TWC picture quality vs. Directv Picture quality...about to switch..HELP!!

[mholtz2323]

I have twc and their hd channels look good, however, they suck in the HD department and customer service.
I want directv but i am afraid the mpeg2 channels wont look as good. Can anyone who has had both let me know what they think.
I have the samsung 120hz 4671.

thanks

[Steve Mann]

I have twc and their hd channels look good, however, they suck in the HD department and customer service.
I want directv but i am afraid the mpeg2 channels wont look as good. Can anyone who has had both let me know what they think.
I have the samsung 120hz 4671.

thanks

In my experience, I think the new MPEG4 channels look as good if not better than the MPEG for channels. And that's on a 126" screen with a Panasonic AX100u projector. They really do look great.

[mholtz2323]

so your saying the hd mpeg4 channels from directv look better than twc hd?     what about mpeg2 and when will mpeg2 be mpeg4?

[bubbaridesfast]

D*'s HD channels look the same as OTA to me. I frequently switch back and forth comparing like during the Packer game on Monday. And I think ESPN-HD is NOT mpeg4 yet.

[Steve Mann]

so your saying the hd mpeg4 channels from directv look better than twc hd?     what about mpeg2 and when will mpeg2 be mpeg4?

I can't compare with TWC as I haven't subscribed to them in over 15 years (not counting RoadRunner). But as stated elsewhere, the new MPEG4 channels look just as good as OTA.

I haven't heard a date on when they'll be shutting off the MPEG2 feeds, but I'm sure it will be a little while yet. Sometime next year I would assume. Most of the MPEG2 channels already have their MPEG4 counterparts. HDNET, HDNET Movies and a couple of others I can't think of at the moment are the only ones that are delivered ONLY in MPEG2 format.

[Tom Snyder]

I have had D* and TWC simultaneously for long periods of time... and in both cases chose D* for overall better quality. All the new HD channels on D* are Mpeg4, and I agree with the majority report.. the picture quality is spectacular..but I haven't compared them directly with what TWC is doing with there little handful of HD channels. I'm not sure if the what format the Milwaukee Locals are in, but the long term strategy will be for all locals to be in Mpeg4.

If it's any help, I have never had a customer service experience with TWC that was better than mediocre, and with only one exception never had a customer service experience with DirecTV that was less than very good.  And with my worst experience with both, D* busted their collective butts to make it right... my worst experience with TWC had a procession of idiots shrug their shoulders and never fixed it.  

I wouldn't go back to TWC even if it was free.

[brewguru]

I can't speak directly, but I have friends over every Sunday to watch the Sunday Ticket and other programming and they all say D*'s picture is better than TWC.

[Skywalker]

I'd like to add that the SD channels on DirecTV are much better in picture quality compared to TW.  TW touts that they have digital cable, but a large portion of their channel lineup is still not in the digital tier whereas all of DirecTV's channels are digital picture quality (Correct me if I'm wrong here, as I know you guys will).  

FYI: I'm watching on a 50" Panasonic Plasma.

[mhz40]

MPEG is more of a transmission medium than a video format.  It's like pizza delivery... it'll taste the same as long as the delivery guy gets to your house quick... it doesn't matter if the vehicle is a Ford or a Mercedes.
Either format will transmit a good looking picture if enough bandwidth is allotted and the resolution on the encoder(s) is/are set high enough.  Conversely, either will look bad if not enough bandwidth is allocated.  It just so happens mpeg 4 is more bandwidth efficient at coding moving images... hence the desire to migrate towards it if one is strapped for bandwidth or providing tons of HD content.

[Blitzburgh]

I can't speak directly, but I have friends over every Sunday to watch the Sunday Ticket and other programming and they all say D*'s picture is better than TWC.

Same here. D* smokes the competition.

I have just an amazing signal via MPEG4 as I do OTA.

[Tom Snyder]

TW touts that they have digital cable, but a large portion of their channel lineup is still not in the digital tier whereas all of DirecTV's channels are digital picture quality (Correct me if I'm wrong here, as I know you guys will).

I don't know if it's changed, but TWC's tier of channels between the locals and 99 were sent in analog, and I am not kidding, they were like watching TV through wax paper. The digital quality of those channels on D* would be enough reason alone for me to flush cable (and actually was... twice) but a LOT of these channels are the ones that D* has now launched in HD.  

Seems to me to be a no-brainer.

I know TWC is saying they're working hard, negotiating contracts and getting ready, blah, blah... DirecTV had to do all that AND build and launch a stinkin' SATELLITE!!!!  And they still smoked 'em. No excuse...

[HDCheeseHead]

I moved to Wisc from ILL last January and was a D* subscriber in ILL for years.  Being new in the house, I wasn't sure how I wanted the dish setup (where the dish should/could go, which rooms would have TVs, etc), so I went with TWC.  I gave them a year.  I settled for watching crappy SD on my 52" and having the terrible HD channel lineup and missing football games on the NFL Network.  I was fed up.  I got a mailer from D* about coming back, so that's what I did.

After I got D* installed, I had TWC for a couple of days and had both HD boxes connected via component cables and I wanted to check quality of both services, just to make sure.  For the HD channels, there was no discernible difference to me.  I'm not one of those AV types that can tell different bit rates and such, so, to my eyes, the HD channels were equal.

At the time, it's the SD channels that made the biggest difference to me.  I watched as much as I could on HD, but there were times I HAD to watch an SD channel, FX, SciFi, Fox Sports, Food, HGTV.  So, with D*'s new lineup.  How can you go wrong?