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Comcast vs Direct TV

(23 posts)

Started 1 year ago by Astarataree
Latest reply from phoo

Astarataree

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I am so sick of Comcast! Does anyone in our area have Direct TV? What do you think of it? Opinions PLEEZE! : )

Posted 1 year ago #
RichY

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I am not sick of Comcast, but I have been looking into DirectTV, I had it years ago and was happy with them, the problem I have with both satellite services is they are doing this (Comcast is also - not as bad) great deal for 6- 12 months of a 24 month contract - when I read the fine print the deal is not that good. I am really thinking about off-air broadcast and Netflix w/ Amazon prime - cost about $14/month

Posted 1 year ago #
SEdholm

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I left comcast for DirectTv. As long as they keep my Fox Soccer, I wont go back. I hated comcast, their practices are crap. DirectTv has not gone wrong so far outside their contract negotiations nearly breaking down the other day. Its all good though. I have CenturyLink internet and bundle and it is pretty cheap compared to comcast.

Posted 1 year ago #
BallardPinky

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Comcast has got to have the worst customer service and even worse than qwest! I had them for a few months and the connection goes fast to slowing up and at times the whole connection would shut off for awhile and even would go down for hours including the tv. We had reps yell over getting really rude and shutting off the service on my account then sending me a notice saying how sorry they were to lose me as a customer. If you try and get a supervisor to complain its impossible. Almost sitched to directtv but with how much they wanted for a deposit..over two hundred...caved and went back with the demon company .... Qwest. Its crazy how in in such a large city we only have a few choices for phone service and internet/cable service. Hmp!

Posted 1 year ago #
Pastafarian

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They all suck. Comcast is the only one who can get me even remotely decent speed. So I'm stuck with them. Don't kid yourself, Quest is gone and Century Link is no better than Comcast.

Posted 1 year ago #
JenniferR

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Comcast drove me nuts (the hours I lost to their costumer service that I'll never get back), so we switched to DirecTv and are really happy with it.

Posted 1 year ago #
phoo

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For those thinking of going the no cable/no satellite route, I could speak to that a bit.

Amazon Prime video has gotten much better selection recently. AFAIK, their UI still sucks. No show descriptions to figure out if you might like that show you've never seen. However, I would expect that they'll fix it at some point. Writing their own code is what they do. Keep in mind that the prime video works only for the specific subscriber. Ie: Your whole household now gets free two day shipping, but only your account will work for viewing videos for free (not sure about the kindle book lending yet). Cost: $80/yr

Hulu: I use this a lot, though recently some shows have been shunted to Hulu+ and also new shows have been added both to regular Hulu and H+. With Hulu+ ($8/mo) you can watch shows right away, whereas with regular Hulu some shows are delayed 8 days. I rarely am a slave to the tv schedule anymore, and just watch it when it comes up on Hulu. I am still debating on whether to jump to +. A feature I use a lot is subscribing to a certain show (now dumbed down to "favorites"). So whenever a new show pops up of a certain series, it falls right into your my. No need to chronically search.

Netflix: I dropped them when they split with the price increase. Not because of the price increase specifically, but because I ran across a couple streaming tv seasons that required you to rent a couple of the episodes if you wanted to see the whole thing. However, I gotta admit that I miss the streaming. The discs we did not always use and surprisingly we kinda like going to the video store to pick something out together. Streaming alone costs $8, I think one disc at a time (only) is also $8/mo.

Crackle: Another free service. I'm not so much into movies, so I don't use this one. But you might.

Ooh, let's not forget about www.soutparkstudios.com Granted, that's only for South Park, but you get a week to watch a new episode for free. After that, it is unavailable for a month, then available anytime you'd like to watch reruns.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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And of course there's always free over-the-air digital TV.

Posted 1 year ago #
phoo

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btw, the kindle lending program works only for the Prime subscriber, not their household.

Posted 1 year ago #
Pastafarian

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That would be www.southparkstudios.com

Phoo's link goes to a spam site.

Posted 1 year ago #
phoo

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Ack! I left out the H. Sorry folks, and thank you, Pasta!

Posted 1 year ago #
uwsherm

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DirecTV is great (well, for a cable company). Generally less expensive, way better service, and their DVRs actually work (I know...)

If you pay them through CentruyLink and have other services, you generally get some decent discounts, although it does require an overpriced local phone plan that most people don't want.

Posted 1 year ago #
HeardOnthe44

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Mondoman, what channels are you able to get with a converter box and rabbit ears ?
(or whatever is needed for free digital?)

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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My TV has a built-in digital tuner (as do all TVs sold here in recent years, or at least those medium and large-sized). HD broadcasts are really nice, as long as the reception is good. I'm facing south from a few blocks north of Market St, pretty much opposite Fisherman's Terminal. Using an indoor square (8x8"?) amplified antenna, I get channels 4-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-2, 7-1, 7-2, 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 11-1, 13-1, 13-2, 16-1, 16-2, 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, 20-4, 20-5, 22-1, 22-2, 22-3. My guess is that rabbit ears would do just as well.

Of those, 4-x, 5-x, 7-x, 11-1, 16-x are pretty solid rain or shine. 9-x are problematic, sometimes in clear weather and definitely in rainy weather. 13-x and 22-x (both FOX) are usually OK, but sometimes have issues.

I almost never watch shows live, but rather record and watch later. Thus, it can be pretty frustrating to have poor reception during the show make it unwatchable (stuttering video and audio), but not be able to try to fix it by moving the antenna, since the broadcast is long over. So far I haven't moved to digital cable, since I get the el cheapo $10/month lifeline analog cable, and can record that as a lower-resolution but guaranteed backup for the HD shows.

Posted 1 year ago #
HeardOnthe44

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We have an old analog tv, not a flat screen. What do you think we'd be able to get for channels ?

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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In that case, the converter box would have the digital tuner in it, so I would think you should be able to get a similar set of channels (even with rabbit ears or such hooked up to the converter box) as long as your location has signal.

Posted 1 year ago #
Pastafarian

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You get all the same channels with an analog TV using a converter box and antenna that you would with a digital TV also getting broadcast channels. We still have one analog TV and the thing works perfectly fine with its indoor antenna and converter box.

Posted 1 year ago #
phoo

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Rabbit ears won't work with a digital signal. Do you remember the antennas that had rabbit ears and then a hoop in the middle? The hoop is what will get digital broadcasts. Sadly, I've forgotten my terminology, and there are better antennas for digital than the hoops. I built one myself out of a scrap of wood, coathangers, cardboard and tinfoil. Also some photos to disguise the fugly result. However it does work. The simplest is to get a proper sized beer can (one of the larger ones) and split it in two lengthwise, after you've drunk the beer. Not the greatest, but it works too.

Posted 1 year ago #
Mondoman

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I like your definition of a "proper sized" beer can! The $20-30 flat square type of antennas on Amazon seem to work (according to the comments there; that's what I have), and other have reported rabbit ears working, but I haven't looked into those in detail, and whether they were hybrid rabbit ears with central hoops.

Posted 1 year ago #
RichY

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2 -8" pieces of .25 copper tube will get you channels from QA and Capitol hill and maybe Gold mountain – base channels of 4,5,7,9,11,13 & 22

the loops and dishes are just for show - but here most anything works - I stuck a wire in the antenna input to see if I could get any off air - I came up with about 22+ channels

Posted 1 year ago #
HeardOnthe44

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Thanks, all of you. We are going to give it a try and see what we get !

Posted 1 year ago #
SmartsyArtsy

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Like Mondo, I am getting all those channels except for the 20- ones. In addition to his list I get 22-2, 22-3, 30-1,30-2,30-3, some 44s and 50s.

I am using an antenna I got via amazon { http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Thin-Leaf-Indoor-Antenna/dp/B004QK7HI8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320570498&sr=8-3 }. Prior to this, I had rabbit ears and got most of these channels (that would include the digital)

Someone recently gave me a booster which didn't boost anything, so I am not using it.

Posted 1 year ago #
phoo

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BTW, with my crappy home-built hanger antenna, until very recently I was able to get the 28* channels easily with the antenna pointed NORTH (the opposite direction that signal comes from). Currently the signal is in and out. I still get 28* fine with my PBR cantenna on the upper floor pointed south.

It's true, most anything works in the area we are in, but sometimes you can get the more distant channels (and 28* if you are in the sweet spot) if you take pride in your geekiness and just want to try for the sake of doing it.

Here's the antenna I made, but with a continuous backplane:
http://www.tvantennaplans.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

To make it look a little nicer, I put two squirrel photos on the front of it in a frame, so you can't see the antenna at all, just the cord coming out of it.

BTW, it is by far the most fun to build the beer cantennas as you must first empty the can before building. More fun than ordering an antenna off of Amazon for an additional $38. :)

Posted 1 year ago #