Which is best way to go?

[Unregistered]

I have just moved up to a 55" display from a 32". And I just moved to a new location. I want to get a satellite system installed. My options are Dish Network, Direct Tv or 4DTV Cband. Which would be the best for the better PQ? I have heard that Dish and Direct look really bad on a bigscreen because of compression but I have heard that 4dtv looks excellent on a bigscreen because it is dvd quality, very little compression. So what does Dish and Direct look like on a bigscreen in SD and if anyone has seen a 4dtv on a bigscreen what is that PQ like in SD? I watch a lot of SD programming and need it to look the best as possible. Thanks

 

[BMXTRIX]

While I can't comment on 4DTV, I can say that both DirecTV and Dish look like garbage on anything to big. I compared HBO on digtial cable vs. HBO on DirecTV in an A/B comparison on the same projector and digital cable blew DirecTV away (Comcast, Montgomer County, MD).

Now, that said, DirecTV looks a lot better than analog cable for all of it's channels, and it's HD channels also look really good.

There is talk of you being able to get your local channels in HD from DirecTV as well, so you should look into that prior to making any decisions.

The push for more and more HD is on, but it's still a long ways off I'm afraid.

 

[djoxygen]

I can see MPEG compression artifacts on DVDs, too, so saying "DVD quality" is a little dubious. I have DirecTV and it looks about as good as my friend's digital cable, both of which look much better than analog cable or broadcast. Haven't seen DirecTV HD, but HD digital cable is fantastic. Locals don't look so good on DirecTV and there's no locals in HD for a couple more years, though, so if you watch a lot of broadcast, it's probably not the best option.

Generally, though, SD on bigger sets just shows you all the limitations of SD. I'm pretty sure you'll be longing for HD on your 55". Might want to keep Voom as an option, although DirecTV will be dramatically expanding their HD lineup in the coming years.

 

[Unregistered]

Well since posting this I have looked at 3 systems at various locations thru a bigscreen of at least 50". I got to see Dish Network, Direct Tv and actually found a demo of 4dtv. Dish and Direct looked like utter crap in my eyes. Very unwatchable. The worst PQ I have ever seen. Surely ppl don't actually watch crap like this on a bigscreen? Had a very fuzzy out of focus appearance. After all of that eye abuse I got to see a 4dtv setup on a 70" monitor. Wow! Right away I noticed the image was crisp and clean. Almost looked HD on SD programs. The PQ was the best I have ever seen. I thought this big dish stuff was dead but according to this person with the 4dtv setup, Cband is making a big comeback because the PQ is unbeatable because it is broadcast quality and ppl are getting fed up with horrible PQ on the little dishes and switching back to Cband. He said there were over 800 chs still avail on Cband with the majority of them being digital. So there's is no doubt in my mind I'm getting one of these. He told me it could cost a grand or 2 to get setup but the way I see it, the PQ alone is worth this. I spent a lot of money on a widescreen and sure as hell aint going to settle for crappy PQ from the little dishes after seeing 4dtv and realizing there is something better out there afterall.

 

[Unregistered]

After reading your post this got me to thinking. So I started doing some research on 4dtv and found a very active
forum at 4dtvforum.com. It seems this big dish stuff is still going strong. I have Dishnet and a Sony widescreen and I'm not able to enjoy watching Dishnet on this thing at all so I mostly watch dvds. You say there are over 800 channels with the 4dtv with dvd pq. My question is what in the hell am I or anyone still doing with Dishnet when there's 4dtv?
This is something to seriously consider if you're really into pq. Thanks for pointing out this option. I never even considered 4dtv until I read your post.