Sat. system info suggestions

[cosmichippo]

Hello all,

I am considering switching to Direct TV or Dish Network from digital cable. I am looking to get higher quality captures of TV for archiving to DVD.

What I am looking for is a site or forum with unbiased discussion of both US digital sat systems. It seems like Dish has better pricing and possibly a little better channel selection. From what I read about both systems when they were first became available and from what I found it seemed that Direct Tv had a higher quality signal because of the front end conversion equipment and technology. Is this still the case? I am ultimately interested in quality of quantity.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[bottle-necked]

I have DTV and when I capture off of it I use S/Video. I had a little interference until I purchased a nice gold end cable from Radio Shack. My input signal now is very clean. I bought the large filtered gold end audio cables too. I recommend using these upgraded cables because they will make a difference.

I had Ditigal Cable for about 2 months this summer and tried it out but I was getting better reception off DTV.

I've never captured from Dish but I'd would say their close in quality from what Ive seen.

Good luck.

[grossjamesh]

It will be diffcult to get the same quality from sat as from cable.
If your cable quality is not perfect then bitch and complain till they fix it.
They think customers are stupid.
I finally had to make a dvd of the problem and send it to the Head Technician at the corp. headquarters.(ADELPHIA)
Two weeks later they combed three pirate taps off the system.
Quality excellent.

[andkiich]

I love my DirecTV. I have the combo receiver/TIVO box. I let the TIVO do all the work and capture off it if need be. It's got a nice "record to VCR" function.

I'd say that either DirecTV or DISh should be fine. just look at the channels they offer and pick the one that has what you want. They both usually run specials all the time.

If I remember correctly, I think that DISH might have a higher number of higher resolution channels than DTV. I remember LordSmurf had research this. Either do a forum search on Sat TV resolutions or go to www.lordsmurf.com for follow up info.

[lordsmurf]

DTV has higher res, and DISH had lower, but difference is nominal an varies on channels. Plus they change a lot of stuff all the time. DISH likes to use more bottom-end spectrum than DTV. This is historical perspective.

I've never been happy with signal control on DISH. Seems some channels have difference gamma/saturation, unlike DTV. DISH are soft too.

But DTV has some bandwidth errors as of late.

Flip a quarter. I like DTV, and DTV has more customers (twice as many or more than DISH). DISH is cheaper, but not by much. Look at the FINAL bill, not the numbers they waive at you. About the same.

DTV is also a corporate whore like MS and RIAA, so just be aware you'll be dealing with the devil. DISH not as much.

[Tom Lewandowski]

I've been using DirecTV since 1994 and have been very pleased with the quality. I tried digital cable for a bit (before we were able to get our local channels via satellite) and wasn't thrilled. I DID notice a slight difference in recording quality, but most of all...cost. I have two DirecTV receivers (three-LNB oval dish) and typically use one receiver for recording via the S-Video output, into a Hi-8 recorder. When I transfer the Hi-8 video to DVD, the results are wonderful; better than anything I could ever do with standard VHS.

As far as DirecTV's service; over the past 10 years it has been wonderful. The few problems we've had have been resolved very quickly by DirecTV. They have provided excellent customer service over the years. Since updating to the oval dish, I've not experienced any periods of signal loss, even during pretty heavy snow storms. With the 18" round dish, I would experience signal loss during heavy rains and snow storms, but usually only brief interruption.

Cable service, on the other hand, was the pits. I would often experience periods of poor picture quality -- which they always blamed on the broadcaster. I never experience poor picture quality with DirecTV channels.