djflex

I just bought an apartment and I'm not sure whether to get Comcast Digital Cable or Direct TV.

Comcast has On Demand where you can pick out movies from different channel libraries and watch them anytime for free as long as you subscribe to that channel. Comcast allows you to watch a pay per view movie as many times as you want a day and you can pause and stop the movie anytime. Comcast has also more HBO and Showtime channels than Direct TV.

On the other hand Direct TV has better picture quality at least thats what I heard. Is this true?

Direct TV has the exclusive NFL package.

If you were in my position what other pros and cons would you say about each one and what cable service would you get if you were in my position and Why?

Red Dog

Consider yourself lucky if you have the ability to get DirecTV. It's a no-brainer, particularly since Comcast (the spawn of Satan) is the alternative.

Brian Shannon

I was in your position 7 years ago (though not with Comcast) and I have never regretted dumping cable for Direct TV. I get more channels on more TV's with better picture quality and sound for less money than cable.

That is all there is to know!

Spanky BananaPants

Plus, Comcast doesn't have the Directv DVR with TiVo. That TiVo unit is life-altering. Go with Directv. I dumped cable 7 years ago and haven't regretted it for a second.

Besides, DirecTiVo + NFL Sunday Ticket = sheer joy! I have three of them, and can record on six channels at once. I record a different game on all tuners, and watch a different game each night of the week. How cool is that?

xVladx

I mentioned it in another thread around here somewhere, but it bears repeating...

I'd highly recommend against going with DirecTV if it rains a lot in your area. Anything more than "sprinkling" causes a complete loss of a signal for us, which really does suck. I don't even want to think about what's going to happen once the snow starts....

Once our year is up, we're most likely going to be moving back to cable. Sure, it's more expensive, but at least you don't have to worry about the weather conflicting with what you want to watch.

NC-36

Your dish needs to be properly aligned. Get it fixed and the rain fade you have will go away.

djflex, go with Directv and get their DVR (known to most of the world as a DirecTiVo) for cheap as a new customer. A DirecTiVo will change your viewing habits for the better in ways that cannot be explained in a 30 second sound bite or a page of ad copy. LIVE with a DirecTiVo for a month and I guarantee you will never accept a lesser DVR again.

Jadzia

It rains and snows constantly here and I have only lost signal a few times (usually for 5-15 minutes at like 3 in the morning.) When I had Comcast cable, the cable would go out all the time and for no apparent reason either.

Oh and another huge recommendation for DirecTivo. You'll have absolutely no use for OnDemand if you have DTivo. OnDemand only offers certain shows and recent episodes, whereas with the DTivo you can grab any show you want and watch it whenever. (My friend has OnDemand and she complains when shows she wants to watch expire from it before she can get to it.)

das Monkey

I was going to say the same thing. Unless you are faced with some extremely unique living conditions, there's no reason your dish should lose signal any more than the cable goes out.

das

FuzzyBallz

Direct Tivo is the BOMB!!!

If I weren't getting deep discount on the comcast cable + broadband package, I would go Direct Tivo w/o a doubt.

Brian Shannon

Your dish is not aligned properly, your cables connections have/get water in them, the trees in the los of the dish are making the rain problem worse.

I have not had rain fade for more than 15 minutes in 7 years and probably not more than a dozen times total. My cable, when I had it would go out for hours at a time due to water in the boxes outside.

Josh H

I had Comcast Digital cable for around 2 years and switched to DirecTV about 3 months ago and couldn't be happier.

1. It's much cheaper, I'm paying 29.99 for 6 months, 39.99 after that for about the same number of channels as I got before, including all the channels I regularly watched, plus Fuse which actually plays music videos. My digital cable was $63.xx for just basic digital (no movie channels etc.).

2. The picture and sound are much better.

3. Though I don't have it, Direct Tivo is much better than Comcasts DVR or a standalone Tivo. And much cheaper at 4.99 a month with no phone line required other than the initial set up (which you can do elsewhere).

The only con is you do lose signal for a while in storms, and this happens more often than losing cable and/or power. Though it only happens in very hard rain. Not just anything above a sprinking as the other guy says above. My signals are all 95 or above, so he probably just needs his dish aligned properly as the other poster said.

BDB

I have never had my Dtivo go out either living in SF.

Or in Boston with Lots of Snow, super heavy rains, and thunder/lightning storms.

tasha99

I live in an area with a lot of rain (Oregon) and never had my Directv go out because of it. I think something's wrong with a dish that fades out for rain.

I had Directv and switched back to Comcast, mostly because I wanted more tv's to have channels without having to pay $5 per room. Also, they had a deal where I could get $25 off per month for 16 months, so I'm getting the standard channels plus HBO for less than just the standard channels on Directv. Not to mention the extra discount for cable Internet.

I see pros and cons to both services. For me, right now Comcast is cheaper, but there are downsides. One is that Comcast has channels that seem to not want to come in. I like arty farty movies, and my Sundance channel only works about 10% of the time (I need to call about that). I never had problems like that with Directv. Also, when I had the occassional problem in the past, Directv customer service would usually graciously fix it with no argument. I argued and argued to finally get Comcast to remove a measely 3.99 off my bill for tv guide issues I never ordered.

Overall, I would say Directv is probably best in quality and service, but if you have some sort of discount or want Internet through a cable company, Comcast may be better.

tasha
(Also, if you have young kids, I have to say Directv has better programming. Where I am, there is no PBSkids on Comcast, and my son misses it a lot.)

MEJHarrison

I also live in Oregon and have never lost my signal due to rain.

Groucho

I moved recently and switched from Comcast to DirectTV on a whim. It was like night and day.

I've lost signal due to snow buildup on my dish, but it's easy to brush off. Since then, I lubed up my dish with some PAM, and haven't had the problem return.

If you do decide to get DirectTV, and want to experience what it's like to watch Comcast, simply drape a cheesecloth in front of your television.

das Monkey

That'll work for a generic digital cable experience, but for the Comcast experience, you should probably also shove a rolling pin up your ass.

das

Meatpants

The 20 cents per day you spend for DTivo will be the best money you have ever spent.

Jray

I'm moving in 2 weeks and I considered getting DirecTV. One reason would be to get the NFL Sunday Ticket. But it just seemed easier to get the whole package with internet from the cable company.

However, being a HUGE football nut, this is just the kind of thing to push me over the edge. Football every night??? OMG. I don't see myself getting 3 of those TiVos though.

Josh H

Wow, you guys are the only people I've heard that have never lost signal due to rain. Everyone I know (mainly people in WV and MD) that have DirectTV or Dish Network lose signal in storms.

What are your signal strengths? Mine are 95 and up for the most part, my parents are 92-93 and up.

But still its no big deal. I usually only lose signal for 5-10 minutes during the worst part of the storm.

das Monkey

I don't mean to say I don't lose signal, just that it's rare and is no more frequent than losing cable when I had it. In fact, it's a lot less, and signal loss is almost never more than a couple of minutes vs. cable where it could be down for a whole evening. It really only happens at night and when the clouds are really dark and thick. Rain itself isn't really an issue. On the rare occassion when we get snow, it hasn't affected me either.

My signal strengths are like 97,90,93 for the 3 sats.

das

Josh H

Same here, it seems to be thick clouds and I usually lose signal for 5-10 minutes, and twice for over 30 minutes. It's happend alot for me this summer, but it's been a miserable, rainy, stormy summer here in Maryland.

I was lucky with my cable, I can only recall one time that I lost cable for more than a few minutes in the two years I had comcast. And only 2 or 3 times that I lost it period for any amount of time.

But still, I much prefer DirecTV. 99% of TV sucks, so losing signal for a bit isn't a big deal to me, especially given how much cheaper satellite is for me. If it wasn't for sports I could go without cable/satellite no problemo.

FuzzyBallz

Mmmm... Spice HD...

MJKTool

We have Charter Digital Cable and couldnt be happier. Plus we have access to Broadband from them as well. A friend of mine has DirectTv and to be honest the picture looked like shit when I saw. "Holy pixilation Batman"

*ducks*

das Monkey

Charter's a good company. I know a lot of people who are very happy with their full broadband service. I wouldn't trade my DirecTiVo for anything, and my years with DirecTV have been completely positive, but if I got stuck having to go with digital cable, I'd hope I could get Charter.

das

MJKTool

I'm very happy with it, my only gripe is only give us two speed options. Ultra slow (384) or ultra fast (3 meg).