Stay with Comcast or Switch to DirecTV or DishNetwork?

[Cayars]

I did a search to see if this was covered anywhere and didn't find anything so...

I presently have Comacst Digital Cable (Premium Package) with two DTC2000 boxes (they suck).
I have the following premium channels: HBO, MAX, Showtime, STARTZ! and TMC.
I'm presently using Comcast High Speed Internet service and I'll probably keep this regardless of the switch.
All TVs in the house are 24" to 32" with my main TV being a 32" Sony Trinitron (circa. 1998 model).

DirecTV has the Total Choice package for $88 a month and it includes 8 HBO, 12 STARZ, 9 Showtime, 3 Cinemax plus Sports Pack channels.
You can also get Playboy Monthly TV service for an additional $15.99 per month.

DishNetwork has the America's Everythink Pak for $80 a month and it includes 8 HBO, 8 STARZ, 10 Showtime, 5 Cinimax.
You can also get TENXtsy ($28), Ten ($23), TenClips ($23), or Playboy ($15) channels as monthly TV Services.

Trying to compare the two isn't as easy as I thought. So here are my questions.

Is the reception from the Sats as good, better or worse then my present Comcast service?
Can anyone elaborate on why they think one of the Sat services is better then the other for my needs?
Assuming I switch to one of these Sat services, is there any specific dish or receivers I should or shouldn't get.
Any other tips or gotchas I should be aware of.

Oh, one important thing I didn't mention before that caused me to look at Sat service in the first place. The receivers must be able to be controlled via Serial Cable. The IR Blaster sucks in my environment since I will have 3 or 4 receivers in the same rack and I only want one of them to respond to IR.

I set this up as a poll to easily tally the results Please comment in the thread why you think one provider is better then the other.

Thanks for any info you provide,

Carlo

[timbiotic]

WEll i finally got snapstream to work with my irblaster and dishnetwork... But that is the point, I think only few Dish IRDs have serial control and a lot of DTV do.

Here is a link that might help you decide on an IRD:

http://www.pcmx.net/dtvcon/

LSD = Low Speed Data (Serial)
HC = Home Control (Need Serial adapter)
WBD = Wide Band Data (Serial 15- need a Serial15 to 9 adapter)

I am happy with dish but you are right about the quirkiness of the blaster... I will be setting it up on my dtv receiver next.

Good luck!

[Cayars]

This is just the type of information I'm looking for. I was not aware of the Serial Port issue on Dish. This makes DirecTV look even better.

A follow up question on the Dish receivers. Is the serial port turned off on all models (company policy) or is there a specific model that does support serial connections.

Thanks,
Carlo

[SHS]

Beware that DirecTV dose drop out way more then DishNetwork around bad weather I know I had DirecTV and boy was I sapize at the diff from the to.
If you do go with DirecTV besure get RCA one after all they most do come with Low Speed Data port like the RCA DRD430RG witch last know model to be working with that tool I check around see any one using the new model RCA like DRD435RH or DRD455RH on weather not they work with dtvcon tool.

[Rita]

We got DirecTV a couple of months ago. We were warned that because they had to aim through a bunch of trees and had a very small "window" that the dish can excess we might have bad reception at times, may have to cut some branches, and we'll never get local channels (more trees in that direction.) They were right about the local channels but we have never gotten bad reception. BUT the receiver we got has no serial port and I don't want to mess with an IR blaster - I don't want any computers near the receivers-so we're only using cable still (Comcast but not digital), even though the satellite's picture is nicer on most channels-cable works better with snapstream.

The installer should be able to tell you if you're likely to have issues with reception, and if you can make sure your receiver has a serial port it's probably a better choice. Dish was out of the question for us since the only reason we got satellite was for the NFL Sunday Ticket. Only DirecTV has that as far as I know.

[timbiotic]

Yes, I have both Dish and DirectTv and have never had a drop out on either. I installed the Dish' myself so I bolted em down tight. I also made sure i had a clear shot of the SW sky (in my area)... My apartment complex i used to live at had drops all the time because of how they installed it. It is more the installation of the dish and the sky view than anything else. With a good connection Sat is far nicer i think.

[CO_Coding_Cub]

Well I'm coming from a slightly different POV here. We don't have premium channels, and bearly touched the digital ones (ch 100+), so we downgraded to analog cable, got rid of those horrible set-top boxes, and starts using a PVR-250 and an ATi AIW. I've never been happier.

I hate STB's so very, very much.....

[Cayars]

I own my own house out in the woods. I do have a very clear shot at the SW sky. I presently have two SAT dishes on the roof (not for TV) and haven't had a problem with either as far as reception goes. One of my dishes isn't being used at the moment so I "might" be able to use it for TV with a UNB switch. It's a nice big 3' foot round dish.

Since I'll keep Comcast for Internet I could still use this for basic cable if I wanted and not worry about a local channel package on either of the two Sat packages.

My ultimate goal is to get as many movie channels as possible to record from, in a super reliable way (no IR blaster).

Oh, I didn't mention this earlier but I now have 3 "recorders" and will probably add a 4th soon. I've pretty much settled on using SageTV to record on for 2 of my PVRs and I'm using SS for one PVR along with having this box connected to my main TV. So in a nutshell I'm using SageTV for it's multiple tuners and using SS for it's interface. It's working out quite well so far.

Carlo

[cgwaters]

I'm successfully using a Dish 301 receiver with the IR Blaster device purchased from SnapStream. I'm on the other side of the Delaware River, btw, in Eastern Pennsylvania.

[interman]

Carlo:

Not sure if you have this answered but for the record, we have had Dish for 3 years and were moderatley pleased with it but of late they are not keeping up. We are switching to Comcast this week to the Silver package. Some of our reasons are:

1. Dish sent me a letter that since I had 5 receivers in my house that I had to conect them to the SAME phone line and that the had to be connected 24/7. This infuriated me.
2. Dish has not kept up with HDTV. I can only get 2 channels and if I want more, I am SOL. Comcast has 10 including 7 local channels.
3. Every snow or rain storm (local or at the source), we lose connection.
4. I constanly get errors of "You card is not authorized to watch this channel, even though it is the basic set of channels"
5. I cannot tune to Dish with my tuner card. I have to install an IR device to do this. and I am not happy with that.

Not sure if this helps, but I think I will be happier with Comcast.

Don

sorry for the spelling mistakes.

[Cayars]

Thanks for the feedback Don.

It appears from the the comments here and elsewhere that I've read that DirecTV is a better choice then DishNetwork for PVR use.

1) That sucks, I'm sure that this is going to "cost" them customers. This seems to be a stupid move on their part.

2) Do you have a HD TV set? If not or if you have a "regular" TV set does the HD programming look any better on a non-HD set?

Is there any advantage to HD channels if you don't have a HD set? I'm probably a year out before I update/replace my main 32" Sony TV. I'd like to see 42"-60" plasma TVs drop in price a little more befor I purchase!

3) I've heard/read this from numerious people/posts. It seems some people have drops in bad weather and others don't. I can't help wondering if a lot of this has to due with the installer and how well he "dialed" in the signal. To some degree this should be less of a problem for me since I'm going to be using a bigger dish (3' round) then most people have.

4) I wonder if this has anything to do with number 1 above???

5) This is a biggy for me. It seems DishNetwork locks down the serial port while DirecTV has it unlocked. This is part of the reason I'm considering the switch myself since Comcast has my DTC boxes locked and I have to use the less than reliable IR Blaster approach.

I should clarify my statement above. I have the IR Blaster working 99%+ of the time but I have both DTC boxes in the same rack and I have a hard time trying to use both boxes with IR Blaster technology. Using Serial port control I should be able to have 4 boxes all controlled by the computer with no interference from the IR (electric tape over the IR sensor).

BTW, I noticed this was your first post. Thanks for helping me out and Welcome!

Carlo

[mogul411]

I had DirecTV and moved to a loft that would not allow my dish So I reluctantly am now using comcast digital. I hate it. The quality is disgusting. I actually have my HTPC connected to the cable directly and bypassing the digital box.....so no premium channels for my HTPC so that sucks. Anytime I wanna record premium, Ive gotta connect the digital to my HTPC. PITA!!! I miss my directv and its great quality. Ugh :-(

[Treetop]

It really depends what your into.

If you're into sports You have to go DirectTV..... their sports packages are fantastic even if they are overpriced. Dish does not have the NFL package, but they do have better porn channels. (so Im told).

From the Dish boxes I have seen the UI is ugly compared to some of the RCA units for DirectTV and some of them aren't too pretty either. The RCA remotes, however, take the cake in terms of bulkiness and ugly color scheme --- baby blue and pink....

One problem with both systems is that they are fully hackable. While this seems great at first it is not without its own set of problems..... I have read horror stories of people recieving $500 bills for movies that they did not order, but some hacker had their info and used it to steal tv for themselves. If your one of the people hacking the systems even more problems await you..... IT IS ILLEGAL. If you think the RIAA is coming down hard on people, just looked at what DirectTV is doing to stop signal theft.

That said, The low-data ports on the back of the directTV boxes are fantastic for changing channels. The picture quality of either set-up is superb. With regards to signal loss.... the only time I have ever seen it have problems is when a huge cumulus cloud rolls overheard as it dumps down buckets of water.... The clouds generally pass quickly (within 15 minutes) whereas when my cable goes out, it is generally out for hours if not for half a day.

You'll love either system you get.... you will never know how you lived with cable for so long.

[dequire]

Instead of answering one of those Sunday paper or internet ads, go to your local Circuit City or Best Buy. Then, you can select your own receiver(s) to make sure it has the low-speed data port. As previously mentioned, most ALL of the RCA dtv receivers have the port (which means that the $20 cable you buy from SS or make yourself will work). If your unsure, get the receiver model number and check the SS website.

I can't tellyou how much easier it is just to plug a cable in than to mess with an IR blaster...

My 2 cents.

[dequire]

Originally Posted by Treetop

From the Dish boxes I have seen the UI is ugly compared to some of the RCA units for DirectTV and some of them aren't too pretty either. T

Not that that matters with BTV