Social Feed

As some of you know. I joined the small dish crowd about 4 months ago. I want to write up an honest review here on the pro's and con's of both. This may help ones looking for options make there decision as the c band 4DTV master subs go away in the next couple months, and W5 is only left. I only have SD with Direct so I will only compare that to the 4DTV.

Picture Quality:

4DTV:
The masters are absolutely the best quality out there. It wins hands down and blows Direct out of the water.

W5 on the other hand and Direct are a close race depending on the channel selected.

DirecTV:
Can look soft and shows digital artifacts, they are not giving enough bandwidth to each channel. Although Direct blows the old G3 NPS channels away.

Reception Issues:

4DTV:
none

DirecTV:
Rainfade can be a problem. especially if you run with Direct's stock setup. When a strong cell one that usually produces red on the radar gets between you and your dish. it will go out. It can last sometimes up to 20-30 minutes. We had some bad storms this summer and it reared its ugly head multiple times. I upgraded my stock 18" setup to use my 90cm Primestar dish. This did help and keeps the signal going during the storm where it would be lost on a stock setup. Although a cloud full of mosture even kills my 90cm, it usually returns after some of that mosture is expelled and can be pouring heavy. If you have HD your forced into a Slimline dish with 3 LNB's (2 for HD on ka band) This may help over the 18" a bit on SD but still IMO don't have the gain needed. Talking of HD since they are on Ka band they will go out sooner and the outage will last longer then the ku SD channels. The rainfade issue is probably my biggest beef with Direct. They make a 1.2 meter dish for Alaska & Hawaii that works with HD birds. If your looking into HD and want the most constant reception during rain this is probably the best way to go. If you live in a rain belt like Florida c band is still your best bet.

Channels:

4DTV:
Loosing channels quite a bit, should level off after Jan 1 with W5 only remaining. This is the biggest blow to why c band subscription is where it is at. People want there MTV so to speak and the 4D cannot currently supply them to us as a subscription. If you like movies you can buy alacarte even on W5 and still get more HBO/Cinemax offerings that Direct offers. 4DTV also offer nitch music channels that are in the MTV suite and no one else offers all of them.

DirecTV:
You can get all the popular cable networks with Direct although there are some nitch channels especially music channels they don't provide. Like CMT Pure and MTV Hits etc. If you like those channels only the 4DTV (and they are on W5 too) offer those.

Pricing:

4DTV:
Competitive, no contacts pay as you go.

DirecTV:
Contract for 2 years. $20.00 a month for remaining months left if you want out early.
Pricing for first year you can get a good deal after that the prices skyrocket and if you can't afford that current package you have to downgrade to save. So while it works out for year one year two can be a shocker which you have to deal with one way or another.

Final thoughts:
While IMO nothing beats C band. We are faced with the decision if we want those cable channels we may have to go to the dark side so to speak. I don't regret my decision (yet) It is nice to turn on a channel I want and enjoy my favorite shows. But I love my c band and nothing will ever replace it. It makes me sad to see what happened to the 4DTV. I applaud SRL and Skyvision for trying to keep things going and hope that somehow there will be some kind of resurgence for c band subscription in the future. I would be the first one to gobble up a new receiver and dump pizza tomorrow.