A friend is highly recommending Direct TV. Says it is cheaper than evil Comcast, better service etc. Our house would want the internet/cable t.v./phone package. The
forum has been very helpful in the past when I've sought opinions. Please post your feedback re: Direct TV to help with the decision. Thank you.
My Ballard Forum » Open Forum
Direct TV vs Comcast bundles
(13 posts)-
gordy
offlineMemberPosted 5 months ago # -
I'm wondering the same thing. My Comcast bill is $136.00 and all I have is basic expanded cable + Internet. Seems like a lot seeing as about the only TV show I watch is the History channel for maybe an 1.5 hrs a day maximum, mostly about an hour at night. Oh, OK, I did watch the last quarter of the football game last week, or at least the TV was turned on to that channel (for sound, didn't really watch it)
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberI have been comparing Comcast / Direct TV / Dish TV for a bit now.
I do not use phone ( I have a cell phone - add a line $5/m with a Bluetooth interface to the house), One TV ( 2 others on antenna - don' really watch them ) and a TiVo.Internet w/ Comcast $45 /M 25Mbps - Dish and Direct are DSL or Satellite (way expensive and slow)
TV packages look real good for Direct and Dish but want 2 year commitment (that is OK) but when I add the fees, HD access, DVR fee and so on and the step increase after 6 month / 12 month it looks like not so good to me, in fact last month Comcast was less expensive
The decider for me each time I check - is I can go to Direct any time from cable but not the other way (termination fees ect.)
I have had Direct TV a bit ago and was pleased with it, My neighbor sells Dish and looking at a multi-room packages with the bells and whistles and comparable setup with cable - Direct wins, but for the general Digital HD and internet from Comcast is the better and less cost for me.
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberbambooboy, check out PlayOn at PlayOn . TV - cost me $40 for lifetime and use it through my Blu-ray player and WD streaming interface
Posted 5 months ago # -
BBB,
The Playon service looks good, but you will need a windows pc to make it run. It installs software on your pc that then receives and streams your content to whatever device you are using. If you dont have a pc you could run a virtual machine within your native operating system, install windows in that and then install their software in that virtual machine. Just fyi. Thanks Richy! Wasnt aware of them.
Dave
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberDave, I run it on a server to all my devices, did not check what other platforms it would/would not run on, but it works great allows me to watch all BBC and other EU / Russian channels.
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
It looks like it will run on any other flavor of Windows from XP sp2 on up thought Win2008r2. And once running in that environment can stream to other devices like a Roku or Gameboxes, etc. But the core software has to be on a Windows platform XPsp2 or higher. Since most of us have that it looks great. I have various flavors of Windows running in Virtual Machines but am too lazy to do that just for television. <grin>
D
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberI use a lot - I was going to "cut the Cable", then Comcast started streaming (on demand) to TiVo and my wife finds it easier, and TiVo records her 'shows' so she has no need to think when she zones, so for about $120 / m we have a few hundred channels and great internet speeds ( so much for looking to save money)
<smiley face>
Posted 5 months ago # -
I have a media server that I use for my movies. I loaded Playon but I'm having trouble with it. I did the test on the General setting page and it said my internet speed was great but that my processor speed was rated "low". It's probably an 8 year old machine, (2 GH AMD proc and 2GB ram).
Movies and You Tube Works fine through my media server alone but so far it's playing YouTube videos in a clipped fashion. I am running it through my Seagate GoFlex TV and You Yube videos through that alone work just fine.
Guess I will just have to play around with it a bitPosted 5 months ago # -
gordy
offlineMemberNo video games, movie rentals or fancy schmancy features needed for cable or internet. Good thing because I'm not computer saavy by any means. The triple play plan with Comcast we have is around $180.00 a month. The Comcast people indicated this was the lowest price bundle package available.
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberBBB, I am running an old Intel 2-core 2.1 GHz Running Windows Home Server 2011 -
this runs media service to my TiVo (stream,baby,stream), media service to my WD Live TV, Roku and WII, it also backs up all my computers and stores and streams my movie collection as well as PlayON - I run this as a server only and works well.Check to see what mode you have the system running in (programs or Background service) Backgound service works better for my system.
PlayOn support is fantastic - go to setting and open a ticket, they respond fast (note they will have you do all the typical stuff first - check firewall virus scanners and so on)
Good luck
Posted 5 months ago # -
RichY
offlineMemberGordy, Log what channels you watch and which you don't care about - then see what video line up will work and that could save you a bunch $$ (or not) - I pay about $120 / M and am (as well as my wife) with the line up and Internet, also check out other phone options (comcast and CL are way high for what they offer I think)
Posted 5 months ago # -
richY - good suggestion, never thought of that.
Posted 5 months ago #
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