Truth be told, I'm sick of my cable television. I currently have Cox Cable, and my monthly bill is around $45 month.

Now I've seen the advertisements for Directv with packages starting at only $32.99 month with free (or very little) 2 room installation costs.

My question is, do any of you have experience with the "dish"? I've never owned or used a dish that I'm aware of, and the only "truth" I know about it is the bogus commercials that Cox shows every 5 minutes.

Would anyone recommend a switch from my current setup to a DirecTV type setup?

(PS, I love Sports, and I could care less about local channels. I never watch them now. As long as I get NFL games on Sunday, I can do away with local stations forever.)

Run, don't walk, to get DirecTV with DVR (Tivo). You'll NEVER regret it.

Also, see here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=302002

Cable's anti-dish commercials are because they are scared. If I could pick up local channels here(or even better, let me choose what market I want), I would drop cable and get a dish today. No locals, no deal. The FCC not letting the Direct/Dish merger go through screwed me.

The signal problems with Directv only affect the small number of people that can not point the dish to the exact location and get a clear shot.

My dish is in a very bad spot, but due to large trees and mounting restrictions I have no choice but to put it where it is. It actually points into the top of a pine tree, but enough signal gets through that it works.

Whenever a BIG storm comes in with lots of clouds, my signal goes out completely until the storm passes.

Others I know, never have a problem no matter how bad the storm. Their dishes are pointed right and have a perfectly clear shot.

PLEASE get a dish!

I just switched from Comcast...it's cheaper, clearer, and I have more channel options. If you're worried about maintenance, take out a maintenance plan. The cable companies are scared...think about it, how often do you hear someone, other than the cable companies, recommending you to switch from a dish to cable?

FS

Then when you do switch to a dish , check out this thread

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=302788

I just dropped my digital cable in March for DirecTV and i couldn;t be happier. I now have a few DirecTivos andthe picture is stunning, the dual tuner capability is awesome. I am so happy I switched.

The commercials that Charter cable shows are a riot, they look like they were recorded in EP mode on a VHS VCR and are a good second out of sync. Insane.

Our cable looks like total ass, and I will soon be getting DirectTV with TIVO.

I left cable almost 6 years ago and have never looked back. My system gives me more for less cost. I have had far, far fewer problems with my DSS equipment that I ever had with cable. After a recent storm my neighbor asked me if I had gotten my cable back yet as hers had been out for over half the day. I pointed to my roof and said "sorry I don't have cable".

I have Direct TV with the new HDTV package and love it!

I have Dish Network and couldn't be happier. I have Cox Cable for the locals and in a few months when Dish carries my locals I'll cancel Cox completely. My local Cox increased the basic package from $9.95 a month to over $15.00 a month. When there's a storm my cable goes out, if someone sneezes my cable goes out, a car hits a light pole and my cable goes out. PQ with Cox is horrible, some channels are so bad they're unwatchable. I've never lost a picture with Dish even with bad storms. Get Direct or Dish, either one and you'll be VERY happy with satellite over cable.

spankyj, you are asking this at the best possible time of year. Directv has just started their annual NFL Sunday Ticket promo. Here's the deal -

Take whatever equipment deal you like best. There are deals for 4 rooms with standard receivers FREE, but I recommend the DirecTiVo + 1 standard receiver for $99 at www.expertsatellite.com . Once you choose the equipment, sign up for the Sunday Ticket for $239 (4 monthly payments of $59.75). You will then get 4 months of Total Choice Premier programming (all the regular, movie and sports channels Directv has) at no charge.
After the ST ends, you can cut your programming back to TC+ w/locals for $39.99 for the remainder of your 1-year contract.

AndyCapps -

You CAN get some locals where you live, through a process known as "moving".
Post a little more information on where you live (just a zip code) and I'll explain in more detail

I have DirectTV and it has been great. The NFL Sunday Ticket is worth every friggin penny. Remember, you can only get the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirectTV, not Dishnetwork or cable, no matter what they tell you.

If you aren't interested in other NFL games besides your local team then the NFL Sunday TIcket may not be for you. You could just get the local channels and get your local team's games.

You don't lose signal all the time like the cable company wants you to believe. The thing that makes me laugh is if there is a bad storm and my signal goes out, it's back as soon as the storm is over. Meanwhile my neighbor's cable is out until the next day when they get a truck out there.

Go for it and get the dish! I had a dish for three years and had to give it up (dumb me for not knowing the law apparently). I loved my DirecTV, I still miss it

It's cheaper, better/more channels, it's cheaper, the reception is usually better. Oh and did I mention it's cheaper.

The people that made those anti-dish commercials should be sued for false advertising.

That being said, keep in mind your weather conditions before getting a dish. A friend of mine has it, and in the winter and rainy seasons he has a lot of problems.

It's not bad if you just watch shows, but if you actually like to record shows, and you live in an area that gets a lot of high winds / rain / snow, stick with cable.

On one side you have the cable company charging a very high price and saying that Satellite dishes are bad.

On the other side you have us, here, unanimously telling that either DirecTV or Dish Network will be better than your cable company.

I've had satellite since '97 and can definately say it is better than cable. For your needs, since you watch a lot of sports, I would recommend DirecTV over Dish Network.

I've never had trouble during rain, and in Oregon it rains a lot. I am in a brand new housing development though, so I might get a really clear signal (flat land and any trees nearby are so small they still have ropes and stakes holding them straight.)

Now . . . to those of you who think you can't get local channels with Directv, you can. There is a thread here about how to find what markets work with what transponders and how to test them on you receiver (search for directv and moving). Once you've figured out what market you could get the signal for, call them up and say you "moved" there. If you know someone in that city with cable, use their address, otherwise find a business address that wouldn't have directv. Leave your billing address the same as it is, and voila, you've got local channels. I "moved" to LA for a while, but many of their local channels didn't show up, so I ended up moving to a Portland Wendy's. Works great.

The only way that cable is better than directv is that they don't charge you extra for every tv. Other than that, I've liked directv a lot more. Do get the Tivo though--it's a much better way to watch television.

tasha

I have digital cable.. and Ive had DISH and DirecTV...


Either of those are much better than cable in my opinion.. however with the no local or networks at all for that matter, I just cant do without... so im stickin with cable til it gets worked out.

Oh man.. you guys.. I have Comcast, they are raping me.. plus plus.. if I switch to Dish I get BOOMERANG!! and Toon Disney, which Comcast has neither#!$

My Comcast has Toon Disney. No Boomerang though.

5 things that sucks about Comcast/Digital Cable compared to DTV:
1. No Sunday Ticket - although I blame the NFL for this.
2. No March Madness PPV package - I blame the NCAA/CBS for this.
3. Playboy Channel not offered as a monthly subscription.
4. No Boomerang.
5. No Travel Channel.

don't expect dish prices to stay as low as they are though. They are in a price war, and are both losing money. Within the next 5 years, there will only be one satellite company left, and then the prices will be higher.

While I can't speak for all your cable companys here's a little trick I did with Time Warner. I've been on TW for 4 years with a cable modem and basic cable service. About 18 months ago I switched to digital cable (3 months free trial deal) and never looked back. I think I was just mainly in love with the on screen guide. A year ago my wife took a night job and I was forced to get TiVo because I wasn't going to tape her shows every night when I got home.

Since I'm a recent purchaser of TiVo it wasn't practical for me to switch to satellite (although a DirectTivo sounds great). I also have to keep basic cable or TW ups the cost on my cable modem which I couldn't live without either. I looked at my cable bill last month and finally got sick of paying $130 total ($45 of which was for cable modem) for digital cable + 2 pay channels.

Soooo... I called up TW. Checked the prices on comparable packages on DirectTV first. Told the kind CSR that I was switching to DTV and wanted to know how to disconnect. She attempted to dissuade me from getting satellite but I shot down all her negatives about the service. Then the magic words came: "Is there anyway you would be willing to stay with us?" I told her I hadn't signed anything yet and was sick of paying stupidly high prices. She dropped my basic service $10, dropped cable modem by $5, dropped price on all pay channels to $5 per and removed a few other fees.

I added a 3rd paychannel and my payment went from $130 to 103. At least what she told me. I got my bill this month and it was only $83. Of course I'm not gonna argue with that

Mordred

I live in Central NY. We get 150-190 inches of snow a year, plus assorted amounts of other winter lovelies like sleet, freezing rain, blowing and drifting snow, etc. In the 6 years I've been with dish, I can count the number of times I've lost a signal in the winter on one hand, and still have enough fingers left to give Time Warner the bird.
The times I'm most likely to lose a signal is during heavy summer storms, which are not all that frequent around here.
So basically, what I'm saying is weather in a NON-issue.

I've had DircTV for 2 years and I have absolutely no regrets. They have the best choice of channels around and the best price and the best quality of broadcast I have seeen. I have nothing but good things to say about them and I've never had any sort of interrupted service or any sort of billing problem, or even any problems AT ALL - EVER.

I used to have Time Warner cable and they just sucked balls - especially compared to DT

Those anti dish ads are such a joke. For 37.99 a month we get the DirecTV total choice plus locals. Comparable digital cable would cost 60+ and wouldn't include all of the channels we get. We've had DirecTV since 1997 and the only time we lose the signal is sometimes during severe thunderstorms or extremely heavy downpours. We recently upgraded to a mulitsatellite dish/reciever for $50. We got a Samsung model which is AWESOME. Way better than our old circa 1997 Hitachi model. Definately give DirecTV or Dish a look. Dish isn't a good choice for us, but it may be for you. Either way, both kick the crap out of cable.