TWC vs. DirecTV

[Youth Minister]

Hi Y'all,
I'm the new kid on the block, so be gentle!  If you've covered this before, sorry!  Maybe you could lead me to another thread.  Anyway...

I live in SE Waukesha.  I have a Sony KP51HW40 HD Ready TV.  I have been a DirecTV subscriber for several years after getting fed up with TWC at the time (although I do have Road Runner and basic cable for the local Weather Channel, City meetings, etc.).  Should I get HD service from TWC (it appears from other posts that maybe I could just add HD to Basic?) or should I buy a new HD receiver for DirecTV?  Best Buy has a HD box (Samsumg SIR-TS160) this week for $599 with $100 rebate.  I assume it also has a local tuner for OTA.  Anybody familiar with this box?  How much extra will I spend for a new dish, antenna, etc to receive OTA?  I could afford to do either (been saving for a while!)  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

[mcq]

We've had this discussion many times. In light of the kinder-gentler forum (cheap sarcasm) I'll respond as nicely as I can. OTA is free!!!!!!!!  Granted, (I am not totally naive) you have to pay for an OTA box (unless of course your TV has a built-in tuner.)

I fired Cable over seven years ago and promptly (happily) hired Direct-TV soon thereafter. I pay all of $55 per month -- two rooms Total Choice and HBO\Cinemax combo. I believe I originally installed DTV for about $150 and paid $800 for the DTC-100 and an additional receiver. The DTC was purchased in July of 2000.

Sooooooo.....

In 30 months I have spent apx. $2450. Factor in the previous 5 years and I have spent  $83 per month over the last 30 months or $66 over the last 90 months. Does this compare to cable.... I don't know, but I am awaiting comparisons from you my HD brethren.

Intangibles... I have enjoyed HDTV for many of the last 30 months. It was slow going initially, but as of late there is plenty of content. HD.Net alone is nearly worth the price of admission. I have seen the Olympic coverage in HD. I have seen the Badgers NCAA tourny games in HD. Shrek in HD is outstanding. As a repented vocal critic of CBS 58, I have become a CSI junkie!

I hope my firing of TW several years ago did not contribute too much to that $99 billion loss!? http://www.jsonline.com/bym/tech/ap/feb03/ap-aol-subscribers020103.asp

As a side note, I was living in Milwaukee as the city fathers were contemplating cable. That was by far the $melliest political me$$ I have ever seen. When I lived in Oak Creek, Cudahy, and Franklin, I was delighted to subscribe to Viacom. Moving back to Milwaukee and seeing Viacom succumb to TW ripped my heart out... Thank-You GM!

[sp44again]

Does anybody think Flanners will match the Best Buy price of $499 for the Samsung TS160?

[sp44again]

Originally posted by Youth Minister
Hi Y'all,
I'm the new kid on the block, so be gentle!  If you've covered this before, sorry!  Maybe you could lead me to another thread.  Anyway...

I live in SE Waukesha.  I have a Sony KP51HW40 HD Ready TV.  I have been a DirecTV subscriber for several years after getting fed up with TWC at the time (although I do have Road Runner and basic cable for the local Weather Channel, City meetings, etc.).  Should I get HD service from TWC (it appears from other posts that maybe I could just add HD to Basic?) or should I buy a new HD receiver for DirecTV?  Best Buy has a HD box (Samsumg SIR-TS160) this week for $599 with $100 rebate.  I assume it also has a local tuner for OTA.  Anybody familiar with this box?  How much extra will I spend for a new dish, antenna, etc to receive OTA?  I could afford to do either (been saving for a while!)  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

Are you sure it's the 160 with Directv? I called Best Buy and they only have the 165 which is OTA only.

[Youth Minister]

Not sure.  The ad said the TS160.

[borghe]

Flanner's will almost certainly price match any local dealer.. You just have to sweet talk them.

As to satellite vs. cable, I will leave it at this. If you can afford the upfront costs involved with satellite, it will always be cheaper than cable in the long run. However, if you can't afford the upfront costs, you really have no choice but to go with cable.

A few advantages with going to satellite in your particular case:

With some DirecTV HD boxes (I know my hughes) you can plug your cable feed in ALONG WITH another antenna. This will let you grab OTA HD channels from the antenna, local basic cable channels from cable, and direcTV HD/SD channels, all within a single program guide.

if you decide to get rid of the basic cable package you will still get HD channels for free.

because of your existing directv sub you will get at least HDNet and PPV also, and possibly Showtime and HBO as well depending on your package.

you can most likely get a credit from DirecTV's customer retention department for the purchase of the receiver and/or dish. Call DirecTV and ask for customer retention and tell them you are thinking about going to cable for HD. They will work with you.

Honestly, being that you already have DirecTV you will probably see the most value by adding a DirecTV HD receiver. The ONLY reservation I would have about it is the fact that DirecTV HD DVRs are right around the corner (end of year) and if you are willing to spend $1000+ on one of those, investing $500 in a non-DVR box right now probably doesn't make too much sense. But if $1000+ is out of your price range, then that really wouldn't be a concern I wouldn't think..

edit: as for pricing, Best Buy has the TS160 that you mentioned, they also usually have the Hughes box for $475-500, and they seem to be regularly selling three LNB dishes for for $100-150. As I said above, you might be able to work with DirecTV for some kind of credit and/or free insallation on things. You will have to call them and ask for Customer Retention and work with them...

[sp44again]

Originally posted by Youth Minister
Not sure.  The ad said the TS160.

You are right. I just checked the ad online. Best Buy sucks for all these sales people not knowing what's even in there ad. The thing that sucks more is that Best Buy is giving you a $100 gift card not a rebate so I highly doubt Flanners would do anything.