Tell Me About DirectTV/Dish vs Cable

[jyl]

I'm thinking of switching from Comcast to either DirectTV or Dish, for TV. Can anyone compare and contrast, maybe talk about the pros and cons of satellite vs cable?

In my case, I think I'd keep Comcast for Internet. Drop their voice, use Vonage. Drop their TV, use a satellite service.

The reason for switching is Comcast triple play has gotten very expensive, and they dropped Universal Sports which means most bike racing is unavailable. But I'm happy with Comcast's Internet service.

Not sure what matters about our setup, so sorry if the following is irrelevant: We have four TVs - family room, bedroom, study, basement. We also have cable jacks in the living room where we set up a little TV sometimes. I'm planning to set up a projector in the family room and would want HD broadcasts then. Most of our watching is via TiVo and Netflix.

[Jim Richards]

Medium to heavy rain attenuates the signal from the satellite, leading to blockiness of the picture or total loss of the signal. Snow on the dish may also lead to a total loss of signal. IMO, the satellite TV systems were designed with insufficient margin for signal loss due to rain/snow. I also found when having multiple TVs, the Dish controls interfered with each other, possibly even between neighbors using the Dish system. I didn't have that problem with Direct TV. My information on the Dish controls is a number of years old, so things may be different now. I do not like cable all that much, but I won't go back to satellite TV.

Just a couple of years ago, I was in Boulder, CO for a business trip. My hotel had satellite TV. We had a 8-12" of snowfall overnight and the satellite TV service was out, for days, until the hotel management could get somebody to clear their dish.

[gamin]

We have had dish for years. We are well pleased. May lose signal for a few minutes if there is a big storm to the SW which is not often. Price is ok too. Had cable. Vowed never to deal with time-Warner ever again. Price always going up and when signal was lost it was usually for a day or more and then the crooks tried to charge you for the lost days. Never again.

[Scott R]

We're on Comcast now having switched from Dish, I want to go back to Dish honestly. The menus and equipment available in my area are terrible on Comcast, even after complaining and getting their latest DVR it's still pretty limited in storage size.

We kept Dish at the cabin simply due to geography and it's refreshing to use their menus when I get up there on the weekends. I thought I couldn't beat the deal down here in the city, but it wasn't worth the few dollars we saved.

[scottmandue]

Dish network is way less expensive than directTV, my friend has directTV and I cannot see any difference.


FWIW I am thinking of dumping the satellite, getting high speed Internet, and watching TV over the web. Most modern flat screens and blueray players have a browser built in. I may get something like the Boxie that does the same.

[John Rogers]

We have Dish and got it mainly since we use a spare receiver when we go out with the toy hauler to the desert or races or where ever. I get the spare activated for 4 or 5 days for $5.00 and set up a spare small dish which is great.

We have never had an issue with signal blockage from rain or snow......

[Jim Richards]

But you never have rain, or snow, John.

[GH85Carrera]

I have Cox cable. I like the service. They are not cheap, but I use them for high speed internet and HD TV with a DVR service. One of my friends is on dish. It seems every time we are at his house we have signal problems.

One other choice I have is AT&T Uverse. They run everything through DSL cable. Their high speed connection is not near as fast as the slower speed cable.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

What, no votes for an antenna or no TV whatsoever?????

Antenna with two TVs here. Adjusting antenna is the hard part. No monthly bills is the easier part.

[L8Brakr]

Dish currently doesn't offer AMC. That's Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, The Killing, etc. Some of the best serial TV currently being produced in my opinion. Could affect your decision depending on your viewing preferences.

[skunked]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

One other choice I have is AT&T Uverse. They run everything through DSL cable. Their high speed connection is not near as fast as the slower speed cable.

The speed really depends on where you are located. With all the fiber around here and it's faster than comcast cable.

OP- See if you can get uverse, I have some friends that are very happy with the service and it's much cheaper.

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by Groesbeck Hurricane

What, no votes for an antenna or no TV whatsoever?????

Antenna with two TVs here. Adjusting antenna is the hard part. No monthly bills is the easier part.

I will go this route when I eventually leave the DC metro area.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jyl

I'm thinking of switching from Comcast to either DirectTV or Dish, for TV. Can anyone compare and contrast, maybe talk about the pros and cons of satellite vs cable?

In my case, I think I'd keep Comcast for Internet. Drop their voice, use Vonage. Drop their TV, use a satellite service.

The reason for switching is Comcast triple play has gotten very expensive, and they dropped Universal Sports which means most bike racing is unavailable. But I'm happy with Comcast's Internet service.

Not sure what matters about our setup, so sorry if the following is irrelevant: We have four TVs - family room, bedroom, study, basement. We also have cable jacks in the living room where we set up a little TV sometimes. I'm planning to set up a projector in the family room and would want HD broadcasts then. Most of our watching is via TiVo and Netflix.

I'm using:

Comcast for Internet (30Mb/s down, 8-10Mb/s up)
Vonage for phone (yearly billing)
Dish for TV

I keep looking at going with Comcast for everything, but it never ends up cheaper. Also, a lot of the TV channels we have in HD on Dish are not HD on Comcast. Maybe they wouldn't be important channels for you...

Vonage has been rock solid reliable. I've bought a few of the NetTalk units and they seem to die within the year.

I have 2 DVRs on Dish with the internet Slingbox module. You can buy the slingboxes on Ebay for 1/2 the price. I did that with my second one. It allows watching TV and recorded DVR shows on the internet. Regular Computer with a browser, iPhone and Android with an App.

We lose the DISH signal is there is a really bad thunderstorm blocking the signal. I wish Dish would allow low def streaming as a backup!

One of my buddies has Comcast/Xfinity for everything. It is a fully functional internet control for heating/lighting and alarm, along with cable, phone and internet.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by L8Brakr

Dish currently doesn't offer AMC. That's Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, The Killing, etc. Some of the best serial TV currently being produced in my opinion. Could affect your decision depending on your viewing preferences.

VERY good point. And Direct TV is in dispute with some Viacom channels. I'm buying Breaking Bad though Amazon.

[dedbird]

This sounds a lot like my situation. I pretty much watch only two sports, ski racing and bike racing. When Comcast dropped Universal Sports I had very little need for Comcast, other than their internet which is excellent. I switched to Direct and could not be happier. I have had the service since February and have had zero problems with reception due to snow or rain. Hardware options are much better than I could get with Comcast. Each room, four televisions, all access the same DVR and can be viewed simultaneously. I could not get this with Comcast.

[Rick Lee]

I have DirecTV for tv bundled with Century Link Internet and I am counting the days until I can leave them. DirecTV is ok and you get outages in rain with any satellite provider. Doesn't rain here too often, but when it does knock the signal out, it's always when I'm watching something I really want to see. Century Link is so horrible, I cannot stand it and it's a true test to remain civil to them on the phone. I lose my connection several times per day. Before it was just super slow speeds that interrupted my VPN. I could only get them to take it seriously by threatening to leave. That's when you go to their customer retention dept. and they will fix it. Gawd, I hate them. I have 10 more mos. to go and will switch on the day after it the contract ends.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Medium to heavy rain attenuates the signal from the satellite,...

Also, placing the dish near ground level behind spring rhubarb will cause summer problems. Who could know?

[Jim Richards]

Now you have me thinking about rhubarb pie.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by dedbird

This sounds a lot like my situation. I pretty much watch only two sports, ski racing and bike racing. When Comcast dropped Universal Sports I had very little need for Comcast, other than their internet which is excellent. I switched to Direct and could not be happier. I have had the service since February and have had zero problems with reception due to snow or rain. Hardware options are much better than I could get with Comcast. Each room, four televisions, all access the same DVR and can be viewed simultaneously. I could not get this with Comcast.

Can you explain how this works?

Are you using the DirectTV DVR, or a TiVO? Can it record multiple channels simultaneously? How do multiple TVs in different rooms work w/ a single DVR, I assume you control it from each TV somehow?

I'm clueless on this stuff and calling the companies doesn't help - the call center people only seem to know "will you place the order today?". Their websites are worse than useless.

Also, a question on Universal Sports - how is their coverage of bike racing, e.g. the GTs and classics? Do they show the stages in full or just highlight reels? Have you tried streaming off their website? How do they compare to NBC Sport's coverage of the TdF? I've heard complaints about picture quality with Universal.

[desertt5]

I have DTV and it works good. Never paid much attention, but I am sure I can record at least 2 different channels while watching a third. The whole home DTV DVR works great. I think the size is around 100 hours worth of HD shows. You control it from each sepereate TV. Just have to set it to record from the DVR itself.

Lots of useless shopping channels, but seems like Dish had even more.