dont flame me, plz

[wase4711]

wow, no 11 or 50? that would be a drag...I could live without 26, but I like 11 and 50...
I have one of those old Winegard Square Hd OTA antennas in the basement; maybe I should try that our before dumping Comcast..
Man, its a royal pain in the butt trying to figure all this out..no wonder so many people just stick with Comcast!

thanks for the great info rad; I've been reading the stuff over at AVS that you suggested...

 

[rad]

wow, no 11 or 50? that would be a drag...I could live without 26, but I like 11 and 50...
I have one of those old Winegard Square Hd OTA antennas in the basement; maybe I should try that our before dumping Comcast..
Man, its a royal pain in the butt trying to figure all this out..no wonder so many people just stick with Comcast!

thanks for the great info rad; I've been reading the stuff over at AVS that you suggested...

It can't hurt to try it, assuming you have an ATSC tuner to check it with. All the ATSC stations, except for WMMB-DT broadcast on the UHF band, which IIRC the Square Shooter does, so you might have some luck with it. I use the amplified version up in the attic for my OTA. Good luck!

 

[Brewer4]

Here's my 2 cents. Getting broke giving money out.

On the PQ front, I cant comment on Comcast. However, I've had Voom, my father in-law has Dish and I have Directv. I've seen all three in action on overlapping channels. Voom had a slightly better picture with Dish second slightly over Directv. That was comparing MPEG2 HD national channels. Directv's RSN's are MPEG4 as well as the HD locals and they look as good if not nearly identical to the naked eye to the OTA picture. My in-law doesnt get local HD but some HD channels are MPEG4 and they look real good.

So the future looks great from both Dish and Directv using MPEG4 HD. Everything going forward in HD will be MPEG4 for both providers so thats the great news. I dont know if one has an advantage over the other in terms of quality.

On the HD DVR front I've used both Dish's 622 and Directv's HR20. Both are great DVR's. Menu, speed, and feel are different but again, you cant go wrong with either one.

So it all comes down to programming packages and choice. I am more sports inclined and I've invested in Directv over the years and its a good partnership. So my nod goes to Directv but if Dish had NFL Sunday Ticket and my market HD locals, it would be a real toss up. The only thing that also nods toward Directv is the 622 only has one OTA tuner. I find that to be very disappointing. But if your market is served by HD locals, then either one will work just fine.

 

[wase4711]

great info man..
are both the hddvr's you mentioned "MPEG4 ready", or do I need to wait a few weeks until they roll out new hardware?

 

[Brewer4]

Both Directv's HR20 and Dish's 622 are MPEG4 ready and already view MPEG4 stations. They are doing a mixed bag with MPEG2 but BOTH are ready today and for the near future of all MPEG4 HD.