vallerie

There is a war of the best selection of channels, pricing and satisfaction when it comes to digital cable and satellite. There is both a postive: more and better selection of channels and negative: reception, pointing the dish up a certain way towards the sky and having to pay for local channels.

With cable: negative: the sudden skyrocketing prices "every 4-6 months" and barely a good selection of channels that Satellite provides. And postive: not worrying on having to pay for local channels.

To me I am in between the choices. I currently have digital cable, but at the rate which annoys me is the area where you live in, you can't have certain channels. For example: I have HBO East, HBO 2, HBO Signature, and HBO Latin. But there are like some other channels like HBO Zone that I don't have.
That's the one thing that bugs me. Now that Comcast took over ATT Broadband( formerly TCI), I going to see what happens down the road.

So guys which do you like or which do you have: Satellite or Digitital Cable?

das Monkey

If paying for local channels and pointing the sat is the only negative you can come up with for satellite, then you've answered you own question. With DirecTV, my locals cost me $2/month. I couldn't even sponsor a Save the Children kid with that.

das

Chew

3 years ago, when I moved into my house, I paid cable $6/month for local channels. When locals finally made their way to my area on the dish, the locals were up to $17/month through cable.

Nearly tripled in three years.

huzefa

Actually you pay for your locals with cable channels too. It's not free, you know. It's just included in the price, and there's no option to 'not' get it. However with cable, if you don't want to get your locals (or want to get them entirely free with your antenna like I do); you don't have that choice.

innocentfreak

I tend to watch a lot of Hbo Comedy which I don't believe is actually on Directv, which is one of the reasons I haven't switched.

vallerie

I had no idea that the local channels for cable aren't free. I'm always hearing about paying for local channels if you satellite.

And of course the cable companies are not going to tell you that.

das Monkey

It's simply the difference between package pricing and pricing individual services. Nothing is free. Whether it's cable or satellite, there is a cost associated with bringing each channel to your home, local or otherwise. Perhaps the more accurate way to think about it (as huzefa noted) is with satellite, you get a discount if you don't want locals.

das

huzefa

There is another satellite company called Dishnetwork. It has HBO Comedy, along with 7 other HBO channels.

vallerie

So for the people who have satellites, how is the reception? Any problems when it rains or snows?

Pistol Pete

Pet Peeve: You don't own a frickin' satellite! It's a satellite DISH and receiver people! Geez.

Ok. My dish works pretty well. Recently some tree branches grew to the point where the signal goes when the wind blows. Gotta trim some branches.

Rascal

I find satellite service to be both better and cheaper. People are often upset at paying for the local channels. As others have pointed out, you have the option not to with satellite, with cable it is rolled into the price.

I wanted the NASA channel with cable. In talking with TCI (at the time), they didn't think anyone wanted to watch anything other than the 30 or so channels they selected. When I found out DISH carried the NASA channel and was cheaper, no brainer for me.

Brian Shannon

Absolutely no question for me. Satellite is far, far better both in terms of programming content for the cost and the quality of the picture.

As for local channels, I get my HD OTA channels for free since they are broadcast channels.

mmconhea

Big Satellite Negative: Most people in apartments can't get them installed.

Red Dog

Yeah - this is the geographically challenged segment of the population. The dish companies need to do something about this.

Jadzia

I was a long time cable customer and I finally got DirectV in March and I absolutely love it.

The picture is breathtaking, DirecTivo is just amazing, and I have not had any instances of outages, unlike cable who could randomly go out for any reason.

About the only thing I liked better with digital cable was that the Starz and Encore channels were included for free with digital cable. I didn't watch them much but they were kind of nice to have. However, I don't think they are at all worth paying a subscription fee to have so I don't subsribe to them.

sherm42

DirecTV all the way. I was smiling big when I cancelled my cable and returned my box.

Picture quality is way better than the digital cable we had and DirecTivo has changed my life. One of the best investments we have made.

costanza187

Ive had both...I HAVE digital cable due to my location

I used to have directv and I really like the satellite much more than digital cable

huzefa

I have Dish and Directv. Dishnetwork has better PQ in my opinion, but the Directivo rocks.

atari2600

a HUGE concern of mine!

atari2600

im deciding between digital cable and directv. need help...

1) which is cheaper?

2) i need to have a way to mount the directv dish facing south, correct? since i havent moved yet i should take this into consideration (find an apt. with a few facing south) - can i mount the dish inside pointing out a window (in case i dont get a balcony)?

3) it needs to be a clear path correct? if i have a building in my way or trees or whatever, im screwed.

4) which is better/easier to use? which has better program guides and stuff like that?

thanks for the help!

huzefa

I hope you consider DishNetwork as another satellite TV provider.
To answer your questions,

1) Dishnetwork is cheaper than DirecTV, Directv is cheaper than digicable.

2) Yes, you have to find someplace where you can place a dish facing south. This is also the same for Dishnetwork. As far as placing your dish INSIDE, that's not going to work. Your signal will be severely degraded (if you ever get a lock that is).

3)For this to work, the dish must have a mostly unobstructed view (that means that a few leafs in the way are fine, but a window pane or screen is not). As long as you can see the south sky, you should definitely give it a shot.

4) Now the tricky part:

Directv - big plus point is DirecTivo. This gives u the ability of TV combined with DirecTV, and the best part is there is no loss of signal quality since the DirecTivo records the actual signal stream. DirecTV is a little bit more expensive ($4-9 more) than DishNetwork. It has a wide selection of receivers and the program guides are all pretty well-laid out. There are also HD receivers available along with a bunch of new HD channels (ESPN-HD, HDNET, HDNET Movies, HBO, Showtime, DiscoveryHD). Many sports packages including NFL Sunday Ticket (probably the big reason to take Directv over Dish) and many other sports packages, but almost non-existent international channels.

DishNetwork - this is what I have. This also has some good receivers (though not the same amount of selection in receivers). The DishPVR does not have some features of the DirecTivo but it also records the signal stream itself giving you the no loss in signal quality. HD receiver is also available for Dish, along with the same amount of programming (HDNET, HDNET movies and ESPNHD are not yet announced). Many many international channels are available, along with almost all of the major league sports packages (except NFL and MLB(coming soon)).

Digicable - usually more expensive (atleast for me it is). Crappy signal quality compared to satellite, no selection in receivers, and generally bad customer service (my experience). Generally I'd stay away from digicable because I want to have the most programming choices and that is only available through satellite. With satellite I can get international channels from all over the world and NFL sunday ticket (and other sports packages). More digicable systems can't offer that amount of variety.

So here's a summary:

DirecTV - CONS are the DirecTivo and the NFL sunday ticket package

Dish - CONS are the cheaper price plus the international channels. If you can settle for a regular PVR instead of a Tivo, and if you don't want NFL anyway, Dish is for you.

Digicable - avoid like the plague.

Michael T Hudson

I agree with you on this one. What gets me is cable charges for local channels as well. Last time I checked basic service was not free.

BizRodian

Really? all the cheap ass little apartments here all have a big dish out on their porches! it's pretty funny, rows and rows of dishes.

huzefa

I think he is referring to all those people with apartments that don't face South.

lisadoris

Some apts have them, some don't. When I lived in WI, my apt had DirectTV and charged residents $5 month to rent the receiver. With my apt in IA, I had a balcony to mount the dish on. I brought my dish and reciever with me when I moved to OH and the manager said I could keep the dish but two months later he ordered me and anyone else to had one to take it down. Needless to say I was pissed. My biggest problem with satellite was that during thunder storms, the reception would black out and in the midwest, that can happen quite often. Also, they don't offer local channels everywhere so unless you have a nice set of rabbit ears for your TV, you might have to pay the cable company for local channels anyway.

I found that with DirecTV you got more for your money over cable. I actually ended up only subscriping to local channels because my cable company's rates were just too high. Since I'm moving yet again, I am just biting the bullet and getting cable. The ESPN withdrawal is getting to me.

The other thing I loved about satellite was my ability to get Chicago sports. I originally bought the receiver when Chicago and when I moved, it still thought I was in Chicago so I got Chicago sports. I miss that, now I have to pay for the overpriced baseball league pass if I want to watch a game.