Switching from Comcast...Need Input

[Siriusfan]

I have been merely a bystander for quite some time now reading the forums here and I am now in need of advice that I have been unable to find.

I am currently a customer of Comcast here in the Chicago area and decided to make the move to Dish. I signed up for the HD Platinum package with the new 622receiver on my Sony 55", a second standard DVR receiver for my bedroom and a
3rd basic receiver for the home office.

I suppose my only concern is with the HD service. Comcast's 1-99 channels are horrible anyway and 90% of what i watch are the HD's. I have never had any other HD service and have read many posts regarding the "hdlite" that Dish broadcasts.

My main question is will I notice a decrease in HD pic quality by switching to Dish? And secondly, has anyone else switched from Comcast in the Chicago area to Dish and if so, what are your likes, dislikes?

My install is scheduled for March 9th, so I have some time to cancel. Any help would be greatly appreciated.:

 

[RobertsD]

The Voom channels are "HDlite". At least the older ones are, I'm not sure about the new MPEG4 ones.

ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, HDNET, HDNET Movies, Universal HD, DiscoveryHD, and TNTHD are all "real HD".

The "real HD" channels look great, I don't get any of the VOOM channels, so I can't really comment on the picture qaulity on those. Some people have complained about the PQ, but I don't know how much of a difference it actually is.

 

[MiniTransAm]

The Voom channels are not that bad. I really can't tell much of a difference between real HD and those channels. You may be a bit unhappy with the SD picture quality however. Mine tends to look grainy and blocky. Supposedly it's because dish is compressing the signals so much to make more room on the satelites. Which should be fixed after the new Satellite they just put up get's put into use. That's according to the Dish tech's that came out to fix it.

 

[gbjbany]

As i understand it the key to this type of comparison is also very heavily swayed by the size, maybe type too, of the screen on which they are displayed.

For example on my 42 inch plasma i could hardly tell the difference between the voom - hdlite and the HDnet. But others with larger screens could easily spot the difference, the OP has a 55 inch sony so may notice the difference, way more than other respondents.

I think SD sucks in comparison to HD of any sort but i dont think that's just a dish issue that's a broadcaster and whole delivery pipeline issue. regardless of your service.

I know others on here do have very strong opinions on this but after all it's just an opinion and that's what you asked for

 

[mr_snerdly]

You will be pleased with the Voom channels. I have a 60" Sony HDTV and they look great. If I really fretted about it, I could probably convince myself that HDNet looks better than the Voom channels; however this is because I know the Voom channels are down-resed. I think it would be a placebo affect.

I had Voom when it was a DBS and I can't tell a difference, and my Sony is an Grand Wega XBR LCD, so it isn't a piece of crap TV. I was watching Skiing Alaska last night on Rush HD and the picture and sound was amazing.