Is it true Charter Spectrum has more HD channels than any other carrier?

[IcEWoLF]

I've seen them advertising their new Spectrum service, currently I have their Internet only, but I was wondering if they truly offered more HD than other providers.
Can someone post the HD channel count from DirecTV/Dish/Comcast?

Right now they are claiming they have 200 HD channels.

 

[mdavej]

Yes, it is, as far as the major players go. Technically Brighthouse has a couple more. But I think they're only in parts of Florida, Alabama and a few other states.

I have Charter Spectrum and do indeed have about 200 HD channels in my lineup (some are sports, foreign or premiums I don't subscribe to). About two years ago, when I first signed up, they had about 100, then several months later 160, and a few months ago with the analog shut-down and introduction of Spectrum, went up to 200. HERE's a pretty accurate and up to date list showing DirecTV/Dish/Comcast having 141/137/140 respectively.

While I get far more HD than I ever got with Dish or DirecTV when I had them a few years ago, that number does have some fluff. It includes all the west coast premium feeds as well as a bunch of shopping and religious channels. But there are some decent channels the other guys don't have, like, in DirecTV's case:

American Heroes (used to be Military Channel I think)
AWE
BBC World News
C-SPAN (and 2 and 3)
ESPN Goal Line
Esquire
Fuse
Fusion
FX Movie
GolTV
Great American Country
GSN
Hub
MavTV
MTV2
Nick Jr.
Nicktoons
Outdoor
Oxygen
Pivot
Reelz
RFD
Sportsman
Sprout
Sundance
TV One
TV Guide Network
UP
WE tv
Encore Action, Black, Classic, Suspense
Epix
MoviePlex
IndiePlex
RetroPlex

If you're curious about picture quality, I can tell you the HD is every bit as good as OTA and DirecTV and noticeably better than Dish. The SD picture quality is far better than DirecTV. And since I use a cable card 4 tuner whole home DVR system of my own (5 TVs in my house), I pay no DVR service or equipment fees besides the $2 card. So my bill is about half what it was with satellite, and I get far more channels. And with cable, I get most of my local sub-channels, so no more OTA required as it was with satellite.

Charter has made an incredible turn around in the past few years. Just 3-4 years ago, in my market at least, Charter had a grand total of about 20 HD channels that looked like poor quality SD channels. And their SD channels were unwatchable. Now they blow everybody (except FIOS) out of the water.

One caveat is their DVR interface looks like the Atari had in the 70's. It's nothing like what you may have had on satellite. So if you do get Charter, bring your own DVR (Tivo or WMC). Supposedly a big software upgrade is rolling out nationwide soon, but I'll believe that when I see it. Another caveat is they don't have Sunday Ticket. So if you can't live without that, you're stuck with DirecTV. I'm not a big sports guy, so I don't really know how Charter compares. But you can see exactly what they have on the chart linked above.

I'm very glad Dish dropped AMC for a while a few years ago. That's what prompted me to cancel and look at cable again. I've probably saved thousands in that time and gotten a lot more HD. I know I sound like a shill, but having had DirecTV, Dish and Charter on and off for the past 30 years or so, Charter today is by far the best.

 

[mdavej]

I was just checking my stocks and looked at Charter out of curiosity. Back when they were one of the worst companies in the US in 2010, and bankrupt, their stock price was literally 2 cents. Today it's over $160. If I only knew then what I know now. Even I had bought their stock when I signed up 2 years ago, I'd have more than doubled my money. Well, it's not the first thing I missed the boat on.

 

[IcEWoLF]

That's awesome, I am a bit concerned about not being able to record more than 2 channels at a time. That alone is very important and I also heard they no longer offer the whole home dvr service anymore.
I'd want a receiver where I can record at least 4 shows at at and being able to watch 2 channels at the same time in my house. I have two tv's.

 

[old corps]

Yes, it is, as far as the major players go. Technically Brighthouse has a couple more. But I think they're only in parts of Florida, Alabama and a few other states.

I have Charter Spectrum and do indeed have about 200 HD channels in my lineup (some are sports, foreign or premiums I don't subscribe to). About two years ago, when I first signed up, they had about 100, then several months later 160, and a few months ago with the analog shut-down and introduction of Spectrum, went up to 200. HERE's a pretty accurate and up to date list showing DirecTV/Dish/Comcast having 141/137/140 respectively.

While I get far more HD than I ever got with Dish or DirecTV when I had them a few years ago, that number does have some fluff. It includes all the west coast premium feeds as well as a bunch of shopping and religious channels. But there are some decent channels the other guys don't have, like, in DirecTV's case:

American Heroes (used to be Military Channel I think)
AWE
BBC World News
C-SPAN (and 2 and 3)
ESPN Goal Line
Esquire
Fuse
Fusion
FX Movie
GolTV
Great American Country
GSN
Hub
MavTV
MTV2
Nick Jr.
Nicktoons
Outdoor
Oxygen
Pivot
Reelz
RFD
Sportsman
Sprout
Sundance
TV One
TV Guide Network
UP
WE tv
Encore Action, Black, Classic, Suspense
Epix
MoviePlex
IndiePlex
RetroPlex

If you're curious about picture quality, I can tell you the HD is every bit as good as OTA and DirecTV and noticeably better than Dish. The SD picture quality is far better than DirecTV. And since I use a cable card 4 tuner whole home DVR system of my own (5 TVs in my house), I pay no DVR service or equipment fees besides the $2 card. So my bill is about half what it was with satellite, and I get far more channels. And with cable, I get most of my local sub-channels, so no more OTA required as it was with satellite.

Charter has made an incredible turn around in the past few years. Just 3-4 years ago, in my market at least, Charter had a grand total of about 20 HD channels that looked like poor quality SD channels. And their SD channels were unwatchable. Now they blow everybody (except FIOS) out of the water.

One caveat is their DVR interface looks like the Atari had in the 70's. It's nothing like what you may have had on satellite. So if you do get Charter, bring your own DVR (Tivo or WMC). Supposedly a big software upgrade is rolling out nationwide soon, but I'll believe that when I see it. Another caveat is they don't have Sunday Ticket. So if you can't live without that, you're stuck with DirecTV. I'm not a big sports guy, so I don't really know how Charter compares. But you can see exactly what they have on the chart linked above.

I'm very glad Dish dropped AMC for a while a few years ago. That's what prompted me to cancel and look at cable again. I've probably saved thousands in that time and gotten a lot more HD. I know I sound like a shill, but having had DirecTV, Dish and Charter on and off for the past 30 years or so, Charter today is by far the best.

Thanks for your post. I'd be very interested in any detailed info you could provide re. the "whole house" DVR solution you are using if you get the time. I currently have Charter for internet and phone but am a Dish customer--have been for over 15 years.

Thanks!
Ed

 

[mdavej]

I use a Ceton InfiniTV 4 cable card tuner in a cheap used Win 7 PC. It can record 4 shows at once while simultaneously playing back 6. I have 5 TVs: one connected directly to my PC and the other 4 connected to a Ceton Echo at each. The Echo give me access to the guide, all recordings and live TV similar to how Hooper/Joey and Genie/Mini work.

My PC boots directly to Windows Media Center (WMC) and is controlled entirely by a regular remote. So the to the end user it's no different than using a sat or cable DVR. My PC sleeps when not in use and wakes automatically for recording, playback or live TV.

Ceton also makes a 6 tuner model. You can add several up to 24 I think. One WMC server can have unlimited clients, but you can only watch 5 of them simultaneously.

With a PC based system, you also get all streaming services (Netflix, etc.), web browser, and music/photos/videos.

I can also view and manage my system remotely.

I actually still use all my DECA adapters from my old DirecTV system for Ethernet in each room.

 

[old corps]

I use a Ceton InfiniTV 4 cable card tuner in a cheap used Win 7 PC. It can record 4 shows at once while simultaneously playing back 6. I have 5 TVs: one connected directly to my PC and the other 4 connected to a Ceton Echo at each. The Echo give me access to the guide, all recordings and live TV similar to how Hooper/Joey and Genie/Mini work.

My PC boots directly to Windows Media Center (WMC) and is controlled entirely by a regular remote. So the to the end user it's no different than using a sat or cable DVR. My PC sleeps when not in use and wakes automatically for recording, playback or live TV.

Ceton also makes a 6 tuner model. You can add several up to 24 I think. One WMC server can have unlimited clients, but you can only watch 5 of them simultaneously.

With a PC based system, you also get all streaming services (Netflix, etc.), web browser, and music/photos/videos.

I can also view and manage my system remotely.

I actually still use all my DECA adapters from my old DirecTV system for Ethernet in each room.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it!

Ed

 

[KazooGuy]

Yes, it is, as far as the major players go. Technically Brighthouse has a couple more. But I think they're only in parts of Florida, Alabama and a few other states.

I have Charter Spectrum and do indeed have about 200 HD channels in my lineup (some are sports, foreign or premiums I don't subscribe to). About two years ago, when I first signed up, they had about 100, then several months later 160, and a few months ago with the analog shut-down and introduction of Spectrum, went up to 200. HERE's a pretty accurate and up to date list showing DirecTV/Dish/Comcast having 141/137/140 respectively.

While I get far more HD than I ever got with Dish or DirecTV when I had them a few years ago, that number does have some fluff. It includes all the west coast premium feeds as well as a bunch of shopping and religious channels. But there are some decent channels the other guys don't have, like, in DirecTV's case:

American Heroes (used to be Military Channel I think)
AWE
BBC World News
C-SPAN (and 2 and 3)
ESPN Goal Line
Esquire
Fuse
Fusion
FX Movie
GolTV
Great American Country
GSN
Hub
MavTV
MTV2
Nick Jr.
Nicktoons
Outdoor
Oxygen
Pivot
Reelz
RFD
Sportsman
Sprout
Sundance
TV One
TV Guide Network
UP
WE tv
Encore Action, Black, Classic, Suspense
Epix
MoviePlex
IndiePlex
RetroPlex

If you're curious about picture quality, I can tell you the HD is every bit as good as OTA and DirecTV and noticeably better than Dish. The SD picture quality is far better than DirecTV. And since I use a cable card 4 tuner whole home DVR system of my own (5 TVs in my house), I pay no DVR service or equipment fees besides the $2 card. So my bill is about half what it was with satellite, and I get far more channels. And with cable, I get most of my local sub-channels, so no more OTA required as it was with satellite.

Charter has made an incredible turn around in the past few years. Just 3-4 years ago, in my market at least, Charter had a grand total of about 20 HD channels that looked like poor quality SD channels. And their SD channels were unwatchable. Now they blow everybody (except FIOS) out of the water.

One caveat is their DVR interface looks like the Atari had in the 70's. It's nothing like what you may have had on satellite. So if you do get Charter, bring your own DVR (Tivo or WMC). Supposedly a big software upgrade is rolling out nationwide soon, but I'll believe that when I see it. Another caveat is they don't have Sunday Ticket. So if you can't live without that, you're stuck with DirecTV. I'm not a big sports guy, so I don't really know how Charter compares. But you can see exactly what they have on the chart linked above.

I'm very glad Dish dropped AMC for a while a few years ago. That's what prompted me to cancel and look at cable again. I've probably saved thousands in that time and gotten a lot more HD. I know I sound like a shill, but having had DirecTV, Dish and Charter on and off for the past 30 years or so, Charter today is by far the best.

Totally agree! I left DISH last summer and switched to Charter bundling my Internet, phone and television and am saving about half of what I was paying DISH. I also am using a TIVO that I had already owned, so with only needing an Mcard I can record 6 streams. Very happy with their turn around!

 

[primestar31]

Totally agree! I left DISH last summer and switched to Charter bundling my Internet, phone and television and am saving about half of what I was paying DISH. I also am using a TIVO that I had already owned, so with only needing an Mcard I can record 6 streams. Very happy with their turn around!

Does Charter charge you an extra fee MONTHLY for the Mcard/cablecard, beyond your sub price? Sort of like the $7 fee Dish charges me monthly for my OWNED VIP722k dvr?

I don't like Charters dvr, but I'm leaning towards seeing how a Tivo works, and I might need to do more than just OTA. I'm in the woods, so sometimes have issues with multipath no matter what I've tried.

 

[KazooGuy]

Does Charter charge you an extra fee MONTHLY for the Mcard/cablecard, beyond your sub price? Sort of like the $7 fee Dish charges me monthly for my OWNED VIP722k dvr?

I don't like Charters dvr, but I'm leaning towards seeing how a Tivo works, and I might need to do more than just OTA. I'm in the woods, so sometimes have issues with multipath no matter what I've tried.

$2 per month for the card. I am paying $107.94 for all three services. That is taxes and fees, everything! My Internet speeds are usually 60-70 MBS during peak hours.

 

[mdavej]

In the few months since my last post, Charter has added 20+ more HD channels, bringing them to a total of about 80 more HD channels than Dish or DirecTV, far more than any other provider in the US in fact, leaving even Brighthouse in the dust. In that time, Dish and DirecTV have had at least 2 major disputes with providers resulting in lost channels, and Charter has had none, as has been the case for several years.

They still don't have a decent DVR, so cable card is still the way to go. As far as fees go, it's only $2 for each card, nothing else, as KazooGuy said. Of course you still have to pay for any Charter boxes (I don't have any).Thanks to multi-tuner devices, one 6 tuner Ceton (I upgraded a few months ago) with one cable card serves my whole house (5 TVs). Similar story for a 6 tuner Tivo, but much higher hardware and subscription costs (assuming you don't pay for lifetime up front).

 

[Spike]

I joined Charter this last September. I too needed more the two tuner DVR that they offer. I purchased a couple of Tivos. One records 4 shows. The other records 6. For many people only one Tivo suits their household needs. In my case, the ladies of the house record a lot of shows, so I had to go for two. mdavej's set up is absolutely fantastic. If I were healthy, that would be the way we would have gone. You may want to look into what he is doing.

 

[primestar31]

I'm impressed just how much that Charter has really gotten their act together after their bankruptcy.

 

[Bronxiniowa]

Competition is a wonderful thing.