Dish network or cable??

nauticalniremor

nauticalniremor

New member
I currently have cable and was looking to switch to either Direct TV or the Dish Network or should I keep the cable?? I need some opinions on this please. It would be great if someone had both at one time and could fill me in on the ups and downs!!

Thanks alot!!
 
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We just switched to cable from DirectTV. The main reason is that it is much cheaper to upgrade cable to HDTV. With satellite, you have to install new dishes that are capable of receiving HD programs and new HD boxes which are costly. For example, an HD DVR costs $399 at BestBuy. With cable, you pay $9.95 per month for a DVR. There is no extra charge to upgrade to an HD box. I think the picture from DirectTV was sharper than cable. I also like the way the channels were organized with satellite. The HD channels on cable are amazing though! I do not regret switching to cable.
 
As long as you avoid the DVR upgrading to the HD with Direct TV all equipement is free to upgrade. We can upgrade to the HD DVR for $200 since it's on an existing account but we have no need for a DVR right now.
Opening an account you will have to pay $399 but if you keep paying the cable company $9.95/month after 3 and half years the DVR still will keep costing you a monthly fee.


It really depends on what you really watch is the bottom line.

I'm a huge football fan so I have Direct TV for Sunday Ticket which isn't available on any other system and in the 10 years of having Direct TV we had no outages unlike local cable which from what I hear from friends is that it still goes down everyonce in a while and they have issues during bad snowstorms;we just go out and brush the dish off.

The one downside to having the dish instead of cable is no On- Demand goodies which just isn't avaialbel for the dish just yet.
 
Dish Network or DirecTV, your prefrence personally we went with Dish Network and love it. I've always hated cable, and they claim that they are 100% digital, which thaey are not. I think DirecTv has a better price for HD though, im not 100% sure.
 
Thqnks for the posts - I have no interest in the DVR, so bottom line - cable or satelite?? How much to change to satelite and how much per month - thanks again
 
Satellite

Overall satellite becase IMO it's alot cheaper and more bang for your buck. I used to pay $63 a month for digital cable, with no HBO and not alot of channels, now i paw i think $65 for much more channels and HBO and Cinemax. (BTW: I have Dish network's 160 package, which also includes NFL channel, with HBO = 14, and Cinemax = 12.)
 
gizmopt2002 said:
Satellite

Overall satellite becase IMO it's alot cheaper and more bang for your buck. I used to pay $63 a month for digital cable, with no HBO and not alot of channels, now i paw i think $65 for much more channels and HBO and Cinemax. (BTW: I have Dish network's 160 package, which also includes NFL channel, with HBO = 14, and Cinemax = 12.)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I only see 60, 120, or 180 for the channels. I am contemplating the 180. Thanks again for your help. I will consider what you said. I looked and it will be 65.99 a month. I think that is what i pay now!
 
Then i must have the 120. But yea IMO cable is way over priced, honestly the only advantage is to split it many many times, and sometimes On-Demand.
 
I have DirectTv and like it a lot but a guy I work with has Dish Network but he's also a member of this forum http://www.future-fta.info/forum/ and he has dish and gets something like 1800 channels a month and they say that it's completely legal because they're just making their boxes pick up signals that are already in the air or something like that. But As I stated I like Direct TV a lot better than our local cable TV I think I'm going to switch my high speed to cable from DSL and I'll keep the Satellite even though the other would probably be cheaper with TV and Highspeed combined.
 
1800? channels? C'mon,is that just every channel in the world. My friend has Dish and he doesn't get any more than Direct,just a few different ones.
 
I like cable for DVR, On Demand and now, for me at least, competition to keep rates reasonable. DVR and On Demand are awesome features IMO and they get used all the time in my house.

Verizon has just installed their FIOS in my area. I get high speed from them (not DSL) and TV will be offered in a few months.

My only experience with Satellite is through my father who has had it for 10 years. He is not very picky about this kinda stuff and the only complaint he has is that when a storm comes though his reception always suffers somewhat.
 
I had Direct TV about 5 yrs ago and will never use it again.

I had great signal strength, yet the picture was ALWAYS bad, the TV was a brand new (at the time) 57" Sony projection model, DVDs looked GREAT, but every time we tried to watch Direct TV the quality was TERRIBLE.

I did several tests (mostly dB tests at the dish and the lines) and made several adjustments (I built AV systems for the government for a few years, so I'm not a novice in this arena) and no matter what I did...nothing helped.

I got fed up with their excuses and switched to cable, I've never looked back. The picture quality is 2nd to none and I love my DVR/HD/On Demand features, I look forward to FIOS coming to my area, I'll be checking that out.

While I do agree that cable is more expensive than Sat. TV...for me actually being able to enjoy what I'm watching, the extra cost more than worth it.
 
what happened to the good ol' days when cable was easy to steal. now the cable man doesn't even take bribes anymore.
 
I work for a small cable provider here in Texas.

Personally I like cable better, but it is all in what you watch, and how much you want to spend. Cable can run about $140 if you max everything out. Atleast here in TX.

My company runs some resell of dish network boxes, and we use both motorola and scientific atlanta for cable boxes.

Personally, all the boxes are crap. HD and DVR seem to go out more than anything. For a box that normally runs $200-400, they sure don't make them very reliable.
 
I prefer Dish Net. because I need to have my DVR. To get cable around here with a dvr would be an extra 15/month. If I didnt want DVR then id prob go with cable, more channels for about the same price. Only bad thing I do have issues with my signal during a thunderstorm otherwise the picture is great.
 
I've been happy with Direc Tv for about 6 years now. Much better and cheaper than the cable around here. I don't have HD or DVR though. I use a stand alone DVD recorder without any problems.
 
gizmopt2002 said:
Dish Network or DirecTV, your prefrence personally we went with Dish Network and love it. I've always hated cable, and they claim that they are 100% digital, which thaey are not. I think DirecTv has a better price for HD though, im not 100% sure.
Click to expand...

Not always true. People with digital cable boxes in some areas have all digital channels.. (I am one of them). They can't just cut over in one night because there are too many people with just basic cable with no box. They would lose service.

Another thing that is great about the OnDemand is they are getting more and more HD content. If you have an HD TV, then don't worry about how many channels you will be getting, cause you will only end up watching the HD ones. I hear so many people say they go from 400 channels to 20 when they buy an HD TV.
 
I love the HD channels (especially NFL Ticket,ESPN,HBO) but there's still a few key channels that have yet to convert so I still have to watch regular def sometimes. :(

Definetly the downside to Satellite is the lack of on demand but with Blockbuster on-line rentals and TV I have plenty to watch.
 
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