Comcast for Dish....

[8ohms]

Finally did it folks. After years of loyal service and then a crappy HD receiver (811) I finally gave in to Comcast. It was the price that got me and then the 120 GB hardrive and then HDMI receiver with the SATA expansion input and the offer local HD. Then I found out about the 'ON DEMAND" features, Dual Tuners and then things got even better. I use to love Dish and I just might return back to them. But only when they make a real commitment to HD programming and get better equipment on the market and fix this crap with the 110 and 119 signal. The Motorola DCT6412:up receiver is very nice and has plenty of room for future expansion. I am looking forward to that. Just hope they have not made it to spy on us for this administration.

 

[jimboeau]

Finally did it folks. After year of loyal service and then a crappy HD receiver (811) I finally gave in to Comcast. It was the price that got me and then the 120 GB hardrive and then HDMI receiver with the SATA expansion input and the offer local HD. Then I found out about the 'ON DEMAND" features, Dual Tuners and then things got even better. I use to love Dish and I just might return back to them. But only when they make a real commitment to HD programming and get better equipment on the market and fix this crap with the 110 and 119 signal. The Motorola DCT6412:up receiver is very nice and has plenty of room for future expansion. I am looking forward to that. Just hope they have not made it to sky on us for this administration.

WTF

 

[lakebum431]

I think he meant "hope they have not made it to spy on us for this administration", but still, WTF?????

 

[scooby2]

Good luck with the sata expansion port. Its not active and most likely never will be. 120gb is nothing compared to the 942/622.

 

[ScottChez]

You should read this very long thread about the many bugs and missed recordings from the 6412 You should also try to get the new 6416 with the 160 hard drive and newer firmware (phase III)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=414680&page=73&pp=30

Good luck, drop in now and then and let us know how its working, others might want to try someday.

 

[jgantert]

I've never had E*, but I can safely say that the cable DVRs are nothing to brag about. I have the SA8300HD box from Comcast, and it sucks. I'm actually thinking about switching to Dish after Feb 1st to get rid of that POS.

-John

 

[Poke]

Yeah well either way Dish is the HD leader and as far as signal goes that all depends on where you live. Signal will always very from place to place overall all carrier rates will increase. Due to they will half to compete with Dish so either way folks can call it HD lite or whatever but Dish is the HD leader. Everyone else will play catch up and when they do that you always see prices go up. I can see going to Comcast to save money. But Comcast is not any better than Cox here in the Midwest it's still cable. Cables Company’s are going to half to really improve their network and how they do things or they will always be behind the satellite companies. Thats just my 2 cents.

 

[riffjim4069]

I had three SA8300HD DVRs for a few weeks prior to getting E* installed along with a 942 HD DVR. Ok, I'm going to ignore the lack of HD channels and horrible reliability and support from my local cable co. In a nutshell, the SA8300HD DVR worked without too many problems, but it was POS compared to the 942; the SA box ran hot, was noisy, and very klunky...but it worked. Moreso, the Program Guide was horrible beyond beleif whereas the 942 EPG rocks!

 

[Sparkman]

I have had 3 6412 boxes forthe past year and have had only 1 problem, 1 box died & we lost the recorded shows on that box. Otherwise, we've had nothing but good luck with them. I don't really like the guides, but I can live with them & I wish they had a bit more recording space. I still have E* for HD & super & my 811 works fine, but I'm watching less & less on there and am considering cancelling the whole E* thing after the Olympics are over.

 

[Bulldog]

Good luck with the sata expansion port. Its not active and most likely never will be. 120gb is nothing compared to the 942/622.

And neither is the price, Let's see $0.00 for the 6412 and what was the price for the 942/622?

 

[SatinKzo]

I'm trying to figure out the HD commitment comment and the 110 119 signal issue he is talking about.

 

[parrothd]

I did the same, went from directv & voom to comcast for the DVR and the HD, be sure to add the 30 second skip function to the remote! I'm waiting so see what happens with dish and HD, if they stay HDlite I'll have to stay with comcast...
The ondemand stuff gets old after a few minutes, not to mention you have to pay for the HD content and it's in HDlite...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_6412

 

[8ohms]

Excellent point Bulldog. So far I like my new Camcast DVR, especially the fact that I can record HDTV. But if it start to act likr Dish 811 I will let you all know.

 

[graffron]

I switched from e* to Comcast 7 months ago. There have been no problems with the 6412 what so ever. The HD quality varies greatly depending on the show being watched. My only problems with Comcast are 1) Higher price, and 2) many channels are still in analog (ugh)

Ron

 

[jgantert]

Yeah, the Comcast analog channels (all channels below 100) are horrible on a big screen.

No 30 sec skip on the SA HDDVRs, btw. Also, there are a few free HD-OD movies now showing in my area (Jerry Mcguire, Close Encounters and Fifth Element). I didn't realize the HDOD was in HDLite, tho.

-John

 

[wns]

Yeah, the Comcast analog channels (all channels below 100) are horrible on a big screen.
No 30 sec skip on the SA HDDVRs, btw. Also, there are a few free HD-OD movies now showing in my area (Jerry Mcguire, Close Encounters and Fifth Element). I didn't realize the HDOD was in HDLite, tho.
-John

How can you tell that the HD-OD shows are HDLite?
I watched Fifth Element from HD-OD (Motorola 6412-III at 1080i) and compared it to the widescreen DVD (Toshiba DVD Recorder at 480p). The HD-OD signal was superior. The VOOM HDLite signal (811 at 1080i) was comparable to a typical DVD at 480p. I ran all the inputs thru a Zektor component switch into a DLP projector w/ a 9foot wide 9x16 screen and toggled between the inputs looking for differences . While my comparisons were not scientific, I would be surprised if HD-OD was HDlite.

Some other ramblings:
I have wanted a HD-DVR for a while and came close a couple of times to spending the $750+ for a 942. Due to the MPEG4 mess, I held off until CES, then for the Jan 9 Charlie Chat. On Jan 10, I ordered a HD-DVR from Comcast. After comparing the HD offerings from Comcast and E* for about a week, I canceled E* after being with them since '97. I miss HDnet but I'll get over it. DiscoveryHD was the only channel I could do a side by side comparison, probably had a little more color saturation on Comcast than E*, but most of the time I could not tell the difference. The HD OTA's on the 811 were a little sharper than the Comcast equivalents but without a HD-DVR the wife and I never watched them. The Comcast tech reprogrammed the LOCK button to do the 30-second skip. It should not take too long before the name wears off the LOCK button, since most of the programming we currently watch are the HD locals when they are time-shifted.

 

[8ohms]

I got mine for free (actually two) with a one year contract and pay less than $50 bucks a month. Before with Dish I was paying close to $90 a month and live with a 811 that was driving me insane. I do however love Dish menu better than Comcast but I can live with it and the $40 saving monthly. Plus I also get a DVR that can record HDTV for up to 20 hours as well as two program at the same time. So overall I am satisfied for now.

 

[jgantert]

wns, ParrotHD said HD-OD was HDLite. I havent noticed it either to be honest with you.

-John

 

[Claude Greiner]

And neither is the price, Let's see $0.00 for the 6412 and what was the price for the 942/622?

You get what you pay for!

 

[drdr]

I had the Comcast 6412 for about 10 months. I had nothing but problems with it. My experience was probably atypical, and most other people around here seem satisfied.

I went back to E* and have been very happy with the 942. The main advantage to the 6412 is that there is no upfront cost or long-term contract. This made it much easier for me to dump Comcast and go back to E*.

Good luck to you with that Comcast thing.