Cable vs. Satellite

I'm a big fan of Dish Network. I have HD DVR, largest channel package and all HD with 3 tvs for less than $100/month. This includes local networks also. I don't do the HBO, Skinimax or Hoetime, but those you can add on no problem.

Edit:  PS, let me know if you want to do dish.  I can get you a coupon that gets you free install and me like 50 bucks for referring you   PM me if you want it  

Seems like the folks that have dish are pretty darn happy with what they get. Although it does seem like it is less of a bargain than it once was.

I might suggest being careful on the iNet side though. Cable iNet has become pretty reliable and quite speedy. DSL/ISDN and Sat systems are gonna be pretty hard pressed to provide the same "Real" level of service. (At least for my cable provider)

If your iNet sucks with your cable provider, then you don't have much to lose switching it all. You can always go with DSL/ISDN in the future. I am guessing that you work from home and will probably need something more than the typical low end "Broadband" offerings.

we have DISH and over all are happy... one warning is that it is weather sensitive.  storms will interfer with reception.  We have largest channel selection with local channels but also get LA channels so husband can watch his Lakers and Dodgers... plus if we miss a show in our time zone, we can dvr it for the LA time zome.

cathleen

it is all about the interrnet for me.

Cable internet is like crack cocaine baby! I am addicted, dont you dare take it away!

Personally I have had almost no weather problems, except blowing snow which I just brush off with a broom and all is fine.

Also I would not recommending dropping your internet.  I have cable internet at home and cable/dsl > satalite any day of the week.

Do you realize you are paying $1800 a year for Cable?  I dunno about you, but that is a fair chunk of change in my house.   Get DSL for $30 and you are good.   TV sucks no matter how many channels you have.  

We had Direct TV for a couple years.  It was fine... although it was irritating when the signal would go out due to the weather.  That probably happened once every couple of weeks, in the summer.

It is not widely available, but we switched to Verizon FiOS for both TV and Internet.  Our only complaint about their TV service is that the selection of PPV movies is pathetic.  The internet service is great... it costs $5 more a month than DSL and is much much quicker.  For example, if I have a big download to do at work, I do it at home... our home connection blows away the shared T1 connection we have at work. 

unless FiOS is available in your area. 

I started with Dish Network when we built our house cuz there was no cable on the new street.  I switched over to Direct TV a few years later because they had the DVR feature.  I really liked the way it worked, very intuitive.  Now I'm on Comcast cable because Satellite internet sux so bad you cannot imagine, it's barely better than dial up.  We live out in the woods a bit and DSL is not available.  the Comcast DVR is not as easy to use but I've adjusted to it.  But the internet rocks.  You save about $15 per month by combining cable TV and web than if you buy them individually.

it all depends on where you live and the package they're offering, but i just had to say from my experience with directtv is that they suck.

customer service was LOUSY - they charged us to move even though when we signed up we told them we'd be moving in two months and they promised to wave the fee - even though we were already customers they bombarded us with telemarketing calls to sign up to get direct tv on a daily basis AND the service went out in heavy rain and definitely during snow... we have cable now for phone, tv, internet and its all good.

Well, like everyone said, Cable Internet is fantastic.  I just don't like the Time Warner DVR and I think the rates are high.  I don't watch that much NFL football.

 Seems like I will stick with cable.  Just don't love it. 

Ditch the DVR....look in to a Home Theater PC (HTPC).

You can buy one or make one for a reasonable price.  Will let you do all the things you enjoy about DVR and more.  You want to record one show and time shift another?  Easy.  You want to automatically record and archive one show while watching (and recording or timeshifting another)?  easy.  Add another TV card and you can do three shows at once. 

You actually should be able to find some with XP media center pretty cheap about now.

Vortmax,

Unless it has come a LONG way in a short time, HTPC is teh suck.  No HD recording, loud computers fan going on all the time etc.  

Dish network DVR, can record two shows in HD,  built in with the tuner and no getting viruses on your TV

It's getting really close.  There are some PCIE HD tuner cards that work quite well.  The only real current issue (that I've seen) is getting two cards to work together.  In terms of noise, that isn't that big of an issue anymore either.

If the dish box can do it, why couldn't a home brew?  It's not like Dish the forefront of revolutionary technology...they don't have super special encoders or processers the world has never seen before.  The only thing they would have is DRM crap

Mediacenter is actually not bad....it gets along with most hardware and setup is fairly straight forward.

MythTv on the other hand......it's a royal PITA.  It took me about 4 hours to get it to work with my (non HD) tuner card and to get it to sync with the mysql database......and I'm familiar with both linux and mysql.  Now I have heard there is a version of redhat that is bundled with myth and a boatload of drivers, so it tends to be a one shot install, but I have yet to try that (mainly because I hate redhat).