Buying advice sought 1 - HD content provider

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:54 am

Moving back to the US this summer. I've been googling and reading, but all of the sites I visit, like AVS forum or DBS forum seem to really have a lot of wildly passionate inflamed opinion and name-calling, and I'm finding it difficult to sort through the wheat to get the chaff of info.

I intend to get HD-DVR service, and as I see it there are 3 options with a 4th on the horizon:
Cable
Dish
DirecTV
?Verizon FIOS (are they doing HD yet?)

I suppose I'd like comparisons of the following:
(1) Programming (I think DirecTV has the edge, except that Dish has the VOOM HD lineup)
(2) Gear. Dish's 622 SEEMS to be a little more mature than DTVs HD20 (...but the second room feed NOT being controllable via IR (and hence a universal JP1 remote) is a significant detractor imho.) But how are the cable HD-DVRs? Does Verizon even HAVE this capability yet?
(3) Reliability and satisfaction vs. price

I value the opinions of those on this forum a litle more than most other fora where bombast and righteous indignation seems to be the norm.

Or point me to a "good" forum to research this.

Thanks.

Post by **The Robman** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:03 am

Sorry dude, outside of my area of expertize.

andyross · Post by **andyross** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:20 am

Dish has 'HD-Lite', which is HD compressed down due to lack of bandwidth. DirectTV has a new satellite and MPEG4 compression, and is pushing for 100HD channels by years end.

FIOS seems to be limited to ONE HD feed at a time, if it's even available.

The Comcast DVR is relatively cheap (now $11.99/month), but the software is a bit buggy. You can check out the Wikibook entry for it:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR
Comcast will be, very slowly, rolling out a Tivo interface sometime this year.
Most cable HD is pretty much full bandwidth. Cable uses QAM for digital encoding, and has double the capacity of broadcasts ATSC format. They can put TWO 1080i signals on one analog channel with essentially no compression. They can put two 720p's and one or two SD's together. Cable also usually supports Video On Demand services, often with many free shows/movies, and free access to premium VOD if you subscribe to the channel (such as HBO/HBO-OnDemand).

zaphod7501 · Post by **zaphod7501** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:43 pm

A lot of options may be limited to what is available where you end up. I would suggest tracking down the local forum for your area at AVS. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45
There will usually be a lot of info applicable to a specific location, usually without all the rants and raves normally found at AVS (except for what channel xxx did last night during my favorite show).

Choices will be influenced by whether you just want to watch, or if you want to time shift, or if you want to archive for the future. Whether local HDTV is an option. If you need to feed multiple TVs. If your cableco does clear QAM (or will). If you want to be locked into subscription services or want "free to air". If your new set has a QAM tuner or "Cablecard" tuner.

Actually getting HD out of a box and into an HDTV can be trickier that it seems at first glance. In my area you can't even get HD from cable unless you have Digital Cable + HD tier + HD-DVR. At which point you cannot send the signal to other TVs and you cannot record it on any sort of permanent medium.

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:29 am

2 TVs; One HD; absolutely must have time-shifting (DVR) capability - may occassionally want to archive a time-shifted program.

Will check out the AVS sub-fora, as you suggest.

Post by **ElizabethD** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:46 am

In case you still need details, as these are official blurbs, ask. I work with a guy who has Fios TV. I use FIOS for internet. Is great, but no TV yet.
Something about 6 TVs in a house in one of these, also fancy DVR
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/hdtv/hdtv.htm
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv ... ios+tv.htm
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv ... ia+dvr.htm

greenough1 · Post by **greenough1** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:46 pm

The comcast DVR isn't that bad - not perfect, but very usable. As said above, the content is really full bandwidth which is nice. The premium HD channels (HBO, SHO, etc.) are bit starved and this is coming from the source.

DirectTV bought all of Voom's sat's and content. When priced out, it's more expensive than comcast, for me. And you have to invest in the box(es). The rebates are pretty good for SD customers, not for those interested in HD.

One thing you might consider is that comcast, at&t, etc. are offering bundles - get TV, phone, cell, internet all from one company. This never has paid for me. Some important features are missing, mid-stream in another contract, etc. The pricing is getting really cut-throat at least in our area between comcast and at&t.

Best,
jeff

Capn Trips · Post by **Capn Trips** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:37 am

I'm pretty sure tha VOOM was bought out by DISH, and not DirecTV, but your other points are taken.

I'd really like to get a all-in-one package - and Verizon FiOS looks to be the best capability package for the forseeable future, but it's not yet available in my (future) neck of the woods in Northern Virginia.

But Verizon has listed Northern Virginia as one of their early FiOS roll-out areas, so perhpas it's just around the corner (in the ritzy neighborhood!).

Barring that, I've had DSL for 4-5 years, both in the US and over here in the UK, and I'm relatively happy with it, but statistics seem to indicate that DSL speeds lag FAR behind Cable (and even farther behind Fiber), so I guess if FiOS is unavailable, then I should go with Cable internet,

...but I SO DISLIKE COX's monopoly in NOVA that I am loathe to use their cable TV service, and would really prefer Satellite for TV. But it makes no sense to get Cable ONLY for internet and then have Sat TV.

Oh, the problems that vex one in these trying times!...

zaphod7501 · Post by **zaphod7501** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 7:54 am

Capn Trips wrote:...but I SO DISLIKE COX's monopoly in NOVA that I am loathe to use their cable TV service, and would really prefer Satellite for TV. But it makes no sense to get Cable ONLY for internet and then have Sat TV.

Almost everyone is faced with virtual monoplies with cable TV, probably due to all those local franchise agreements. FIOS may be able to open up any market when they show up.

Sometimes Cable Internet only also accidentally allows local stations HD through (clear QAM); combined with Satellite yields a fairly complete package. Another combination could be Internet + "Lifeline" cable for local and basic channels and Sat for preferred programming. (combo cable packages often include some sort of rebate)

There are two "bottom lines": overall cost and overall selection. Cheaper isn't better if you can't get the programming you want. Of course, you may now have numerous preferred programs that won't be available in the USA at all, so you may be exploring alternate sources and a "fat pipe" might be very important unless you can get old friends to send you copies.

Post by **ElizabethD** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:04 am

Capn Trips wrote:... but statistics seem to indicate that DSL speeds lag FAR behind Cable (and even farther behind Fiber), so I guess if FiOS is unavailable, then I should go with Cable internet,

...but I SO DISLIKE COX's monopoly in NOVA that I am loathe to use their cable TV service, and would really prefer Satellite for TV. But it makes no sense to get Cable ONLY for internet and then have Sat TV.

Oh, the problems that vex one in these trying times!...

Oh, yeah, how we suffer. Satellite sounds good. I think it's a good option if FIOS TV doesn't come.

Verizon DSL does not lag behind Comcast cable in my neck of the woods (SE PA). DSL down at .75MBs or 1.5MBS and is unaffected by #users. Just move to an area within 3miles of the DSL servers. Verizon Fios down speed is 5Mbs (up is 2) or 15MBs depends on $$. I go 4.75-5.04 down, 1.75-2.5 up and that's with a pretty aggressive firewall.
Argonne Labs ... miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/ runs a fabulous test TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.3.4e
See first post here
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark, ... speed+test