Home audio & video forum: How are you hooked up to watch TV?

I have Comcast cable and have had it for over 20 years, well not Comcast per say because in that time I have gone through 5 take overs but the people remain the same. Yes I have seen Dish and have not liked it. Too much interferance in the area I was living. I love my Comcast. During the last 15 years I have only experanced 5 cable outages. The customer service in my area is very good. The only complaint is they are slow to add more HD channels. Now that I have said all that, I retired from Comast a year a go after working 18 years in the same location with the company that owned us at any particular time. I can say that I started with VIACOM which was a good company to work for and ended with Comcast who has gone back to the customer service policy that we had when I started. Which was take care of the customer and keep them happy. I love my Comcast not just because I worked for them but because they do a wonderful job....

We are contemplating switching to satellite, but have concerns as our southern view is somewhat obstructed. While family 2 doors away has dish satellite (which they say hasn't been affected by the serious storms we get in our coastal location), they have an absolutely clear southern space.

Time-Warner (formerly Staten Island) Cable, is getting increasingly expensive and needs competition. No one responds to questions at their website, they forgot an appointment, then expected me to wait 2 weeks for the replacement appointment. They subcontract their service calls, so you might have someone good, then again *not*. Once, the cable went out in 3 houses at the bottom of our block. They told us we had to wait for 2 days for an appointment. Luckily they responded to 1 of the people right away, because she had their phone-cable-internet package. We shanghaied the serviceman. I still have problems with my picture freezing, partially de-pixillating at least a couple times/day, but its not worth the effort to get them to show up.

My friend also got their cable-internet-phone package. The installer allegedly hooked it up and left. However, she had no internet. I spoke with a condescending geek (sorry, but he really was the worst of the stereotype), who said that the signal showed she had internet & suggested she reinstall her OS. I went through her computer and discovered she had no ethernet card! We bought an external ethernet usb adapter, and she was in business. Just what kind of shoddy service is that?

We have no choice but satellite out in the country. DirecTv or now Dish Network. We let our friends and family try Dish, and then watched them switch back to DirecTv for various reasons, so we've never switched. DirecTv removed PBS from our package, for some reason. gr-r-r. Plus, friends just over the state line get channels that we don't get. Strange, huh? Rabbit ears don't pick up anything; we're too far from any broadcasters. We watch maybe 15% of the channels and just can't justify paying much more for just 2-3 channels that we might watch occasionally.

I use DISH satellite. It's OK, but lose reception during our TX thunderstorms. I have an outdoor antenna for backup, and to receive HD signals from local stations.

I use DirecTV - and despite the occasional weather-related outage, I'm pretty happy with it. I like the fact that local stations are assigned to the same channels on DirecTV that they're received on over the air (which hardly EVER happens with cable). And although this may be politically incorrect, I am THRILLED that I don't have to wade through the public access stations when I'm surfing (yes I know I can program the receiver to skip over public access and other uninteresting stuff, but not having to contend with them at all is much easier).

Satellite TV doesn't work for everyone. If you want VOIP telephone service and/or cable Internet access, you'll probably want cable TV as well. But for now, I'm happy with POTS and DSL, so DirecTV is a shoo-in, and I'm satisfied with the entire arrangement.

I've been in the same house for 22+ years beginning with Adelphia cable. Where I'm located, receiving over the air signals don't work so that wasn't an option. Satellite was still in it's infancy so that wasn't an option either. So I was stuck with cable service via Adelphia. For years (too many to admit to) I tolerated substandard picture and poor customer service because this company had a monopoly on the area. That truly was a company that deserved to go under because knowing they had a monopoly in our area, they didn't have to do anything to improve our service. And they didn't. Then the clouds parted and TimeWarnerCable took over. Wow! Let me rephrase that - WOW! All is good now and I wouldn't even consider changing to anyone else. Signals are great as is the customer service. However, I did have problems when I changed over to digital last year but that was more the fault of the old wiring in my house than it was the service. A technician tested each line noting which ones had weak signals (leaks). I had to replace the wiring myself but the technician did give me enough material to do the job myself. One weekend exercise later and the signals were perfect. I am a happy man and TWC will have my business for a long time.

Connected via Dish Network, best move I ever made, got rid of the blood sucking cable company.

Rarely ever have a problem with reception or anything else. They offer equipment upgrades often for free or reasonable and more channels than one could possibly watch.

Woo Hoo

I have had cable since 1981 through what is now COX. In those 27 years, I can count on the fingers (no thumb) of one hand the number of times the cable has been temporarily unavailable. We have had incredible success with this system and feel that there is no better out there. Satellite? You can take all of them and locate them where the sun never shines. A relative had a satellite system for all of 4 months and the CONSTANT outages eventually became too much to bear; they are now with COX. I have two Motorola DVRs (DCT3416 I) that work like a charm, a Toshiba DVD recorder, and a Philips DVD/hard drive recorder all hooked up to the COX system. They ALL work flawlessly. I also have high speed internet (with Power Boost) and telephone through COX. They work perfectly. I will eventually get an HDTV, but for now, the picture as is is superb.

P.S. I carry mail for a living; I do NOT work for COX!!

We have Charter cable in Yakima. We have 23 HD channels. All come in well but Discovery always has the best picture. They finally added ABC a few month ago, but who knows whats on it. Sometimes its in EST sometimes PST so if you try and record using MOXI (Charters TIVO) you can never count on getting it so you still have to use analog. ABC and NBC are always fine. We still don't have Fox, but I seem to remember that Fox signed a deal with Dish to only give them HD until the switch.
Have you ever been watching HD and regular defintion commercial comes on like Bose and it looks teriable. And your thinking Oh,yeah thats someone I want to buy high technology equitment from. Some one to cheap to make HD commercials.
After doing Reasearch. I bought the soundmatters speaker. Cnet rated it a full point above to Bose 3-2-1 system. The sound is awesome. A bargin at $380. It has a 4" built in sub. But if your used to more it sounds kind of hollow. I connected my 10" powered sub and it shakes the screen. If I had any complaints is that it only has one optical connection.

Btw, I get a total of 30 channels, 12 of those digital and 6 of those HD, and I forgot to add The CW which is from Burlington. Sorry for the grammatical errors.

We use DirecTV and like it better than the Time-Warner cable we see at relatives' houses when we go into town. It is our only recourse out here in the boonies

Mediacom...It's terrible, poor HD selection, same 6 channels for last 18 months, for $10 a month. Lost a HD HBO and gained another PBS broadcasting identicle programing as other HD PBS. Lots of empty promises of adding HD programming.

We're with Charter Communications, but thinking of switching to Dish. Charter has some problems with HD (tearing and freezing) plus we have to flash one (of two cable carded TV's) of our TV's daily. Customer service is terrible and technical service takes at least two visits. On the plus side, very few outages.

Viewer in West Bend, WI

Just upgraded to there new VIP222 system. Tons of hi-def channels + all my locals in hi-def FREE + many c.d. music channels free I can also rent hi-def movies in hi-def + my second anolog t.v. in my bedroom service FREE with no box Awsome hi-def picture and great 5.1 sound thru optical output I tried comcast for one week $35.00 more than Dish with less hi-def channels and very poor picture quality most of my neighbors have dumpt comcast and switched to the dish network system + the hi-def package is only $10.00 extra per month worth every penny have a sweet day steweee

I have been a subscriber to dish for 8 years now..I have lost signal 4 times,,twice in one day for SNOW ! this is one of the perks to living in NW,New Mexico.
My major gripe is the way they(all of them)make us pay for all the crap channels you must take in their "package" to recieve the ones you actually want or watch. My family of three, and one being a thirteen year old granddaughter, we actually use 10 channels for all of our viewing pleasure. I must pay for the "250" package to get the variety which supports the "TEN" we collectively watch.
$78.95,Add a few bucks for a PPV and I wonder.....then reality kicks in and to keep my two ladies happy I keep on payin.....Something about knowing where my "bread gets buttered"