Should I Switch to DirecTV?

[logixrat]

I am thinking about switching over to DirecTV from Cox cable, and was curious to the picture quality. Before you tell me how great satellite and digital signals are, let me explain a little history and my exact scenario:

1. I had Dish Network about 3 or 4 years ago, and it seemed to provide a great picture but lack of local channels and package pricing with Cox internet services plus a big falling out pursuaded me to move.

2. The first part of January 2006, I decided to try Dish Network again after being frustrated with analog channels on Cox cable and the fact you know have to use 3 services to get any discount (phone, internet & tv). I made the switch, and got hooked up with a dual DVR receiver unit. The first time I really watched any programming was during the Texas & USC college football game. It looked like total crap. My picture literally looked like a computer video that was blown up too big and pixelated/blur/trash looking. After several efforts, they couldn't get the picture right and after the fight of my life I *finally* got out of the contract for no charge.

3. I would like DVR service, and I have 2 rooms I currently need service in. I did like the dual tuner setup before because all recordings were stored locally on 1 machine, but after talking to some people I undertand that may have been part of my picture quality issue and that 2 separate tuners are best. Either way, I would like DVR service in both rooms.

4. I watch alot of sports, mostly football, and mostly on local channels. I have a Toshiba 55" big screen TV that is around 4 years old. Not pre-historic, but still the 4:3 ratio, and only 1 component video hookup which I use for my DVD player. So I would hook up the satellite with S-video. My other TV is a Sharp 27" model that is at least 6+ years old. The best hookup on that is composite video.

Given my past experience, I am very leery to try DirecTV just because of my bad experience with Dish Network and the nightmare of cancelling the contract when I wasn't happy with the service. The other thing is since I watch alot of locals, I want those to be just as clear. My experince with DN was that locals were always less quality than the other channels.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I would like to try for the fact it would save me money. And I heard that after March 1st, DirecTV is going to leasing. If I decide to switch I would like to do so before then so I don't have to lease.

Many thanks!

 

[mikew]

If you go with Satellite, you're going to tie yourself into a lengthy contract. Do you know if your local digital channels are available in your area? Even if you don't have an HD set, you can view the HD broadcasts. Both Dish and DirecTV boxes will "downconvert" the HD signal to view on a standard set. If the majority of your viewing is locals, you can't beat the digital signals off the air. The benefit to getting satellite is that, with the HD boxes, the channels are integrated into your tuner (including the guide). You can also record those digital OTA broadcasts on your DVR...something you can't do with Cox.

If you don't know what channels are available at your house, go to www.antennaweb.org and plug in your address.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

OK I will do my best.
1st we need more info.

What is your zipcode?
What make and model are your TVs?
Do you want HD on any or all of the TVs?

 

[logixrat]

Yes, Cox does have local digital channels. Anything above 100 is digital. Most local stuff looks good because as you noted, they send the signal in HD and I have a DVR/HD box. Even though neither of my TV's are HD compatible, the signal looks great! Unfortunately it's all the other channels like TBS, Spike, etc that don't look good.

In regards to Eric, here is the info you requested:

1. 74103

2. I can't find them right now, but here is what I know. The big screen is a Toshiba Theatre View 52" or 55" model. It is at least a 3-4 year old model. It is standard definition with no HD compatibility. A regular 4:3 screen. I have 2 composite inputs on the back, 1 component input on the back, 2 coax inputs on the back and 1 composite input on the front.

The Sharp is alot older, at least 6+ years. It is a 27" model and has 1 composite input & 1 coax input on the back along with 1 composite input on the front. It too is standard definition with no HD compatibility and 4:3 ratio. Honestly, it needs replaced as soon as funds allow.

3. Given my equipment, I'm pretty limited in what I can have vs. what I want. Sure there is a possibility we will upgrade TV's in the future. The 27" is in my bedroom so having HD there is not important. The living room unit is more likely to get replaced, but it will be at least a good year or two. Having the ability to receive HD channels on the Cox service I can tell you it looks great even on a standard definition, but again, my equipment really limits me on HD service.

Oh yeah, I might mention we have a game room upstairs that is unfinished. We are working on completing the project at hand but again it's at least a year or two away from completing. Probably when done, we will move the old big screen upstairs and put a new unit downstairs.

Does this help any?

 

[boba]

STAY WITH CABLE as long as locals are a heavy part of your viewing you will be disappointed with satellite. There is more compression on the locals than on the rest of the services. Sports is not compressed as much as other channels but with a lot of motion in sporting events it is a hard service to eliminate digital artifacts on.

 

[lee78221]

STAY WITH CABLE as long as locals are a heavy part of your viewing you will be disappointed with satellite. There is more compression on the locals than on the rest of the services. Sports is not compressed as much as other channels but with a lot of motion in sporting events it is a hard service to eliminate digital artifacts on.

I have locals with DIRECTV and mine look fine it is just a matter of were you live.

 

[Roger]

The Nascar race yesterday was even breaking up on my Fox although football use to look good on it. Maybe they stole some bandwidth for the games on NBC. I have good picture quality on my locals under regular programming other than a little "snow" (white spots here and there) on PBS.

 

[Virus]

I just switched from Direc to Dish. I can honestly say that Dish's SD programming looks much better than Direc's on my HD set ONLY. They both look the same on my analog set. If you were unhappy with Dish's PQ then you will definately be disappointed with the D* picture quality. Although Comcasts HD channels look horrible as does alot of other channels, their locals look better than either satellite service for SD only. Also like others have mentioned, you will be in a lengthy contract with something you probably won't be happy with.

 

[damaged]

Your best bet is to read threads (this and other sites) on all the providers you may be interested in, then, take _all_ the information you read, and work out for yourself which sounds right to you (a judge knows that the truth always lies somewhere in between what the defense says, and what the prosecution says, grain of salt, and all that).

The reason I say this, is there is an inherent problem with posts asking, "which provider is better for me" or "should I switch to/from <insert provider here>", is that you will end up with cheerleaders from each side giving you a over-rosey or over-insulting review of the various services, this tends to water down the folks who are earnest in their opinions.

To summarize, only you can decide what is best for your situation.

Good luck.

 

[Doctor Bob]

I am thinking about switching over to DirecTV from Cox cable, and was curious to the picture quality. Before you tell me how great satellite and digital signals are, let me explain a little history and my exact scenario:

1. I had Dish Network about 3 or 4 years ago, and it seemed to provide a great picture but lack of local channels and package pricing with Cox internet services plus a big falling out pursuaded me to move.

2. The first part of January 2006, I decided to try Dish Network again after being frustrated with analog channels on Cox cable and the fact you know have to use 3 services to get any discount (phone, internet & tv). I made the switch, and got hooked up with a dual DVR receiver unit. The first time I really watched any programming was during the Texas & USC college football game. It looked like total crap. My picture literally looked like a computer video that was blown up too big and pixelated/blur/trash looking. After several efforts, they couldn't get the picture right and after the fight of my life I *finally* got out of the contract for no charge.

3. I would like DVR service, and I have 2 rooms I currently need service in. I did like the dual tuner setup before because all recordings were stored locally on 1 machine, but after talking to some people I undertand that may have been part of my picture quality issue and that 2 separate tuners are best. Either way, I would like DVR service in both rooms.

4. I watch alot of sports, mostly football, and mostly on local channels. I have a Toshiba 55" big screen TV that is around 4 years old. Not pre-historic, but still the 4:3 ratio, and only 1 component video hookup which I use for my DVD player. So I would hook up the satellite with S-video. My other TV is a Sharp 27" model that is at least 6+ years old. The best hookup on that is composite video.

Given my past experience, I am very leery to try DirecTV just because of my bad experience with Dish Network and the nightmare of cancelling the contract when I wasn't happy with the service. The other thing is since I watch alot of locals, I want those to be just as clear. My experince with DN was that locals were always less quality than the other channels.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I would like to try for the fact it would save me money. And I heard that after March 1st, DirecTV is going to leasing. If I decide to switch I would like to do so before then so I don't have to lease.

Many thanks!

Call a "Local DirecTV Dealer", and if the 1st one is not smart enough to help you, keep calling until you find someone that talks your language!!! It was your mistake in the first place, for contacting Dish Network, because the CSR's don't know anything about the Systems, just there to sell you something... Call the Pros, and they can help!!!

 

[osu1991]

Being that you are in the Tulsa area, all the local stations are at full power with their digital/HD signal except WB19 since they have yet to receive a digital channel assignment from the FCC. The locals look terrible especially ABC on sat on anything bigger than a 27in tv. I know COX looks really bad on the analog channels since I used to work there. I would get a used HD tuner from ebay for the locals. They of course look great on my HDTV but I have one for the one analog tv I have left and the locals have never looked as good on this tv. Get a sat for the rest of your national cable channels only.

 

[dr0doom]

If you are watching sports on SD channels with a big screen, it will not look as
good on satellite (over-compressed digital) as a good analog signal on cable.
Maybe you need an amplifier on your incoming analog cable signal. If you have
the cable signal split into more than 2 TV's where it is coming into the house, it
probably needs an amp. The amp must be placed as close to the incoming cable
source as possible (furthest away down cable from the TV). I ended up opening
my cable box myself and putting my own amp in, because the cable co came out
and looked at my picture (which was just average, snow on channels > 60), and
said "its as good as most, you dont need any boost". I bought a good quality
amp on ebay for $30, opened the stupid box, and installed it myself. Made a
BIG improvement on all analog channels. No snow on any of my 3 TV's now, even
on the higher channels.

 

[VIPERS-PIT]

I installed cable to houses with a 2 way splitter feeding two 8 way splitters and did not need an amp. I have never put an amp on a house with less than 8 outlets. The company will use any excuse to keep from trouble shooting your install to see what is wrong.

 

[mirage426]

I have to agree w/ damaged's explaination, because like everything else, it comes down to personal preference and needs.
I had Directv for 3 years with no issues at all through blinding snow and everything, and my sister as well, has Dtv now for 7 years, both of us have moved a few times with no change in the picture quality. I moved to another state and had to get cable (cause the apt i was in did not allow dishes to be mounted) and I had a horrible 6 month nightmare with BHC. The picture quality was horrible, flat colors and grey blacks with a crappy half analogue signal. I had daily digital interferrence, and the movie channels that "are digital" looked like overcompressed internet quality. I know for a fact that they put more money into their advertising than they do into their equipment, which does nothing for the customers, So I would not bother getting additional services from them. I just wound up dropping BHC completely. I'd rather have nothing than pay the overinflated pricetag for their version of service.
That's the issue -each company offers their version of the product we purchase.
The other thing is that the stations sending the signal to the providers, might not be all that great to beging with, HBO has the cash and resources to send a great looking picture, whereas Sci-fi channel is kida mediocre. I don't blame Dtv for sci-fi channel's overcompression, cause HBO and cinemax look like dvd's. There needs to be a standard ompression limit placed on the board that all the stations must adhere to. Until that is done, some will be randomly slightly lower quality than others. just like the internet.
Personally, HD is still relatively new technology and there really isn't anything more than the "new fad smell." Nothing that is making me rush out and spend gobs of money on something that new. For even most plasma sets are really not "true" plasma sets. More of a hybrid beteween lcd and plasma. Look at a $3000 "plasma" and a $25.000 plasma. You will see what I mean. I will wait until the tech becomes more stable and mainstream. New= not final product. Until it is perfected, I will not bother with HD programming.

 

[heavotivo]

Call you local legislaters when you get bad service.These companies are getting away with murder.It is time to put them in thier place!