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Satellite vs. Cable

I'm comparing my local cable company (Patriot Media) to the regional phone company (Verizon) for combined TV/internet/phone. Verizon resells Direct TV pending completion of fiber-to-the-home in my area. Surprisingly after negotiating the two offers are practically the same price (well below either company's published rates!) So I'm looking for a reason to favor one over the other.

1. Is HDTV over Direct TV satellite any better than CATV HDTV? On some CATV digital channels I've noticed compression problems and poor blacks & grey-scale, but I have yet to install an HD set to see if these problems occur with CATV HDTV.

2. Is Satellite TV still problematic in bad weather?

3. Is the phone company's dedicated DSL service at 3MB down/768MB up faster than CATV's advertised 3MB shared-media ethernet?

Any other considerations?

Thanks,

Dave

dgarretson
theo's avatar
theo
2,681 posts
 
I have had DTV for 9+ yrs and have very few problems. They have been quick to resolve any issues. I had cable at another residence fro at least 12 yrs and had many problems. The only advantage I can see with cable is that if you have multiple sets and they are cable ready, you can save. DTV charges $5 per set box. I am using HDTV and find it extremely satisfying in both picture and sound. I wish they would offer more channels than they do but that is coming....so I am told. Cost I beleive is acutally cheaper with DTV than Conast. I live in Colorado and recently I had some weather related issues, not form overcast but snow build up on the dish. I have since coated it with WD40 and that seems to resolve it. As far as internet I use DSL.
tlday
137 posts
 
Get the offers in writing, and make sure they are not for one year only.
jamnperry
123 posts
 
You should throw Dishnetwork into the mix too. They have a decent HDTV lineup. Your local HD channels you can still get with a normal antenna or possibly from Dish. They also have decent DVR's for HD. The drawback though is they often can be buggy on newer models until they refine the software. The other thing is the greedy little bastards tack on stupid fees for every little thing. But even with that, still worth checking out.
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dbphd
1,628 posts
 
I think it's local. In Santa Barbara it's a toss up; both are excellent. I have used Direct TV for over 5 years, because Cox Cable fumbled when digital first came out. But now Cox is fine. HDTV looks great with either satellite or cable. The decider for me is our TiVo/HD DVR, and Direct TV provides TiVo service with no additional charge. In our area weather is not a problem.

I use cable for DSL, because they have optical installed on our road, whereas Verizon doesn't, so very high speed connnection is available with cable. Verizon does have optical cable in the denser parts of Santa Barbara.

So the advice of the first replier is correct. Ask around locally.

db
bmcleod's avatar
bmcleod
57 posts
 
I have the Dish HD lineup as well as HD locals via Dish and their 622 receiver/DVR; I'm pretty satisfied. I also have OTA locals which the 622 can also process. The 622 is a nice unit and regular software updates work out bugs little by little (check out dbstalk.com for more info.)

I only have weather dropouts in very heavy rain and usually only for a few seconds or a minute at max, obviously this would depend on how often you have heavy rain. I know our Dish bill just went up ~ $5 or so but I think their price is still pretty good.
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