Dish or Cable?

[ToeJam]

I've never had "the dish", but I'm really getting sick of my local cable company. Prices are going up, picture quality is going down and I'm not in the mood to pay their prices for digital cable.

 

So I'm curious what people's experiences are with the dish? My father-in-law has it at his cabin and he seems to be having problems with the alignment, but they get 3'+ of snow in the winter and high winds, so I'm not surprised. Do even mild winds (20mph and less) upset the dish?

 

I basically have a deal that will allow me to get the dish set up at my house free of charge, local channels, up to four TVs w/o any contract and I'm wondering if I should jump at the opportunity.

 

What else should I know?

[Frank S]

I freaking hated my dish service with a passion.It would lose signal with just the slightest amount of rain falling and that got old really quick.

 

We switched back to digital cable 2 years ago and haven't looked back since.The price may be a little higher but if I'm paying for a service I kind of want it to work when I want it too.

[Machine]

hi -

 

I'm currently using two services (cable and Direct TV), and I've used Dish Network. My Direct TV and Dish Network services have been flawless. The only time I lose signal is in a SEVERE (Texas) thunderstorm when the wind and rain make it feel like the roof is going to collapse. Other than that, the service, variety, and picture quality have all been superb - much better than cable.

 

My dish has no obstructions and is firmly mounted on the side of my home - about 18' off the ground

[tmf6902]

Dish....I have directv, and I only loose my signal is hurricane type thunderstorms.....I shoot right through trees, and it's always crystal clear...the key to the dish I found is to make sure you have it set on the right transponder....it comes from the factory set to a default....I switched mine to number 28 and my signal strength never changes...it's always 99......unless of course....the huge thunderstorm.

 

I pay 53 bones a month for it....for the same service in college from adelphia I paid 83.

 

I forgot to mention...the diretv's customer service is 2nd to none as far as I'm concerned....the only problems I have ever had were "between the couch and the remote", and with a call to them they quickly and gently let me down that it was my fault....plus and this is a huge plus for me...you can order any pay channel (HBO, showtime...etc) for as long or as little as you want....a couple of months ago I bought HBO for a day so I could watch a fight....the next day I turned it off....the only charged me for the day I had it..not the whole month......I could have never done that with cable.

[Shotgun]

I've had cable in the past but for the last 3 years it has been Directv for me.I even get my local channels which I'm not sure if dish offers them yet.

[GF7PE]

got Direct Tv about a month ago and now I wish I had gotten it sooner

[TarheelZ]

Or, depending on what you're looking for, you can pony up for a large dish, a receiver that handles C-band analog AND digital and get it all! My programming package for C-band includes all the same digital signals at no extra charge and you can get pretty dadgum close to 600 channels. Best thing? Weather doesn't affect it at all! Worst thing? Big A** Dish!

[Rookie]

I get a great pitcure all the time. I love my dish. However i did have a poor pitcure when i first got it. i called and griped. they sent the tech (a different one) out he readjusted the thing and bingo. I will never change back. Think about it Cabel comes from from a sat dish at the cabel company then pushed down a "CABLE" to you. The onlt time mine goes out is in weather that would cause my cabel to go out.

[lrymal]

Or, depending on what you're looking for, you can pony up for a large dish, a receiver that handles C-band analog AND digital and get it all! ...

Ok, here's my take on this stuff:

 

Disadvantages of a BUD (big ugly dish):

 

The dish may need to swing from satellite to satellite as you change channels. That potentially can cause a delay when changing channels---not good if one is a couch potato channel surfer. Another disadvange of a BUD is its size. You gotta find a part of the yard to put it on, or somewhere on the roof or building.

 

Advantages of a BUD:

 

As mentioned, no weather issues as there is with the little dish and also with cable. CHEAP... Competitive programming. For the techie type, there are ample fun and waaaay cool accessories from companies such as Skyview.

 

Advantages of DISH or DirectTV:

 

Small, quick to set up by the user. No channel surfing delay. Can be mounted ANYWHERE there is a small window to a small target of the southern sky. It can be mounted on the ground and can even be concealed.

 

Disadvantages of DISH or DirecTV:

 

Two real disadvantages are "rain fade" which is very infrequent and doesn't happen enough to think about, unless the little dish isn't aimed well.

 

Second disadvantage is that your picture, depending on the receiver, may have video compression noise. Most folks don't see it, but I do. It used to bug me, but if you don't sit within five feet of the monitor, you won't see it.

 

Digital cable:

 

Quailty and advantages depends on where you live. In my area, the digital cable is pure Indeed, I went with DirecTV waaay back in '95 just because the cable service is so pathetic. But, if cable is good, I'd go that route over the satellite options.

[scooter70]

Do any of you Dish people have HD? I looked into Dish and Directv when I got my HDTV (almost 2 years ago), but the cable company was promising that I'd have it from them soon. About a year ago, they came out and gave me a Motorola 5100 (for no additional monthly cost). Now I have ABC, CBS, FOX, (no NBC yet), HBO-HD, and Discovery HD Theater all in crisp 1080i high definition. For $6 a month I could get HDNet, HDNet Movies, and two INHD channels. All this for the cost of digital cable and I didn't have to buy an oval dish or an $800 receiver. Plus I can still plug in any tv in any room of my house and get regular cable. No additional boxes or parts to add to the dish. In addition to the cable tv, I have Roadrunner, which would cost another $10 per month to get if you didn't have cable already.

Until the initial costs involved in HD satallite come down, it's cable all the way for me.

[bigdogs]

That is why we went with digital cable. (we even have a little dish already on the roof). Getting HD channels with my cable just requires a box rental (which I need for HBO anyway). Getting HD with a dish is an $800-$1000 investment in a box...No thanks I will let Time Warner do that.

[ToeJam]

Good info guys, thanks

 

What is the difference between DirectTV and the Dish? Just two different companies? Is one typically rated better?

[Machine]

Good info guys, thanks

 

What is the difference between DirectTV and the Dish?  Just two different companies?  Is one typically rated better?

DirectTV has very good customer service and I believe a larger subscriber base.

[timk49]

I have used the DirtecTV service for 7 years. I switched from Adelphia Cable for several reasons.

1. Poor reception and service response.

2. Price increases

3. No NFL package.

4. No high speed Data in my neighborhood.

 

Direct TV

1. Great Reception never have had an outage.

2. Great online support

3. NFL Sunday Ticket ( I pick the game I want to see)

4. Local channels, lots of programming choices.

 

High Speed Data

 

I use a wireless broadband company because I'm too far away for DSL and the cable company strung me out for so long I gave up on them.

 

Something to consider

 

if you bundle broadband with your TV service some cable companies have a good deal. It is worth checking out.

[varmint2506]

DirectTV for me. I have had it since they bought out Primestar. I lease mine so any problems are solved immediately, they even sent a guy out to trim the trees back for me.