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Thread: Satellite vs cable (HDTV reception) |
    
New member Username: Kyle8705
Post Number: 3
Registered: Sep-04
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| Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 07:32 pm: |
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I just purchased a Mitsubishi WD62825 and now i am trying to figure out what to go with, satellite or cable. I have heard VOOM is the best satellite provider in regards to HD quality, but i dont know the truth behind it. Basically what i am looking for is the best service provider which is best for HD (amount of channels, quality, etc.) and has local channels. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to email me with any info you feel would be helpful. |
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Maureen Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 11:33 am: |
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good luck with that! |
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| Posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - 10:10 am: |
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As far as customer service, it is all hit-or-miss. It depends on who you get on the phone and who the installer is. Some of them are helpful and knowledgable and others are not. The only thing you can compare directly is the programming. While all providers (cable and STB) provide all commercially available channels, Voom has its own additional HD channels. The other difference between cable and STB service is (depends on where you live) that your local network HD would come through the cable if you have cable service and through an outdoor antenna if you have STB service. If you have good local signals, we would not notice any difference. |
Steve Adams Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 08:24 pm: |
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Another issue is the TV Guide. The TV guide with the WD62825 won't show satellite shows because they couldn't reach an agreement with Tivo. You'll have to buy a Tivo box to get satellite program guides, and then you're duplicating the PVR already in the WD62825. |
bittydog Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 09:22 am: |
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Bought rca hd tv and used satelite for 3 months than changed to cable because of wanting local channels. The cable picture is not near as sharp as the satelite |
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| Posted on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 08:09 pm: |
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COMCAST cable hi def is excellent
a near pristine signal, looks as good as Satellite, and as good as uncomprressed Over the Air hi def |
Bronze Member Username: Lampright
Syracuse,
Utah
USA
Post Number: 22
Registered: Jan-05
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| Posted on Wednesday, February 09, 2005 - 02:52 pm: |
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Kyle, if you have Comcast for a cable company go with them...you won't regret it. Instead of buying a $1000 HD Tivo for satellite (not even available with Voom) you can lease one from Comcast for $14.95/month. It's awesome! I'm 100% satisfied with Comcast.
See my other post with more details comparing Comcast to DirecTV in the forum "Digital Cable vs. Satellite".
http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/2/13561.html
Plus, once the bugs are worked out of the cablecard system, if your mitsu has a PVR inside of it you'll be able to use it to record shows. I have a mitsu 52725 and the cablecard is about useless right now....too many bugs. But, the Motorola HD DVR comcast uses is awesome! |
Bronze Member Username: Paul_ohstbucks
Post Number: 67
Registered: Jan-05
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| Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2005 - 07:48 pm: |
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I've always been a fan of Direct TV. Just a personal preference, I guess. I've had nothing but horrible experiences through the years with cable, and have been a direct TV customer for about 5 years now. Their customer service is great, and they never have technical failures that cause blackouts like you always seem to see with cable.
To Bittydog......Direct TV does have local channels. You must have had DTV back in their early days. I have no problem getting my HD locals over the air, so it really isnt a big issue for me. In fact, I still get the lowdef version through DTV, and get all the HD signals over the air, with exception to fox. Fox was the only channel I couldnt get with the ant., so I had Direct TV add HDfox to my service at no charge. I think the air signal is a 'teensy weensy' better than through sat, so for the time being, I'll keep using the air for the remainder of my locals. |
Bronze Member Username: Lampright
Syracuse,
Utah
USA
Post Number: 61
Registered: Jan-05
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| Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 02:37 pm: |
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Paul...we meet again...haha.
I was also a VERY happy directv customer for the past 5 years. It wasn't an easy decision to go back to cable. But, because of the price difference of the HD DVR between DirecTV and Comcast, I choose to switch to Comcast. It's been almost 2 months and I'm very happy with the switch. Comcast has also improved their customer service, so far I have no complaints with them. I also have not had any outages and I even use my broadband for my Vonage phone...so I rely on it quite a bit. The Comcast HD DVR isn't quite as good as Tivo, but it's close, and it records HD!
I think you should give them a try for 1 month side-by-side with your DirecTV. You have nothing to loose! |
Silver Member Username: Dmwiley
Post Number: 211
Registered: Feb-05
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| Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 11:57 am: |
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Paul, as Brian knows, I've been a Directv customer for 10 years. I think the HD quality is absolutely superb, but wish they had more channels. Unfortunately, Comcast is not available in my area of the country. But given Brian's enthousiasm, if ever arrives, I'm going to try it for at least a month. |
New member Username: Tdti1
Post Number: 1
Registered: Mar-05
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| Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 03:28 pm: |
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If you want the best picture quality in HD, you will find it on a big dish, with a 4dtv/HDD DTV and dish HD are very poor. |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Wednesday, August 03, 2005 - 02:19 am: |
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I just got a Sony rear proj. 55in. TV. and I'm itching to bring some kind of HD content in,Although I've had Dish TV for many
years,I' not happy with their service anymore.It seems to have
deteriorated since thier SBC alliance.I'm in the bay area(Northern
California)and got very poor recption with an indoor Terk antenna.The TV has an on-board cable s/u so I guess I could go back to Comcast,but had bad experiences with them years ago.What to do?!! |
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| Posted on Friday, September 23, 2005 - 12:19 pm: |
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I just purchased a Sharp 32" LCD. I have TeleMedia for cable service. The HD stations are excellent, but the non HD stations are very disap pointing.
Has anyone a suggestion or is just the way it is.
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Silver Member Username: Cableguy
Deep in the ...
U.S.
Post Number: 371
Registered: Mar-05
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| Posted on Friday, September 23, 2005 - 12:31 pm: |
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How are you connected to your TV? |
New member Username: Sama
Milford,
Ct
Usa
Post Number: 1
Registered: Sep-05
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| Posted on Friday, September 23, 2005 - 03:46 pm: |
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HDMI and componet cables |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 12:44 am: |
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Satellite is the only way to go for HD programming. Satellite is the only service that offers a true digital signal on each and every channel. Cable can not offer true digital quality channels. Of course a true digital signal is the absolute best way to view HD content period. The best among satelliet providers is DIRECTV. In the next year and a half, DIRECTV will offer the most HD content and will also offer local HD programming without the need of a seperate antenna. |
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| Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 12:52 pm: |
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""Satellite is the only service that offers a true digital signal on each and every channel. Cable can not offer true digital quality channels."
I nominate this for the most incorrect post of the year award.
Every Sat service compresses and bit starves their digital signals providing less resoultion on all their HD and digital programming. As far as I know not a single caable company compresses their data streams (other than the normal MPEG2 encoding which SAT services use as well).
Dish compresses less than DirectTv so it is the lesser of the two evils but neither are up to the same standards of OTA or cable transmission.
xvxvxvx |
Silver Member Username: Cableguy
Deep in the ...
U.S.
Post Number: 519
Registered: Mar-05
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| Posted on Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - 02:08 pm: |
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sam,
try connecting composite cables and see how the analog pictures look. If that doesn't help, disconnect the cable from the STB RF input and run it directly into the TV ant. input. You should see a somewhat difference from component to composite, as well as composite to direct feed. If you don't like what you see call your provider and have them come verify your signal levels and SNR (signal to noise ratio). All things being equal remembering you're looking at analog channels on a HDTV. Analog needs to go bye-bye sooner then later.
regards, |
Benihya Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 04:41 pm: |
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2-13-2006
Well, I just swithed from Dish to Warner cable and I
am 100% happier. 1st the picture as better colors (one of my friend as a bad colors) 2nd HD programes free 3rd DVR is only $10 a month VS $9.99 + $299 from dish.
the $299 i just saved will bay 10 of my cable bill.
what do you say to that? |
Unregistered guest |
| Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 09:45 am: |
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The last three post are very good post. I would like to add to the Analog discusion of poor signal. Be sure to try all inputs one at a time to find which is best for your System. Some TV manufactures do such a great job with their comb filter cicuits in cleaning up the signal(Avaiable through the low quality input of composite Video)that the picture will look better than that from a higher end connection such as s-video or component. This is best tested with S-video VS Composite because you can use the same input,same picture settings, and just pull the s-cable for switching. Have someone dis-connect the s-video cable while your watching the change works best. |
