Wide World of Women

Well for the past couple weeks my Comcast signal hasnt been the best. They have reset the boxes twice and come out once. When they came out they replaced a couple lines and tested the signal, everything is fine. Now the issue of bad picture quality and stations dropping out is happening again. I was thinking about switching to Direct TV but wanted peoples opinion of it. AT&T Uverse is starting up but they are going pretty slow about getting into my area. Any feedback would be most appreciated. Heck even those that have Dish Network.

Have had Dish for over 5 years. Really reliable and good picture quality. The ONLY drawback is loss of signal during thunder storms which passes as it moves overhead. Oh , and snow, mount your Dish on a pole on the ground so you can sweep it off if snow blocks the signal. Having it high on the house means you have to wait for it to melt. Nothing is perfect but like it better than the cable we used to have.

I've had cable in the past, but I have Directv now. I'll lose signal about 4 times a year so it's non issue. That's not the case everywhere though. Places in the south where there's lots of wind and storms year round, it may be more of an issue. I know Directv compresses it's signal more than the other networks, but the picture looks fine to me. I couldn't tell the difference between 1080i and Directv's 1080i lite unless I'm looking at the file properties.

Keep in mind Directv doesn't have HSN HD yet.

I get every news channel available in HD and pretty much everything else. I wouldn't switch (personally). Every once in a while I'll have problems with certain channels, but that's a minor thing when you think about all the channels that can be done in HD with firewire and the cost.

Doing HD with satellite requires an HD PVR = $250
Doing HD with Comcast firewire = $20 cable

I don't think you need an HDPVR for Dish Network. If Directv didn't switch to mpeg-4 I could get every channel. Now I'm limited to the SD channels and handful of HD that still is in mpeg-2. One of those is HBO HD though so I've got a TON of HD movies collected.

You can get caps with Directv for free with Directv to PC. For video you do need something extra or you can get the old mpeg-2 Tivo and hack it. That's really not worth it since all mpeg-2 channels are getting phased out. I'm still waiting for Directv starts offering Tivo DVR's. Lots of options for getting programming onto your PC with Tivo.

Thanks for that tip about mounting the Dish




I know ha ha but its just a tad frustrating with issues through Comcast



Oh I totally agree. Comcast through firewire is the way to go. And I have had Comcast for a while and this is the first string of bad events that has happened to me. Just kind of frustrating. A tech is coming back out today to check things out. One person I spoke with said it could be the box and I may need to switch it out to one of the new ones I hope not, as I fear losing the firewire capability. But another Comcast rep said if its happening on all the tvs its not the box and they shouldnt have to switch them. Odd thing is my internet is totally fine. The second rep said its probably something with signal from the pole to the house. Lets hope for the best.

Thanks as always guys!

Have you considered Fios? They use Motorola boxes with firewire support. Also a QAM feed so you can pick up unencrypted channels with a regular tuner.

Fios isnt an option for me

My choices are Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network, and soon AT&T Uverse.

Well Comcast came by and said it was a problem at the pole. It was raining late yesterday when he came by but told me they would have a couple of people come out and fix it in a few minutes. I was like really, and he said yeah they want me up and running and apologized for the problems I was having. Well I fell asleep on the couch and they never showed up. I kinda figured with the rain and all (it was storming pretty bad), but dont tell me you will definately have someone out then not show up. I mean it was raining just as bad when we discussed this outside on my porch. Just tell me you will get to it tomorrow.

Sorry for the little rant there

And thanks guys for the suggestions, best board on the net

I get AT&T Uverse Junk Mail to join every week
Anyone know if the firewire trick works on them
What about using usb since i don't have the Fire

USB from the STB...not that I know of

Firewire works with motorola cable boxes. Not sure what STB Uverse uses.

Compressed or not, DirecTV for watching HDTV is unmatched. I have no major loss of signal issues with rain, but with heavy snow, I've lost satellite on occasion.

For capping, it obviously lags behind Comcast because there is no easy or inexpensive way to get the video recordings to the PC.


I cap in hd-lite using DirecTV2PC software. If you have an HDCP monitor on your PC, you get the DTV DVR HD recordings in HD using that software...... I don't do HD video.... heck I hardly do video anymore as it is.

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