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I've had DirecTV for two years. It only goes out when there is a big thunderstorm just to the south of your house (between your dish and the satellites). How often does that happen? In Dallas it was a couple of times a year, but the storms move through pretty quickly. The picture quality is better than the cable we had, and the HD TiVo DVR is the best (they no longer offer it).
I kept TWC as my internet provider. I had some horrendous customer service and billing experiences with them. I will never use them again if I can help it.
I've had Direct TV for the last 3 years. I live in Cary. I've only lost reception 2 times due to severe thunderstorms. I use Clearwire for internet. Works awesome. I love Direct TV.
Now that TWC added ESPN2HD and The CW-HD we've got a lot less gripes. In the past the cable HD signal has been the better of the two while the standard definition signal was best on Direct TV. I keep reading in Home Theater that Direct TV is getting more sats and better/less compression (This would provide more bandwidth and a better HD signal) but I don't know if that is all in place yet. If all things were equal TWC would still be my preference because I don't like the contracts you sign with sat providers in order to get the equipment cheaper. Yes, I'd rather "rent" the equipment on a monthly basis.
All that said. having TWC I still miss out on Turner South (Braves games when not on TBS), and the NFL package that is exclusive to Direct TV
Good points on TWC vs. Direct TV. What sold me was the promo they're running right now that includes NFL sunday ticket and all the premium channels for about $64. After that time, I can select a more affordable package. I'm not too crazy about the 2 yr committment either.
We just got TWC--HD/DVR system 2 weeks ago. We've had 2 outtages, one time the remote wouldn't work, 2 missed recordings (may have been operator error.....ahem), and for the past 2 days the guide hasn't worked. And believe it or not, we don't watch that much TV...Argh! I miss my Dish Satellite! I hope the bugs will work themselves out soon. Good luck to you.
Curious, why did you decide to switch to TWC? Thanks for the good wishes with my cable adventures!
We decided on Direct TV last year because of the NFL ticket and the baseball package (which I believe is now available on TWC). We have never lost service and I also miss the on demand feature of cable. We decided not to upgrade to HD just yet because it was going to cost something like $300 for the HD DVR receiver plus another few hundred to have an electrician come in and do some sort of wiring. Hardly seemed worth the extra money so we will reevaluate in another year.
Curious, why did you decide to switch to TWC? Thanks for the good wishes with my cable adventures!
Jason
We just moved into our new home and TWC seemed to offer a good $$ package. We don't get BellSouth here for phone service and couldn't figure out who offered it. Our neighbors seem to all use TWC, so that's who we signed up with also. Still miss my dish!
Heh- we have DirectTV because our remote neighborhood in Orange County doesn't even HAVE cable. I had always had Time Warner before, and frankly, my Time Warner went down more often than my DirectTV does now. We may have lost signal twice in three years.
I do miss the Movies on Demand service, but we do have some Pay Per View options where you have to select a certain movie at a certain time.
As little rain as we seem to have here, the weather isn't really a problem for Directv. I had a brief few outtages a year back in Virginia - and once or twice I had to knock snow off the dish (not a problem here). I went back to Directv after having TWC here for a year because I was unhappy with the quality of the non-digital TWC channels. I'd say the biggest downside to Directv is if you want to have it in multiple rooms - the "cable ready" wiring in most houses will not support it so you have to get additional work done. I just have one TV, so it's not a problem for me.
Perhaps some cable wiring is poorly designed degrading the signal.
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