Direct TV - Dish TV- or Cable.

[shirley 38]

Okey any suggestions on how to prepare moving from one home we have been in for over 38 years. My basement is stacked to the gills

I have always wanted an single home and finally at 67 my dreams are coming true.

QUESTION.. Direct TV - Dish TV - or Cable.??? I know this stupid but we are moving into a brand new adult community in January, and will be one of the first ten families there. So I see it is going to be a long winter. Oh we are moving from the city to the country.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Congratulations on your upcoming house/move!

In my opinion, DIRECT TV is the only way to go!!! Just call 1 800 DIRECTV
and tell them you want Tivo with it (FREE)!!!!!
I have had DirectTV for years and LOVE it!!! And I don't know how I ever made it without Tivo!
I have a friend that has the DISH network and loses her signal on a regular basis.

 

[Zmsksirt]

Put a TV antenna on your house.

 

[JennaTX]

We have had both satellite and cable and have changed back and forth. For satellite, I liked some of the channels that I cannot get with cable, like PBSkids and DH liked the football subscription. With cable I like that it does not matter what the weather is (both Dish Network and DirecTV) will go out with a lot of cloud cover.

What finally made us choose cable was the package deal of cable tv and the cable internet. I like both the price and the speed of the internet.

 

[mickeyfan1]

You may have to ask your home owners association what you can get, if cable is already run into the community, you may have to go that route. I have had all 3. I personally like Dish better than Direct TV because you don't have to buy the equipment. I have had lost signal will all services, once in a while only. IMO Tivo or DVR is very over rated. I had it with Dish, used it two times. But I don't watch a lot of TV programs, and really there is nothing on that is so importantanyt that I need to make sure I record it.

 

[momsgonwild]

I have had "Dish" for three years with no problems. We went with Dish rather than Direct TV because we were able to get local channels. With Direct TV we would have had to put up an antenna on the house. I have a friend who swears by Direct TV, so who knows. I think they are probably very similar.
Congratulations on the move!

 

[RAD]

I think you first need to check out what channels are offered by each service and what the price points are (ex. you want Home and Garden channel, one service includes it in their base package but another requires a higher package that's too much for you to pay).

If cable has what you want and a price you can afford I'd say to give them a shot first. Reason is that there is no 1 or 2 year commitment with cable, so if you don't like them you can walk away and try something else. Cable also offers local channels (like in Chicago you can get CLTV, a local news channel) which D* and E* don't carry. Also many folks do not like that they loose the local weather forcast on satellite, you just get a generic national forcast. And you can also get a digital video recorder from cable (usually), it's not a Tivo for for many it's good enough.

Onto satellite. The comment about DBS going out with heavy cloud cover, there's something wrong with their setup then, if the dish is properly aimed it should go out only during periods of heavy rains. Folks in hurricane areas reported that they didn't loose their signal once durning some of the storms they had. My will go out during heavy downpours and if snow builds up on the dish, that's why mine is ground mounted so I can just go out and brush the snow off. Also, some homeowners associations will say you can't put up a dish, their usually wrong. The FCC has a law that says that unless there's some specific reason, such as placement would cause a safety concern or it's an historic building, that they can't stop you from putting a dish up.

As for which service, I've had DirecTV (D*), gave Dish (E*) a try and went back to D*. I liked the channels offered by E* but the E* 'high end' hardware when it first comes out tends to have a bunch of bugs, give them a year and it settles down. You might want to check out www.satelliteguys.us and www.dbstalk.com for what folks say about both services and the receivers you're thinking about buying. Good luck!

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

We've been using Direct TV for years, but are switching to Dish Friday. The same package with local channels for less than Direct TV. Plus, they will set up 3 rooms free. We've only lost reception in heavy rain. Our good friends have been using Dish for years and are very happy with it. They also only lose reception in heavy rain. Direct TV charges $5.00 more a month for local channels. I feel it's worth a try. We don't have to purchase the hardware and we did with Direct TV. Cable? We live waay too far out in the boon docks But have had it before buying our home and wouldn't go back for anything. Too much money, less options for the price.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Just wanted to say hello, Shirley, great to see you. Have not seen you in ages. How are you doing? John too? Have a great Thanksgiving, and a good move and retirement. Any early Dec WDW trips??