I recently got a new 32" LCD HDTV and I want to upgrade from basic analog cable to either digital cable with the HD box, or one of the satellite services. In my area, the digital cable would be Comcast and the satellite service would be either Direct TV or Dish Network. What are the pros and cons? Let's hear your opinion!

 

digital cable pros = ondemand.
cons = too easy to hook up. no equipment to have to find a place outside to put it up on.

satelite cons = weather. reception.
satelite pros = piratable. ugly gray thing on your house shows you have ponied up for satelite.

 

well i have directtv & it's good but as soon as the wind kicks up or if it storms, some channels are not available anymore. it freezes up sometimes and it gets frustrating. we had digital cable before we got this and i loved it. comcast has the on demand stuff so you can watch almost anything whenever you want.

 

hmmm...so far digital cable looks like a winner. That's what a friend of mine was telling me too, but he works for Comcast so he's biased.

 

i live in seattle, a place of rain, cloudy weather and more rain. on icky days like that, i'd sure as hell want my tv working.

 

Yeah, that would suck. I decided to go with digital cable and the high definition tuner box. The clincher for me was that the dish needs to face south, which would put it on the front of my house. That ain't gonna happen. The cable dude is coming Friday between 3:30 & 5:30 to hook me up.

 

I know it's a little late and doesn't really matter since you already chose Comcast, good luck with that. But here is my opinion.

Comcast- Overpriced, poor picture quality- all of the dark colors seem to pixelate
Also, when i had it... EVERY time the wind blew too hard the cable would go out, surprised me too. On-Demand is AWESOME!!! But only worked about 3 days a month, had it fixed about 5 times and two new boxes. Still had problems. My cousin has the same problem, it just says, on-demand unavailable at this time.

Dish Net... I am a less than biased on these guys cuz i used to work for those A-holes and hated them, not the service... the people. 10 times out of 10 during service calls, when people complained about signal reception in bad weather, it was because the dish was aimed improperly. Once fixed no more problems. There have been times when the weather was sooo bad that trees branches were falling in the yard, telephones weren't working and power was flickering and i still had Dish reception, but thats because i installed the dish and aimed it perfectly 125signal.

These are just some FACTS about MY experiences with both. Don't let comcast brainwash you into believing that dish is a nightmare and everyone loses signal at the slightest swift breeze. If that was the case, then dish wouldn't have the 12 million or so customers it does have...

excerpt
EchoStar announced that DISH Network surpassed 12 million paid subscribers. In the last five years, DISH Network added more than 6.74 million net new customers, more than all other satellite TV and cable companies combined during the same period.


I personally would never go back to cable, but thats just because of my experience with dish compared to cable. I know others that due to there experiences would never go back to Dish and love cable.... It's all preference

 

Thanks for that info. I do appreciate the input. Actually, I didn't get any information on the satellite services from Comcast (I knew they'd trash them). I talked to 4 or 5 people around here who have it. Nobody had any big complaints about satellite (Direct TV or Dish Network). Most were pretty happy with a few typical complaints. But on the flip-side of that, almost everyone I talked to around here who has Comcast Digital LOVES it. I didn't hear any complaints at all except price. The picture, service, reliability and selection all sounded great. Who knows. At least with Comcast there is no contract or commitment. If I don't like it I can disconnect next week or 6 months from now.

 

Congrats on going high def! You going to wall-mount it? That's the sexiest way to go imo.

 

I agree completely. Unfortunately, my wife has other ideas. We have a corner cabinet entertainment center with doors that close. She was adamant that the new TV had to fit in there. That's why I only got a 32".

 

Haha... I was in the same situation. My gf thought the stand looked pretty so she didn't want to mount the 37. She came home the next day to the 37 in the bedroom and 120" of projector high def heaven in the living room.

 

I'd love to do that. Our living room get's way too much natural light for a projection system. We would have to draw all the blinds closed just to watch TV. She'd never go for that. I do love this new TV though. Those first few HD channels are like crack. I just gotta have more now!

 

Haha... yeah, we also have a fair amount of ambient light but the gf wanted shutters and I wanted a 120" tv. Everyone wins.

 

To add to the Seattle problem of satellite service is the line of sight. We have a lot of big, tall trees here and the last few homes I've had, I haven't been able to put a dish up because of this problem.

So, be sure your dish will be able to see it's satellite. Of course, the dude coming to install will be able to check and you should owe him nothing if the set up can't be installed. And also, sometimes you have to give your install payment in advance or authorize payment... and that'll be a hassle to stop if you didn't need the install.

Cable is just so much easier. I think the only good thing about dish is if cable isn't available in your area.

 

Yeah, I decided on cable because a dish would have gone on the front of my house to be pointed in the right direction. Satellite would be less expensive though. My stupid cable bill is going to be around $75 a month now just for digital TV and a high-def receiver.

 

$75!? Wow. I was under the impression that you could get phone/tv/internet for $75. I don't have either. I think if we got it we would still just watch the retarded network shows anyways.

 

Yep. The digital package is $63.55 a month + $5 for the HD receiver = $68.55 before taxes. It'll be close to $75 total. Those bundled packages are advertised very deceptively. Comcast advertises their "Tripple Play" (Digital TV, voip phone service, and cable modem) for $99 per month. That is for new customers only, and it's only for the first year. After a year, new customer or not, it goes to $150 per month before taxes!

 

Wow yeah, i have somewhere around 220 channels on Dish net and pay $82 for 4 seperate TVs. But yeah, i understand how you wouldn't want the ugly dish on the front of your house. Mine is on the back so i never see it.

 

Before my parents moved, our tv bill was 140 a month. That was for cable/digital cable/high def channels/cable internet/2 hd dvrs/and basic hbo.