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Matt Meiser
02-19-2013, 12:18 PM
I have contacting DirecTV about adding a third receiver on my todo list for this week. Usually in the past changes have resulted in a contract extension. Now I just got word a couple hours ago from my contact at the cable company that almost reaches us that a project that they engineered almost 5 years ago and put on hold due to the economy is moving forward (really, as in, they are ordering materials doing surveys, etc.) I'll virtually certainly get high speed internet from them. There's a chance I'll move my work phone line. But...Cable or Satellite for TV? Don't want to sign for another 2 years if I'm best off switching. Don't bother answering "streaming", "nothing", etc. Trust me--not happening in this house. ;)

For those in NW Ohio, its Buckeye if it matters.

Jamie Buxton
02-19-2013, 12:26 PM
Of course, the answer depends on what your channels your local cable company offers for what price.
When I last comparison shopped, Dish offered more channels I'd watch for a lower price than the cable company that's on my street. YMMV.

...one small benefit of satellite here... We get all our rain in the winter, and none in the summer. In the first big storm of each winter, there's a good chance that services on power poles -- electricity or cable TV -- will get knocked out by falling branches. Therefore, satellite has an up-time advantage over cable. This effect may not hold for your area.

Pat Barry
02-19-2013, 12:37 PM
I will stick with Directv. Its the best option for me. I love the fact I can bring my receiver with me on vacation and catch all my shows

Jim Tobias
02-19-2013, 12:49 PM
Matt,
I've had DirecTv for 14 years so I am certainly biased at this point, but I've also had cable for internet and most recently for phone service. I'm pretty sure I could "bundle" and get cable TV less expensively than DirecTV. But my sons and their family have cable tv at their house and I just don't like the format and there are seemingly so many options with DirecTV that I just can't bring myself to look at a switch. This is surely different from one user to the next so unfortunately it requires digging into the weeds of what channels you want to see and what is offered by each.
I'm sure this varies also from location to location, but I can count the number of times on 1 hand (in 14 years) that DirecTV service was out. If the weather is bad enough to knock it out, we need to be huddled in the basement anyway.
A satisfied DirecTV customer,
Jim

Randy Rizzo
02-19-2013, 12:53 PM
I have Directv and their Internet connection thru an outfit called Wild Blue. While its true that cable can be taken out by downed power lines, satellite is not without its faults. Heavy precip will attenuate the signal, you will lose both tv and Internet. So if you live in an area that is subject to a lot of thunderstorm activity you can count on a lot of outages. And if your Internet connection is important I would not recommend Wild Blue. It's hardly better than a dial up as far as speed. And if you consume too much they cut your speed even further. Something referred to as fair access. Granted I don't have the highest download/upload capability they offer but it is expensive. I have satellite because there is no cable service where I lived in Illinois, I have cable up here in Michigan and in spite of an occasional outage due to downed lines I prefer it hands down.

Chris Padilla
02-19-2013, 12:53 PM
Lots of competition out there in satellite world and it can take a bit to sift out what is important to you. I told cable to "shove it" many years ago but they now appear to be doing much better now that they've alienated a lot of their customers. I have had the local cable company, Dish Network, and now I've been with AT&T UVerse for a few years. "The Bundles" are where things can get murky as they are typically the best way to get savings. You just have to call them once a year or once every two years when certain discounts and such start expiring and threaten to leave them. It is amazing what they will come up with when you have the upper hand.

Matt Meiser
02-19-2013, 1:02 PM
And if your Internet connection is important I would not recommend Wild Blue.

Never said anything about Wild Blue or satellite internet. :confused:

Eric DeSilva
02-19-2013, 1:28 PM
I don't think it is possible to provide a generalized answer on DirecTV v. CATV. First, even cable systems run by the same owner may be different in different areas--heck, the services Comcast offered to my friend in DC were radically different than what I got offered 4 miles away in Alexandria, VA. Add in that the quality of your cable connection can be quite different even if you have the same provider--I kept Comcast when I moved across town, and my new signal was much, much better than the old one. Same also applies with respect to DirecTV--DirecTV uses geosynchronous satellites over the equator, so I would think that customers in southern regions have a better "look" angle (i.e., pointed more up than across) and a stronger signal overall. But a lot also can be impacted by the amount of rain you get and whether your particular view to the satellite(s) is/are potentially partially obscured by foliage and the like. Add in the different packages offered in different areas, and you would end up with very, very different analyses.

For me, FiOS works great--fast internet, good selection of channels and HD content. Then again, I don't watch a lot of sports--the people I do know that do seem to be DirecTV fans (although some of their premium sports packages are quite spendy). With FiOS I also get good local content; I'm not sure how DirecTV fares these days on that front.

I probably wouldn't sign up for a long term package if you think CATV might be on the way--I'm guessing they might have some good introductory deals that could allow you to at least do a side-by-side once they arrive.

Matt Meiser
02-19-2013, 1:44 PM
We'll never get FiOS here. Verizon sold our territory to Frontier and Frontier thinks the future is ADSL+ or VDSL. There's talk of FTTH from a local company but they are just building out their home city now so that's a long way off, if ever, and I haven't heard great things about their overall quality of service.

Jeff Monson
02-19-2013, 2:30 PM
I have a cable bundle at home, direct tv at our cabin. I prefer cable hands down to direct tv. I cringe every time I have to call direct tv, I personally have zero luck getting anyone that can speak english, or make a decision. I have a seasonal contract with direct tv and they have messed it up every year for the last 6 years. We have Midco as our cable provider, I will agree that the format and HD channel line up is better with direct tv. Other than that, our cable and internet service is never down, internet speed is great, and the customer service is outstanding.

Paul McGaha
02-19-2013, 2:36 PM
We've used Direct TV since 2001, just to get the NFL package. We use Verizon Fios for our voice and internet and I think we would use them for the TV's if it weren't for the football package.

PHM

Rich Engelhardt
02-19-2013, 3:17 PM
Direct TV has Hannah Davis as the Direct TV Genie... :D


I know it's a terribly shallow thing - but - when the commercials are better than 90% of the shows... ;)

P.S. We switched from Dish to Direct a year ago - before the Genie commercials.
Prior to Dish - years ago - we had a big 8' dish in the backyard. Talk about cheap programming. We had HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and The Movie Channel, plus what amounted to the middle cable package - for $17.95 a month.
The downside to the big dish was the installation and equipment ran over $3,000.00 - that and it was useless once the neighbors tree got so big it blocked it.

Kevin Bourque
02-19-2013, 4:08 PM
I loved Direct TV when I had it. It was cheaper than Comcast or Verizon and offered far more quality channels in their basic package that the other 2. The problem was The Comcast has a lock on the local pro teams wouldn't sell DTV their channel. I couldn't watch the Phillies or the Flyers unless they were on ESPN, which is rarely. I switched to FIOS for that one reason alone, local sports.

Jim O'Dell
02-19-2013, 8:46 PM
I've chronicled my adventures with Charter Cable here recently...total joke for channels vs price. I built an antenna off plans on the internet and I'm getting 3 times the local channels that Charter has on their basic. We still get internet service from Charter and the 30 meg service is about 60.00 bucks a month plus taxes.
I would suggest getting the regular prices for the packages you are looking at between the services available to you. See if what you want to watch is within the price range you want to pay, then negotiate for a better price once the introductory pricing goes away. Charter worked ok with us for about 25 years. The last 2 they have been unwilling to help on price even when I threatened to go to one of the dish units. Unfortunately, satellite won't work for us because of the tree coverage. I'll probably supplement our antenna channels with online sports. That is the main thing I'm missing right now. And it's driving me nuts!!!!! Jim.

Matt Meiser
02-19-2013, 8:54 PM
I guess I'm looking at more at quality/ease of use than price. Everyone in our household knows how to use the DVR, overall it works well for us, etc. Last time I had cable was in late 2003. No digital, no HD, no DVR. We just flipped through the channels to find what we wanted. I don't want to go back from the interactive guide and a fairly good working DVR.

In some ways, this is way premature as a cable install is a good 6 months off by the time they finish construction and testing but if I add a DirecTV receiver now I might be locked in for a while on TV. Luckily I only signed for 1 year on Phone/DSL back in September/October. Timed that about perfectly.

Larry Frank
02-19-2013, 9:13 PM
I recently switched from ComCast to DirecTV and could not be happier. I have their DVR Genie system and love it. I think that one issue for me was that the ComCast was always going down for one reason or another and simply not reliable. That may be very different for other people in other locations.

There was no comparison in terms of the technology that the DirecTV was much better and my picture quality has improved. The price on the DirecTV was about 25% less. I would not trade back for anything.

I also got Uverse for my internet connection which I switched to from DSL. Funny thing is that the Uverse is 3-4 times faster and comes over the same phone lines as the DSL. I also saved money making that change as I also have a landline to the house.

Bill Cunningham
02-19-2013, 9:33 PM
I just canceled a whole bunch of stuff on a sat tv (Expressview in Canada) Just about every thing I watch, is internet downloadable or available from a streaming site. Bought a Sony Internet player (http://store.sony.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=100803&storeId=20153&langId=200&productId=8198552921666462151). It just goes inline between the Sat system (for when your watching stuff on the sat) and the TV via the HDMI cable. It's Android based, so there are all kinds of watch tv apps. and links easy with your home wireless or wired network. You can plug USB flashdrives (2) and watch stuff you downloaded from your computer. The unit has chrome, youtube, crackle, netflicks, and a whole bunch of other stuff.. Just canceling the movie network from my sat service paid for the unit..As years go by, this type of TV service is only going to get better. Soon everything will be avail. via the web. It probably is now, but you have to find it, or use apps that know where it is..TVPortal, 1channel.ch, Solarmovie.eu..Etc..

Curt Harms
02-20-2013, 9:36 AM
I have a cable bundle at home, direct tv at our cabin. I prefer cable hands down to direct tv. I cringe every time I have to call direct tv, I personally have zero luck getting anyone that can speak english, or make a decision. I have a seasonal contract with direct tv and they have messed it up every year for the last 6 years. We have Midco as our cable provider, I will agree that the format and HD channel line up is better with direct tv. Other than that, our cable and internet service is never down, internet speed is great, and the customer service is outstanding.

Wait 'til one of the mega cable companies buys 'em. Over the years we've had good small cable cos. get gobbled by larger cable cos. Service and prices did NOT improve.

Jim Becker
02-20-2013, 8:53 PM
In general, the HD picture quality (at least when there are no storms...) is going to be better with DTV over most cable setups as the latter often compresses the heck out of the channels to get them all to fit into the available bandwidth on their system. Until they move to MPEG4, that's going to continue to be an issue. So part of this decision will have to be around what that cable company is planning on deploying. I originally had Comcast here and it was "ok". Then I switched to DTV when FiOS was delayed by local government. The picture was noticeably better with DTV over Comcast and frankly, the price was better, too. Once FiOS hit, I cancelled DTV and the FiOS HD quality has been outstanding. (They don't re-compress, although most stations are still being sent out in MPEG2, at least for now)

While I didn't appreciate how hard it was to leave DTV...they hound you and hound you and hound you and hound you and hound you...and hound you...If I ever moved to where I couldn't get FiOS, I'd surely try to see if a competitive cable offering's picture quality was as good as DTV before considering the cable alternative.

On the other hand...there are advantages to bundling, cost wise...

Not a fun decision!

Jim Matthews
02-20-2013, 8:59 PM
If your internet performance snapshot is indicative of the Cable provider's bandwidth - DirecTV.

That said, we've migrated to a bundled Cable/Internet/Phone that provides us with all the same TV channels we used on the DirecTV feed for the cost of our internet connection.
We stream the NHL Game center live through the Xbox on the internet backbone. It worked out to nearly $800 savings, over the course of a year.

Gregg Williams
02-21-2013, 3:14 PM
I enjoyed when I had DirecTV when I had it...I didn't enjoy the price though. Both Comcast and DirecTV prices go up after a year for both, so just go with the best service. As for weather, the DirecTV I had went out when it was really stormy out, and that was only one time. So it is pretty reliable.

Matt Meiser
02-21-2013, 3:50 PM
If your internet performance snapshot is indicative of the Cable provider's bandwidth - DirecTV.

We don't have anything from them yet. Our current internet provider is Frontier DSL which just became available last fall and is a dream compared to what we've had for the almost 9 years leading up to that. I have every intention of going to the cable company for internet, probably move the phone (used for my home office) and maybe TV.

Brian Elfert
02-21-2013, 4:17 PM
I just canceled a whole bunch of stuff on a sat tv (Expressview in Canada) Just about every thing I watch, is internet downloadable or available from a streaming site. Bought a Sony Internet player (http://store.sony.ca/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=100803&storeId=20153&langId=200&productId=8198552921666462151). It just goes inline between the Sat system (for when your watching stuff on the sat) and the TV via the HDMI cable. It's Android based, so there are all kinds of watch tv apps. and links easy with your home wireless or wired network. You can plug USB flashdrives (2) and watch stuff you downloaded from your computer. The unit has chrome, youtube, crackle, netflicks, and a whole bunch of other stuff.. Just canceling the movie network from my sat service paid for the unit..As years go by, this type of TV service is only going to get better. Soon everything will be avail. via the web. It probably is now, but you have to find it, or use apps that know where it is..TVPortal, 1channel.ch, Solarmovie.eu..Etc..

Everything may eventually be available online, but it unlikely it will all be free. The content providers want to be paid somehow. I don't think the actual cable distribution network costs all that much to run. One of Comcast's biggest expenses is payments to content providers. If all TV transitions to the Internet the content providers will still want to be paid.

It seems strange that we have to watch huge numbers of ads plus pay for the content again through our cable or satellite bill.

Curt Harms
02-22-2013, 7:56 AM
Everything may eventually be available online, but it unlikely it will all be free. The content providers want to be paid somehow. I don't think the actual cable distribution network costs all that much to run. One of Comcast's biggest expenses is payments to content providers. If all TV transitions to the Internet the content providers will still want to be paid.

It seems strange that we have to watch huge numbers of ads plus pay for the content again through our cable or satellite bill.

That's why they're rich and we're not :D

Chris Rosenberger
02-22-2013, 1:11 PM
I live in a small town. The cable system was built in the early 80s. The cable company was sold many times over the years. The last owner being Comcast. Very few upgrades were made to the system & very few channels added since the system was built. Because of this we have had Directv for over 15 years. The last few years we have had DSL internet.

The end of last year, a small independent company bought the cable system & completely rewired the town. The only disappointment with this was that they rewired with wire instead of fiber.

After seeing what the new system offered, we decided to switch. We got HD cable, DVRs, high speed internet & phone service for $10 less for the package than we were paying just for Directv. Our total costs dropped over $100 per month. We did not lose any channels that we liked to watch & we gained some that Directv did not have. A down side that took some getting used to is that the cable channels are not organized as well as Directv & the DVRs do not have as many options. After 2 weeks, we have already adapted to the changes. A plus to cable, that I did not expect, is that I can get all of the unscrambled channels on TVs that have a QAM tuner without the need of a cable box or the fee that goes with the box. The picture quality is as good or better than Directv. We no longer lose TV service when we have heavy rain or snow. We got 20mbs up & 10mbs down internet. I have checked the speed several times & have yet to get a speed of less that 19.5mbs up & 9.5mbs down.

The best part is that there was no contract. We can drop it at any time.

Wade Lippman
02-22-2013, 1:54 PM
Obviously you might have good reasons either way for reasons we can't know; but in general, isn't it much cheaper to get everything from one company?
I went with cable because it was cheaper, faster internet, no weather problems, and no dish; but those might not be important to you.