Community poll forum: Which is better, digital cable or satellite?

Can you record HD DVR on your cable system?
I have sattelite and HD channels, but am waiting
for a DVR that will record HD signals. Can you
record HD on a cable DVR?

Thanks, Bob Cooke

Satellite is amazing because your bill is low and is tax free in most states NC is not one of them. But My family had cablevision here in ny and they did us wrong. Cable is not 100% digital as they make you believe. the picture is okay but satellite is 100% digital and you can see the difference. Direct tv is great would suggest it for everyone who hates there cable companies such as cablevision. The same company who tried to stop the 2012 Olympics.

For internet users cable is the better choice.
Satelite simply does not offer the speeds of cable.
I would have gone with satelite if it weren't for the internet package being so slow and so expensive.
The internet package I got with cable was faster and cheaper.

I guess it depends on where your needs are and your budget allows. If I could afford it I would have both. Satelite's programing if far better. The picture quality is better in my opinion. I just can't see the need of having both just because I prefer faster internet.

DSL is expensive and has uncertain speeds depending upon your distance from a "node" and how many other subscribers are closer to the "node" than you. Many people can't have DSL because of analog filters and signal amplifiers which do not permit digital signals to pass through. Also, a requirement for DSL is a software installation (drivers, etc.) which adds to processes and uses system resources.

I also use the internet for my business. I can classify it as an expense. However, if I had both services I would only be able to do it for the internet portion. I have a minimal package for cable which is required to get the best deal.

Wishbone

I prefer cable because the service I use has highspeed internet, telephone and TV. The download speed is almost one MBPS. Upload speed is held down some, so people won't run servers from their homes.
The telephone is digital and the tv is digital with HDTV available. There is a TIVO service available and PPV movies are ordered from the remote.

Philip Costa

I live in a remote rural part of North Scotland, this makes it very simple..no cable..no terrestrial..just satellite.

I'm sure this must be the case for a lot of us that live in remote areas.

On the brighter side...we have been promised broadband (plain vanilla ASDL) before the end of the year.

Having said all that TV does rot your brain, but I wouldn't have missed the new Dr Who for anything!!

The cable company installed the cable outlet in every room in my house and went ender the house and up through the floor, so who needs wireless that can only receive through their receiver and can only watch what you record.
I also found the cable to be cheaper that satellite for me.

I voted for cable because - at least in Argentina - it is the option less prone to suffer interruptions. Two cable companies dispute the market to one satellite. The cable companies sell their product together with cable TV, on the same wires with different wave length at a reduced price if you sign for both. The satellite company also giving TV connections, so far cannot cope with interruptions produced when rainfalls, either because water wetting the dishes interfere with signal or electricity in the atmosphere does. Whatever the cause (could be neither of these)their service - dearer than the cable's - has this problem still unsolved.
Perhaps in a near future both systems will be on a par or satellite will be better. Meanwhile I vote for comfort. Salvador Oria, Buenos Aires.

Satellite is much better because I can view international channels for $15.

two words : WEATHER CONDITIONS

I have had Satilite internet from AOL, Works good untill Rain or a very cloudy day, just like Satilite Tv. By Far, Time Warner cable intenet is #1.Nothing but high speed.

I have DirecTV. Although it was a little spendy to get all channels, 2 additional receivers (1 TiVo), I love the satellite. The one thing we can do with satellite that you CAN NOT do with Cable ... MOBILITY. We've moved a couple of times and all we had to do was tell DTV where we're moving to and they'll come out and install a new dish, therefore, your bill never changes and you always know what you're getting.

I have to stick with Comcast because I can't stand how DirectTV looses the signal!!...even if just for a little bit. I have used DirecTV and I think its great! Tons of channels... great menus... cheaper!.. but the one thing that holds me back is the outages! I watch things weekly that I just can't miss! I have Comcast here in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and its great! It NEVER and that never goes out! We have had some problems but they always come right out and fix it.

It really depends where you are, if you are going to get good customer service from comcast because it's all done locally... lucky for me the service here is great. I don't have internet from them, but I heard it's pretty good... I currently have Fast Access DSL from Bellsouth.

I've had both digital cable (Cox and Adelphia) and DirecTV for years each (and had BOTH for over a month), so here's my unbiased comparison - feature by feature:

*Price: SATELLITE
My last cable bill was $76/mo (not counting internet) for about 110 channels w/HBO. DTV bill is currently $48/mo for about 160 channels w/HBO (inc the $5 for the extra receiver). I don't think there's any question that DTV is a better value, and prices don't go up NEARLY as often as cable.

*Content: SATELLITE
I have many more channels on sat that I did w/ Digital cable. While cable has slightly better OnDemand, DVRs pretty much render that useless. DTV has MUCH better international programming. As far as sports are concerned, three words: NFL Sunday Ticket.
(and MLS games for soccer fans)

*Picture Quality (std def): SATELLITE
Like I said, I had BOTH hooked up to the same Sony Grand WEGA 57'' HTDV at once, so I could compare signal quality side by side. DTV wins this HANDS DOWN. I was actually shocked by the difference. Digital cable can be downright aweful on some channels.

*HDTV: TIE (CABLE gets slight edge)
Both have quite a bit of HD content these days. DTV once again gets points for NFL Sunday Ticket HD (if you like football), but cable usually has integrated local channels in HD, where you need a separate antenna to get that w/DTV.

*Ease of Install: CABLE
There's no question it's still much easier to call up the cable co and have your cable ''switched on'' than having the dish installed and configured. Though this is just a one time event, it's a bit of a hassle w/ DTV.

*Hardware: SATELLITE for SD,DVR - CABLE for HD
For HD, this is a hard question to answer. With DTV, you buy the hardware up front (~$250 for a receiver, ~$650 for a DVR) then it's yours forever. W/ cable, you rent it month to month ($10-15/mo). For short term, cable would win here. However, for standard def, hardware is free with DTV (except for teh $50 DVR) and all cable DVR hardware is a pathetic immitation of TIVO - so DTV wins the SD section.

*Reliability: TIE
I keep seeing these people complain about DTV going out during storms. my guess is they don't actually HAVE satellite, just what they've heard. In two years, I've had my DTV go out exactly 3 times, and by 'go out' I mean 1-5 seconds, then maybe 30 seconds of pixelation - all told less than one minute of interference. With my last cable co (Adelphia) we had I think 3 outages in a year and a half, but one of those lasted ALL DAY (12 hrs) - not necessarily weather related, but still ridiculous.

*Customer Service: SATELLITE (DTV)
If you haven't experienced DTV customer service, they are the absolute model to which all service companies should aspire! It's simply incredible.

I'm not counting internet access here. They are separate animals and unrelated to this thread - you can have cable modem with or without cable tv (I have DTV and cable modem right now, cheaper than I had Dig Cable w/ cable modem before). I live in an area where I could choose either, and based mainly on price, picture quality and content available, cable really doesn't stand a chance against satellite to me. I was reluctant to make the switch, but now that I have, I kick myself for waiting so long!

--Viral

Both do the job, but my cable is on line 99% of the time and when I had Sat every time it rained I lost the signal. Not a good thing!

As a past satellite user and current digital cable user and cable internet. The major advantage of cable (none digital) is you can have it in every room for the same cost. I have experanced few outages with cable. My cost of digital cable and cable internet is less then satellite and satellite internet or satellite and cable internet. The actual picture quaility is not much different.

riccj