Satalite Dish?

As opposed to cable I'm sure they have more station options but what about repair? Can the dish be positioned where the "elements" can't get to it and what about repair costs?

Rose

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Reply to
Roseb441702
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They often have more stations, like 23 golf stations in 8 languages. They often (but not always) do not have local programming. They are designed to handle the "elements" so that is not a problem, but they must be placed where they can see the part of the sky where the source is and they may be effected by bad weather.

All in all, they are not bad, but I am sticking to cable.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

You will I am sure get lots of answers.

Comes down to

More choices Need a box in each room to watch different channels

weather can effected

Mount low enough so you can get to it. Try to place so snow will not collect

Local stations not available everywhere cost about 5 bucks more/month

Cable is very competitive as far as cost

Watch out for all the 150 channel claims! Usually 20 or so are music and 10 might be PPV as well as 5 selling you stuff like QVC and HSN!

Wayne

Reply to
wayne

What repair did you have in mind?

There is no need to shelter the dish. It's designe to handle the elements. Do you wear outshoes to protect your rain boots?

I have a big screen TV. The picture quality with cable just plain sucks. It looks like bad program from 1960. The picture quality from satelite is comparable to DVD. And you don't have to buy the whole package to get the very last one program you want to watch.

The only draw back is that you need one receiver for every single TV set in your household, unless you want play the same program on all the sets. But most dealers give you additional receiver for free.

Reply to
Karen

Don't forget you have to pay $5 plus for every other TV you have to hook up. I think this is a rip-off. With cable TV you can hook up as many TV's as you want. My reception on cable is excellent. I also have cable internet that just smokes. I get download speeds between 350 and 425.

Reply to
Joe

My ADSL gives me 212 up, and 1220 down. Yours smokes?

Reply to
PhotoMan

But to get pay/digital programs from cable on multiple TVs, you need to pay at least $5/month anyway.

Reply to
Gary Tait

In many places, (like Comcast in Pittsburgh), you need additional recievers and an extra monthly fee for Cable TV as well.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Helfer

Cable is a pretty vague term! What you get for cable may not even be close to what I get. Some cable companies give crappy reception and very limited channels. We have digital cable in our area and it competes well with satellite. I am on cable now, have had Dish Network also. Dish had a couple more channels, but no local/network in our area. I get internet off cable also, so there can be pros and cons for each depending on your area.

One consideration with satellite, if you are in an area that gets heavy rain often, you may loose signal 'till the rain lets up.

As far as protecting the dish, there is no need to! It is designed to be outside! Greg

Reply to
Greg O

That's what I am saying. And they own the box too, so if it quits, it is theirs to replace. Often with satellite, you own the box, and are responsible for its upkeep.

Reply to
Gary Tait

"Joe" wrote in news:2bTSa.111799$N7.15361@sccrnsc03:

Most current cable systems need a decoder box for each TV you want to have a different channel displayed,for which they charge extra.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

Our cable system does not have to have a box, unless you subscribe to digital cable. I subscribe to regular cable and can have as many TV sets hooked up as I want. I get 70 channels and there's no way I can watch them all. I get a $10 discount on cable internet since I subscribe. My total bill with internet and TV run $52 a month. My reception here in ILL is crystal clear. There's no way I would drop it and go to satellite TV.

Reply to
Joe

snipped-for-privacy@aol.comnospam (Roseb441702) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mb-m17.aol.com:

I've had a Direct TV system for about 5 years without any problems. We moved, decided to switch to DishNetwork and had it for 3 years. Also with no problems. The dishes hold up pretty well. We had a hail storm with quite a bit of damage, enough to re-roof a 3 year old house. The dish withstood it and still worked well. I think in the total of 8 years of having a dish, we only experienced a few outages. Storms didn't seem to affect it.

As far as repair, if something does get dammaged, I'm sure you can find a replacement dish at a garage sale or even on e-bay pretty cheap.

This is assuming you are looking at the 13 inch dish systems. I think the full size dishes are still around but not as popular.

As far as what is better, cable or a dish, check to see what is available with the cable in your area and compare it to the programming / pricing of a dish. We just switched to cable because of the internet service. We only got a handful of channels without upgrading to digital service. With digital, the minimum cost was over 50/month with a $8.00 box rental fee. Most of the local and analog stations on cable were fuzzy. I was able to pick up a better signal with my antenna that I used when I had a dish. I saved $10.00 off of the Internet service, but what's the use if you end up watching TV off of the Antenna instead. Several phone calls to the cable company ended up with "As long as the digital is coming through clear, we can't do anything about the analog channels." We ended up canceling the Television part of Cable and keeping the internet. It wasn't worth it. DishNetwork and Direct TV start at about 35.00 a month I think.

Also ask your neighbors if they have cable and if they are happy with it. Just because I had a bad cable experience doesn't mean all cable companies provide bad service.

Mike

Reply to
Mike

"Joe" wrote in news:aG2Ta.116101$N7.16278@sccrnsc03:

That's probably an older system.Newer cable systems encrypt all the channels so that unauthorized people cannot tap into it,allows for pay-per- view,can be turned on/off remotely,or new channel packages enabled,not requiring a visit from the 'cable guy',and it also allows them to 'rent' extra cable boxes for additional revenue. Only 70 channels indicates an older system,too.

Reply to
Jim Yanik

There's no correlation between scrambling all the channels and new systems.

It depends entirely on how paranoid the cable company is. They were doing in it southern california in the mid 80's. They've yet to do it most elsewhere.

Reply to
TCS

For the digital and analog pay channels though. Unscrambled analog channels don't need a box.

Reply to
Gary Tait

It is not an older cable system. Our system is a fiber optic system. To get more than 70 channels I have to go to a digital subscription, and pay a lot more. Why do I need more channels when I can't watch all that I am getting now? I get 3 PBS stations and all the sports channels and I do not need a cable box to get them all and can connect as many sets up as I want.

Reply to
Joe

In the dish itself, there is very little to go wrong. The dish is painted metal, and the only electronics is the LNB which is the part that sticks out. Those are the items that actually pick up the signal and send them to your box. It's pretty simple to install and align, so don't be afraid about that. In fact, when I moved, I was able to align the dish without a compass!

These things are solid state, and I would be surprised if you ever had a box that went bad. It's all digital, however, as with cable, you can have a lousy digital picture because of the amount of compression used on a particular channel. I think DirecTV changes the amount of compression on each channel based on how popular it is.

If you're into sports, DirecTV offers the NFL package, which enables you to watch EVERY NFL game played. It's a football fan's paradise. From what I understand, they're offering a few more options this year with the NFL package as well.

You don't necessarily need a box in each room. You can split the video signal AFTER it exits the box, and run it to each room if you want. Obviously, the same picture would be on each TV, but think about how you are going to use it. For example, do you have a TV in your bedroom that's only used when you're going to bed? Well, maybe you don't need a separate box for that one. You can buy a wireless remote control extender which allows you to use your remote in that room, even though the box is located elsewhere. Some boxes also have RF remotes which allow you to use it throughout the house.

DirecTV also offers additiona HDTV channels, if you ever get into that. If you haven't experienced HDTV, go to your local outlet and have them put on the PBS Demo loop, HDNET, or the HD-Discovery Channel. You'll be blown away.

Yes, the dish is affected by weather occasionally, but in my experience, only when there's a massive downpour do I lose signal. Usually in a minute or two the signal is back up. I would have to go through monsoon after monsoon to add up to the time I was down the two years I rented cable, that's for sure. Something breaks with your cable, and you're down a week or two waiting for their crews to come out to check the line, plus you have to be home!!!

Hope this helps. Obviously I'm biased towards a dish, but I think it's an objective comparision since I've had both. I don't work for any of the companies, so I'm not biased there.

Reply to
Larry Bud

You have a analog cable and you believe it's CRYSTAL clear. What size is your TV and what's your eye sight?

Regards

Reply to
Karen
60 inch big screen Hitachi
Reply to
Joe

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