comcast vs. satellite?

[leftygeo]

Hi, I am thinking about switching to satellite from Comcast. I currently have Comcast Digital Cable with HD box. I have a Toshiba 51h84. Am i going to see a difference in Picture quality if I switch. Also, I always thought I would save money if I switched? Is that really the case? Just looking for some general thoughts if the switch is really worth it. I also have comcast high speed internet, and will prob. keep that.

Thanks in advance

[mikehbkwm]

my personal opinion if you already have a product like HSI and cable with the cable co then there is no reason to have the video with satellite and the HSI with the cable co... what will happen is more then likely youll get a promo with the satellite co and your bill will be low for a couple months and then it will go right back to the normal price... again just my opinion...

[cwhiatt]

Am i going to see a difference in Picture quality if I switch.
Thanks in advance

Someone feel free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong but aren't ALL satellite feeds 100% digital quality? Whereas, with cable, only some of the channels are digital?

I had Time Warner for a brief stint and now that I've got DishNetwork, I think the SD picture looks better.

[57U]

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showpost.php?p=26182&postcount=32

From the following thred...

http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?t=4414

[lassenloop]

Someone feel free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong but aren't ALL satellite feeds 100% digital quality? Whereas, with cable, only some of the channels are digital?

I had Time Warner for a brief stint and now that I've got DishNetwork, I think the SD picture looks better.


100% digital with a lot of compression. The only way they can fit 900 digital channels on one satelite is to compress them. That why satelite pixelates bad.


As for the satelite vs. cable. I have thought about switching but if you want your local channels in HD you have to use an OTA antenna. I am too rural to receive my local channels with an antenna, so I'll be sticking with cable. Plus, I already use them for HSI and I haven't found satelite to be much if any cheaper.

[Ratman]

Both cable and satellite use additional compression.
D* and E* use more than one satellite.

Pixellation may not always be due to compression with satellite.

[wookiemofo]

Digital Cable (Timewarner) arent true digital until the 200's.

Satellite will go out in a snow storm or bad rain storm (at least in MN)

Cable offers locals, as well as cable card.

Satellie (DirecTV) offers the Sunday Ticket

That's what I know so far, still trying to decide myself.

[speed33301]

I have had DTV for a four years then switched to Dish for the past 2 years.
I have moved and I am now using Comcast on a promo $29.95 for Digital with HBO and Showtime Pack plus their HSI for $9.95. IMHO, Sat is better on all channels including the music channels. Not to mention I could get DD 5.1 on PPV, HD channels, HBO, Showtime and many other channels broadcasting DD using the fiber connector from the STB.

I just can't get DD 5.1 unless watching a HD channel on Comcast, or I just haven't figured it out yet. As far as HSI, going back to Bellsouth DSL for $24.95 a month and I can honestly say I do not see any speed improvement using cable, I am not going to pay $45/mo for a HSI that is not much faster if any.

By Oct 1 I'm going back to Sat, I really miss the Sat digital quality including audio, DD 5.1 and the ease of use of the menu's (The menu on comcast shows all channels , not just the subscribed ones and it is very confusing).

And with Dish you get more HD channels than Comcast with feature packed STB's. I haven't looked at monthly costs but I think Dish will be less expensive for a wider range of features and programming.

MHO only and I am not affiliated in any way nor do I get any royalties. :wave:

[mikehbkwm]

I have had DTV for a four years then switched to Dish for the past 2 years.
I have moved and I am now using Comcast on a promo $29.95 for Digital with HBO and Showtime Pack plus their HSI for $9.95. IMHO, Sat is better on all channels including the music channels. Not to mention I could get DD 5.1 on PPV, HD channels, HBO, Showtime and many other channels broadcasting DD using the fiber connector from the STB.

I just can't get DD 5.1 unless watching a HD channel on Comcast, or I just haven't figured it out yet. As far as HSI, going back to Bellsouth DSL for $24.95 a month and I can honestly say I do not see any speed improvement using cable, I am not going to pay $45/mo for a HSI that is not much faster if any.

By Oct 1 I'm going back to Sat, I really miss the Sat digital quality including audio, DD 5.1 and the ease of use of the menu's (The menu on comcast shows all channels , not just the subscribed ones and it is very confusing).

And with Dish you get more HD channels than Comcast with feature packed STB's. I haven't looked at monthly costs but I think Dish will be less expensive for a wider range of features and programming.

MHO only and I am not affiliated in any way nor do I get any royalties. :wave:

i should have stated up top that this depends upon the provider... when it comes to dd5.1 unless the cable co themselves changes the audio which i doubt what you get from the broadcaster is what youll get to your equipment so if the program was is 5.1 you should be getting it in 5.1...... in my situation here in B.A. OK using cable for HSI is a helluva lot faster then crappy ass Valor which is the other phone and internet provider in this town... now in Tulsa Bell is the main provider for phone and DSL and we also are way faster... most ive ever seen a Bell DSL customer top out at with there premium package was 2mbps down with us ive seen 6mbps down with the top package..... again just depends on the provider and what they can offer should have said that in the first place...

[57U]

See the HDTV FAQ "What's available in DD5.1".

[tdti1]

When people say satellite goes out in rain, or satellite has bad picture quality, or the cost is to high, please help reduce the inaccurate information and say pizza dish or small dish or even cable on a stick :)

For the dude that said pizza is 100% digital, you need to realize where they get there programming from, they of course use C-band dishes (like myself), and many of the channels are not digital, they take the great looking analog feed convert it to digital and compress the hell out of it, then reuplink it and there you have yuckvision, unless you have a big dish you will never know how good a real analog or digital master broadcast first generation feed looks...

Most cable has better SD/HD picture than the small dishes, and the fact that you can watch TV in hard rain is also a big plus for cable, I used all the small dishes out there and I was not happy with any of them, SD looks like crap HD not bad though some look like crap also, I guess I am spoiled having a big dish for over 20 years, but I really can't stand poor audio or video so I stay with my current setup.

[Ratman]

Not everyone can have a BUD.

Most have issues with a 30" outdoor antenna.

You are forturnate and apparently very happy with your setup. Your points are well taken.

The reality is... most (especially those that participate here) cannot or are not willing/capable to leap to C-band, Ku-band, etc.

The information provided IS accurate as it pertains to the discussion at hand.

[mikehbkwm]

i would have a C-Band dish in my backyard if i had a lot of land... would love to pickup all those free feeds.... i used to work for Superstar satellite which in turn bought out Netlink, then Turnervision, and then HBO direct.... which at all the same time they were trying to convert those customers to Dish Net.... whats funny is in the end Dish Net bought out Superstar all together so i dont know what the hell happened after that... maybe they still have some superstar customers but dish net owns them and just says they are superstar satellite....

[mikehbkwm]

When people say satellite goes out in rain, or satellite has bad picture quality, or the cost is to high, please help reduce the inaccurate information and say pizza dish or small dish or even cable on a stick :)

For the dude that said pizza is 100% digital, you need to realize where they get there programming from, they of course use C-band dishes (like myself), and many of the channels are not digital, they take the great looking analog feed convert it to digital and compress the hell out of it, then reuplink it and there you have yuckvision, unless you have a big dish you will never know how good a real analog or digital master broadcast first generation feed looks...

Most cable has better SD/HD picture than the small dishes, and the fact that you can watch TV in hard rain is also a big plus for cable, I used all the small dishes out there and I was not happy with any of them, SD looks like crap HD not bad though some look like crap also, I guess I am spoiled having a big dish for over 20 years, but I really can't stand poor audio or video so I stay with my current setup.

? for u since i havent worked for superstar in so long and havent kept up with c-band in a long time went to superstars/dish net website and man it seems you BUD owners keep losing more and more programming is it still up there only on 4dtv or are u guys losing those channels completely...

[tdti1]

Its on 4dtv, YSP(superstar, netlink, tunervision) is owned by dish network so there goal is to switch there big dish customers to dish, and they will lie and do whatever it takes to get people to switch, sad but many people have fallen for there BS and never upgraded to 4dtv many never even new what a 4dtv was, and still don't no :(

For providers that support big dish users, you will need to go here:
http://www.callnps.com/
http://www.programming-center.net/
These places are great and I use them both, NPS is good because if you contact an outbound rep you can save money and pay less than the listed price :)

I get more channels free than what you can sub to on small dish, though many channels do not hold my interest, I still love feed hunting and I enjoy my setup, and hope more people will upgrade to a BUD, it is not hard to find a used 10' dish for free from somebody that does not know what can be had with the system, setting it up can be a little difficult but doing everything on your own will save a whole lot of money.

[mikehbkwm]

yeah i remember telling customers that there big dish couldnt compare to the small dish LOL but again it was a job and thats what i was supposed to do... anyway i work for Cox Communications now and get almost all my services free so i cant argue with that :)

[lassenloop]

My Dad ditched his large dish years ago after all he started losing all of his channels. Plus, it sucks having to swap satelites everytime you want to change the channel. It was cool when we use to be able to watch the Nascar feeds directly without commercial interuption. After he lost that option, he pretty much turned of the BUD.

[tdti1]

If your dad still has the bud, you should mention the 4dtv to him, or he can put an add in the paper if he wants to get rid of it, many home theatre enthusiasts will jump on a dish give away, or one for a small fee.

[lassenloop]

Well, he just got rid of it about 2 weeks ago when he sold his house. Plus, I think (not sure) that the motor in the dish started having problems, though that's an easy fix.

[Fio]

I just switched BACK to Comcast from Direct TV (DTV). I have Comcast HSI and used to use DTV for television. When I wanted to to switch to HDTV, I discovered the following:

1) As an EXISTING customer of DTV, I would STILL have to pay $250 for a NEW dish and HDTV receiver. PLUS, in order to get local channels in HDTV, I'd have to spring for another $50 AND put an ugly antenna on the house.

2) Having the existing Comcast cable for HSI, adding HDTV was a snap.

3) Comcast offers about the same HDTV channels, PLUS local channels in HDTV.

4) DTV does not yet offer MPEG4, so bandwidth restrictions prohibit local channel HD transmission.

5) Comcast had no long-term obligation.

6) Adding Comcast HDTV to my existing HSI gives me a price break on the HSI.

Thus, for these reasons, I ditched DTV and get all my stuff through Comcast. I do LOVE DTV for the dependability of service. Once DTV offers MPEG4 service, I may switch BACK to DTV as a "new customer" and hopefully avail myself of a good deal for a free HD Dish and receiver. We'll see.

[lassenloop]

A person is only eligible for DTV's new customer deal one-time in their life. The local HD channels is the biggest reason I don't switch. That and I don't need a receiver for the bedroom and in a few months I'll be able to switch to Cablecard in the living room.