is DirecTV/Dish Network's HD quality better than Comcast's?

[Aharami]

considering what to go with for my new house
Comcast has a double play where I get Channels 2-79 + all available HD channels + 6mpbs internet for $59/month for 12 months. I have comcast now in my apartment and the quality of their HD service has gone down as they've added more HD channels to their lineup. Some channels like TBSHD, USAHD, TNTHD, etc barely look like HD service.

I'm wondering if DirecTV and Dish Network have better quality HD channels. They definitely seem to have more HD channels, but how's the quality? Dish has the TurboHD packages now which seem pretty good. Cost will definitely be more than going with just comcast alone since I'd still have to get internet thru comcast for $50/month

Also how reliable are the satellite tv providers? Lots of service disruptions? Are they quick to send out a tech if something breaks? etc...

edits in italics

 

[Ns1]

I don't know the answer to your questions but I love my DTV and all their hd channels!

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Ns1
I don't know the answer to your questions but I love my DTV and all their hd channels!

how much are you paying per month? how long did you have DirecTV and have you had any problems?

 

[DarkManX]

cant comment on HD quality... but reliablity wise service is only inturupted in EXTREMELY severe weather. ive never had to have a tech come out i had Dish Network several years ago and whenever a receiver failed on me they mailed out a new one. i switched to comcast when i moved but got back on dish network, but overall ive never had a technical issue where someone needed to come out. usually they will put up a new dish, run some coax, so theres not much room for anything to fail outside the receivers and they can just ship out new ones after trying to troubleshoot over the phone. I also love the multi room DVR option which is why i ditched comcast. i like recording stuff and having the ability to watch it in either one of my tv's.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: Ns1
I don't know the answer to your questions but I love my DTV and all their hd channels!

how much are you paying per month? how long have you have DirecTV and have you had any problems?

60 or 70, I don't remember

1x HD box, 1x HD-DVR box

Had it for about 6-9 months now, after 5 straight years with Comcast aka TWC. They weren't bad, but the complete lack of HD channels sucked ass.

The only bad thing about DTV IMHO is the mandatory contract.


Have never had an interruption in SoCal.

 

[Queasy]

The quality for DirecTV has greatly improved since they moved to a MPEG4 video codec. I'd say it is better than Comcast quality wise.

The only time you'll have service interruptions is if a receiver breaks and DirecTV is good about sending a new receiver quickly. If something is the problem they've come out within a week for me.

 

[torpid]

Satellite used to be worse in terms of PQ but I think it may be the other way around now. Both are still compressing the HD signal and therefore will not be as good as Blu-ray.

 

[Slick5150]

Having used both Comcast and Dish Network within the last 6 months, I can say for sure that Dish Network's PQ is better. There are far fewer compression artifacts than you'll see w/ Comcast.

 

[Aharami]

ok so satellite tv seems to be winning in the quality front. Now it comes down to price. Going with DTV+comcast is going be ~$30 more per month than just comcast alone... (no DSL or FIOS available in my area apparently)

decisions, decisions

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Aharami
ok so satellite tv seems to be winning in the quality front. Now it comes down to price. Going with DTV+comcast is going be ~$30 more per month than just comcast alone... (no DSL or FIOS available in my area apparently)

decisions, decisions

Well, you can always call Comcast and haggle with them by explaining that you are thinking about leaving for DirecTV or DISH. They'll likely give you additional programming for free and/or a discount on your rate.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Aharami
ok so satellite tv seems to be winning in the quality front. Now it comes down to price. Going with DTV+comcast is going be ~$30 more per month than just comcast alone... (no DSL or FIOS available in my area apparently)

decisions, decisions

Well, you can always call Comcast and haggle with them by explaining that you are thinking about leaving for DirecTV or DISH. They'll likely give you additional programming for free and/or a discount on your rate.

Yea I think that might work once I actually have the service since I can talk to the retention dept at that time. but right now I have no service (new house) and I dunno if sales has the same power as retention. I'll still try though

 

[eelw]

*hugs my Nuvenio*

 

[Pacfanweb]

Direct certainly isn't as good a PQ as Time Warner, don't know about Comcast, but DTV vs. TWC here, it isn't even close.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Directv is 100% mpeg4 while Comcast is still mpeg2 and will likely always be until they move to fiber (if they ever do).

Mpeg4 and Mpeg2 would normally not mean much to you but it just so happens that mpeg4 takes up a lot less bandwidth than mpeg2. This means that they do not have to compress the channels as much to make them all fit. At some point when they start adding too many channels, they will start compressing their mpeg4's more and more and the quality will theoretically degrade.

As far as how big of a difference, when Directv lit up the D10 satellite last September and started broadcasting the first mpeg4 channels, you could definitely see a major difference between the legacy mpeg2's and the new channels.

So the answer is yes for both satellite providers assuming that Dish also broadcasts in mpeg4.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: Ns1
I don't know the answer to your questions but I love my DTV and all their hd channels!

how much are you paying per month? how long have you have DirecTV and have you had any problems?

60 or 70, I don't remember

1x HD box, 1x HD-DVR box

Had it for about 6-9 months now, after 5 straight years with Comcast aka TWC. They weren't bad, but the complete lack of HD channels sucked ass.

The only bad thing about DTV IMHO is the mandatory contract.


Have never had an interruption in SoCal.

This reflects me as well. However, I did keep comcraps internet.

 

[RU482]

so, has anyone recently had DTV and Dish? Or at least, have you and your neighbor had dish, so it was easy enough to compare?

Which is better?? DTV or Dish?

 

[thedarkwolf]

I just signed up for comcast's HD service a week ago and want to do a little bitching of my own.

Do they actually show anything locally in HD in your area? I get all my local channels in HD but I don't think they have shown a single program in HD here. I get widescreen and 5.1 sound but no little HD symbol pops up in the info bar and some of the shows have looked horrible. I've actually had to just watch the SD version of the channel instead a few times it was so bad. Out of the other HD channels the only one that really looks good is HD Theater and I have sound problems on a few like Animal Planet. Thinking about dumping comcast myself.

 

[ViRGE]

At least around here, it depends on what channel you want to watch. If it's a cable network like USA, Comcast is squeezing it and 2 others in to the space for 2 channels; basically a 33% reduction in bitrate. Whatever D* is doing isn't as bad. On the other hand if it's a national network, Comcast isn't recompressing it at all while D* is, so Comcast comes out ahead.

 

[alkemyst]

HD is getting more and more compressed as they add more channels...however, only satellite is 100% digital so some of the stations of cable aren't as good.

I had both and HD looked equal, but my first 20 or so stations on comcast suck in quality compared to my dish.

 

[zoiks]

Wasn't there an article recently where it was found that Comcast was trying to squeeze in as many channels as it could into the limited bandwidth and was thereby reducing the HD picture quality?

Edit -- I think it was this thread that made the news.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271

 

[Shlong]

Comcast used to be way better but after DirecTV switched over to mpeg-4 I think DirecTV is better. The Comcast channels where they didn't lower the bitrate like ESPN or local channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) still look great. Other channels like History Channel HD for example has a lot of artifacting and the picture doesn't look as good.

Hopefully Comcast switches over to MPEG-4 soon but it'll probably be a long transition with everyone needing new boxes. Also free up some bandwidth by getting rid of some of those analog channels.

 

[Shlong]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
I just signed up for comcast's HD service a week ago and want to do a little bitching of my own.

Do they actually show anything locally in HD in your area? I get all my local channels in HD but I don't think they have shown a single program in HD here. I get widescreen and 5.1 sound but no little HD symbol pops up in the info bar and some of the shows have looked horrible. I've actually had to just watch the SD version of the channel instead a few times it was so bad. Out of the other HD channels the only one that really looks good is HD Theater and I have sound problems on a few like Animal Planet. Thinking about dumping comcast myself.

HD's for the locals are usually sports or the big shows (Heroes). The local news for me is all in HD except for FOX. If you have a motorola cable box you should see if it's set as 720p/1080i, because all the SD content looks better on the HD channels for me.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: Shlong

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
I just signed up for comcast's HD service a week ago and want to do a little bitching of my own.

Do they actually show anything locally in HD in your area? I get all my local channels in HD but I don't think they have shown a single program in HD here. I get widescreen and 5.1 sound but no little HD symbol pops up in the info bar and some of the shows have looked horrible. I've actually had to just watch the SD version of the channel instead a few times it was so bad. Out of the other HD channels the only one that really looks good is HD Theater and I have sound problems on a few like Animal Planet. Thinking about dumping comcast myself.

HD's for the locals are usually sports or the big shows (Heroes). The local news for me is all in HD except for FOX. If you have a motorola cable box you should see if it's set as 720p/1080i, because all the SD content looks better on the HD channels for me.

Thats the thing though none of the sports last weekend were shown in HD here. The Nascar race was one of the things I had to watch on the regular SD channel it was so bad. Heroes is the only thing I've seen that looked pretty good on my local HD channels sofar and it still didn't have the little HD symbol in the info bar so I'm not sure if it was actually in HD or not. According to my tv its getting 1080i from the cable box while on the HD channels.

 

[Shlong]

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf

Originally posted by: Shlong

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
I just signed up for comcast's HD service a week ago and want to do a little bitching of my own.

Do they actually show anything locally in HD in your area? I get all my local channels in HD but I don't think they have shown a single program in HD here. I get widescreen and 5.1 sound but no little HD symbol pops up in the info bar and some of the shows have looked horrible. I've actually had to just watch the SD version of the channel instead a few times it was so bad. Out of the other HD channels the only one that really looks good is HD Theater and I have sound problems on a few like Animal Planet. Thinking about dumping comcast myself.

HD's for the locals are usually sports or the big shows (Heroes). The local news for me is all in HD except for FOX. If you have a motorola cable box you should see if it's set as 720p/1080i, because all the SD content looks better on the HD channels for me.

Thats the thing though none of the sports last weekend were shown in HD here. The Nascar race was one of the things I had to watch on the regular SD channel it was so bad. Heroes is the only thing I've seen that looked pretty good on my local HD channels sofar and it still didn't have the little HD symbol in the info bar so I'm not sure if it was actually in HD or not. According to my tv its getting 1080i from the cable box while on the HD channels.

That's strange, all the sports for me is in HD. I can't really say much about Nascar (don't watch too much of it) but I've seen it on HD every time I watched it this year flipping through channels... on ABC, FOX, TNT, and ESPN. All the college football games were in HD for me (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS). All the NFL football games were in HD for me (NFL on FOX, CBS, and ESPN). Even the preseason games were in HD.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Its just my local FOX, ABC, CBS, etc channels that don't seem to be showing squat in HD. The cable channels are mixed depending on the shows.