Time to Go Back to Books

[krabby5]

I think my cable company is taking advantage of me. I feel a bit like the little old lady who is still paying a rental fee for phones. I called my cable company about getting a different box with digital outs/surround sound. I got quoted $68 bucks a month for cable with DVR and whatever HD channels they offer, for the eventuality we will get a flat panel TV. I have never had satellite TV but the DirectTV flier from my Sunday paper beats those rates. My dad had satellite one of the times I visited and I remember thinking even more channels of nothing to watch. Plus there were these wait times when buttons got pushed. He's back on cable now. So how good are HD channels. My dad showed me his HT last time I visited and I remember finding it a bit odd that there was five feet of black space on either side of the ESPN HD picture. Is there still a lot of that, or has more moved to widescreen?

Too much $ and effort for the option of showing my kids the Planet Earth series in HD. On the other hand, it seems dumb to buy regular DVD versions of LOTR and Planet Earth. But I guess LOTR isn't out yet on HD, even if I kill myself upgrading tons of components, which will totally outclass my speakers and suck the wind out of my cheap systems sails just a tad too fast. Plus the learning curve is still too steep...

Yeah, cable is a rip-off...but I've been using Comcast for years now and actually just got a HD tv. Since I already had their DVR box, I didn't need a new one (all of their HD boxes are DVR boxes)..

The HD channels are awesome...You may have seen black bars because that particular broadcast wasn't being shot in widescreen (Ive only seen that on ESPN)...

Keep in mind if you choose Direct Tv, the HD DVR box is like $600-700..I think?

[Bill Ayotte]

Yeah, cable is a rip-off...but I've been using Comcast for years now and actually just got a HD tv. Since I already had their DVR box, I didn't need a new one (all of their HD boxes are DVR boxes)..

The HD channels are awesome...You may have seen black bars because that particular broadcast wasn't being shot in widescreen (Ive only seen that on ESPN)...

Keep in mind if you choose Direct Tv, the HD DVR box is like $600-700..I think?

Not even close to $600. More like $300, and DirecTV's customer service has been second to none for me since I got it 8 months ago.....If you find someone who is selling a HDDVR, you can get a new access card from them for $20..Setting up their service is easy, and they guy did it literally in about 45 minutes, if they need to install a dish it will be a little longer...That included a full walk through by him on how to use all of the features of the box I purchased...If you pay something like a $5 fee a month on top of your bill, if anything happens to your box they come out and either fix it or give you a new one as well...

[shawn474]

Get FIOS TV!!!! If it's in your area, it's the best deal out there right now (since I can't get the dish). The basic channels are much better quality than the satellite or cable company and the high def is awesome. Check out verizon.com and see if it's in your area yet.

Shawn

[PolkThug]

My DirecTV flier quotes prices $30 - $35 - $40 per month for the most expensive plan. I guess the real price after the 10 month bonus period jumps by $20 bucks a month? The offer is Free DVR or Free HD, so not free HD DVR, I guess. Thanks for the heads up.

I am curious as I am considering XM. XM's site shows 170 channels vs. 50 that come with DirecTV so I guess I can't necessarily kill 2 birds with one stone.

More to think about.

Don't forget the $5 extra PER box which you need for each TV, or at least that's what it was when I was selling it.

[Bill Ayotte]

I can get Direct, Dish and FIOS as well as cable. I think come Dec, Comcast will be the cable provider here. I called and talked with Direct and it was just all very confusing. HD DVR is only $300, but you have to pay $10 extra a month for HD programming. By the end of the year they will have 150 HD channels. I guess we'll have to decide what we want. I think if I upgrade to HD DVR I probably won't be saving any over what I'm paying now, but will get more for the $.

Bottom line, just like cellular and high speed internet, you just have to get used to the idea of a high monthly bill.

Sona

I just upgraded my service to HDDVR from normal DVR, and my payment is about $65...I have all of the movie channels as well...The $5 per box in the house is basically a service plan, or at least that is how it was explained to me....If my box craps out, I call them and they come out to either replace it or see if they can fix it on the spot.....I use Bell South ( now AT&T) 6.0 DSL instead of cable, the cable service is shaky at best here....Not to leave out the fact that the cable companies are into screwing over people here...