Decisions for a new subscriber...

[jfk88]

Well...it's official...my need to educate myself has yet again left me cross eyed from reading posts in the forum over the past two hours.

Can you guys just make a suggestion.

I want SAT. Dish seems to offer more value.

I'm intersted in 921...however very skeptical about all these problems I've read about.

Is it worth it? I have Sony 55” Grand WEGA™ LCD Rear Projection HDTV KDF-55WF655 and I'm new to HD tv & DVR service. I'm technical but for god sakes it seems like a nightmare with some of these things I've read. Now granted the newest update might have addressed these issues or some of them...but my biggest fear is I drop this coin and get the thing all setup by my local retailer and I have issues with HD recordings etc. Any input?

Also...I'm a bit lost with this whole OTA vs. Dish locals. I'm in the PHilly area and they are available to me through dish. However I'm getting the impression many don't pay for locals because they have some kind of other antenna? Someone please elaborate there.

Any help is greatly appreciated as I'm really hoping to make an educated and informed decision.

Thanks,

Joe

 

[Mark_AR]

You can hook an external antenna to a 921 to get OFF air and/or Off Air Digital(HD) locals.

Since you live in/near a larger city, you can probably get away with not subscibing to local channels and using a small outside antenna or possibly an attic antenna.

Check out Antennaweb.org to get a rough idea of how close you are to your locals.

http://www.antennaweb.org/

And the antenna links page:

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/info.aspx?page=links

I live 50-75 miles from my locals and can still get a 55-70 digital signal strength with a Terk38 Large Directional antenna affixed to a 50-60 foot tower.

 

[DVDDAD]

Yes, the 921 is now well worth it. A matter of fact with its current pricing and software, it's a steal! Although you can get your locals from Dish, they will be in SD (standard definition) not HD. You still may want to subscribe to your locals from Dish for other receivers (if you have any) and because currently you need to subscribe to them to get the OTA guide data for your HD channels that you'll get from your antenna. HD is a little like "Back to the Future" in that the antenna is the only way for you to currently receive your local (the networks, *CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC) channels in HD in most areas. Some cable company's now offer them, but they don't have a two tuner DVR like the 921. I hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[jfk88]

Thanks for the replies guys...

So the way I understand it is I can buy an antenna to get OTA locals in digital and HD but I have to work out the logisitcs of distance and whether or nto I'll get sufficient signal strength to do it. With that setup it would allow me to NOT subscribe to dish for their locals but I would then lose the guide. Correct? For the $5/mo. which I think it is I think I would opt. to just subscirbe to locals esp. since I own a townhome and a 50-60 ft. tower might not go over really well. =) But do I understand you correctly in I can't get the locals in HD with the dishnet local programming? I need a special antenna? You would think they would do that as part of the "free" setup?

Aside from that I hope this 921 doesn't give me nightmares. Those threads I read on the jittering effect on recorded programs really makes me cringe. Has this issue been entirely addressed?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[rad]

Since I see your post count is low have you looked through some of the threads on this site to see what's happening with E*, future HD programming and the 921 OTA digital channel program guide?

If not you might want to review:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=38196 (comments about OTA guide)
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=38599 (comments about future HD programming and E* moving to MPEG4)

Not trashing, just making sure you've done your research.

 

[jfk88]

Well...all I can say is wow...sigh..whatever...the choices are almost overwhelming.

The whole reason I'm considering Sat is because I gathered from research it's silly to invest in an HDTV and then get digital cable since all channels under 100 are analog anyway. Sat. is apparently the only true digital medium.

However with some of the issues I'm reading about I just don't know what to do.

If I just want programming on the level of Americas choice 120 with HD and the ability to do DVR...who is better...Dish or Direct? Or even Cablevision?

I would guess with those requirements Dish is the most aggressive as far as price...but man...is Direct TV as buggy?

sigh...

help!!!!

 

[C Diddy]

Thanks for the replies guys...

So the way I understand it is I can buy an antenna to get OTA locals in digital and HD but I have to work out the logisitcs of distance and whether or nto I'll get sufficient signal strength to do it. With that setup it would allow me to NOT subscribe to dish for their locals but I would then lose the guide. Correct? For the $5/mo. which I think it is I think I would opt. to just subscirbe to locals esp. since I own a townhome and a 50-60 ft. tower might not go over really well. =) But do I understand you correctly in I can't get the locals in HD with the dishnet local programming? I need a special antenna? You would think they would do that as part of the "free" setup?

Joe

Hey Joe, you are exactly correct. You cannot get local channels in HD right now, without having an antenna. That being said, you don't necessarily need a 50-60ft tower antenna. I have a very small antenna that sits behind my t.v. which picks up all my local channels just fine. check out Antennaweb to see which kind of antenna would work well for your situation. If it recommends small or medium directional, than a little indoor antenna like the zenith silver sensor would work just fine.

If you aren't concerned about local HD channels, than you can subscribe to the DishNetwork HD pak, which gives you discovery, espn, etc. to get at least some HD programming, and make the 921 worth while.

I don't think Dish will install your antenna for you - but I'm not sure.

Hope that helps.

C

 

[jfk88]

Thanks again...

What's up with Voom?

They seem to have a considerably better offer for HD...but do you really sacrifice anything else?

 

[rad]

I would guess with those requirements Dish is the most aggressive as far as price...but man...is Direct TV as buggy?

Ask ten people and you'll get ten different answers. I have D* and I've had the HD10-250 HD Tivo since May and I can say I've never had the box hang or needed to reboot the box to get it out of a problem (same for my two standard def D* Tivo's). I also have a Sony HD300 STB and the box did hang and reboot itself a couple of times prior to the last software upgrade, stable since then.

 

[rad]

Thanks again...

What's up with Voom?

They seem to have a considerably better offer for HD...but do you really sacrifice anything else?

Right now they do not have a PVR, SD or HD offered but one's supposed to be coming soon. They also don't provide any local channels except via over the air. There's also a certain amount of uncertainty as to how viable Voom is since their subscriber numbers aren't very good, but if you can go with their no purchase and only 6 month commitment that might be something you want to look into.

 

[jfk88]

Thanks again guys..

I'm starting to think I may just try the digital cable service and HD through my local cable provider to see if I'm happy with the quality on everything under 100.

Then if that doesn't work out come back to the satellite thing. I just really felt satellite was better because of the digital thing...I think I've read otherwise a few times now...and isn't the digital cable audio inferior?

sigh...again..

What's better ? Dish or Direct tv? Taking price out of the equation...I want one reliable tv that I can have DVR and HD...

 

[C Diddy]

What's better ? Dish or Direct tv?

Honestly, that's something only you can answer. As said above, ask 10 people and you'll get that many different answers.

You need to take a look at several factors.

1. Which company offers more programming that you are interested in?
2. Which company offers that programming at a more reasonable price?
3. Do you want to rent your equipment, or own?
4. Do you mind paying $900 for Directv's HR10-250, which most would consider more reliable, or would you rather pay $550 for Dish's 921, which has had some reported bugs?
5. Are you concerned about Dish going Mpeg4, or are you confident it won't be an issue for you?

And many other things to consider as well. This is a decision only you can make, after you've informed yourself as best possible. Honestly, if you are okay with the pq of your local cable company, and they offer HD and a DVR, it will most likely be the cheapest route.

 

[rad]

When it comes to asking D*/E* or cable that's something that really can't be answered except by someone that's on your same cable system, everyone's is different.

Some 'general' comments:
- A good analog cable channel can look MUCH better then the same channel on digital.
- You can get your local HDTV channels without the need for another antenna, be it one on the roof, in the attic or rabbit ears, if your cable system provides them. Even they they might not provide all your local channels in HD, on Comcast Chicago they've not added our local UPN station, which recently went HD, so no HD UPN programming like Star Trek Enterprise.
- Just because a channel is 'digital' doesn't automatically mean better, it especially depends on how many SD channels your cable system crams into the available bandwidth, some systems might compress more then E*/D*, some less, so your milage will vary.
- On our cable system, they carry many more channels in Dolby Digital then either E* or D*.
- Cable is not always more expensive then DBS. If you comparied D* or E* to what Comcast charges in our area I get more channels for less money. Some systems charge lots more then DBD, again you need to do your research for your system.

As you indicated your leaning at this time, if you're not looking at a large outlay I'd say give your cable system a shot and see if it meets your expectations. Give it a few months and then D* and V* should start rolling out what they've said they plan to do in 2005 and E* might have a more clear direction by then.

 

[jfk88]

Good input for sure...

I live in Central NJ with Cablevision as the provider. I have their voice over ip and internet service both of which are outstanding.

I'm not particuarly happy with my picture on my basic projection tv on the lower channels. I have no digital cable box either. So maybe if I get the digital box and my new tv I'll see how it looks..then take it from there.

I just don't think they offer DVR.

 

[rad]

Good input for sure...

I live in Central NJ with Cablevision as the provider. I have their voice over ip and internet service both of which are outstanding.

I'm not particuarly happy with my picture on my basic projection tv on the lower channels. I have no digital cable box either. So maybe if I get the digital box and my new tv I'll see how it looks..then take it from there.

I just don't think they offer DVR.

Don't know how low you mean but low back VHF channels (2 through 6) can but a b*tch. You might just want to call Cablevision and drop a hint that you're thinking about DBS because of poor signal and you'd like to give them one last shot to fix it. Maybe they will, maybe they won't but at least they'd know why you'd be cancelling.