Direct TV, or Digital Cable? Which one do you have? What is your opinion about both? Pros and cons?

What is your opinion on Direct TV and Digital Cable? Have you experienced both? Or just one? How is one or the other compared to parental control? I mean, which is more user friendly with blocking channels for kids. And also your opinion on costs, and entertainment? I had digital cable a long time ago, and I got tired of them running the same movies over and over again, and got tired of paying a lot of money for that. Has it changed? How is that compared to Direct TV?

Direct TV, or Digital Cable? Which one do you have? What is your opinion about both? Pros and cons?
Same movies over and over again...it has not changed.


That's why you don't buy HBO or Showtime or any movie channels like that...You invest that money into Pay Per View or just use something like Blockbuster's Monthly Rate for as many movies as you want....


Yes, you will eventually SCROUNGE for 3 -- 5 new movies per month, but that's when you stop paying the monthly fee....





As for signal quality, the lowest quality is actually CABLE, then DIRECT-TV then DISH NETWORK and the HIGHEST signal quality is FIOS. Around here, we have Verizon Fios TV, and it is FIBER OPTIC all the way into your HOME....


I liked DISH MORE than Direct TV....it was more stable, had little problems with RAINSTORMS. VERY LITTLE compared to Direct TV....





I've had them all....





Parental Control is basically the same for all of the systems you're looking at....REMEMBERING the Code is more important than anything...So use the last 4 digits of your SS number.
Reply:I am a catv sweep and certification technician and have installed satellite systems. If your going to need an internet connection and hate DSL.. then catv is the best choice. Their internet connection is better unless you are a business and buy the highest bandwidth dsl available.. Thats a different subject. Downtime occurs when some digger cuts the fiber and wipes out the whole city.rare but it happens,or some idiot installer cuts you off by mistake.





If we are just talking about television.. CATV misleads you about digital.. Most of their channels are still analog.. So they put in a set top box, that has a digital index and they call it digital cable but for the most part it isnt.





Satellite is all digital but it has several problems.. You can't use it for an internet connection unless you go with Wild Blue and when you do there are latency issues that would upset gamers and they cut your bandwidth down if you use it too much to punish you for doing business with them. As far as tv, if you have a clear line of sight and it never rains your satellite system will work most all the time.. If clouds, set in and you get a good rain, you will be marginal or wiped out till the sun comes out.





You have more choice with satellite and can get special football packages, more channels, more options. etc. As far as blocking they are equal.





CATV gets you on rate increases, Satellite gets you on service fees.. If you blew your nose while the installer was there, fee code 3456 will apply. If you decide to cancel a service there is a $459.00 cancellation fee. Well maybe not that much but you get the idea.Direct TV programming is controlled by some gustopo outfit that will pick your bones clean.. Dish Network is a little better...





All in all, unless you want special options like the football pass, or want to watch Iraq TV, or live outside of catv service, CATV is the best overall choice but that could vary depending on what mso (cable co)
Reply:I did have Dish, and thought it was horrible. They ran the same shows over and over, and allot of commercials. Not to mention, if it rains, then the signal goes out to lunch and you can't get any reception at all. Oh, and local channels for like news and weather, were big bucks to get local stations on satalite. I didn't like it one bit. My sister has cable, and she likes that much better than the Dish she used to have, and local channels were included in the the deal. That's all I know...
Reply:Directv is better. You get alot for what you pay for, it has Better quality, less noise on the signal and no physical limit for HD channels. Ofcourse if your using a standard Definition TV this won't matter. Directv and most Dtv boxes are similar when it comes to parental controls but combined with the Tv's V-chip you can practically controls every aspect ( Ratings, how long they watch, What time they watch)


Hope thats helps.
Reply:I have digital cable with DVR and I want to get rid of it mainly because of the price I pay for what I get... I only get about 15 HD channels, whereas I believe both DirecTV and Dish Network have at least 3 times that many. The only thing that makes me hesitant is that local channels are not available in HD via satellite in my area, and a lot of the stuff I watch is on network television. I know I could get an HD antenna to take care of that but then I wouldn't have DVR capability on those channels.