Direct TV vs Cable TV

[Eden]

Hmmmm - maybe we are grandfathered in, but we still have real Tivo. We've had it for quite some time - we still have an integrated DTV - Tivo reciever. We haven't been having any trouble with the recording, nor have we seen it reset itself unless the power goes out. Even the reomote is really well designed (we have a Sony reciever) - the buttons are all different shapes - you can use it without ever having to look at it.

I sound like a bit of a sap I guess.... I rarely gush about a product, but at least when we got ours these guys really had their stuff together. Now, I haven't had to deal with customer service for a long time (the menu stuff was happening in 2003, I think, and we haven't had any problems since then). Maybe they've outsourced their customer service since then. If they use the same company as Earthlink..... I wanted to reach through the phone and strangle them.....

[OakLeaf]

Hmmmm - maybe we are grandfathered in, but we still have real Tivo. We've had it for quite some time - we still have an integrated DTV - Tivo reciever. We haven't been having any trouble with the recording, nor have we seen it reset itself unless the power goes out.

Yes, that's right. You can keep your TiVo box as long as it lasts (or until you want to upgrade to HD), and keep your DirecTV feed. Ours died, in a normal electronics-death sort of way that I don't blame DTV for, so we had to get a new one with DTV+.

[Crankin]

We had Direct TV about 5-6 years ago. It was awful; every time it rained or got windy, we lost the signal. We originally got it to watch the Tour-- we don't watch that much TV and had just a regular antenna. We switched to cable so we could get high speed internet and we have had no problems with that.

[Pedal Wench]

I've also had DirecTV since it's inception -- yup, the first night I brought home the dish, I stood out on my back deck, holding the dish up to the sky trying to get a signal until I could permanently install the dish on my roof the next day...

Great customer service, good signal, good channel selection, but as mentioned, I lose the signal but only when it's VERY bad rain. You need a clear view of the southern sky -- trees and mountains become more of a problem the further north you go.

I watch A&E, Bravo, The Travel Channel, WE, Oxygen, OLN, TLC, Discovery, Discovery Health -- I agree with the 'library' concept -- good, informative programming is available if you look for it!

[xeney]

We've had DirecTV for a couple of years and we love it. Great customer service, especially in comparison to Comcast, which is possibly my least favorite company in the world.

We were able to directly compare the picture quality with cable for a while because my husband needed cable for a class he took -- the classes were broadcast on public access cable, which DirecTV did not carry, and he had to get a basic cable subscription to access it. The DirecTV picture is so much clearer, it is unbelievable. And the stupid very basic cable subscription cost almost as much as our 500-channel DirecTV plan.

We hardly ever watch TV, ironically, but I have no plans to cancel the satellite service.