Please help.....Directv or stay with cable? PLEASE HELP ..and hdtv statefair opinion

[ajnike]

OK...it seems as though i'm in distress. I was at state fair today (saturday) and i was checking out the directv and the hdtv demo. I stopped first at directv and I saw their deals going on. Sounded good to me, 2 receiver, dish for free if you get a certain package which i would have gotten anyway. And the hughes E86 receiver would be 500$ w/ installation. He said for the price of the receiver, I could get my HD up and running by thursday.  I head over to the HDTV demo in the milwaukee products building. The plasma was great. Others looked ok.. But these guys didnt know much. They tired to sell me the rca dtc100 for 700$. I mean...i know i just turned 20, but i bet i could of sold more stuff than they could with my eyes closed. They had HDnet running and it seemed great but a little blurry. Although maybe it was me.   My current situation is i have a 32inch sony vega hdtv. Not big but we have a small living room so it is big to us. I have a 3100HD box from time warner. I absolutely am fed up with twc. Some reps have no idea about hdtv. They messed my billing up plenty of times. The only upside to them is the equipment doesnt cost anything upfront. I get HBO, SHOWTIME , AND PBS. I pay 81$ a month not including road runner.  Her are my questions, Do you think i should get the hughes e86 package? Do you think the future of hdtv lies in twc or Directv? How well will my local dtv stations come in with an antenna? What antenna is good for reception and very sleek in design? Like a inside terk antenna thats flat?? What are twc plans on hdtv? Any new channels for twc this fall?

Let me know everyones opinion.

also...what sports does CBS and HDnet plan on doing this year? Any NBA?

thanks so much for everyones help and reading my problem

Mike
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[Steve_Miller]

Mike,

 First off, you can buy a RCA DTC100 for around $300, more if you want it installed...

 I stopped buy the so-called HDTV display at state fair. In my humble opinion, it was an awful display, the projector was washed out, and there were so many artifacts on the other displays it was embarrassing.

Here is the deal with DirecTV vs. TWC:

DirecTV is less expensive. DirecTV has HBO & Show in HD, as well as HDNet. Your non-HD channels will but much sharper. I switched over a year ago, and could not be more pleased.

The Hughes E86 is a great Digital receiver. It is the same identical receiver as the Mitsubishi SR-HD400 and the Toshiba DST3000. All of these boxes are made by Hughes, and are some of the most highly rated units that are on the market. Around $500 seems fair, but make sure you shop around, Try Flanners, some of the member here rave about their install guy, but you can ask them more about that.

As for how well your local reception comes in, that depends on were you live.


I am personal sticking with DirecTV... I think they will be faster to adopt more HD feeds than cable.


- Steve  Miller

( I have the 32XBR450 too, and I love it!)

[borghe]

I can certainly say it sounds like you might be better off going with directv. The Total Choice Premiere package with locals is $86. It is a couple of dollars more but that also includes regional sports and Starz (which it sounds like you don't have right now). It is the package that includes EVERYTHING, except sports subscriptions.   If you got rid of Starz and regional sports it would be $15/month off your bill bringing it well under cable. Yes it is also $5/month for each additional receiver, but TWC charges you for each extra digital receiver, and I always point that out to people because watching analog cable is so 1980's... Finally my last advantage is for all current and potential DirecTivo users. DirecTV has just announced that with the release of DirecTivo Series 2 boxes, the monthly Tivo charge ($9.95) will now be waived for Total Choice Premiere subscribers, for both Series 1 and 2 users. Any other questions just ask away.

[ajnike]

I think i will go with directv. How should i do it though. For example..should i find a deal on the 2-receiver w/dish package and then get the hughes e86 receiver seperate to put in the living room. See, I will need 3 total boxes. One in living room, 2 in bedrooms. How should i do it so i can get all this for the least amount? Also....what are some future channels directv will be getting?  
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[borghe]

One of your best bets might be to go to Flanner's and just talk to them. Maybe also American. I have never known Best Buy or Circuit City to deal at all. 2 receivers for $50 is common, and I thought Flanner's used to have the E86 with oval dish + Sat "C" installed for $550. The other thing you might want to consider is that DirecTivo Series 2's are coming out soon (next few months) and at $199 each are certainly a great deal for non-HD receivers. If anyone has non-HDTV receivers, they might as well be Tivos.

[ajnike]

well..I havent really gotten into tivo. I dont know why, proabaly because i never played around with one to see how cool they are. But, on the budget im on, Im gonna have to stick to regular receivers. Plus..the bedrooms have little tv's so it really doesnt matter.      Do you know whats in store for this fall with HDTV??? Any rumors? News about channels?  
also....with the hughes e86 receiver, do i have to switch the video input everytime i wanna watch hdtv like on time warners box?
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[borghe]

No new news about HDTV. Everyone is waiting for Discovery-HD on DirecTV, and Mark Cuban is talking about 3 new HDNet channels this fall, but DirecTV never says ANYTHING about new channels until the day of launch or sometimes a couple of days after.

As for the Hughes, you just hook up the component ouput. NTSC, ATSC, and DirecTV are all sent out the component. The only reason you would ever even use the s-video outputs is if you want to record to VCR or Tivo.

Speaking of Tivo, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most likely all DBS boxes sold one to two years from now will be PVR boxes, and depending on how the merger and Tivo/DirecTV parnership shakes out, they will be DBS receivers with Tivo.

[Tom Snyder]

For Fall the big question mark will be how many locals will be on the air allowing us to enjoy the HDTV that the networks are feeding.

Pretty much all the prime time scripted (non-news) stuff of CBS will again be 1080i HD. Still no David Letterman or regular NFL football to speak of. One SEC college game every Saturday WILL be in HD. 58 will show it all. Previously, they've upconverted all their SD to 1080i with blue bars on the side, but lately they've been considering passing through HDNet whenever there isn't a 1080i HD program coming from the network.

NBC will add all their new scripted shows to Crossing Jordan and Jay Leno, which are already in HDTV. 4 passes all that through in HDTV and upconverts all the network SD to 1090i with side bars. Digital channel on the air evenings only. An occasional NBA Game and Golf match makes it to HD.

ABC does lots of movies and some of their prime time stuff in 720 (almost HD). Doesn't appear that there will Monday Night Football this season, but it's all a moot point until WISN gets their digital signal on the air.

The Fox Network and Local Channel 6 pretty much hates HD and is fighting it every step of the way, so other than saying that there will be NO NFL in HD this year (or ever if they have their way), and that the local affiliate just has told Milwaukee HDTV viewers to go suck a pickle, I personally don't really care what they'll be doing this Fall...I've unprogrammed them from my channel lineup and if I can watch the Packer games on DirecTV Sunday Ticket I won't have a reason to watch them. Ever. I don't do business with companies that disrespect their customers.. these guys are no exception.

WB and UPN are taking their time as well because they're under different time deadlines, but don't expect to see either of them in HD in Milwaukee much before the end of the year, if even then.

[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 08-11-2002).]

[Tom Snyder]

ajnike:

BTW...You can use the search option to find the answers on the Time warner and Indoor Antenna questions... Lots of good stuff in previous posts here.

[ajnike]

This is why i ask about having to switch between video inputs.  I have a 32inch sony hdtv. Its 4x3. On time warners station, I have to switch to video 6 to pick up HBO, SHOWTIME, and PBS HDTV. If i keep video 6 on while switching to SD channels, i will get a picture with bars on the top and on the side. So i was hoping the hughes system will  automatically put all hdtv channels in a widescreen format as most hdtv broadcasts are. And then treat the SD channels as regualar channels that fill up the whole screen.
I hope i make sense.
 Also....on the hughes, how easy si it to switch from a antenna to get local hdtv channels??
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[uplinkguy]

ajnike,
To get locals on a Hughes, you just channel surf or type in the the channel number.

The box automatically switches between the one or two off-air antennas and up to 3 LNBs for Directv.  The program guide is seamless showing all the available channels from both off-air and directv.  

andy

[ajnike]

what about usuing the input for hdtv and sd channels?  Will it switch automatically for me...
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[borghe]

Everything on the box is automatic. Hook up an antenna to one input, satellite to the other and the component outputs to the TV. You will never have to "switch" anything. Everything appears on one program guide.