DirecTV, Dish or Cable?
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kevin
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:31 am    Post subject: DirecTV, Dish or Cable?

I've had DirecTV for about 5 years now and I've always liked the way it was set up and the channels they've offered. They also had tight integration with Tivo when I started.

Another thing I liked was they didn't offer one station from 9AM-12AM and then have another station on the same channel from 12AM-9AM, like cable does/did. E!/Bloomberg is a prime example. Also the cable signal I used to get used to have a funky connection where there would be small waves on certain channels. Even OTA channels came in better.

But I am disappointed with the DVR service of DirecTV now as they've cut their ties to TIVO and the DVR they provide now is really crummy, as I have read on the net. And there is no VOD, for us who want Howard TV.

What do you have and what are the pluses and minuses?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:58 am    Post subject:

I have HD DirecTV, I love it. I am not interested in the others, I'll stick with what I got

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:01 pm    Post subject:

I think it depends on where you live and what cable system you can subscribe too (and TV watching preferences).

For example, I have Comcast... I have HBO, I get HBO OnDemand free (it's part of thaving HBO, and that goes for all the premuim channels on Comcast). My mother has Cablevison, she has HBO, but if she wants HBO OnDemand, she has to pony up more $$$ per month... same with the other premuim channels. I was considering FIOS, but they don't offer NBALP or NBA TV... so for me that's not an opinion. Same thing with Direct Ticket (NFL)... if you are a big football fan DTV has to be teh way to go (considering weather conditions).

Another example, I have a friend that is a huge Flyers fans... but couldn't watch any of their games because he had Dish Network, even though he lived 20 minutes from Philly. Me, I live in NJ, about 25-30 minutes from Philly, 50 minutes from NYC and I get all local sports from both markets, without being charged an additional fee.... that means I can see every Jets, Giants, Eagels, Nets, Knicks, Sixers, Mets, Yanks, Phillies, Flyers, Devils, Rangers, and Islanders games.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:43 pm    Post subject:

DirecTV is the best to me. Dish is kinda cheap. Cable doesn't have all the channels DirecTV does.

The downside to having satellite though - When it rains hard, you're screwed. That irritates the hell outta me. The signal gets dropped and you have to wait for it to come back or you have that disruption that pisses me off.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:48 pm    Post subject:

I think what also has to factor into your decision (big time) is if you've got HD or are planning on going HD. DirectTV is up around 80 channels now in HD content. Plus they exclusively have the rights to the NFL network & the NFL package.

I have Direct TV also and would not consider switching.
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kevin
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:54 pm    Post subject:

Big Game James wrote:
I think what also has to factor into your decision (big time) is if you've got HD or are planning on going HD. DirectTV is up around 80 channels now in HD content. Plus they exclusively have the rights to the NFL network & the NFL package.

I have Direct TV also and would not consider switching.


I know they have a great HD offering. But do you have the DVR? Only thing preventing me from switching is the reports I've read about how bad it is.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:57 pm    Post subject:

I have DirectTV, and they piss me off. I used to love my tivo but all I can use now is their crappy dvr which breaks every other month. Then when I return it, it takes them forever to acknowledge that they received it. So they then charge my account $200 bucks for a box not received then credit it later.

Then they raise the price every year.

And one day my satellite dish was somehow out of alignment and they charged me $50 bucks to fix it.

And they always make errors on my bill.

Then I have to wait on hold forever to talk to their crappy CS reps who can barely speak english, who then put me on hold and hang up on me, and then I have to call again and wait on hold.


About the only positive thing is the HD channel selection.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:00 pm    Post subject:

I freaking hate DirecTV! Bunch of crooks (and incompetents) working for that company. I switched to Dish in December, and after 3 months of zero balance, they are now trying to bill me for some PPV programs they say I purchased back in October.

Programming-wise, I think its a wash. There are certain shows available from Dish that you don't get from DirecTV (and vice versa). In terms of basketball, I get NBATV (included) from Dish. On the other hand, I believe you can now get KCALHD from DirectTV. I also think DirecTV's HD quality is slightly better than Dish.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:49 pm    Post subject:

kevin wrote:
Big Game James wrote:
I think what also has to factor into your decision (big time) is if you've got HD or are planning on going HD. DirectTV is up around 80 channels now in HD content. Plus they exclusively have the rights to the NFL network & the NFL package.

I have Direct TV also and would not consider switching.


I know they have a great HD offering. But do you have the DVR? Only thing preventing me from switching is the reports I've read about how bad it is.


Yes I do. I also had the HD-Tivo (HR10-250) previous to the HR20. So I'm familiar with both. I do miss the interface of the Tivo. It is superior in many ways to the DVR. But the Tivo was not going to get the new MPEG4 satellite feeds (which was basically every new HD channel that Direct TV was about to put on the air). So I made the switch to the DVR and sold my Tivo on ebay.

As much as I miss my Tivo, I certainly don't regret it due to the amount of HD content I now get. I also really don't think it's so bad that it should scare you off from actually leaving Direct TV.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:28 pm    Post subject:

Time Warner is good.
Free HD.
Cheap.

Package it with their internet provider (Roadrunner) and it is a great discount.

Note that I really only watch Laker games / ESPN. If you want those funky channels, I'm not sure to whether or not you can get them with Time Warner.

It's good though.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:47 pm    Post subject:

I have Dish. I got it because I could also get Sirius music channels on it (though not Stern).

DirecTV can get some international channels I would like, like some Chilean stations my father watches.

I didn't like cable as they keep charging more and more for not much more service. Though now I would think about it so I could get HowardTV. Satellite doesn't offer that.

But in reality, I don't watch TV enough to really notice the difference.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:26 pm    Post subject:

Kevin, the Apple Fanboy, got one right!

DirectTV is pure pwnage. Better picture, better sound and less taxes on the bill.
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eureca
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:17 pm    Post subject:

Dish and direct tv seems to have better picture quality then cable. However when you get either dish I believe you have to agree to a contract for a atleast a year with cable you dont. Also with cable you can have on demand which is a pretty sweet feature.
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oldschool32
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:27 pm    Post subject:

I have cable. Right now I don't want a contract and most importantly I don't want to lose my signal every time it rains outside.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:55 am    Post subject:

REPPIN 818 wrote:
Time Warner is good.
Free HD.
Cheap.

Package it with their internet provider (Roadrunner) and it is a great discount.



NO NFL NETWORK
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:18 am    Post subject:

oldschool32 wrote:
I have cable. Right now I don't want a contract and most importantly I don't want to lose my signal every time it rains outside.


I laugh every time someone says they lose service in the rain and try to equate that to the service.

The ONLY reason you lose service in the rain, is because you have a crappy install.

P.S. And I know this, because I worked for Dish for 6 years, on the installation side. I did installs for the first 2 1/2 years.
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Mr. EiGhTy-OnE
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:20 pm    Post subject:

doesn't it seem illegal (unethical at the least) for DirecTV to raise prices on people under contract? If the prices are raised, customers should have the option to walk away.
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lakers0505
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:30 pm    Post subject:

JD wrote:
oldschool32 wrote:
I have cable. Right now I don't want a contract and most importantly I don't want to lose my signal every time it rains outside.


I laugh every time someone says they lose service in the rain and try to equate that to the service.

The ONLY reason you lose service in the rain, is because you have a crappy install.

P.S. And I know this, because I worked for Dish for 6 years, on the installation side. I did installs for the first 2 1/2 years.


Ive always wondered how people lose signal also because ive never seen that happen even in bad weather, always assumed that the weather wasnt bad enough.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:32 pm    Post subject:

JD wrote:
oldschool32 wrote:
I have cable. Right now I don't want a contract and most importantly I don't want to lose my signal every time it rains outside.


I laugh every time someone says they lose service in the rain and try to equate that to the service.

The ONLY reason you lose service in the rain, is because you have a crappy install.

P.S. And I know this, because I worked for Dish for 6 years, on the installation side. I did installs for the first 2 1/2 years.


Word up! It's usually self-installers to be specific. Seriously, DirectTv is TV the way god intended. Far better than cable.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:16 am    Post subject:

FTA.....the best hands down
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:56 am    Post subject:

Unitl Sat TV gets some sort of high speed internet access, I'm sticking with cable... it cheaper for me to have TV, Internet, and phone from one provider, in my case Comcast.

Also 95% of the people out there must have bad installs in regards to Sat TV, everyone I know that has Sat TV experiences outage during bad weather... and I'm not talking about 3 or 4 people. Maybe it's regional or something...
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:03 am    Post subject:

I rarely get a loss of signal with satellite. Sometimes antennas do shift and need to be re-adjusted, but I don't get lost cause of weather. Maybe on the rare occasion with high winds, but that is about it. I haven't lost anything this past winter.

And TACH, Dish does offer high speed Internet, but it is a deal they have with someone else, someone they sub-contract, I guess. I looked into it for my area and it wasn't cheap. I got a better deal going through the phone company for DSL and phone than just the one thing through this other company.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:38 am    Post subject:

encina1 wrote:
I rarely get a loss of signal with satellite. Sometimes antennas do shift and need to be re-adjusted, but I don't get lost cause of weather. Maybe on the rare occasion with high winds, but that is about it. I haven't lost anything this past winter.

And TACH, Dish does offer high speed Internet, but it is a deal they have with someone else, someone they sub-contract, I guess. I looked into it for my area and it wasn't cheap. I got a better deal going through the phone company for DSL and phone than just the one thing through this other company.
My buddy had Dish... and the problem with Dish TV is it does not offer any local sports (local sports teams are on Comcast SportNet). Also, I live a very hill area fill with trees (I feel like I live in a forrest sometimes) ... and I don't have a clear view of the southern horizon...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:38 am    Post subject:

Ive noticed the ads for the 80 HD channels on direct tv. Are these included or are they broken up in packages? I have time warner but I only get a handful of HD channels. If im not mistaken I pay $5 for that "tier" and another 5 for HD local channels.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:38 pm    Post subject:

I've just ordered the H24 DirecTV HD DVR since the prez of Tivo said "they hoped" to get their new HD Tivo to DirecTV this year.

Since I've been waiting since 08 when it was supposed to be released and has had delay after delay (I mean how hard could it be to get it running on DirecTV's signal?), that message above told me to just F it and go with the H24.

The reviews of the H24 DVR have been stellar. Any one here using one?
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