A partial goodbye to DTV

gweedo · 10-27-2006, 05:31 PM

I have been (well, I guess I still am) a DTV subscriber for almost 8 years, and today I took the step of moving to my local cable provider (Cox).

I just moved to Vegas from Phoenix, and the locals that DTV offers here is pathetic. I don't know why the negotiations with the local station aren't progressing (DTV gives no ETA for adding NBC and CBS feeds). My OTA reception is horrid in my part of town, so this was the best solution that I can think of. I will suspend my DTV account after NFL season until the monopoly expires (or until DTV's HD capacity expands).

Cox offered me a great deal including an HD-DVR (and soon I will be able to d/l Tivo onto it), and I get a few more HD channles that DTV. Nothing earth shattering, but I now get CinemaxHD, StarzHD, MTVHD, InHD, and InHD2. Still no NG or ESPN2 HD, but the locals are really the clincher for me.

I guess my main point of this thread is: Even after 8 years of loving DTV, they need to catch up quickly. I know they are trying, but come on!!!!!!

Beck38 · 10-27-2006, 06:01 PM

Satellite (both DirecTV and Echostar) started out doing things cable couldn't. First, providing service where no cable had ventured; Second, by providing channels that cable didn't have the capacity to provide. And at a price point the cableco's couldn't begin to touch.

It still has a pretty good lead in #1 still, even when 'viewed' from the suburbs of a fairly large city (Seattle), where the 'incombant' cableco (Comcast) has yet to really spend the bucks to upgrade most of their plant (that they bought from AT&T Broadband about 6 years ago), which results in many areas (including the one I live in), lacking those all important HD locals, and only about as many (in count) as DirecTV has as well (but missing some 'favorites'). Luickily, I get most of the major's OTA pretty good, although there are a couple 'majors' that have transmitters about on par power wise with a standard ham radio rig.

Hey, it's great if the total package you get is you want, at a price and service level you can live with. But believe me, even now, you are in the 'vast minority'. In my experience, living in some 8 cities across the country since getting my first DirecTV setup in 1994, I've never felt the 'siren call' of chucking and going with cable. Even before satellite locals and digital, I could always get a good signal with what had become a 'strange oddity', the rooftop antenna.

Like everyone else, I'd like LOTS more local HD, LOTS more nationals. But I also realize, having been around the perhipherary of the broadcast 'industry' for some 35 years, the forces now at work to deny satellite access to those stations (at least the locals). We shall see if the HD services like HBO, National Geographic, and the like, get 'hammered' in the same way come next year. If not, then there will be once again a huge gap between cable and satellite.

Jimbos · 10-27-2006, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gweedo

I have been (well, I guess I still am) a DTV subscriber for almost 8 years, and today I took the step of moving to my local cable provider (Cox).

I just moved to Vegas from Phoenix, and the locals that DTV offers here is pathetic. I don't know why the negotiations with the local station aren't progressing (DTV gives no ETA for adding NBC and CBS feeds). My OTA reception is horrid in my part of town, so this was the best solution that I can think of. I will suspend my DTV account after NFL season until the monopoly expires (or until DTV's HD capacity expands).

Cox offered me a great deal including an HD-DVR (and soon I will be able to d/l Tivo onto it), and I get a few more HD channles that DTV. Nothing earth shattering, but I now get CinemaxHD, StarzHD, MTVHD, InHD, and InHD2. Still no NG or ESPN2 HD, but the locals are really the clincher for me.

I guess my main point of this thread is: Even after 8 years of loving DTV, they need to catch up quickly. I know they are trying, but come on!!!!!!

Why not do like many do, get the baser package from cable so you get your locals and a few others for like $ 10 and use D* for the rest.

Jimbo

gweedo · 11-01-2006, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimbos

Why not do like many do, get the baser package from cable so you get your locals and a few others for like $ 10 and use D* for the rest.

Jimbo

Locals in HD are only available with the digital package. The HDDVR from Scientific Atlanta sucks hardcore, but it serves the basic purpose of recording the shows on locals in HD. I use my HR10-250 to do the rest of my recording over DTV. Early next year, I am supposed to (supposed being the key word) be able to put the Tivo software on the unit which will make it 10000 times better--by then I hope that DTV has all of the issues ironed out. I want to give Cox the boot.

I get a few more channels which aren't all that great, but I have found some decent HD content from time-to-time on Cox. The PQ on Cox is--at least for my eyes--a lot better than DTV. Even my wife noticed that Discovery HD on Cox was better (I thought it was just me).

The good news is, I did get the Slimline dish installed. My signal strength is in the upper 90s as measured by my HR10-250, so I am setup well. My house has structured wiring, so all I have to do is swap a few cables, and I am back 100% to DTV... now if they would offer my locals in HD and get some more content...

10-27-2006, 05:31 PM	#1
gweedo High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 88	A partial goodbye to DTV I have been (well, I guess I still am) a DTV subscriber for almost 8 years, and today I took the step of moving to my local cable provider (Cox). I just moved to Vegas from Phoenix, and the locals that DTV offers here is pathetic. I don't know why the negotiations with the local station aren't progressing (DTV gives no ETA for adding NBC and CBS feeds). My OTA reception is horrid in my part of town, so this was the best solution that I can think of. I will suspend my DTV account after NFL season until the monopoly expires (or until DTV's HD capacity expands). Cox offered me a great deal including an HD-DVR (and soon I will be able to d/l Tivo onto it), and I get a few more HD channles that DTV. Nothing earth shattering, but I now get CinemaxHD, StarzHD, MTVHD, InHD, and InHD2. Still no NG or ESPN2 HD, but the locals are really the clincher for me. I guess my main point of this thread is: Even after 8 years of loving DTV, they need to catch up quickly. I know they are trying, but come on!!!!!! __________________ H20 x 2 HR10 DVR x 1 50" Vizio Plasma x 1

10-27-2006, 06:01 PM	#2
Beck38 High Definition is the definition of life. Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 536	Satellite (both DirecTV and Echostar) started out doing things cable couldn't. First, providing service where no cable had ventured; Second, by providing channels that cable didn't have the capacity to provide. And at a price point the cableco's couldn't begin to touch. It still has a pretty good lead in #1 still, even when 'viewed' from the suburbs of a fairly large city (Seattle), where the 'incombant' cableco (Comcast) has yet to really spend the bucks to upgrade most of their plant (that they bought from AT&T Broadband about 6 years ago), which results in many areas (including the one I live in), lacking those all important HD locals, and only about as many (in count) as DirecTV has as well (but missing some 'favorites'). Luickily, I get most of the major's OTA pretty good, although there are a couple 'majors' that have transmitters about on par power wise with a standard ham radio rig. Hey, it's great if the total package you get is you want, at a price and service level you can live with. But believe me, even now, you are in the 'vast minority'. In my experience, living in some 8 cities across the country since getting my first DirecTV setup in 1994, I've never felt the 'siren call' of chucking and going with cable. Even before satellite locals and digital, I could always get a good signal with what had become a 'strange oddity', the rooftop antenna. Like everyone else, I'd like LOTS more local HD, LOTS more nationals. But I also realize, having been around the perhipherary of the broadcast 'industry' for some 35 years, the forces now at work to deny satellite access to those stations (at least the locals). We shall see if the HD services like HBO, National Geographic, and the like, get 'hammered' in the same way come next year. If not, then there will be once again a huge gap between cable and satellite.