CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[WanMan]

When I bought my home back in 2000 I bought a 65" Mitsubishi Diamond RPTV capable of 1080i for watching DTV (OTA digital television via RGBhv). I was slow to adopt even though the ATSC was accepted by the FCC in 1995. Instead, I used my Panasonic RP-56 in 480P mode for DVDs and for the first year had Dish Networks.

Nine months into Dish Networks and I realized the STB channel guide's blinding white logo burned a wear pattern into the blue and green tubes. Three months later I got rid of Dish Networks when they told me to go fly a kite when my contract was up. At the time, Benchmark Communications, the cable operator, had just been bought by Adelphia. I decided to not choose cable and instead went with DirecTV.

The first year or two of DirecTV had fairly decent picture quality, including that of the local stations they retransmitted, but the day came when I noticed the picture quality of the locals, and then the cable channels seemed to diminish over time. I then took a back seat when I introduced HD into my home and my desire to keep DirecTV was renewed, even if it meant watching the low quality overly compressed SD channels and locals continued to annoy me.

Then as time went on I started to notice a diminished picture quality in the HD and realized that this just wasn't going to go in their favor. This stance was furthered solidified when I enabled OTA DTV in my home and started to compare the picture quality of DirecTV-provided HD and that I received off the air.

Now, I've had DirecTV HD since 2003 and several times thought about upgrading the equipment, but this meant a contractual commitment when I felt they just didn't deserve it. As time has gone by Voom has come and gone, Dish never seemed to get their act together, and Adelphia fell apart with Comcast doing nothing in their place.

Its not 2007 and I am not happy with the HD in my household unless it is off the air or from prerecorded content (HD DVD and Blu-ray). I do not think I am alone in this consternation based on the cable and satellite industry's constipation. So, while the 'format war' rages on at least I can conclude is that they are collectively doing a better job for me than the collective effort of satellite and cable providers.

If I could find a provider to deliver two HD-capable DVR with the ability to record DTV OTA and have >30 hours HD recording capacity I might be interested, but not if that solicitor happens to reduce the video resolution, upscale SD to call it HD, and or overly compress (through recompression) the content that was original divine.

So, how do all you feel about this?

[emdawgz1]

Now you have really struck a nerve...


Comcast is a phila based company, owned by the Roberts Brothers. They slowly ran the other local cable companies out of phila and started their phenomenal growth. They have the absoloute worst customer service you can imagine. I un installed their cable box from my tv 12 yrs ago, sat it on my porch and informed them they will only get another dollar from me if they pry it from my cold dead hand.

I had directv, i have dishnet HD. it looks ok, the dvr is ok, the price is horrible.

I hate them all. They are brib...lobbying congress enough so that there is very little chance of any real competition anytime soon.

I am looking for a new house and i will only move somewhere where verizon FIOS is available. It looks awesome!

[WanMan]

One of the reasons, I think, to be lucky in getting into a Fios neighborhood is their 20x20 broadband service for $65/month. At this rate you could stream HD content from anyone and cut the balls off of the middle men like Comcrap and IndirecTV. I would love for BellSouth (ahem, AT&T) to sell my IFITL neighborhood to Verizon and probably sh!t bricks as a result.

Yes, I'd sh!t bricks for Fios.

[ecrabb]

Consternation here, too. I live in a small market (<500,000) and we have a complete crap cable company. Their customer service sucks, the product offering sucks, and the prices are very high. 5mbps broadband with POTS $90/mo after the "introductory period" is over (1 yr). Of course, you have to specifically ask about the introductory period - they don't bother to mention that when you're price-shopping. It's just $70/mo. After the introductory offer is over, compare the $90/mo. to what I'm paying for Qwest DSL and POTS - which is right at $70. So, the cable company hooks you with the introductory rate (gee, why WOULDN'T I get it - it's 5mbps vs. 1.5 mbps.) Then, a year later, when your bill jumps $20, it's up to you figure out what to do. Qwest does the introductory BS, too - they're not excused, either. But, being a larger national company, they seem to be a little more up-front about the fact that it IS an introductory offer. So, I sit with my poochie 1.5 Mbps DSL and POTS from Qwest.

I have DirecTV because I have nice hardware I really like (Tivo), a hacked receiver in the theater for archiving stuff and scheduling off-site, and because the picture quality is acceptable (and no alternatives). It's not excellent, but it's not bad, either. It looks good on my old 1271, which is probably only 720p'ish, anyway... so the 1280x1080i "HD Lite" isn't a big deal. It's just a notch or two below HD-DVD, so I know the shortcomings in the projector are masking some of the difference. Ignorance is bliss. It's one reason I haven't upgraded the projector - it would just piss me off that the source isn't as good. The LCD upstairs in the living room is a 720p set, too - so I'm good there. I suppose if I had displays that were a lot sharper and could resolve 1080p, I'd be a lot more disappointed.

I don't have anywhere else to go, anyway... My market just isn't big enough for any larger cable company (like Comcast or whatever) to even care to come into the market, so it's unlikely that any competition will change matters. I don't think the DISH offering is substantially superior to the DirecTV offering - at least, enough so that it's worth all the trouble of switching to all new equipment and losing some of the things I like about my hardware.

I guess the masses don't have the equipment to resolve the difference between average quality and excellent quality. Even if they did, programming choice trumps quality, anyway. I guess I don't see our choices changing much in the foreseeable future.

Bring on more and more affordable HD media, I say.

SC