TV or not TV

[gwyn]

I've been thinking about changing my TV service to satellite for a lot of reasons, one of which is that it might be cheaper and right now, cheaper is good, while still maintaining my ability to rely on TV to keep me entertained as I adjust to all these changes in life. I've been talking to friends with DirecTV and they seem happy with both their TiFaux and package, and they say they haven't had weather issues to deal with, etc. I think DTV might be better than Dish Network for my location, but I see both in my neighborhood. I walked down my alley today and I counted 9 houses with a satellite, which surprised me a lot.

I've always hated Comcast and everyone before them for their monopoly and bad service. Every once in a while, I get good people, but more often than not, I don't. I will say that since they went to underground cable, I've never had problems with transmissions -- my cable doesn't go out even in windstorms. But what I want is HD -- I have an HD-ready TV, but I really don't want to add yet more money onto my bill, which is already incredibly high for a sporadically employed person, just to get an HD box. I still wouldn't have an HD digital video recorder, and it looks like not only is there a package with a fairly low price for one year that includes a free (after rebate) HD DVR in one but you get a pretty nice level of extra channels for a while, for free, as well.

My main issue is that my TV, while HD-ready, is just old enough that it doesn't have an HDMI port, and we've never been able to get the component video cables to work with it, even though everyone said we had stuff set up correctly and there are plenty o' ports for the damn things. They've just been dangling off the back of the receiver the whole time I've had it. Now, it's not totally outside the realm of possibility I might be able to get a newer plasma tv in the near future, and if push came to shove, well, I'd just make that my priority to pay for one with HDMI or something, or find a way to make those ridiculously expensive component cables work.

But! What I'm wondering is... oh flist...

• Do you have satellite?
• If so, what do you think of it? Who are you with?
• Do you find it better than cable?
• Do you think of it as a better deal (right now, I'm paying for expanded basic cable and my TiVo service separately, so I'm curious about people who have different types of services)?
• Are you happy with your DVR if it's not the TiVo?
• Do you get HD, any of you, either through cable or satellite?
• Do you think the service people are better with satellite than cable (I'm asking this because if they are, maybe I'd be lucky enough to get someone who can help me get my strange setup to work).
• And just overall, what thoughts would you share with someone who's considering the move?

Comments

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

We have the same problem with the TV in our living room... it was HD ready when we bought it ages ago, but that was before the invention of HDMI, so we have no real way of getting a good HD signal to it. We're probably going to look at replacing it early next year sometime when we finally make the switch to HD service.

Do you have satellite?
If so, what do you think of it? Who are you with?

Yes. We're with DishNetwork. I've been VERY happy with them over the years... Good quality signal and the few times we've had problems, we've gotten excellent service from them.

Do you find it better than cable?

We've had Dishnetwork for about 9 years, I think, so my answer here is a bit useless for what you really want to know... but yeah, I think it's a whole lot better than what we were able to get from cable (the only two channels I've found that I miss, because they're not available over satellite, are NWCN and CBC).

Do you think of it as a better deal

For what we're getting, there's no way we could get as good a deal through cable. For what we want to get when we switch to HD, we've crunched the numbers and it's still going to end up being a better deal.

Are you happy with your DVR if it's not the TiVo?

We *love* our DVR. I've never used TiVo, so I can't really compare, but the DishDVR is easy to use and has a lot of useful features.

Do you get HD, any of you, either through cable or satellite?

Not yet, but we're planning on it and doing research into it now. Someone else already mentioned it, but the other option we've been exploring is FIOS. We're still leaning heavily toward DishNetwork, though.

Do you think the service people are better with satellite than cable.

We had horrible experiences with the service people from the cable company... but we haven't ever had anyone from DishNetwork come out to our house. The few times we've had problems with our receiver, they cross-shipped a new one to us and we got it in a day or two (we basically wore out our first DVR -- it was early days and we had the first model they ever released).

And just overall, what thoughts would you share with someone who's considering the move?

One of the things that has made us shy away from cable and look more at satellite and FIOS is that Comcast recently released info that they're actually throttling back the HD signal on their feeds... so, while they're technically in HD, they're not as high quality as they could be.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Man, this is why I get so pissed that FIOS will never make it to Seattle proper -- my interwebs keep going in and out tonight and it's eating all my replies.

I'm actually most concerned about losing CBC. I don't know why they can't carry it, but that is the one thing that is weighing hardest on my decision. I use it a lot, but then, I would get even more channels, including BBC America and IFC, so... would that make me happier? I don't know.

::Is sad::

And also, I'd get more channels but with less money, and that is really hard to pass up. A year of more for less... plus a free upgraded faux TiVo and maybe even HD at last.