# Best deal - Cable, Satellite, Utopia or ?



## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

So, to set things up. New home, pre-wired (all rooms RG-6 and CAT 5E) only 1 CAT 5E line into house and 2 RG-6 into the house.

Need TV and Broadband (don't care about phone service or anything else).

Want at least 1 DVR or equivalent. 
Have 1 HDTV, 1 SDTV, and 1 cable gateway. 

Do not want a contract!

So the question is,...what is the best deal out there?

My current 6 month deal on cable and broadband runs out in a couple days. Which is just as well cause I don't think I can stand much more of this blurry, grainy digital cable. And I won't even mention the Cowboy - Packers, NFL network vs. cable providers debacle.

Some stuff available here:
Frontier, Comcast, Utopia, Dish Network, Direct TV, Qwest

Best equipment, Picture quality, etc. 

And, why is it that all bundles include phone service? :wits-end: I guess you have to live in the UK to get one of those deals.
Why no HD only packages? I'd much rather pay $29.99 a month for 30 decent channels than $49.99 for 130+ channels of junk I'll never watch. :rant:


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I know Dish and DirecTV require contracts for specials, free equipment, etc. They may require it period. Not sure about the others. PQ is not so good on satellite unless it's HD.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

Hmmm,.... so SD PQ is actually better from cable providers other than Comcast?
I've had Comcast twice in the last 5 yrs (2 months last time and 6 months this time) and just think the picture is awful compared to Dish Network. I mean,...even my wife noticed the difference without me saying anything about it.
The Utopia deal has finally forced Comcast to lower prices (if you live in a city that elected to embrace Utopia) the Triple play for $99, but I do not want phone service and the PQ is not all that great. I could live with $66 for Internet and TV,... but no, gotta have a phone that I don't want. :foottap: Dunno weather to be mad, or just wonder how we got into this predicament? I mean really,...why would I even want 8 channels of Showtime or HBO???

:rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::rant::bigsmile:

Maybe I just don't get it, or am not seeing something. Everything= (just TV, not phone or Internet)
Comcast $132 mo.
Dish Network $109 mo.
DirecTV $109 mo.
Lowest package with HD=
Comcast $68
Dish Network $40
DirecTV $40


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I don't care much for all the premium channels myself. We have had Dish for about 18 months now... coming over from DirecTV. There is no doubt on our TV that DirecTV has better SD PQ. It's not a major difference, but definitely enough to tell the difference for the channels we watch most. DirecTV also has more HD channels at the moment, even with some consisting of a lot of stretched programming in an ugly attempt to imitate HD. :sarcastic:

If DirecTV offered locals in our area, we'd be with them. Eventually they will and at that time we will switch, but until then, they don't offer any receivers with an NTSC tuner nor anything that records NTSC.

With DirecTV and Dish being a commitment, can you try out any of the other cable companies before making a final decision?


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## brent_s (Feb 26, 2007)

Standard Def NTSC is never going to be that great, no matter how it's transmitted....especially after you get used to HD. Also, two people's opinion of the same provider's PQ will probably differ.

I switched back to TWC from DirectTV a few years ago. For our present viewing habits, TWC is a better financial deal and I find the SD (digital and analog) channels to be acceptable most of the time, seems to be more a function of the content provider than TWC. Cable system quality probably varies by market. I wish TWC offered more HD content in my market...the recent increase in DTV's HD offerings via the 2 new birds had me doing the math again, but I think I'd have to rewire the house in addition to the increased monthly for receivers in every room, etc. I'll give TWC some time to react to the competition before I decide to start pulling cable. 

My dad switched from Dish to DirectTV earlier this year since he could get locals via DirecTV. However, rain fade has been a problem for him with the newer 5? LNB elliptical dish they're using now. Dish recently rolled out locals to our area so he'll probably switch back when his promo runs out. He's SD only...can't say I see a big difference in PQ between Dish/DirectTV/TWC. I find all to be acceptable for regular TV.

I would expect all providers to be pretty close in cost for the same content in a given market...otherwise people would flock to the lowest cost, usually in spite of quality. 

Do you have to bundle it? We use TWC for TV/Internet, one phone company for land line, and wife and I use different cell providers. In one form or another, I could bundle all of those services to one provider, but the $$$ savings is usually minimal and we'd usually lose something we like about each of our current providers.

-Brent


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## Sonnie (Apr 11, 2006)

I should have clarified that I only notice a PQ difference on our 65" RPTV. I have never noticed any difference in PQ on our smaller TVs. I suppose depending our your display, you may or may not notice a significant difference.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

My local cable company has awful picture quality - Charter. That's why I have DirecTV. Well that and all the HD channels! :bigsmile: Also, I believe it would be a two year commitment with DirecTV and a 18 month commitment with Dish.

mech


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## Captain Crunch (Apr 2, 2007)

as far as commitment ........well it's not like your going to go with out tv so i wouldnt worry so much about the commitment part.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

DirecTV does offer locals, and I have yet to try them (DirecTV,...not the locals :R). With all their available HD now I am really tempted to try them.

The commitment thing does gets me in two ways. First, it's the principal of the thing "I" have to commit two years to them, where is MY commitment FROM them! I feel that if they need a commitment then they must feel they cannot compete in the future and need a commitment to guarantee their income/profit and to hedge their bets, if you know what I mean. Second, I really don't want to get locked in at this time, with all the new HD channels and stuff coming on line, the al a carte programming bill, etc. I really don't want to get stuck with a package and two months later the package or deal that I really want becomes available.

Bundle,...no, I do not have to bundle. It's just that the bundle basically works out to $33 per service which I could live with if I could just et two of the three for $66. What I had (that I liked the best, other than price) was Dish Network ~$52 and Comcast Cable Internet ~$43, as you can see that is only $4 less than the Triple Play. But I don't want or need the phone service,... see where I get irritated? 
:bigsmile:

The other part of my "Best Deal" question that I guess did not come across very well is the equipment and wiring. Dual LNB require 2 RG-6? Then what about Cable Internet?

Right now I'm leaning towards DirecTV and fiber optics from Utopia for the internet.


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## nova (Apr 30, 2006)

No real decision yet, but Comcast did make me a deal. Got rid of the miserable Motorola DCT-700/US and replaced it with a Motorola DCH-3416 dual tuner HD DVR, etc. etc. Much better audio, SD picture is slightly better and HD picture is Ok, not as good as my old Humax OTA tuner, but not too bad.

I think a lot of the problem was the DCT-700's shortcomings, ie: only has RF, composite video and analog stereo connections. The DCH-3416 is loaded with just about any connection you can think of except DVI :foottap:, of course thats what my GWIII has, so I have to use component.

Anyway, they gave me another 6 months plus 50 some odd additional channel at the reduced rate. 6 months from now I expect Utopia to be online and giving the local providers some more competition and hopefully some price breaks or better programming packages, or something. :dontknow:


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