HD Cable or HD Direct TV?

[jmy350z]

I am moving into a new apartment on April 1st. I have the 60" Sony SXRD television,which I love. Now I have a dillema.I have the option of either getting HD cable or HD Direct TV.At my house, I had Direct TV and had no problems at all. Now with the Sony being my 1st HD television,I want to get the best possible picture quatlity that I can. Which one should I go with?

 

[Zuke]

What cable company?
With DirectTV you may able to get your locals HD channels without an antenna. Check there website to see if your is one of the areas that can get the local HD over the sat signal.

I would go with cable.

 

[BMXTRIX]

While it depends on your cable company, I am a big fan of cable. I would recommend cable for many users unless their cable company is truly worthless.

Multiple displays with no extra hardware required, a simple fee for DVR... if you watch a fair bit of TV, you WANT DVR. It'll change the way you watch television.

DirecTV/Dish is nice, but it has a fair bit of up front charges and doesn't really seem to me to be cost effective at all. Plus, when (if) you have hardware issues, they are YOUR hardware issues. Not exactly peace of mind IMO.

 

[jmy350z]

Cable provider would be Comcast

 

[yammy750]

I have a JVC IDLA 52 inch TV! I have DirecTV now and I have to say I am not happy with them, I do have pixilation every now and then. I have had them replace my HD receiver, they replaced my wires and several times a Technician has been out to my house and they could not do anything! I have cut my tree that the dish is near. I do believe it's pretty clear of any branches now, But I still get the pixilation every now and then. I do not get HD locals yet! They say I should get them soon, the Technicians that come out to my house they tell me I need the KAKU Dish installed! But DIRECTV will not put the order in for me! I think everybody over there at DIRECTV needs help! Is anyone else having problems with direct TV??

I do love my TV!

 

[drunkmunk]

i use comcast...

and love it. dvr/hd box for minimal amount, plus having local channels in high def is really nice. They also offer a few other high def channels (inhd and discovery both are amazing). my father in law has directv and has a constant problem with pixelation.

So I would try the cable first and if your happy then your good. if you don't like it you could always cancel the cable since you didn't have to buy anything

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

I've got TWC with a HD8300DVR. Channels 2-98 are analog, and very good. 99-140 are digital, and although they are 480i, have outstanding pq, as is the sound. Channels 701-751 are HD (although there are only 7 HD channels at the moment). I don't pay for extended HD coverage.

Discover HD is perfect. I just wish I got Fox and ABC. Some areas have it, some don't. If your set has a built in ATSC tuner, I highly recommend an in attic/roof antenna to pick up the free OTA HD channels.

The reason we didn't go with Dish, was that we have a tv in 6 rooms, and all are hooked up to cable. 90+ channels in every room for one price is nice, and we can lease a DVR box month to month if need be. Plus with Roadrunner, the price is fair at under $82 which includes 800 long distance minutes. My folks have DSL, which is much slower than cable. I don't think I could go back.

 

[westcott]

I am not sure how much longer cable will be able to provide the bandwidth necessary for HD programming once all station go HD.

I have heard rumors from employees of TimeWarner stating that they will be getting out of the video business and focus on telecommunications\internet.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

If you can get your HD local channel over the air, I'd get Sat. IMO.... cable is nowhere near as reliable, and I refuse to allow cable companies get near my TV.

The only way I would consider HD cable is if they were my only option to get HD local channel programming.

 

[Hi Ho]

As other have said, it really depends on your local cable company. I happen to have an excellent cable provider. They are a small company but they have the latest technology before the big guys. I was the first in the county to have cable internet years ago (being friends with the owner helps ) and with uncapped speeds I could never go back to any other type of internet connection. They charge a flat rate ($35/month) for uncapped internet speeds. Most ISP's cap the speeds charge extra for more. They offer fiber optic now too.

I have basic cable right now and it has never gone out. Even during a major windstorm a few weeks ago when the power was out for two days, I started up my generator and found the cable TV was still on.

They offer their own digital cable with an HD DVR and even cell phone service. All for much better prices than the likes of Comcast and the other conglomerates.

For me, obviously, it's cable. I know people that have that have Dish and DirctTV and they lose a signal when it rains too hard (quite common here in WA). That would drive me nuts! When it's raining outside, that's when I will most likely want to watch TV!

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

I agree that cable is best for the computer

Ya know whats funny is that I DO have cable local channels, but only because the discount I get for my internet saves me money. In spite of paying for local channels(for the internet connection discount), I dont connect it to my TV

 

[yammy750]

I was told from Derectv that Local HD is coming in April of 06. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[ZoFo]

Either way, get an antenna also!

I have had both cable and Sat and I prefer Sat because our Cable Company is so piss-poor! No HD and cable boxs that only allow composite connections despite the "Dolby Digital" logo on the box. I still use cable for Internet access. My first Sat company was VOOM and it was an excellent provider! Probably why they went under. I am now using Dish and do get my local stations but I get a MUCH better picture on my locals using a simple UHF antenna. The picture I get over my antenna is digital HD and looks great, expecially PBS which does a lot of filming in HD.

 

[tla536]

I also love my digital cable. I have Time Warner in Wisconsin and just the low end channels are grainy, everything above 6 are very good. All of the digital channels and the HD channels are wonderful on my 40" TV in the bedroom, but the 55" Mits in the greatroom are OK. Only the digital channels on the Mits look just as good.
My only question would be since I have never had a satellite system is what happens when you have bad weather

 

[Tsunamii]

Since I have not seen it said yet. Verizon FIOS should be fun to watch unfold. After the data rollout of FIOS video services are right behind. FIOS will smoke cable as far as broadband. As far as video lets c what happens