satelite tv vs. cable?

[resq302]

Who on the board has satelite TV like Direct TV or the similar versus having a cable company?  My wife signed us up for a installation of Direct TV to save us on our Verizon bill (as Fios is not in our area yet).  Any disadvantages to having satelite tv?  Any advantages over cable?  We only watch the basic local tv networks and Discovery Channel and Sci-Fi Channel sometimes.  We also watch VH1 as well as a couple of the other basic cable tv shows.

Any help would be appreciated as I am not really into the whole satelite dish being mounted onto our apartment, especially since we are planning on buying a house within the year.

[Todd Wilson]

My inlaws went to Direct TV a year or so ago and they like it a lot. Havent had any outages except in a really bad thunderstorm. My cable tv is in and out and sometimes doesnt work good in storms either. I laugh at the cable commercial ragging on satelite tv being poor   and then flipping channels and see the blank screen with it saying Satelite Signal Lost  and then after some time it comes back in. Cable companies are pulling in stuff from satelite too!

I am thinking of going to Direct TV myself.


When its time to move just take your stuff with you to your new house!



Todd

[nh_mopar_fan]

We've had it for 7 years now. Just upgraded to HD service.

We switched on cost alone. I was tired of getting raped by the cable company.

I can count on one hand the number of times that we've lost service.

[resq302]

The thing is they have different packages.  From what I could get out of Verizon, we would be getting the basic package which means no channels that we normally watch.  Also, if the dish ever needs to be adjusted, it is $60 each service call they come out, regardless if it is a loose connection, realligning the dish receiver, etc. unless you have their protection plan which is an additional $6/mos.

[nh_mopar_fan]

We've never had an issue that required a service call.

[694spdRT]

Check with the owner of your apartment before you go mounting a dish to the building or you could be repsonsible for damages. Landlords cannot keep you from getting one but they can tell you how/where they want it mounted. Some buildings offer a common dish that various tenants can get programming from.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Well I went the opposite way & switched to cable   I had Dish Network for almost 10 years.   Never really had too much trouble with them other than the fact that the service would go out in bad thunderstorm weather.   
Switched to cable because it was cheaper for me to combine it with my internet service.  Got 2 HD DVR boxes & 4 movie channels for about $30 less a month over Dish....

[Brock Samson]

i went from cable, which was a rip,.. it tripled in price with no improvement in service and often went blank for no apparent reason,.. to Dish network, which was a huge improvement, to Direct two mos. ago... i record all my favs and watch when i want, and the intro price offers are pretty good, saved a couple hundred a yr. switching from dish to direct when the dish intro offers expired... 

[moparstuart]

had direct for 9 years never got any better they wouldnot upgrade equiptment
so went with cable internet and phone a year ago great price on package  and the on demand feature is awesome ( dish no on demand )

[TruckDriver]

I used to have a dish, and it was nothing but trouble. If a bee flew by, I lost my signal. I even had them come out to take a look as to why it was so bad. They told me it was set up correctly and couldn't explain it. So I switched back to cable after 3 months. Had NO problem since. No dish for me ever again unless it is my only option.

[resq302]

The whole reason why my wife wants to change is that we will save $11 a month.  My take on it is that our cable is fine right now and has not gone out at all nor have we had any problems with it.  Personally, I do not feel like entering into an 18 mos contract where if we decide that Dish Network is crap, we have to pay $100 to break the contract then up to $20 a month for the unused months.  To me, that is a huge cost for taking a chance that it might not be that great.  We have over 80 channels right now.  I think I watch about 5 of them.  Cartoon network, Ch. 5, Ch. 2, Ch. 4, Discovery Channel, and Sci Fi Channel.  Oh and I also watch Spike TV for the car shows.  I would watch Speed but that is not in the channel package that we currently have.

Granted, there are a ton of people in our apartment complex that have the dishs on the outside of the building.  The question is, how many of them are still hooked up?

[694spdRT]

Granted, there are a ton of people in our apartment complex that have the dishs on the outside of the building.  The question is, how many of them are still hooked up?

Speaking from a landlord's point of view that is a big problem. We get stuck with the old dishes and the resulting holes in the siding, roofs, etc.

I do have Dish Network and have been fairly happy with it other than the loss of signal during light misty rain(no loss in heavy rain for some reason). I live out in the country where cable is not an option.

[histoy]

We've had poor luck with our last 2 cable companies.  One kept losing their connection whenever it rained, and the other one had very few stations available for their basic programming.   We switched to Direct TV while living in IL, and we had 3 problems... we would lose the signal during severe thunderstorms, during some snow storms, and if snow built up on the dish.   Since moving to IA we lose the signal during most rain storms.   That's why I wouldn't sign up for their computer connection.

[Charger-Bodie]

i dont have a strong opinion either way BUT, I dont think I could ever get along without DVR again , after having it iI would be lost with out it

P.S. I have dish network and i have no real complaints.

[694spdRT]

What I would hate to give up now is the programming guide with DISH Network. When I am at my in-laws watching cable it drives me nuts having to flip around wondering what stuff is. The guide gives the year of the movie and other info that helps a lot when you are searching for old movies that might have Mopars in them!    

[dukeboy_318]

have direct TV and cable internet, like the tv better and cable for internet(cheaper)

[BMOTOXSTAR]

We have Direct TV it costs $75 a month with HBO, and I think it really sucks.
When our contact is up we are gonna' switch.
Can't you get cable & fast internet in a package?

[resq302]

Well, if everyone on here had a chance to change to Direct TV and save $11/mo.  How many people would switch or stay with cable?

[beedees]

Go here and look around     http://forums.satforums.com/SatForumMaster/index.php?action=8&webtag=4dtv         

[69CoronetRT]

Well, if everyone on here had a chance to change to Direct TV and save $11/mo.  How many people would switch or stay with cable?

That's a hard question to answer because it would depend on the cable company. Some are good and some are not. Good cable companies offer advantages satellite does not; satellite offers some things cable currently doesn't.

Chris has a good point...most cable companies offer the triple play (Voice, video and data) for a discounted price. You can't get that with satellite TV. You also can't get VOD with satellite if VOD is important.

Satellite currently leads with the number of HD channels available but cable will catch up with switched digital video, FTTP applications, compression technologies and more.

[69Charger_440]

The only input I have is that Directv will not charge you for the day(s) you lost the signal.  You do have to call and complain though, and they have always complied.   

[2Gunz]

Direct TV is alot better than DIsh network IMHO.

As far as losing signal, you have a bad install.

My folks live near Buffalo NY (Snows like Crazy),

and I have watched tv without interuption when it

was snowing so hard all I could see was white out the back window.


The only thing that bugs me is the long channel change sync time.

But with the advent of digital cable, I assume its the same with cable.

[dkn1997]

I work for Direct TV.  I am on the installation end, so I cannot speak for the programming, but I can say that the whole cable company claim that you lose signal in weather is true but not true.  Since the whole thing is based on Line of Site, the weather effects it.  But....since it's a digital signal, even if it's not at full strength, it's just as good (as far as you can tell watching it) it's an "it works or it doesn't" deal.  I'm not saying that you won't ever experience a problem in bad weather, but it's a lot more rare than the cable company will have you believe and it really does depend on how the original tech dithered in the dish during the install.  Much more important on the high def installs since it uses an entirely different dish and receiver. 

The entire quality of the install will really effect how they system performs too.  Get a crappy tech, and you will have pixalation, and a system that generally does not work well.  High def will amplify these problems since the hi def transponders on the satellites broadcast on a much higher frequency and the peak is much narrower, so you have to really know what you are doing to dial that bitch in.

[Lowprofile]

We live Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy out in the Country, so Satellite is the only option. We have Dish TV and its been great! It has Tivo built in to the receiver, so we never miss our favorite programs. We have HBO/Starz too.
As far as internet, we have a broadband antenna on the house. The local Tribe offers broadband service for a fair price, so now we got hi-speed on the Ranch!

As far as cable companies, don't they get their "feeds" from Satellites??

[dkn1997]

here is another thing for the folks who live in areas where they have cable, but have frequent storms that knock out services.  fire up the gennie and you still got TV, not so much with cable.

[Charger74]

Chris has a good point...most cable companies offer the triple play (Voice, video and data) for a discounted price. You can't get that with satellite TV. You also can't get VOD with satellite if VOD is important.

Satellite currently leads with the number of HD channels available but cable will catch up with switched digital video, FTTP applications, compression technologies and more.

While true they offer package deals, most are only a set price for one year.  AFter that, they start raping you again on price.    I know our cable company, Mediacom is a joke.  Can't stand them but without switching ot sat, we are kind of stuck with them.  HD offerings are a joke, only about 10 or 15 channels.  I wouldn't mind sat, but not going to give up my cable modem.

[69CoronetRT]

Chris has a good point...most cable companies offer the triple play (Voice, video and data) for a discounted price. You can't get that with satellite TV. You also can't get VOD with satellite if VOD is important.

Satellite currently leads with the number of HD channels available but cable will catch up with switched digital video, FTTP applications, compression technologies and more.

While true they offer package deals, most are only a set price for one year.  AFter that, they start raping you again on price.    I know our cable company, Mediacom is a joke.  Can't stand them but without switching ot sat, we are kind of stuck with them.  HD offerings are a joke, only about 10 or 15 channels.  I wouldn't mind sat, but not going to give up my cable modem.

That's why Kevin's question about cable or satellite depends on the provider. Medicom is not a cable company that has a high customer service rating.

[Big Lebowski]

I'm on cable & it sucks. The cable goes out too often, the picture freezes like it's stuck on stupid &...the cheapo rates get you too many shopping channels, too many spanish speaking channels, and who needs the ab-sculptor work-out machine on 3 channels at the same time. I called to complain & said.."How much for just 4 channels, Speedvision, History channel, AMC channel, and Fox news" They said "Uh no, can't do that".

[BMOTOXSTAR]