Netflix.

There are six TVs operating in the house. Some are from the 1980s, but still work okay, and with the cable plugged directly into them bring in about 40 channels of analog. Two of the TVs are high def. With cable, I only need to rent two boxes for the two high-def displays. If I had satellite, I think I would have to buy a receiver for each TV if I wanted to be able to independtly tune each one.

Cable, especially with the high-speed internet capability added on, is too expensive, about $121.00 per month, including box rental, but at least I don't have to buy soon-to-be-obsolesced equipment. So, for now, I'll stick with cable.
 
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M

mediafrk

Enthusiast
Goodman

Agreed! Competition is what drives these companies. I hope they keep it up!

I can't argue the price issue, but, that does seem a bit high. I won't mention what I'm paying monthly because my situation is different then most. Our condo-association fees include cable so I paying considerably less out-of-pocket for High-speed internet and HD cable.

I posted a note earlier on how you might bring your price down. Though this may be temporary, every bit counts. In case you missed it. Letting the cable company think your displease or seeking satellite will frequently have them offering a discounted rate. This may save $100 over several months.
 
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T

tjkahn

Enthusiast
Guess there aren't a lot of sports fans on this thread, but for me, the overwhelming feature is NFL Sunday Ticket. The only way to get that is with DirecTV, and they just paid $2 billion to make sure of that.

Also, I live in the Midwest, where we have plenty of crappy weather, and in 8 years I've lost reception for a grand total of maybe 2 hours. When I had cable, it used to go out every time it rained.
 
JVC

JVC

Banned
RoadRunner is definately nice and fast......but WAY too expensive!
My folks have standard cable and RR. Their bill each month is almost $100. RR by itself is either $50 or $55. They are on Time Warner cable. My stepfather said he might go back to DirecTv. He went back to cable for the local channels. At the time he had Direct, they didn't offer locals. Now they do. My folks live about 22 miles from me.

Where I live, we have Cox cable. Their internet service is a lot slower than RR., but a little bit cheaper. I think Cox's internet is about $45 a month. Still too much for me. I get a LOT more channels (including Encore w/o Starz), for less than what Cox's regular cable is. Digital cable is out of the question! It's almost $60 a month (no HD included). I don't have an HD tv anyway.

There is no cost for sat. equipment now, unless you get DD receiver or HD equipment. New customers may not have any cost on HD equipment, not sure about that though (DirecTv) I'm pretty sure that Voom gives you the equipment now. I've heard that DirecTv will do a deal............$399 for HD setup, and will credit most of that back to your bill, so you end up having HD programming free for several months. This is for current customers only.
 
Shinerman

Shinerman

Senior Audioholic
JVC said:
RoadRunner is definately nice and fast......but WAY too expensive!
My folks have standard cable and RR. Their bill each month is almost $100. RR by itself is either $50 or $55. They are on Time Warner cable. My stepfather said he might go back to DirecTv. He went back to cable for the local channels. At the time he had Direct, they didn't offer locals. Now they do. My folks live about 22 miles from me.

Where I live, we have Cox cable. Their internet service is a lot slower than RR., but a little bit cheaper. I think Cox's internet is about $45 a month. Still too much for me. I get a LOT more channels (including Encore w/o Starz), for less than what Cox's regular cable is. Digital cable is out of the question! It's almost $60 a month (no HD included). I don't have an HD tv anyway.

There is no cost for sat. equipment now, unless you get DD receiver or HD equipment. New customers may not have any cost on HD equipment, not sure about that though (DirecTv) I'm pretty sure that Voom gives you the equipment now. I've heard that DirecTv will do a deal............$399 for HD setup, and will credit most of that back to your bill, so you end up having HD programming free for several months. This is for current customers only.
Roadrunner is $50 to $55? Man, that's high. Must be a regional thing. I pay about $38 a month for RR. That is high for some, but it's so so worth it for me. It truly is like night and day compared to dial-up.

Shinerman
 
S

stiletto pat

Audioholic
Cable vs Satellite

Okay guys, thought I should weigh in too.

I've never owned Satellite, but living in Florida, with all the storms, many of my friends have spun very scary horror stories about living with Satellite. Besides constantly losing signal during storms, the dishes are prone to get out of adjustment in heavy storms or heavy coastal winds. My other big concern was that it became very expensive if you have numerous tv sets that require signal. Because you have to have a box for each set (if you want to watch different channels at the same time), it gets very expensive. Plus Bright House (Time Warner) provides better local channel viewing, their digital picture was very good, so that made that decision.

Next, I just bought my first HD Set last year, a Panasonic 34" CRT, #CT WX-53, and although I had a problem with the set that required a service call, the picture on cable HDTV stations is superb. Most of my friends can't believe it. Of couurse, I pay too damn much, but let's wait for further competition to drive the pricing down. I'd like to get more HD channels, currently only about 8 or 9, but am hoping that they add ESPN soon, as well as NBC.

Next, I also have Road Runner, but having had DSL previously at my old house, my experience is that DSL was significantly faster, due in part to the fact that Cable Modems employ a daisy-chain topology. Simply put, if your at the end of the chain, you're SOL. My upload and download times are certainly nothing to write home about. My old computer was a P1, and was faster when running on DSL than my new P4 on Cable. Sad, really. Also, I have not found that Road Runner's service department has not been anything to write home about. They always seem as if they want to help, but seem fairly inept, or aren't allowed to provide instructions on a given topic.

On to the next great horizon, which is Fiber to the Premises. Watch out, because THIS will be the future. Verizon is rolling this out nationwide, in selected locations, and it will bundle phone, IP services, cable, and who knows what else, for supposedly, an extremely attractive and competitive price. When that rolls out, cable will have to be dropping pricing drastically, because co-ax simply can't compete with the bandwidth fiber can provide. I can't wait! DSL will be old school, since it's delivered over copper facilities. Don't know what they'll offer, maybe transparent LAN. We'll find out.

Well, there you have it. Enjoy. :eek:

Pat
 
C

capthookup

Audiophyte
Satellite TV rules!!!. With DTV you get 100% digital channels. Cable only gives you those channels above 100 in digital.

Rain fade is almost a non-issue. If your signal is failing, Chances are you got a crappy installation. Use 100% Copper RG 6 cable. Ground the system. Use good F-Connectors. make sure tha the line of sight is good. Wind can blow trees into the Line of sight. Again these are installation issues, not satellite issues.

A standard cable install uses modulated Video for Channel 3 for connection to the TV. (Only 256 Lines). DTV uses Unmodulated Video and S-Video (over 400 LInes) (thats almost HDTV)

Cable data service, however, is vastly superior to Satellite Internet in both speed and reliability. DSL /ADSL runs a close second

I have installed and serviced all of these systems. DirecTV, DishNetwork, TIme Warner Cable, Road Runner, Direcway, V-Sat, Globecast. etc.

A quality installation is Paramount! regardless of your method of reception. If you have poor service, E.g Fuzzy picture, breaking up picture, loss of signal. Call you provider. Insist that a senior technician is dispatched.

In my opion... DirecTV is the Best For TV Best Picture and sound
Time warner Road Runner is best for Data. Highest Speed for the money.

Satellite Internet is Slow and Expensive
Standard Cable has Poor picture quality

If you want lots of TVs connected for a low price...Choose cable TV.

If picture and sound quality are important, Choose DirecTV or Dishnetwork


Thanks

Captain Hookup
www.captain-hookup.com
 

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