Tnthd & Espn2 Hd
I have to really take my hat off to the folks in South Jersey and anywhere else that have been deprived of TNT HD. When I joined Comcast last year (on the Dish buyback promo after Voom went Doom), the fact that Comcast in Baltimore City had just added TNTHD made switching to Comcast easier. As a basketball fan I love watching NBA in HD. In fact last night the same game (Wizards vs the Cavs) was in HD on both Comcast Sports Net "HD" and TNT HD. The reason that I put the quotes around the HD in Comcast sportsnet HD is that TNT HD picture quality for Basketball is always head and shoulders above Comcast Sportsnet quality HD (which at times barely looks like even digital .....much less HD.....at least in Baltimore).
I just got my first post promotion bill. With the promo I was getting free digital cable for $29.99, all 5 premiums for a total of $25 and 2 additional HD non-DVRs for $19.90 and 1 free HD DVR. I replaced one of the non-HD DVRs with a second DCT-6412 HDDVR and added the $52.95 tier of high speed internet. My eventual total of $138.17 (after taxes) is about to go up by about $32 for digital cable ($30 to $62) plus about $50 more for premiums ($25 to $75 for the 5 premiums) and $14.95 (for the formerly free HDDVR). My monthly new total will be over $280 (from $138.17) (actually got a bill for $292 due to pro-rating ...due on May 11)
I was just going to cut the premiums (except HBO), one STB and then I decided to cut Comcast all together if they did not cut me a deal. The guy at Comcast seemed disinterested in working out anything. So it's off to Dishnetworks for now. Verizon FIOS digging is all around Baltimore City (Howard County, Anne Arundel county and even in Baltimore County) but probably not going to install in B'more City in the forseeable future (clearly cherry-picking). I might just commit to Dish for 18 months (or not LOL). Install is set for May 11 HD DVR just arrived today. I will either stay (or become) frugal and go with the HD Gold with 23 HD stations (not including locals) and add only HBO or go with HD Platinum (all premiums included) package with 25 HD stations (strangely no Starz HD nor Cinemax HD though with Dish).
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/programming/pricingandpackages/index.shtml
At least I will finally get ESPN 2HD and HDNet and HDNet movies etc (and be re-united with the Voom stations). I will miss the crisp picture quality of INHD 1 & 2 but not the fuzzy CSNHD. Since I am dropping Comcast TV my internet bill would climb from$52.95 per month to $67.95. So it's good bye 8mbps/768kbps and hello 3mbps/768kbps
($29.95 Verizon DSL).
Wayne
