POLL - Cable, Dish, or Direct TV

[The Ween]

I have cable and love it. My boss had Direct Tv for years and it sucked. There were always problems - if there was a storm, often times she would lose her signal. That's one good thing about cable, I guess - but perhaps it will be better in your area.

That's what I worry about, the weather. Ohio's weather is so screwy.

Is Direct TV a dish?

 

[King Darkness]

Yes DirecTV is a dish.

And you cant listen to anything Jen says, she is a known marijuana abuser.

 

[Maglor]

Cable companies right now are fighting about stations showing their programming for free. Not sure how long it's going to last. Since cable has to pay networks for showing programs, they may try and tie this in so they can't show the programs online.

Also, there are some stations who don't show their programming online at all.

I've been thinking about getting a dish, though I've never tried digital cable since I only have small sets right now.

Well OTA is a sacrifice. Of course, not all shows/channels will be available to you between networks and the internet... but... it's free. When I dropped my cable there were a few shows I missed, but you get over that. Having a DVR opens up all network channels and times to your viewing pleasure. As I said, I have more HD content to watch than I have time for.

 

[GrueSam]

Cable for me.

I have a $170/month package deal: High speed broad-band cable for the 'puter, all channels plus HD TV with a DVR, HBO and Showtime AND my home phone which I can call anywhere for as long as I want at anytime.

I'm a happy camper.

 

[RoboDad]

Having used HD cable, Dish and now DirecTV my vote goes to DirecTV by a country mile.

Having used HD cable, DirecTV and Dish, my vote goes to Dish by TWO country miles .

Seriously, though, I cannot stand the DirecTV DVR offerings at all. I find the Dish version much easier to use, and more flexible for the kinds of things we like to record and watch. I also don't like the other on-screen interface elements of DirecTV (the guide, info blocks and such) as compared to Dish.

The only reason I could see someone preferring DirecTV over Dish is because of sports packages, where Dish still lags behind. But not being a major sports fan that doesn't really affect me.

As for urban legends about satellite service and weather, I lived in Portland Oregon for many years, and my Dish service was interrupted maybe 5 times total because of weather. Compare that to the years I lived in California, when I still had cable, and it went out on average one full day every other month. I now live in Boise, and the only problems we ever have are during severe wet snowstorms, but not because of the falling snow in the air or the clouds, but because the wet snow sticks to the dish. But all I have to do is grab a broom, brush it off, and it's all good again.

 

[barryo]

Cable for me.

I have a $170/month package deal: High speed broad-band cable for the 'puter, all channels plus HD TV with a DVR, HBO and Showtime AND my home phone which I can call anywhere for as long as I want at anytime.

I'm a happy camper.

me too..........except maybe not as happy at $197 a month...........

 

[Jen]

That's what I worry about, the weather. Ohio's weather is so screwy.

Is Direct TV a dish?

Don't listen to King - I won't even say what he abuses!

Having used HD cable, DirecTV and Dish, my vote goes to Dish by TWO country miles .

Seriously, though, I cannot stand the DirecTV DVR offerings at all. I find the Dish version much easier to use, and more flexible for the kinds of things we like to record and watch. I also don't like the other on-screen interface elements of DirecTV (the guide, info blocks and such) as compared to Dish.

The only reason I could see someone preferring DirecTV over Dish is because of sports packages, where Dish still lags behind. But not being a major sports fan that doesn't really affect me.

As for urban legends about satellite service and weather, I lived in Portland Oregon for many years, and my Dish service was interrupted maybe 5 times total because of weather. Compare that to the years I lived in California, when I still had cable, and it went out on average one full day every other month. I now live in Boise, and the only problems we ever have are during severe wet snowstorms, but not because of the falling snow in the air or the clouds, but because the wet snow sticks to the dish. But all I have to do is grab a broom, brush it off, and it's all good again.

How can it be an urban legend if it's true? Granted you are talking about Dish service and I'm talking about Direct TV - wind storms/rain storms that thing went down. During the winter months it would go down several times a month. Never tried Dish though, so I can't say anything about that.

 

[The Mike]

I have Dish and have had no complaints. I have their 250 package or whatever that one is with HBO/Showtime and still pay less than extended cable. I do like that DirecTV has an actual TiVo box or they did when my buddy got his because those are hackable and he streams torrents, etc through it in any room that shares the box access, a task not easily achievable with Dish and their mobile options are awesome but nothing that made me want to change.

 

[fantasymaker]

Cable here , in my country direct tv is expensive and when comes storm or something like that don't see anything .

 

[Kuzeh]

I refuse to pay for TV...
I'll pay for Netflix instead...
Cancelled cable last year and Time Warner just offered me a free 3 month trial... I took it, but won't keep it...

 

[RoboDad]

How can it be an urban legend if it's true? Granted you are talking about Dish service and I'm talking about Direct TV - wind storms/rain storms that thing went down. During the winter months it would go down several times a month. Never tried Dish though, so I can't say anything about that.

I call it an urban legend because it is a case where an occasional minor issue gets blown WAY out of proportion, and takes on a life of its own. Can there be problems with satellite services during some severe weather conditions? Yes. Are they anywhere even close to what the urban legends claim them to be? No, not in the 10+ years that I have been a Dish subscriber. And, as I mentioned, that includes several years in Portland, an area that is overcast 200+ days a year, and receives significant rainfall on many of those overcast days.

And again, in my experience, the service outages I've had with Dish have been almost nothing compared to the problems I have had with every cable company I have ever dealt with.

 

[Jen]

I call it an urban legend because it is a case where an occasional minor issue gets blown WAY out of proportion, and takes on a life of its own. Can there be problems with satellite services during some severe weather conditions? Yes. Are they anywhere even close to what the urban legends claim them to be? No, not in the 10+ years that I have been a Dish subscriber. And, as I mentioned, that includes several years in Portland, an area that is overcast 200+ days a year, and receives significant rainfall on many of those overcast days.

And again, in my experience, the service outages I've had with Dish have been almost nothing compared to the problems I have had with every cable company I have ever dealt with.

I guess I must be lucky. Never have had a problem with my cable service. *knocks on wood*

 

[Sweet Rabbit]

I have digital cable

 

[SnakeDoctor]

Digital Cable. 3 TVs with regular boxes (kitchen, game room and bathroom), 2 HD TVs with HD/DVR boxes (bedroom and living room). Its about $130/mo.

We cancelled premium movie channels when I realized that I only really watched movies I already owned ... and we got an AppleTV which makes all of my DVDs (movie and TV) accessable by remote control anyway.

SnakeDoc

 

[The Mike]

I think you should stay with cox, cause I heard you really like.....

This is the funniest ____ing thing I've read on the boards all day.

 

[Mesa]

^^^^
I smiled a little too, then cursed him.

 

[bouncing_boy77]

DirecTV. been on it for 4yrs now.

 

[316what]

That's what I worry about, the weather. Ohio's weather is so screwy.

Is Direct TV a dish?

DirecTV is a dish. I'm in Ohio and have been a DirecTV customer for the past 7 years. Snow, rain, wind, whatever...I've only lost my signal once and that was for an entire 5 minutes.

Oh, did I mention NFL Sunday Ticket?

 

[NASEDO]

For TV purposes Direct TV by far

 

[NASEDO]

DirecTV is a dish. I'm in Ohio and have been a DirecTV customer for the past 7 years. Snow, rain, wind, whatever...I've only lost my signal once and that was for an entire 5 minutes.

Oh, did I mention NFL Sunday Ticket?

Yeah, the weather outage is just a bunch of crap. I had Direct TV maybe 10 years now, and it rarely loses signal, only in major storms, but it only last a few minutes.