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Cable vs Dish


pcdoctor

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Do you have Comcast, DirectTV, Dish Network, other dish/cable provider??

If so, what are your reviews on the service? What are the advantages/disadvantages? As for me, I have comcast cable, and it's good, but can be rather pricy. I've heard that dish network dosen't have any HD channels, or if they do, they have very few, and I heard DirectTV has more HD Programming choices than comcast. What do you think?

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I have dish, I live in Grand Rapids. They offer HD, but not the local channels last I looked, so I do not have them. The monthly charges are cheaper but the signal does go to sh!t when the weather is bad. My wife and I are often heard yelling 'DITCH THE DISH!' during a hard rain. I will not have the dish ever again. Currently I can pick up all the local HD signals with an antenna that i conceal behind my TV when not in use.

I should say, I had Dish all through high school and never remember having an issue with signal or anything else. That was pre-HD.

/linkalicious.

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Do you have Comcast, DirectTV, Dish Network, other dish/cable provider??

If so, what are your reviews on the service? What are the advantages/disadvantages? As for me, I have comcast cable, and it's good, but can be rather pricy. I've heard that dish network dosen't have any HD channels, or if they do, they have very few, and I heard DirectTV has more HD Programming choices than comcast. What do you think?

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I have dish, I live in Grand Rapids. They offer HD, but not the local channels last I looked, so I do not have them. The monthly charges are cheaper but the signal does go to sh!t when the weather is bad. My wife and I are often heard yelling 'DITCH THE DISH!' during a hard rain. I will not have the dish ever again. Currently I can pick up all the local HD signals with an antenna that i conceal behind my TV when not in use.

I should say, I had Dish all through high school and never remember having an issue with signal or anything else. That was pre-HD.

/linkalicious.

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If you only want a basic package, then Comcast is the way to go. You can get local channels in HD with their HD receiver and this package and spend < $25/mo.

If you want a variety of non-premium programming, then satellite will be more cost effective UNLESS Comcast's family tier has the channels you want. You might be able to get ESPN, Discovery and TNT along with the locals in high def if you get their family tier + HD receiver at about $40/month.

I'm not sure what the relative costs are once you start adding the premium channels.

For high def, I think you can get more/better channels with satellite. I wish I could get HDNet, but I'm stuck with INHD on Comcast.

Comcast digital packages (starting at over $60/mo) give you access to On Demand, where they have basically recorded a number of shows. You can then access those recordings and play them on demand. Satellite does not have this.

With satellite, I think you still need an over-the-air antenna to get the local channels in high def.

I'm pretty happy with Comcast myself. But I got on a package that they no longer offer. I get Basic + Digital Plus (including On Demand) + HD receiver for $35/month. That combo would cost me over $70/month if I signed up today. If I had to sign up today, I'd either go with Comcast Family Tier + HD receiver or satellite.

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I thought Dish Network was the one that wasn't offering the HD programming and that Direct TV offered it. For those of you that are dish network customers, did you ever get court tv back? We have Dish Network at the McDonald's I work at and if we get bad weather like heavy rain and storms, we tend to lose the signal for a bit.
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It's a myth that a special "HDTV antenna" is required to pick up HD channels over the air. Even rabbit ears can pick them up. And there was a particular "ancient" Radio Shack UHF antenna that was very good at picking up digital channels in the UHF range better than the newer indoor antennas marketed as being especially for HDTV. Refer to the following resources:

http://www.hdtvantennalabs.com/

http://www.antennaweb.org/

The problem with the digital transmissions is that the reception is close to "all or nothing". While you can watch a somewhat noisy analog channel over the air, there's no gradual degradation with digital. If you're fortunate enough to be in the right location, a decent omnidirectional antenna will suffice. But if you need a directional antenna to receive certain channels (this applies primarily to the 2-13 channel range), then it can be problematic for an indoor antenna like a rabbit ears where you can only optimize for reception from one direction.

So the ideal is to put one up on a roof, with the multiple elements pointed in the directions for each of the channels you need to receive.

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I think off air HD signals are picked up by special HD antennas.

As for me....

1) Off Air.

Its free. But so is watching paint dry.

2) Comcast Cable

Wow! It's Digital and subscribers don't have to pay so much for cable internet. But "Sucker" to be written on one's forehead is required to put up with Comcast's crappy service, equally crappy tech support and inexcusably high monthly bills. Sorry. Not doing it. Because it's fool me once shame on you and fool me twice shame on me. I don't do twice.

3) Direct TV

Oh Boy its got enough HD channels to make my eyeballs explode. But it has way the heck to many hoops to jump through on startup costs, credit checks, service contracts, etc. Nope! That's not for me either. It's bad enough having to get a cavity search just to buy a sinking box of allergy pills.

So its Dish Network for now until something better comes out.

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If you want more information about D*/E*/cable and their relative merits, as well as All Things HD, than any one human should be forced to learn, try

AV Science Forum

Hint: Spend some time reading past posts before asking questions on that website along the lines of "What's best Dish or Cable?" because it has truly been asked before, and the information is already there. Your diligence will be rewarded by information from folks that install $$$$ systems, folks that work at major television networks and local station engineers from all over the country. There's even a GR thread...

Good luck !

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I'm so excited that my new place will have Charter cable! Expanded basic and cable internet for $30/month, free installation. Can't do that with Comcast for twice that price. Not that it matters to me, but Comcast is moving HBO to exclusive digital cable, so if you gave expanded basic + HBO right now, prepare to pony up an extra $5/month or so for digital cable + a new box just to keep what you already have. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Comcast, and their prices are insane.

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I have AT&T Yahoo DSL. But I got that thanks to the SBC/AT&T merger. I've heard that Dish Network has a partnership with AT&T sell each other service. Nut the only real benefit is paying for TV and Internet via one invoice a saveings of only a postage stamp.

Those of you with a dish who do you use for internet? ATT, other?
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I must remark upon what has gone unremarked upon in this thread, the elephant in the living room, if you will:

The hideous, goiter-appearance of a satellite "dish" hanging off a roofline, thus cheapening the visual appeal of the house, in the holy quest of a few more channels of bland nothingness. Like the pea under the princess' mattresses, I find the the sight of a satellite dish to be acutely painful!

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I must remark upon what has gone unremarked upon in this thread, the elephant in the living room, if you will:

The hideous, goiter-appearance of a satellite "dish" hanging off a roofline, thus cheapening the visual appeal of the house, in the holy quest of a few more channels of bland nothingness. Like the pea under the princess' mattresses, I find the the sight of a satellite dish to be acutely painful!

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OK Something here I want to know. I want to get comcast digital cable. I would get their classic package, however, I also want to add on a premium channel or two as well. Now some of the prices I saw for all those packages, is that the total price per month or is the digital classic just like $60 a month or what?

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OK Something here I want to know. I want to get comcast digital cable. I would get their classic package, however, I also want to add on a premium channel or two as well. Now some of the prices I saw for all those packages, is that the total price per month or is the digital classic just like $60 a month or what?
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