DaveInVA wrote:Hey, I am only 51", but yes, definition is a big deal for me too.  And the expense is an issue here too...I want maybe 10-15 stations but no ala carte is available from any provider that I know of..  What to do?  I dropped Netflix when they upped their Blu-Ray charge plus their other miissteps.  I hope the smoke clears and some provider understands that a large demographic wants approximately what I want. I dont give damn about the Nascar channel or shopping channels! Univision?—I don't speak very good Spanish!

 ScottN wrote: 

1: The only time I lost signal is when the head of a t-storm came in. Once the head of the storm passed, usually a few minutes or less the reception was back. This only happened a hand full of times in the 10 plus years I had Directv.

2: Most the HD signals were very watchable though some HD stations lower on the totem pole sometimes had more compression. I have 120" diagonal screen so image quality is important to me. 

I now no longer have Directv as I can't justify $70/month plus taxes and fees any more for what I watch. Netflix streaming PQ sucks to the point I may drop it also. Hulu plus HD is on a par with Directv PQ. I have a Blu Ray Player and used to rent from Netflix but for now I stopped that also but I may go back to that in lieu of streaming as Netflix has no HD streaming and their standard streaming sucks big time.

 DaveInVA wrote:For our part of the country I am told by pals that two dishes is standard for Directv HD, but I haven't actually asked them.  I am inclined towards them bcs of some bundling advantages and familiarity with their DVR, etc.  I am curious about two things with your experience w/them 1. Do you lose signal often?  We do in bad weather and winds which are frequent in MN. 2. Is their HD resolution satisfactory in your experience compared to other HD sources you may have watched? Anybody else is invited to chime in too!  Thanks! 

 oldslabsides wrote: 
It was because of the different angles needed to reach the various satellites. About 3 or so years ago they went to a new satellite that is apparently in an orbit easier to access with one dish. At that time They even went to different HD receivers as the old ones couldn't access the new system.i 

 swell_sailor wrote: 
weird.  wonder why.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
Yes so does mine but its still just one dish.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Yes, our single dish has three separate antennas in front of it.

 DaveInVA wrote: 
Some areas further north have in the past required two dishes. I'm not sure if that's still the case. In fact I have two for dishnet. They're able to use one in this area now. 

 ScottN wrote: 
If by Direct you mean Directv I had it for more than 10 years and even with HD I only ever had just 1 dish. The HD dish is different because it has multiple pickups on it but its still just one dish.

Us? Well I care only about MLB as sports go. Then movies, news, and CSpan, and Public TV. My SO is into design and cooking shows as well as the cultural and news stuff. She DVR's almost everything she watches to avoid losing half her life to commercials. We have Direct now, but not HD and I have a friggin' huge plasma HD that is going underused except for blu-ray discs. So a change is definitely due.

I am trying to reach a conclusion by, among other things, reading this complete thread. It's still unclear to me what to do.

Direct apparently requires two dishes and goes out in bad weather, with which we are blessed with in MN. Dish seems not-so-hot. That leaves cable. It's Comcast in this area. Of course nobody sells ala carte (by station), and it's big cost jump on Comcast from Basic (minimal service, local and that's about it) and the next levels which have the channels we want. Prolly going cable, but it has its downsides for sure. I had Comcast inet only and it had frequent very short term outages that nevertheless frequently caused me to reboot.  So, now I have DSL from CenturyLink (better, not perfect) and they are linked with Direct, I believe.  If not Comcast for TV, then just how workable is the compressed, two dish Direct option?.

Suggestions, opinions, comments are welcome! If I missed smth obvious, well, my disclaimer is I was dropped omy head, repeatedly and with vigor, as a child..

 winter wrote: 
Yeah, I spent six years working in the headend of the cable system here in San Antonio dealing with all that stuff but that was almost twenty years ago.

 Coaxial wrote: 



:)

I've tried to blot out those two years I spent managing a tech support team for Dish. Hasn't worked yet, though. :lol:

 swell_sailor wrote: 
once a year, anyway.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
That could come in handy.

Okay, we just bought a PPV movie and are watching it.  My little brain now understands the difference between PPV and "buying" a movie.  Presumably, in a day or two we'll "own" Dracula.

 winter wrote: 
You are correct, sir, I misremembered...The pay per view stuff would have to be land based. Mea culpa.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
This device (if it's what I think it may be) makes possible the phone connection for reporting pay per view activity for billing purposes only. 

 Coaxial wrote: 



100 transponders to the sattelite, IIRC. You'd need far more to beam down on-demand programming to millions of subscribers.

 swell_sailor wrote: 
Assuming that this is some sort of wireless connection - which is what customer service described to me would cost an additional $100, it seems not to be working.

 winter wrote: 
Transponders not antennas and each one has 24 outputs...Not sure how many transponders are on each satellite.