Direct TV with HD

Well I took the plunge. The local "Billy Bob's" cable bill jumped to over $40.00/mo for basic (about 25 channels) cable. The girlfriend also offered to pay for half the bill for Direct TV. So I got the works. HD with a DVR. And it's costing me about 10 less per month.

So of course one of the first channels I check out that was unavailable on cable was the Speed channel. I know it's not like it use to be, but there it was, Barrett Jackson Auction in HD with Mike Joy. Sweet!

HD is interesting. You watch it and it looks pretty good. But then you switch back to a standard channel, and wow, that's when you realize the difference.

I'm considering the same switch, the local cable fees are way too high. The satellite is cheaper.

Even non-HD channels are beter quality. I waited so long because I have a Tivo with a large hard drive I installed and lifetime (no monthly fee) service. But Satellite TV has come down to where the monthly fee for the DVR is still cheaper then basic cable.

We just switched from Dish Network to Direct TV. We got 2 additional receivers and replaced our old dvr with a far superior one for less money/month than we were paying Dish. We approached Dish about the upgrades we wanted to make and there were charges for everything. They offered lots of free upgrades for new customers but nothing for existing customers so we became new customers at Direct TV and got all our new equipment for free with free installation. We didn't go for HD because all our TVs are in good working order right now and we didn't want to spend the $1000 + for a new one.

YEp, and when is snows, rains etc - guess what - NO TV.. Satellite is at the vagries of the weather, and in Baker City as soon as the skies started to go grey you could see channesl drop out one by one.

Having been that way, I would not go back to a satellite provider. Cable maybe more expensive BUT it is generally more reliable. Well until some idiot tries to steal copper cable and cuts into a 300 circuit Fibre Cable. Boy was last Saturday busy..

What's snow?

Simon Wrote: [quote]
YEp, and when is snows, rains etc - guess what - NO TV.. Satellite is at the vagries of the weather, and in Baker City as soon as the skies started to go grey you could see channesl drop out one by one.

I haven't found that to be much of a problem. In the 8-10 years we've had satellite TV, first wih Dish Network and now DirecTV, I can count with the fingers of one hand the times we've lost the feed because of bad weather. When we had cable it was down just as often due to weather related downed lines.

My neighbors have never had a problem. I asked around before buying. We'll see.

On a lighter note, Direct TV marketing has struck. My last name is Park. As in English/Scottish descent. But the last name Park is like Smith in Korea. Well I just picked up my mail and Direct TV wants me to add on "Korea Direct" for 9.99 a month.

I also occasionally get Korean Airlines offers as well.
I've been profiled!

Simon Wrote:

I had DirectTV in Boise for several years and we liked it way better than cable and even Dish TV. Had the same luck as Rick with it. We will get it here soon and we may dump the crappy cable we got when we first moved here (this here is like a throw back to cable TV of the late 60s ~ ugh).

However, some of you may be lucky enough to have Verizon's new FIOS service (fiber optic) which Consumers Reports rated tops with DirectTV right below it.

FYI ~ here is there ratings from best to worst:

Verizon FIOS
Direct TV
Bright House
Dish TV
Cox
Insight
Cablevison
RCN
Time Warner
Comcast
Charter
Mediacom

Wow, my old cable company "Mark's Cablevision" isn't on the list.
No lie, that's the name!

losmorob Wrote: