| The Confused | The Confused Member 2004-May-4 3:02 pm Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomeI'm looking to put put something in my home.. Its either going to be Cable via Comcast or the dish via Direct TV. I'm asking for some help from the people that have been there, and done that.. Please advise. What's the downside/upside of Cable? What's the downside/upside to the dish? Does the dish really go out in heavy weather? Thanks |
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| fantomposter | fantomposter Premium Member 2004-May-4 3:12 pm said by The Confused: Cable is often cheaper if you have many TV's to hook up. But you can run multiple TV's off the same dish box. So do the math and see how that goes. No dish on the house, cable is a bit more user friendly, so my wife tells me. Dish's big advantage in my mind is the picture quality. I have a 65 inch TV and on my cable system 0-80 were analog. Those are the primary channels I watch, and at that size they were horrible. The difference in picture was HUGE. It is also apparent in the smaller regular TV's. quote: Mine has gone out once since I got it in Feb. During a massive rain/lighting storm. It was out for about 3 minutes. I hear it is very rare, and only lasts for a few minutes. quote: Having done both, I will never go back to cable unless they offer a 100 percent digital picture on all channels. |
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sonofjay MVM 2004-May-4 3:17 pm *Similar* question which my help that I responsed to that might help: »Cable and/or DirecTV for 3 ReplayTVs? |
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GoBucksIL to The Confused Premium Member 2004-May-4 3:20 pm I switched to DirecTV from AT&T/Comcast almost two years ago and have been extremely satisfied with it. I've never experienced an outage that lasted longer than a couple of minutes and that has only been twice. Both were during extreme lightning storms. Not to sound like a commercial but I get more channels, better picture, better customer support for less than I'd pay for cable. Nice addition is that there are no taxes or franchise fees so if you sign up for a package that costs 39.99 a month that's all you pay. Unlike cable where you have to add in all the taxes and fees. I think you can get a DirecTV multi-room setup and free installation right now. They will charge $5 for each extra box but Comcast does the same if I'm not mistaken. |
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malvado6 to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 3:23 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomYou could have saved yourself the energy of this post (I could have saved the energy of this reply, as well), as this topic has been covered as ad nauseum. This thread will be bombarded by posters tooting their own cause. Me? I'm a cable guy, and will always be. Why? First and foremost, technologically, it is a superior choice. Can you say two-way? Sure, you'll get some great deals on hardware/installation/programming, but that's probably because the satellite providers see the end of the road and it's coming very quickly. T he days when consider our PC and home entertainment system as two seperate appliances are coming to an end. And a home entertainment system fueled by a simple one way broadcast system like satellite would be like the difference between riding the bus and having your own car. Sure, it might get you somewhere, but it may not necessarily be where you want to go. The future of home entertainment is on demand, and cable is where that's at. So let the other pipers pipe, and regurgitate the same mantras... "My picture is better with satellite" -- Cuz the cabling in your home is garbarge. "Cable is a monopoly"---- Umm, not quite. No one's stopping you from stringing poles with your own wire. Ahh, that's right, you want someone else to pay the millions of dollars to do it. etc etc etc, blah blah, blah. Good luck on your decision. |
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| fantomposter | fantomposter Premium Member 2004-May-4 3:27 pm said by malvado6: Hogwash. I paid the cable company to replace my cabling before I switched. |
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| The Confused | The Confused Member 2004-May-4 3:47 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomeThanks Malvado. I did hunt around for this topic but didn't find what I was looking for after about 50 pages of scanning. I understand you are a cable guy.. WHY? Down here in Tx. I've notice that when the temp. changes 20 degrees in a heartbeat (like it does often in Texas) Cable dies too. What are the downsides to Cable? I know there has to be at least one or two.. and its sounds like you are the guy with the experience.. Thanks |
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| bob000001 | bob000001 to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 4:27 pm I have had both cable and Direct TV for four years now. Don't ask why I have both but suffice to say Direct TV is the one *I* am paying for. The picture is better on Direct TV than digital cable, not not because of bad wiring. There is less pixelation on Direct TV than Comcast digital cable. I have proven this to many many people in side by side comparisons on my 36inch Sony Wega XBR. As for the satellite going out in heavy weather. I have had several weather related cable outages in the past four years (one lasted 2 days) versus about 30 seconds total of rain fade on my dish. The only thing cable has that the dish does not is the video on demand. Direct TV has PPV's starting every 15 minutes on the most popular movies. If you cant wait a few minutes for a movie to start then you have a real problem. Besides a TIVO would take care of that anyway. |
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pplchamp1 Premium Member 2004-May-4 4:53 pm said by bob000001: VOD is NOT just movies. We also get our local news on demand, do you with sattelite? Didn't think so. |
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| The Confused | The Confused Member 2004-May-4 4:58 pm Champ? Explain: Local News on Demand? Confused |
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malvado6 to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 5:12 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomTo write off video on demand and say that it's about not having to wait 15 minutes for a ppv movie start is ridiculous. video on demand is what the entertainment industry has been gearing up for for years. access to thousands of hours of programming when YOU want to watch it. NO, not setting your pvr to record a favorite show on thursday nights. it's about pulling up the latest episode of survivor, or the 14th episode of the honeymooners. another thing to consider about cable is that you're not in a position to have to spend money on new equipment to take advantage of new services. Save your..." i got a blah blah pvr, and a blah blah hd box, when signed up for service" posts... OK, so you get your state of the moment pvr when you sign your contract, but after that, then what? a disadvantage to cable is that you're dealing with the condition of wiring in your home that may not be up to snuff for the advanced cable offerings. an advantage to sat is that when they install, they have the luxury of running a brand new piece cable from the dish to your box - and in single outlet installations, this can sometimes be just one little 15 ft piece of cable. with cable you'll also have the satisfaction of investing in your community as the technicians, engineers and many customer service reps are your friends and neighbors. With satellite, who and where are these people? India? And most of your "technicians" are fly by night contractors - many of whom were cable contractors and went with the better dime to stick dishes. i won't deny that sat services seems very competitive, now as far as pricing and features go. but the next time you drive by a house that's got that monstrosity of ham radio antennas hanging over their roof, think to yourself - "Dude, what about an internet chat room?". Those guys will be like your sat users of tomorrow. C-Band, Ham, Beta, Laserdisks, POTS phone, commodore-64, eight track players, and direct tv. so there you go, sat lovers. Flame away!! |
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| stoli412 | stoli412 to bob000001 Member 2004-May-4 5:14 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomeI've had Comcast, DirecTV, and Dish at various times in the past couple years. Right now I'm with DirecTV, because I think it is currently the best choice. The picture quality is good, and DirecTivo rocks. However, I'm not sure how much longer DirecTV (or satellite TV in general) will be "better" than cable. As malvado said, cable is a two-way system, and that's where everything is heading. Once cable goes all digital things will really take off. This will free up bandwidth for more VOD, more HDTV, VoIP, ITV, and futuristic things like video phone. Unless there is some major technological development fairly soon, satellite is going to fall behind. Their bandwidth is much more constrained than cable. They could go to MPEG4 or some other new codec to make better use of their bandwidth, but the fact that most people own their boxes instead of renting them makes it difficult and slow to replace them all. Second, it would much more difficult (but not impossible) for satellite to create a two-way system, so things like VOD, VoIP, and true ITV aren't really feasible. My prediction is that in 5 to 10 years, the cable companies and the phone companies will be the major players. Both are upgrading like mad to be providers of video, voice, and data. This is a good thing if you think about it. Cable and phone companies are going to be providing all the same services. Since they will serve the same geographic areas, they will have to compete with each other. That will lead to lower prices and better service. In that environment, satellite won't be able to compete because they will only offer one-way video. So to answer your question, it's a toss up. Right now satellite generally has better picture quality and equipment. Cable has VOD and more HDTV (they can provide HD locals). |
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DC Broadband to bob000001 Premium Member 2004-May-4 5:23 pm said by bob000001:The picture is better on Direct TV than digital cable, not not because of bad wiring. There is less pixelation on Direct TV than Comcast digital cable. I have proven this to many many people in side by side comparisons on my 36inch Sony Wega XBR. Agreed 100%. DTV is by far the better value in my area. And as you said the only advantage cable has is VOD, but you have to subscribe to digital cable and pay extra for STB's on every tv as well, which drives the prices far above what I'm paying for DTV. Personally I'm not that much of a tv junkie that I have to have movies the second I want them...my DirecTivo units take care of any recording I want and I can then watch the programs at my leisure. And yes, in most areas cable tv IS a monopoly. You have NO choice of cable providers which leads to unchecked price increases and poor customer service among other things. With satellite there are at least 2 major providers in direct competition with each other. For those of you who don't get it, that's a good thing.... |
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malvado6 to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 5:27 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomthank you stoli, you've lent a little better reasoning than my arguments. i've consumed my posts with a little instigation just to poke a little fun at the satellite users |
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| whatthe6 | whatthe6 Member 2004-May-4 5:30 pm I agree cable has more potential. When cable catches up to sat, I will drive my hovercraft to the cable office and sign up. |
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malvado6 to DC Broadband Member 2004-May-4 5:30 pm And yes, in most areas cable tv IS a monopoly. You have NO choice of cable providers Just because I may have the only lemonaide stand operating on your block, doesn't mean you can't open one up to. That is NOT a monopoly. Remember kids, don't hate the game! |
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Hayward0 to The Confused Premium Member 2004-May-4 5:44 pm Just out of curiosity why DirecTV the only consideration. Having been on cable and DTV, I have now for more than 2 years been on DISH which I like best of all. Unless you HAVE to have NFL Sunday Ticket or something only DTV has... you might look into DISH as well. In my exprerience better Cust. Service and a company that wants to communicate with customer (not just reluctantly answer the phone) and monthly live shows to do that. Also still a bit cheaper.... though they are close... especially compared to most digital cable. |
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pplchamp1 to The Confused Premium Member 2004-May-4 5:47 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomesaid by The Confused:Champ? Explain: Local News on Demand? As you can see in the side bar, I live in Conecticut. Comcasr VOD offers us WVIT (NBC 30) local news on demand. Offerings are the morning 6:30 AM news, the Evening 6:00 PM news and NBC Nightly News. It's great if you miss the news, you have to work late, etc. They also offer NESN VOD content (New England Sports Network) offered the Brunins playoff games on demand, as well as a morning sports desk show. There's also NECN (New England Cable News) which has sports news shows as well as other programming on demand. This doesn't even count on the content that we get from CN8 New England on demand. Lots of local programming that you can't do with sattelite. Most people just think VOD is PPV movies on demand, that's so not true. |
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| stoli412 | stoli412 to whatthe6 Member 2004-May-4 5:49 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomsaid by whatthe6:I agree cable has more potential. When cable catches up to sat, I will drive my hovercraft to the cable office and sign up. Haha, that's a good one! I agree, cable has some catching up to do, and up until now they've taken their good old time doing it. But they know satellite is kicking their butt and are really picking up the pace. In two to three years cable will go all digital (just an estimate from the way the industry and technology is heading), and then they will have caught up to satellite on picture quality and channel selection. If you add in the two-way service available now and in the near future (eg, VOD, VoIP, ITV, etc), they will surpass satellite. I'm not knocking the satellite industry...remember I'm a happy DirecTV customer. I just don't see how they're going to compete when cable goes all digital and telcos go fiber. Both are starting to deploy now and in 5 to 10 years will be pretty mainstream. With that, I only see satellite being competetive in areas with no cable and where telco fiber upgrades take longer (probably 10 to 20 years in rural areas). (edited for clarity) |
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| TACSPEED | TACSPEED to DC Broadband Premium Member 2004-May-4 7:42 pm quote: And as you said the only advantage cable has is VOD... Hmmm, I would consider HDTV as being an another advantage that Comcast has over Direct TV. |
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DC Broadband Premium Member 2004-May-4 7:47 pm said by TACSPEED:quote: And as you said the only advantage cable has is VOD...Hmmm, I would consider HDTV as being an another advantage that Comcast has over Direct TV. DirecTv does have HDTV: »www.directv.com/DTVAPP/i ··· HDTV.dsp Personally I'm not really interested in HDTV so this was not a consideration for me either way. |
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bobrk Premium Member 2004-May-4 7:52 pm Only on a few channels, and they're all on another satellite which means you need another dish or the wide angle one. And I don't see TiVo or DVR on that page at all. |
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| TACSPEED | TACSPEED to DC Broadband Premium Member 2004-May-4 7:54 pm quote: DirecTv does have HDTV: »www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/HDTV.dsp Yea, but compare the line-up between the two. quote: Personally I'm not really interested in HDTV so this was not a consideration for me either way. For you OK, but for others, not OK. At any rate, Comcast's HDTV line-up is far better than Direct TV's, thus a Comcast advantage. |
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DC Broadband Premium Member 2004-May-4 8:00 pm said by TACSPEED: At any rate, Comcast's HDTV line-up is far better than Direct TV's, thus a Comcast advantage. If they have better programming then that would be an advantage. I took your initial post as meaning you said DTV didn't have HDTV at all. As I said, not a consideration for me so I haven't looked into it much. My bad. |
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| joebear29 | joebear29 to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 8:09 pm Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomeEven if cable is the superior future technology, why does that matter now? All that matters is what will give better service for the next 12 months. I have Dish Network. If a year from now cable suddenly explodes and blows my Dish away with features, what do I do? Do I moan "Why, oh, why, did I get this Dish!! Woe is me!!". No. I call Charter and get cable. But at the moment, Dish offers me much better value. Why would I get the worse value now, just because it might be better later, when costs of switching are nil? That is just stupid. |
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yankclp to The Confused Member 2004-May-4 8:10 pm Satellite] A Comcast vs. Direct TV editorial......... |
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Vamp to The Confused Premium Member 2004-May-5 12:13 am depends on what you need it for, if you need it for a connection, then CABLE! |
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| JJV | JJV to The Confused Premium Member 2004-May-5 12:23 am Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomComcast! Also Comcast has the cool Video on demand. |
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sonofjay MVM 2004-May-5 12:33 am said by JJV: Yeah and Comcast customers are happy. |
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| lilafc to The Confused Anon 2004-May-5 1:07 am Re: Help.. Comcast or DirectTV -->Opinions welcomeJust to let all of you know, I work at Comcast, in a Comcast Warehouse watching tv all day, and I have Direct TV at home... Management hates me to death for it, but you get what you pays for, and that's a 95% digital signal as opposed to a 60% digital signal from Comcast.... The only thing Comcast has over Direct is that HSI and that's it.... You got one of those HDTV's and are one of those people who want and have the best, get Direct... Nuff said... |
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. all along, i've agreed that for the hear and now, sat has been VERY competitive on services and pricing and may in fact be the best choice for today, but not tomorrow. 
