we recently had our comcast set up at our new house and we have all HD TVs- well, we cant get all of out HD channels- we have called 3 times and they say they are not working right now??? Anyone else having this problem?? I just hate paying for a monthly service and not being able to watch any of my movie channels in HD and a lot of my regular programming stations in HD- Anyone have any advice on this one?

Dish network. I had comcast HD and was paying out the wazoo. I have dish network now and I am paying about 1/2 than comcast and I get more channels and a DVR so I can record and pause live tv.

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Originally posted by ginjen:
we recently had our comcast set up at our new house and we have all HD TVs- well, we cant get all of out HD channels- we have called 3 times and they say they are not working right now??? Anyone else having this problem?? I just hate paying for a monthly service and not being able to watch any of my movie channels in HD and a lot of my regular programming stations in HD- Anyone have any advice on this one?

The first HD box from Comcast had to be returned. It quit working. The second one is fine so far. You do know that you have to purchase the additional HD channels from comcast? We didn't know this at first. They seem to find a way to stick it to you. Customer service is very slow and when you do get to talk to somebody they don't always seem to know what's going on. Good luck!

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Originally posted by le10ms:
Dish network. I had comcast HD and was paying out the wazoo. I have dish network now and I am paying about 1/2 than comcast and I get more channels and a DVR so I can record and pause live tv.

I'm now used to being able to "run something back" on my Dish PVR to see something I missed or want to review or even record. So, when I must occasionally view something on TV without my PVR, I get frustrated when I want to review it or record it, but it's just gone--like in the the good old days of "rabbit ears' and Comcast TV. One of the frustrations of being in the hospital is having to sit or lay there in your room all day long and settle for Comcast TV when you're used to your Dish PVR. Squiggly distracting "moire' patterns and ghost images on the channels (stray ghost signals also leak into the shielded cable of cable TV), no channel info and time, date being able to be displayed with the remote. On my Dish PVR, I can scroll through my "favorite channels" list to see what else is coming on that I like while still watching and hearing the channel I'm tuned to--incidentally, something the Direct TV dish system lacks. One thing I wish a Dish satellite PVR had that only Direct TV has is a recording "wish list" capability--you missed a good movie or program that aired and you want to record it whenever it airs again, whether next week, next month or six months, just enter it on the "wish list", it will automatically record that movie or program when it comes on again.

However, although dish satellite has technologically beat the pants of cable TV since it came out in the 1990s--even with the problem of rain fade every time there's a bad thunderstorm or heavy rain--I haven't forgottten that, in the 1960s, cable TV was a real great step up from a "snowy" and "ghost image" rabbit ears or a tall outside antenna-- how great my first color TV set looked with cable TV, even HBO movies uncut and without commercial breaks...

We have Comcast w/ DVR, but we plan to change to Dish Network soon. I love, love, love the DVR, but ours just isn't as effecient or as nice as the Dish. My parents have the Dish and they can do all kinds of things I can't on Comcast. Plus it freezes up all the time. I'll have like only 36% on the DVR and it will say it is full at 100% and can't record anything unless I delete something. I have to do this whole thing of turning it on and off and hitting some buttons to clear it. Which means that it doesn't record a bunch of things that I set it up for. While we were on vacation last week it recorded nothing that I had it set up for because of this. Plus the rates just keep going up and up for nothing! Can't wait to change!

I just want to give my recent experiences with Dish. When our system was set up, the tech guy did not connect us to all three satellites, so we couldn't get a third of our channels. That took a week to fix. Second, the same tech guy did not change the frequency of our remote controls. Soon we were having problems of our channels just changing in the middle of our shows. After another week and another wasted day waiting for the tech support, we found out that we were on the same frequency as our neighbors (everyone in our neighborhood has DISH). And we were told that our singal would only go out in severe weather, but we soon discovered that if the wind blew we were losing the satellites. After a third visit by a tech guy, we were told that our dish is in the only location it can be placed, but our neighbors oak tree is interferring with the singal. After a fourth call, we were able to get our local channels. Today I sit here, again, waiting for a tech guy to verify that the tree is blocking our singal. Last Saturday I waited only to have them call at 11:45 saying they needed to reschedule. Yesterday I wasted all morning waiting and didn't even get a phone call. When they were contacted, we were told that our appointment had been rescheduled again for today. When I complained about having to miss church, I was told that the next appointment time was three weeks from now. The deal is that we can only cancel our plan if another tech guy verifies that the tree is blocking our signal...kinda hard to do if no one ever shows up.
Now, when the dish works I love the channels and the DVR. But it is not worth the hassel for us.

Just to update on our Dish situation. At 12:05 today we received another call stating they were overbooked and our appointment would be rescheduled. When Goober said that that was unacceptable, he was hung up on. Our service will be cancelled tomorrow with no early termination fee and the boxes to ship the remotes and box back are in the mail as is our refund check. We were told to just leave the dish where it is. The cable company is coming out in two weeks for installion. Two weeks without cable is better than wasting time waiting on tech people and being lied to.

Sorry you had such bad luck with the Dish installers. A few years ago when we moved to our present location there was a week or so delay before they did the installation. The guy that did it told me he doesn't know who's going to show up for work from one morning to the next, if anyone. Hence the overbooking and delays. Sometimes installers had to come in from other places like Hattiesburg.
I guess there are major ups and downs between cable and satellite. I had a non-reception issue all of the sudden about a month ago. After spending 45 minutes on the phone with India, I was told they'd have to send someone out for a large service fee, since my contract had expired. I told him forget it and was about to call and have the service cancelled, when I decided to go outside and check around the dish.. Lo and behold there was one little branch from a shrub hanging in front of the dish. When I cut it away, everything came back. Then I remember right after Katrina. A month after it passed my neighbor asked me if I had my cable back. I told him I wasn't on cable, but I had my satellite TV back on as soon as the power came back on line. He was p'd and almost switched over to satellite himself. Guess you can't win either way.

Pretty sad when a signal can be sent from a satellite in space through the atmosphere through clouds but it can't go through some leaves.

Ginjen, I've had Dish for years now and wouldn't trade it for anything. Programming is cheaper than comcast and much more of a selection too.

Btw, I just received some gift cards from Dish in the mail to give out to potential customers so let me know if you want one.

I love my dish and my DVR. I have had zero problems with it since we moved in a year ago.

This is me trying to figure out all this TV technology!!!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/36608/talkshow-with-spike-feresten-cable-psa

Well we did it! Yesterday we set it up to get Dish Network w/ DVR and ATT internet. I've been so tired of comcast going in and out and the DVR getting hung up. Plus the cable has been going down a lot as well. And not just mine, my grandmother's in town has been as well. I hope I can live w/ the slower DSL. Maybe it won't be to slow. The fastest speed we can get here is the Ultra, but as soon as they get the higher speeds I will sign up for them. I don't game or do much w/ music. I really just have it for email and general research. Anyone have ATT internet and happy w/ it?

B/n combining bills and stuff we are getting dish w/ 200 channels and DVR for 2 rooms, local and unlimited long distance phone, and internet for about $125 a month. We were paying about $160 just for local phone and comcast cable and internet so we will be saving some $$.

I will have to go out and buy some type of virus protection though. Any suggestions on a lower cost one that I can use on the home computer and the lap top? I dislike Norton. Like McAfee. Thanks!

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Originally posted by iamblessed2Bme:
Well we did it! Yesterday we set it up to get Dish Network w/ DVR and ATT internet. I've been so tired of comcast going in and out and the DVR getting hung up. Plus the cable has been going down a lot as well. And not just mine, my grandmother's in town has been as well. I hope I can live w/ the slower DSL. Maybe it won't be to slow. The fastest speed we can get here is the Ultra, but as soon as they get the higher speeds I will sign up for them. I don't game or do much w/ music. I really just have it for email and general research. Anyone have ATT internet and happy w/ it?

B/n combining bills and stuff we are getting dish w/ 200 channels and DVR for 2 rooms, local and unlimited long distance phone, and internet for about $125 a month. We were paying about $160 just for local phone and comcast cable and internet so we will be saving some $$.

I will have to go out and buy some type of virus protection though. Any suggestions on a lower cost one that I can use on the home computer and the lap top? I dislike Norton. Like McAfee. Thanks!

I've had AT&T for about 5 years now and LOVE it.
So far I haven't had any major problems with it at all. Also, since I don't really use a home phone, I asked to have it removed and they offered me a better deal on the internet to get me to keep my land line phone. If I'm not mistaken it ended up where I only have to pay $2 a month to keep my phone because they knocked off about $17 on my internet service to keep it.
As far as the anti-virus stuff goes, I recommend AVG. It works great and seems to be way less of a resource hog compared to Norton and McAfee.
They have a free version, but for $34 a year to protect against spyware, malware, rooks, and adware, I'd get that one. Or $54 a year for all that plus it adds the firewall and spam protection. I highly recommend buying the product. It works great and is very easy to use.

You can purchase it right over the internet at:

http://free.avg.com/download-avg-anti-virus-free-edition

Thanks for the info. I'm so glad to hear you are happy w/ AT&T. I don't know why they can't get the faster speeds out here. I wonder if they are offered in town?