WaveMan Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Okay guys, let's hear it.... I'm a Comcast Cable customer, but have been considering switching to a Dish.. Any thoughts on which service is truly better? Which one delivers better picture quality? etc..etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomer9911 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 just from my experience, I am running digital cable(not HD, cable Co. wants to much money still for a box, I'll wait). I wish I had Sat over dig cable. My landlord won't let me mount a dish, i face north and have to aim south, and he doesn't want me to mount a pole with dish off of my balcony secured to the roof beam so I am stuck with cable. The cost difference is why I want to change from cable, cheaper, and a vast variety of programing available over cable....IMO..... I will give digital cable marks on visual quality over regular cable, and of course sound quality as well.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 We've had Charter Digital Cable, DirecTV, and now, Dish Network. I much prefer Dish Network over the other three. Both Sat services beat cable in quality and value, and Dish beats DirecTV in movies and with their on-screen program guide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indyjeep Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 I thought landlords of apartments cant tell you whether or not to mount a dish. I thought they passed a law or something. Anybody know nething more on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 ---------------- On 7/10/2005 7:36:48 PM Indyjeep wrote: I thought landlords of apartments cant tell you whether or not to mount a dish. I thought they passed a law or something. Anybody know nething more on this? ---------------- From what I know, the FCC has mandated that you can mount a dish - but there are some rules (obviously it has to be reasonable) I love DirecTV, but Dish Network is cool either. Cable can kiss my Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 Dish for picture, Cable for internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted July 10, 2005 Share Posted July 10, 2005 ---------------- On 7/10/2005 1:44:36 PM WaveMan wrote: Okay guys, let's hear it.... I'm a Comcast Cable customer, but have been considering switching to a Dish.. Any thoughts on which service is truly better? Which one delivers better picture quality? etc..etc... ---------------- [/blockquot Dish took over voom hidef or zoom whatever it is. Also has Serius satellite radio. The number one reason for having Dish is the price for me. They carry the least costly starter package that I know off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 They will pry my satelite systems from my cold dead hands. Can you take your cable camping with you? I can take a compass reading, setup a tripod, and pan the dish, and be watching television in 10-15 minutes. Setup and acquiring a signal is a lot easier with the circular polarized LNB / dish combo that DirecTv/Dishnetwork, and Bell Expressview use, rather than the linear polarized LNB that Starchoice uses. That is offset by the size and portability of the newer Starchoice DSR-205, that is the size of a large paperback book. Having an external wall wart instead of an internal power supply, it runs off of 12v DC at 1.25 amps. Talking with tech support, it is possible to run the unit off of a storage battery or other common 12v supply. I might just bring a dish to the drag races at the end of july, for something to do after nightfall. I realize that not everyone wants such things when camping, but beats sitting around in the rain, not being able to do much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 If you own a motorhome, and have Bell, Dish, or DirecTV, you can mount a dish on the roof that is enclosed in a shallow housing, equipped with servo motors. You can literally watch television while moving. Westjet features BEV while in flight. With Starchoice they have a dish that will mount on the roof, and features automatic scanning and signal acquisition, but can only be used while the vehicle is parked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bret_Salyer Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 I have Dish Network, the 522 with DVR and I get tons of channels (probably 300 plus music channels and Serius channels and Pay per view) for a reasonable rate. My issues have been: with satellite there is a slight delay when say retrieving info for a program or retreiving your program guide or even switching channels as compared to cable service. If you are patient this is not a problem. I have also had reception problems during severe storms especially when really cloudy. Not to say you wouldn't with cable. And I have had some issues with the DVR HDD having glitches when you load it up with alot of info. And I am not entirely sold on the recording software for the DVR (or maybe I am not a whiz at working it). Dish does update there software periodically via satellite though. Other than these issues I am happy with Dish Network's reception and programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 Shaw digital cable boxes in this area are very, very slow to change channels, as they may also be switching to an analog channel from a digital one and vice versa. As far as rainfade goes, only twice has the KU band Starchoice gone down, very briefly. Both were rainstorms so severe, you could see the rain bouncing off of the street back up a good 3 feet or so, it was coming down in sheets, with a "river" flowing down the street. As far as the Bell system, there is more chance of it going down in a rainstorm, or with snow. I had almost half of the reflecting area covered on the Starchoice, with almost 70% signal strength still, while Bell was unwatchable with the same amount of snow. I have not sampled a DVR yet, although a HD-DVR is tempting, but I still have no display capable of hi-def. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bret_Salyer Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 ---------------- On 7/11/2005 1:24:11 AM michael hurd wrote: Shaw digital cable boxes in this area are very, very slow to change channels, as they may also be switching to an analog channel from a digital one and vice versa. As far as rainfade goes, only twice has the KU band Starchoice gone down, very briefly. Both were rainstorms so severe, you could see the rain bouncing off of the street back up a good 3 feet or so, it was coming down in sheets, with a "river" flowing down the street. As far as the Bell system, there is more chance of it going down in a rainstorm, or with snow. I had almost half of the reflecting area covered on the Starchoice, with almost 70% signal strength still, while Bell was unwatchable with the same amount of snow. I have not sampled a DVR yet, although a HD-DVR is tempting, but I still have no display capable of hi-def. ---------------- Just to reply to your post Michael, My local cable company is Cox. There service is almost instant as far as changing channels and retrieving info. On the flipside I have probably only had 5 times of interupted service due to storms in the last year and I live in Oklahoma / tornado alley. I also get soo many channels from Dish. It is a toss up here as far as Dish or cable because of programming and features. I have Dish my bro has cable. I do have cable internet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 As far as features and packages with a cable co. provider, this varies greatly per region. Some areas are still without cable internet, or even cable, for example some small rural hamlets. Here in Canuck land, we are by population very rural, for those in the country satelite is the only answer. Hence the true answer to the question is that it is very market dependant. As far as PQ goes, a BUD is really the answer for a while. In case you don't know what BUD stands for, it is big, ugly dish. With the entire industry evolving towards a different form of compression in the DTH arena, it is hard to say if the picture quality will suffer, with the eventual shift to MPEG4 from MPEG2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRBILL Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Dish over cable any day. Which dish depends entirely on you tastes. I have DirecTv with the HD package. SPLENDED. DR BILL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 If I traveled year-round in a motor home, as my brother in-law does, or lived in a rural or other remote area situated away from cable, naturally, I would choose a dish because that would be the best (or only) choice. But, I live in the city, where all options are available, and I have been a Comcast Cable subscriber now for ten years straight. I had tried AT&T when they were around and went back to Comcast. I was one of the first in my area to install their internet service about 8 years ago and stayed with them throught their transistion from "At Home.com" to "Comcast.net". I subscribe to their digital cable and have every channel in their platinum package. I also have their HDTV servce and my telephone service is through Comcast. I am satified with my price and service with Comcast so there' little motivation for me to consider WOW or a Dish. I am not saying Comcast is better. I am telling you they have been consistently good for me. I am a satisfied, long-term customer. Regardless of the brand: Not all cable locations are the same (I happen to live in a very good network), so buyer beware! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokem Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 DirecTV! I have had it for 9 years. No problems or complaints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frzninvt Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Another vote for DirecTV I have had it around 9 years as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoker Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 And a third vote for DirecTV..had mine for 11 years and plan on another 11 years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Damen Bonner Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 DirectTV, they have the NFL network; football 365!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lb19984 Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 Ive had directv and Dish Network........ Dish Network is far superior then direct tv but in 2007 drect tv is gonnna put up a hd sattelite up with over 1000 HDTV chaneels and i think Dish Network's is only gonna go up in 2007 so if u have HDTV direct tv would be better and digital cable's fetures can be replicated with a pvr (fast foward pause rewind etc..) which comes free with sattelite systems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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