Satellite TV

I'm about to get satellite TV for my house... and I'd like to know more about it. So for those who have experience with it, if anyone would give me some advice /opinions or more information about it, I'd be very appreciative. Picture quality, how the different vendors compare, hi-def aspects, pricing... anything will be appreciated.

Thanks!

Kevin

Well, as far as direct tv goes,

1. No G4
2. Has more channels than digital cable (some of them especially for sat., like Starz)
3. Can order movies, but are 1 month behind the video store
4. Can get feeds of major networks (ABC, CBS) from different coasts (you'll be able to watch it 1 hr early or 1hr late)

Vs. Cable:

(+)
-less expensive vs. digital cable
-clear picture (non high def even)

(-)
-weather can interfere with signal so you can't get stations (this doesn't happen too often)
-have to pay extra if you want to watch different channels in different rooms at once. with cable, you don't pay extra.

actually on our coast it's about 3 hours difference for tv shows.

And when it rains, and pours it was coming in really bad, so I tried to turn it off and on again. It couldn't find any signal at that point . This may just be the crappy one at work though. Personally I have cable at home.

When I moved about 2 years ago I want the best TV for my buck so I did tons of research on my options. I live in IL and I see you are in IN and I found direct tv to be far above the others. Cable digital or reg did not have anything I was looking for and the dish network programming was and still is terrible. Without question direct tv is the best choice. I have have very little trouble with losing the signal in weather only 2-3 times in 2 years and even then its only out for a minute or two before it finds the signal again. Pictures quality is great. Prices just went up slightly, I pay just under $60 a month for local channels, the total choice plus (extra channels), HBO and 2 recievers. Honestly its worth every penny.

I ordered Direct tv myself, BIG mistake. Cable had more channels and local channels. They even told me on the phone you cannot get ABC, NBC, FOX or any of those channels on direct tv. So here I am paying 50 bucks for Crap. Stick with cable imo.

The decision on DirecTV depends entirely upon your circumstances. Everyone's cable company has different offerings. Local channel availability on sat depends on where you live...etc.

I love DirecTV. The sports packages are awesome (NFL/NHL for me), the channel lineup is great, I can get all of my local channels via the dish, and they offer HDTV.

B

If you have satellite and want local channels, buy a splitter and hook up the antenna. They make them that are amplified through your electrical outlet so you get good reception.

Easy and free.

GregN. said:

-have to pay extra if you want to watch different channels in different rooms at once. with cable, you don't pay extra.

Click to expand...

This isn't totally true. Sometimes, cable companies will basically force you to pay extra for additional rental fees on digital converter boxes. It usually adds up to about 8-10 dollars extra per month per tv.

Everything else Greg said seems to ring true though.

if you want the real deal satellite tv experience then get C-Band or Ku-Band [or both]. the equipment is pretty pricey though & you'll need a good deal of room for a big dish if you want to be able to access the most satellites available to you and get the best possible signal.. but with this once you've put all the money down on everything you can get what are called "cams" and be able to receive programming for free.

normally sat dealers won't tell you about this if you're just asking questions, but if you're actually going to be buying the equipment ask them about it and they'll help you out then. it's just a bit hush hush especially in the USA.

another cool thing about C/Ku-Band though is you can pull in pre-air streams[meaning you can see programming like a week before regular sat/cable subscribers get em] as well as you can receive 1st generation broadcasts, unlike the 2nd generation "compressed[re-encoded]" broadcasts that stuff like dtv, dishnet, digi-cable, cable, etc use.. so you'd have higher resolutions & bitrates of channels so they'll look alot better then regular sat/cable.

but yeah, if you can afford this then you're good to go and going to get the best tv experience possible.