Help? Dss/cable

[Mags]

I need the forum's help ... I am currently building a house, and am in the wiring stage... trying to decide between DSS (which I have now, but not HD) and cable (which I also have now at my current house)...

I do not intend to run both in the future.. I realize DSS has the big advantage of the NFL (I'm a big sports fan)..

As far as available programming, and picture quality, which way would you guys go?  Most importantly, which of the two services would I be more happy with 3-5 years from now (as we know, things change rapidly)....

I need to decide in a couple of days, and I do like Directv's reliability, as compared to Time Warner.  An added point - I will have Roadrunner, so I realize there are cost savings to using TWC.

The house is out in Lisbon, so having an antenna to receive over the air HD for local stations is likely...


Thanks!

[Gregg Lengling]

Although I am biased using Directv....changes always happen and there is no-one that can tell you what the best answer will be for your today....much less tomorrow.  For the nominal cost of cable to cable your house...I would run 2 cables of RG6 to all TV locations.  This way you have the choice of having 2 of either.....
you can DirecTv and OTA antenna
you can have TWC and OTA antenna
or even TWC and Directv......

But the point being if you run 2 runs to each location from a central distribution point in your basement or equipment room you can assign them for any of the 3 choices.  Just donot daisy-chain the cables...have a direct feed from the hub to each room.  The cost of running dual cables and dual jacks is very minimal.....in the grand scheme...should cost less than an additional $100.00.  If you prewire the house yourself...the cost of the cable will only add 30 or 40 bucks.  Plan ahead...if I were building I'd go even further with CAT5, teleco, audio and fiber-optic...but I'm a techno-nerd.

[Tom Snyder]

I've been a happy DirecTV customer for almost 4 years... and was a happy TWC customer for 18 years before that. Although I still subscribe to basic TWC for local channels with my Roadrunner.

As I understand it, there is no difference between the picture quality of HBO and Showtime HD between DTV and TWC.

The local HD channels on TWC have been reported to have sound that pops... but that may be fixed.  Local HD channels over the air have their issues, but it mostly rwlates to reception.

It wil be a horse race to see who adds the most national HDTV channels...neither has ESPN or Discovery HD Theatre, but DTV has HDNet, something that TWC may not have for a while.

This may seem odd, but the big stumbing block for me is the picture quality of the TWC non-hd channels.  The middle tier channels, like Fox News, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC all look like absolutel crap...even on a little 20 inch in my bedroom.. even worse on my big screen Hidef set.  If we didn't watch so much news, it wouldn't be an issue, and I'd be on TWC in a heartbeat. But my wife even notices the poor PQ enough to complain about it.  Locals suck as bad, but with HD local feeds now, that's a moot point.

You'll want to think about how much of that kind of stuff you watch. I'm not sure what other channels are on that teir that suffer from poor picture, but it may be a good idea to check on that if you watch any of those... (May include stuff like TNT, USA, ESPN and MTV, too... not sure).

And everyone thought I'd start another TWC bashfest!

[Mags]

folks - keep it coming - never can have enough information - I need to make sure I do it right the first time!

[Kevin Arnold]

We built a summer home and faced this same issue.  Ended up running 2 runs of RG6 cable to each room along with the telephone cable.  And to top it off we ran two runs of cable up to the room from the basement to service any antennas we might put up.  The more the merrier.  Nothing worse than having to add cable after you've finished the house.  

As for TWC vs. satellite...it comes down to personal preference as to cost and what they have on.  In the next year the whole satellite picture will change anyway.  I prefer an antenna with a converter box....just don't like paying TWC for whats there for free.

[Mags]

"Plan ahead...if I were building I'd go even further with CAT5, teleco, audio and fiber-optic..."

Can you elaborate on this?  I know what CAT5 is, but not sure about the remainder and their application.....

Thanks!

[Gregg Lengling]

Fiber Optic is going to the be the wave of the future...however all the home standards aren't set yet.  You'd be able to send video, data, and audio all over a fiber cable (sorta like the Telecos and cable companies do to their distribution switches).  Audio cable is a must if you are going to have stereo/sound in all the rooms...this allows you to feed speakers or amps from a single source.

[Mags]

Is it possible I could give you a call and ask you a few questions?  I'm heading out to mow the lawn now - but should be back in the house by 11:00... otherwise, I can give you my number - xxx.xxx.xxxx...

I'd really appreciate the help, if you don't mind....

[Todd Wiedemann]

Hi Mags ...

I've edited out your phone number and e-mailed it to Gregg ...

I'd hate to see you get pranked ... our forum returns many hits in global searches.

Thanks !

Todd.

[Mags]

I didn't know how else to do it - but I really didn't want my number hanging out there...

Thanks again!

[Gregg Lengling]

Mags if you just look at message that I sent or just click on my name it will allow you to PM (Private Message) or Email me direct.   That's the nice thing about this board, it allows you to stary private if you want.