Cable versus Satellite HD TV
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I love it! The picture quality of my DTV is amazing! Their tech support is pretty good, too. Their DVR is OK - it's not TiVo. I have my old DirecTV TiVo in the bedroom. To get one, you'll have to pry that out of my cold, dead hands.I don't know if there's a way to hook up your old TiVo to Satellite as a second box, though. That would still be standard definition.
DirecTV is the best HD product out there. The quality of the picture is fantastic, the amount of content is so large it's actually overwhelming and their customer service is outstanding.I highly recommend it.
Thanks for the review, Pez and Lonnie! Eric (the hubby) just brought up that he thinks with Satellite and one box, you can't watch one show while you're recording another. Is that true? That would be a major draw-back for us.
My satellite HD DVR records two at the same time or lets you record one and watch the other. My DirecTV TiVo has always been able to do that. The DVR is annoying in that you can't tell what tuner you're on, which comes in handy on the TiVo. But I can definitely watch one and record another.
Maggie -- We moved over from DishTV HDTV to the triple play with COX and have been generally happy. The DVR is no TiVO but it does pretty well. We wanted the HDTV with DVR in one box as well as cable modem and phone and COX was about the only one that fit the bill well. I tried hard to like DirecTV (as I believe Roy is right, they offer the best service), but the triple option was not there and the customer service was awful (I think DirecTV resells AT&T and you get moved from one customer support to another if you want the different options). Just my two cents.
Oooh, good news from DirecTV. Next year they'll be introducing TiVo for DirecTV in HD!http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10031392-1.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0
Ahh! A dissenting opinion! Yes, we have the Cox triple-play deal too. Eric (mine) asked what we would do about internet and phone if we switched our TV to Satellite. It is handy having all three in one bill but I stand by my statement that the HD viewing quality has worsened as they've added HD channels on Cox (and we don't have all that many). It used to be amazing, but now it's looking barely distinguishable from regular TV channels. Did you have any issues with the HD picture quality on DirecTV? Any unusual "blackouts"? Cox's DVR kept re-setting and deleting all my shows and preferences. We recently swapped out the equipment and we'll see if the new DVR has the same problems.
OK! So I have an excuse to not rock the boat for another year. I love my Tivo (which I use on my non-HD television). I use it for all the shows that aren't in HD. No DVR can compare to Tivo.
Maggie, I have both. But I guess you'd have to do without your beloved TiVo if you switched now. The current DirecTV HD DVR is no TiVo. People rightly whine about it, but it usually gets the job done and I've had to reset it maybe twice in the six or so months I've had it. It's probably not much different in functionality from whatever you have now with Cox.As for picture, it's usually excellent, but once or twice I've had some pixelation. Actually it was a big problem not long after it was first installed. Turns out the installer laid some of the cable in my rain gutter (!) and it actually rained! A new guy solved that problem. A loong time ago when I first had my satellite dish installed in the winter, I had reception problems in the spring, when the leaves filled in on the tree that was in its path. They came out and moved the dish, the new guy grumbling that he'd trained the junior installer who installed it originally. DirecTV let me keep my standard def TiVo for the bedroom when I got HD. I guess that wouldn't apply to you as your TiVo wouldn't work directly with DirecTV - or maybe it would? You should check. Maybe you can connect the DirecTV box to the TiVo. Mine is a combined Satellite tuner and TiVo unit. Can't wait for the HD DTV TiVo!
If you decide to go with satellite, be sure to have the company give you the exact specs for the dish before you commit.My mom (who lives in a condo in LA) couldn't get DirecTV because the current HD satellite dish is too big for her place. It's huge and heavy (the base alone is 40"x40" IIRC). Side note:
Thanks Unca Jeff! I hadn't considered the size. Don't want my house to tip over. Makes sense that they're trying to get more data with all the demand for more HD channels. My folks have satellite so I'm previewing it at their house right now. Nice picture!
I'm a big fan of DirecTV. I'e used it for years and the multi-tuner DVR works great. I have comcast for internet and phone but have decided to stay with DirecTV despite that.
Thanks Brett. I still haven't taken the plunge. We're debating a third option..... "stop watching so much !@#$#@ TV!" Which is kind of winning right now. DirecTV seems to cost more after the promotional period and we might feel obligated to watch more since we're paying for it. OR..... we can try to get a life instead of staring at a box for hours every day. I'm sure I'll snap out of this mode as soon as Lost comes back on.
Here's another option .. we have an antenna on the roof and get several HD broadcast channels (the big networks, NBC, ABC, etc and some Spanish which I don't speak). More than enough content for the time we have to watch TV.Since I am a geek, I have an old computer setup with a tuner card to be my DVR. Monthly bill = just power for the computer!
My cable service was horrible. Cable company said there is old wire in my neighborhood, but they have no plans to upgrade. So I switched to DirectTV. Best move ever. Cheaper, better service, better picture.... No downside for us at all.
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