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If I could buy the shows I genuinely care about for $2-3 apiece the day they air for the first time (instead of having to wait 3-6 months or more), I'd cancel my satellite service tomorrow and come out ahead financially. Frankly, if channels like MTV and Bravo would allow it, Time...

Unless, say, you have zero interest in two particularly-expensive specific categories of channels... say, sports (the ESPN cartel) and children's (the Disney Mafia). At the very least, they could maintain their price points and probably make a few million customers happier by turning it into a...

Well, I'd like to thank everyone for all their help. As luck would have it, when I called DirecTV to cancel (fully and 100% ready to switch to Dish), they made an offer too good to refuse(*), so I'll be sticking with them for at least another year. (*)Basically, they waived the DVR fee for 12...

One more question about the 211k... does connecting its HDMI output to a TV disable the component video outputs?

From what I've read elsewhere, it also has to be 7200RPM, and the drive has to have its own power -- you can't use a 2.5" portable drive that's USB-powered.

Hmmm. Now that I think about it, there IS one thing that makes the 211k unique compared to other units with respect to the $40 one-time fee... an external hard drive on a 211k devoid of DVR capabilities would be pointless, so by definition the only reason somebody would add one is to use it as a...

Uh oh, found a potential snag. I didn't even think it was *legal* to make material changes to a contract (like adding brand new fees out of the blue without allowing customers to either refuse the new fee or leave without penalty during the contract term), but apparently Dish could, with...

Actually, I just thought of another thing... can the 211k's usb port self-power a 2.5" hard drive?

Wow, that's awesome news :) Just to confirm, what I've read elsewhere... local channels are included for free, there's no monthly rental fee for the first/only box, and once I've paid the $40 one-time fee up front, there are no additional monthly fees for DVR service or EPG service, right?

I'm thinking about switching to Dish from DirecTV, mainly because right now I'm spending about a hundred bucks a month for DirecTV service I only watch occasionally, and figure I could be paying roughly half as much for the channels I care about if I switched to Dish, got a 211k, and paid the...

I just got DirecTV a few days ago (with HR21), and two particular channels have absolutely driven me crazy with artifacts that I think are unfortunately inherent and can't be tweaked away: * HGTV HD appears to be 4:3 source that comes "off the satellite" zoomed and adaptively pre-stretched to...

Does that mean I'm entitled to demand either a HR20 or free ATSC tuner for the HR21, plus a proper antenna & wiring for it at the time I place the order (or when the installer shows up) if there's at least one HD local station that's not currently available via satellite? If it's free, and...

How big of a difference is there between the picture quality for OTA and DirecTV for local HD stations? Is it a fairly subtle difference, to the point where you'd have a hard time telling the difference between the two unless you literally had two identical TVs side by side to compare...

Are any channels or shows currently downrezzed via component video... or likely to be over the next 2-3 years? I don't really care about HBO/Showtime/Starz/PPV (I'm too cheap to pay for them anyway), but I'd be absolutely livid if they began downrezzing local channels, HGTV/HD, DiscoveryHD, etc...

Cable's bandwidth constraints are largely self-imposed by a desire to avoid upgrading hardware, reinforced by a desire to pay as little for as few channels as customers will let them get away with. Having talked to the installers today, I confirmed that Comcast has bandwidth to burn, even taking...

It's too bad cable competition hasn't taken off yet in the Miami area. If Comcast were forced to act like a competitor rather than a monopoly that gets a steady stream of customers by default, they'd likely play the one hardcore strategic advantage they HAVE over satellite: nearly unlimited...

Sigh. THAT just ruined my day. I guess I got screwed by them after all :( for (double x=0; x < Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY; x += Double.MIN_VALUE) { System.out.println("I hate salespeople, hidden deals, and having to negotiate."); }

OK, MUCH better deal! $37.95 for digital plus one w/HD-DVR and HBO $5.99/month for each additional SD box $9.99/month for each additional HD box ($5.99 + $5.00) $15.94/month for each additional HD-DVR ($5.99 + $9.95) [not 100% sure about this one] $4.99 to add Showtime and TMC...

Did you have to commit to some specific term? The way I understood it, there's no real penalty for dropping service before the end of the 16th month if you had leased equipment to begin with. Did they take the multiswitch or LNB?

Is the ~$5 fee for additional digital receivers purely a rental charge for the box, or is it a programming fee that would have to be paid even if I owned my own compatible digital box? If it's just a box rental charge, does a purchased box have to be cablecard compatible to...

ah, ok... I was referring to "second box and beyond" prices. At $5 for SD and $10 for HD, that looks like a slightly different way of saying "$5 for a digital box, $5 more for a HD digital box" :) Sigh. If the old leased Voom boxen don't get OTA killed or have to be sent back, maybe I'll set...

I'm wildly fantasizing about Lab and HDnews, but the fact that they don't even carry FUSE in Coral Gables doesn't bode well for Voom21 via Comcast :(

is the $5 per HD box instead of, or in addition to, the monthly fee charged for additional SD digital boxes? If it's INSTEAD OF, that would mean it's either 5 cents more or 95 cents less than they charge for the SD box (don't remember offhand whether they quoted $4.95 or $5.95 per SD box)...

So is the "Satellite buy back" plan supposed to be $25/month on top of any other promos and discounts, or are there promos it can't be combined with? Do you happen to know how much they're charging for additional HD-DVRs and/or non-DVR HD boxes (for TVs that aren't technically HD, but...

The problem is, most satellite boxes are designed to be as cheap as possible, for use by mass-market consumers who wouldn't know the difference between FuguTek and Faroudja if their lives depended on it. If you have an expensive TV with Faroudja-licensed chips inside, you're MUCH better off...