Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Cable and satellite

Speed kills-- when watching tv.

sandmanwv — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:11:58 -0800

Comcast vs. Direct TV (or Dish) -- what has the more responsive GUI, DVR and/or channel tuning?

Help me understand how DirecTV handles installations

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:10:00 -0800

Could you help me understand the structure and entities involved in DirecTV installation? This information I need pertains specifically to DirecTV, not to any other company. I'd like to know about the relationships between DirecTV and the companies and people who do the installations, and how the money flows between the various people and entities. Take a situation in which a company (let's call them Acme) is somehow involved in DirecTV installation. Now, Acme is NOT a subdivision of the DirecTV, but appears to be a small company with eight or ten people who work in its office. Acme installs DirecTV equipment ... or, maybe it just finds individuals to work as subcontractors to do installations.

Acme enters into contracts with individual installers, and ships DirecTV equipment to these installers, and has contracts with the individual installers (let's call them the Joe Installers). The Joe Installers then go out and install the equipment in consumers' homes.

My questions:

(1) Is Acme a "contractor" for the installation of DirecTV equipment? Or is there some other designation for what Acme does?
(2) Are the Joe Installers considered "subcontractors"?
(3) Does the equipment being shipped to the Joe Installers belong to DirecTV until it is sold to the consumers? Or has it been purchased by Acme to re-sell to individual consumers who subscribe to DirecTV services?
(4) Let's say some of the equipment sent to Joe Installer goes unused; under what circumstances does it get sent back to Acme or DirecTV? Specifically, let's say Joe Installer terminates his contract with Acme (or vice versa), what does Joe Installer do with any uninstalled equipment that he still has?
(5) How does the payment "flow" for installations work? Does DirecTV pay Acme only after a successful installation in a subscriber's home? And does Acme pay Joe Installer after it is paid by DirecTV? Or something else altogether? What mechanisms are in place to make sure Joe Installer gets paid?
(6) Any other interesting information about the way DirecTV installations are organized, assigned, farmed out, whatever? I'm trying to understand it from an insider perspective, so any firsthand information you can provide will be appreciated.

I would appreciate anyone with insider knowledge helping me out here. Throwaway e-mail account: joeinstaller2012@gmail.com

Where in NYC can I watch today's USC-Arizona game, aside from the two schools' official alumni bars?

Flying Saucer — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 08:14:55 -0800

Where in NYC can I watch today's USC-Arizona -- aside from the "official" sports bars of the two schools' alumni groups? I live in New York City and I'm trying to watch today's USC Trojans-Arizona Wildcats game at 3:30 Eastern. We're going to a nice dinner and the theater directly from watching the game, so we'll be dressed up and don't want to sweat and get smushed in Highland Park with the other USC fans.

The game is on Fox Sports West, which is barely carried out here, and it's between two unranked teams, which means there's little interest.

Can I just walk into any sports bar and assume 1) they'll change the channel for me and 2) that they can even get the game at all? Or are there other USC or Arizona hangouts in the city that will definitely be carrying the game, but are more low-key than the usual alumni group craziness (which I love, but not today)?

Or does anyone know of a bar that simply carries everything, no matter how unimportant the game or teams?

Thanks for your help.

Where can I find cable TV?

qexcp — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:50:39 -0800

I am interested in alternatives to traditional cable/satellite television. We only have one really bad cable provider in the area that I do not want to get cable from. Satellite TV is not what I want either for a variety of reasons. Netflix, iTunes and Amazon TV don't offer the shows I am interested in like Discovery Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, news channels, etc. Is there a way to stream this kind of programming from the internet? I am willing to pay for the service but I cannot find anywhere legitimate to get something like this from. Thanks

Will I get a a refund for the time spent lauching a new satellite?

Jimbob — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:44:41 -0800

What happens when the satellite my pay-tv satellite-dish is pointing at dies? Like tens of thousands of people in my part of the world, I get my "cable" TV via a satellite dish on my roof, pointing at a geostationary satellite. By my understanding, satellites have a limited life-span - am I right in thinking that this is probably more relevant to orbital satellites that will eventually fall out of orbit? - but in any case, a stray rock might hit my Austar satellite and render it useless.

Will my cable company then devote itself visiting every subscriber and pointing their dish at a new satellite? Is there any precedent for this?

I need cable/internet. Should I go with Comcast, DirectTV, or DISH Network?

decrescendo — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 12:03:14 -0800

I need cable/internet. Should I go with Comcast, DirectTV, or DISH Network? I just moved into a new apartment in Arlington, VA and I need cable. I have a 50" Panasonic plasma and I want as much HD as possible. I'm pretty sure we'll have line-of-sight to the satellites, as well.

I despise Comcast because of its internet throttling/bandwidth and it's horrible customer service (I should have cable already but they screwed me over).

Do I go with satellite? If so, do I get DISH or DirectTV? Have you all had problems with rain fade, reception in storms, etc.?

And if I get them, should I go with Comcast shitty internet or Verizon? Or do they have satellite internet?

Perfect HDTV picture: Buy now or wait?

stewiethegreat — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:26:09 -0800

I haven't owned a tv since 2004. Since then, I've been downloading my shows, at first at compressed HD quality, and then more recently 720p and 1080i/p. I don't want to watch broadcast TV that looks like YouTube, I want a beautiful picture. Should I wait until 2010 to get an HDTV and service? Back in the day, I had digital cable on several TVs in an apartment on the other side of the country from where I live now. When I moved in 2004, I decided to save money and productivity by eliminating broadcast and cable/sat tv from my life. Indeed, I have been far more productive as a result. But, I still download a select few shows in hi-def and watch them on my laptop. Starting this past season, I've taken to downloading all of them in 720/1080 i/p depending on the rips available.

I'm starting to get in the mood to build an entertainment system again, and my field's audio, so I have that covered. My question is about the video side:

What HDTV, tuner, upscaler, DVD, Blu-Ray/HD-DVD player and HD cable/sat video service should I get for the most beautiful visual entertainment experience? (I've heard the DirecTV's video compression sucks, for example.) Will prices on this stuff drop dramatically after the big switch to HDTV in a few years?

I'm willing to invest in good equipment. So far, everything that I've seen at Best Buy looks like a youtube video, albeit with great color saturation, and I'm not going to waste my time and money on this if that's all I'm going to get. I'm also willing to wait a few more years until the broadcast and equipment quality catches up with what I had on my CRT.

So, what do I need? Should I wait? Thanks!

HD Cable or Satellite provider in NYC?

Jujee — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 04:48:08 -0800

We bought an HDTV. Which provider would you recommend? Should we go Cable or Satellite? What are your experiences? We're in NYC. TIA!

What would be my best source for HD Content and the best PVR to capture that content?

willnot — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:02:06 -0800

What would be my best source for HD content and the best PVR to capture that content? I just purchased a new HDTV. I have a Direct TV Tivo box that is only standard def. I figure as long as I have an HDTV though, I should try to get the most out of it. It seems my options are Direct TV with their HD PVR, a Direct TV HD receiver and an HD TiVo or MythTV set up, cable and one of their PVRs or cable and a Tivo or MythTV set up. I live in Los Angeles (Torrance), and if I were to switch to cable, my provider would be Time Warner. They provide my high speed internet, so there is some bundling that I could take advantage of there. I think the pricing might be a wash or might still slightly favor satellite after whatever introductory specials I could get, but I haven't put it all in a spreadsheet to make sure yet.

I've been reasonably happy with DirectTV up to this point, and I generally like the Tivo interface pretty well. It's just that the old DirectTivo box isn't capable of anything other than standard def.

I have an OTA antenna plugged into the set, and I don't seem to receive a number of local channels in high def. The antenna may need to be tuned a bit better, but I only seem to have digital equivalents for about half of the stations I should.

I've been looking a little at the Mythtv Dragon 2.0 system. That looks pretty sweet. I've heard that Myth is a pain to set up and maintain though. I'm not really a Linux guy. I can CD and LS, but not much beyond that. I can follow instructions pretty well though if somebody lays it out for me.

Does anybody here have a Dragon or has anybody used one? How does that compare to Tivo? Would it be better to use a system like that with cable or with DirectTV? I know the Tivo HD receiver says that it won't work with a satellite receiver. I find that hard to believe, but I guess it's smarter to trust them on that. Would that be true of the Dragon as well?

I don't currently have an upscaling DVD player either. I assume if I got a Dragon, it could serve as that device as well. Is that correct?

Is there even enough HD content out there to make this worthwhile? I know a lot of shows/channels are still broadcast in standard def. I don't know if standard def shows over component or HDMI look any better than standard def shows over s-video (which is the highest quality I have available to me now).

DirectTV or Dish Network?

ryecatcher — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:47:38 -0800

What's better...DirectTV or Dish Network? I hate my Time Warner Cable Moxi and unfortunately got rid of Tivo (for lack of HD, but Tivo is the standard to which I compare everything). And no, now is not the time to spend the 800 bucks on the Tivo HD.

Specifically, I'd like to know about the DVR and HD components on both. And yesh, I've gone to AVS forums and so forth...but it all gets a little to technical for me.

And no one ever gives a straight answer.

FWIW, I live in Los Angeles with a pretty clear view of the sky.

Thanks!

Comcast vs. DirecTV in Seattle Eastside?

frogan — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:32:56 -0800

Comcast vs. DirecTV in Seattle Eastside? I'm moving soon and need advice on telephone, internet and television. Need advice and a best plan of action. I currently have DirecTV+ TiVo, DSLExtreme and SBC phones in SoCal. I'm fairly happy with this arrangement.

I'm moving to Sammamish, WA and need to re-evaluate my set-up.

DirecTV has a promotion in which they will install a dish at the new house in exchange for keeping their service for one year. A similar service on Comcast seems to be about the same price (give or take), but Comcast does not have a channel lineup currently available on their site.

Moreover, Comcast also offers all-in-one packages of television, cable-based broadband and telephone services. This seems like it could be very good or very painful.

* Anyone have any experience on the all-in-one Comcast service?
* Does inclement weather in the Seattle area ruin satellite service very often?
* Any other general pieces of advice?

Will I hate DirectTV less than Time Warner?

anastasiav — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 10:11:38 -0800

Having come to the end of my rope with Time-Warner's sucky customer service, we're looking at DirectTV. What advice, warning, cautions, or kudos would you give us before switching to this service. Two more specific (kinda stupid) questions are inside. 1) Will getting DirectTV now work ok with our pre-existing Series 2 Tivo?

2) Anything special I need to know about getting/maintaining a dish?

How do I save money on television?

shagoth — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:42:38 -0800

At risk of seeming picky, how can i reasonably reduce my cost of television? Cable and DirecTV have the same base cost for "extended basic" or "Total Choice" and then both nickel and dime up to $60-65 dollars per month to support 3 household viewing stations and a DVR. That seems like highway robbery since I want my local broadcast only and ultimately if I could get the NBC news channels (MSNBC and CNBC) could be happy. Additional stuff like Discovery and SciFi would be nice but are not worth $30/mo to me. Is there some way to get the news channels streaming off the net that I have missed?

Cable Alternatives

mhaw — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:15:08 -0800

DSL vs Cable Internet... what are the differences in term of performance, reliability, price, etc? Can anyone given an evaluation of the pros/cons. Bonus if you can comment on the advantages/disadvantages of satellite TV over digital cable or vice versa. I've been a digital cable subscriber for the past two years, I'm generally happy with the content and service, but I'm unhappy with the high price... nearly $140 a month for full digital cable and internet through Comcast. So are there equivalent, cheaper alternatives?

If it makes a difference I use Tivo.

Will my apartment be "cable-ready"?

TPIRman — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 12:47:15 -0800

Does cable/satellite availability vary from building to building in New York City? I'm heading to Manhattan in a few weeks to look for apartments. I've been researching for months, aided in no small part by some excellent questions and answers previously posted on Ask MeFi. The one thing I can't figure out is whether I'll be master of my TV destiny in whatever home I choose.

When I lived in New York in 2001 (sublet), TV wasn't part of the rent. So I called Time Warner myself to get the cable hooked up in my apartment. I was in a neighborhood with digital availability, so I got that — easy.

But during my current hunt for living space, I often come across apartment listings that boast of "BUILDING HAS DIGITAL CABLE!" or "DIRECTV," etc. The presence of these "selling points" make me wonder if I'll be locked into a building's designated setup.

My main desire is to have my options as open as possible so that I'm ultimately in charge of the decision. Am I being unrealistic? How does TV typically work in an NYC apartment building?

Western Canadian TV delivery

timeistight — Mon, 23 May 2005 10:30:11 -0800

I'm *this* close to throwing away my Bell/ExpressVu satellite/PVR setup. What are alternative ways to feed my TV addiction in western Canada? The ExpressVu software has always seemed clunky to me and now it's having mysterious problems that prevent the search function from working at all (it could only search ahead 48 hours even when it was working). I'd like to find another system but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars to jump from the frying pan to the fire.

Will satellite give me the same features as digital cable?

Juicylicious — Tue, 30 Nov 2004 09:43:52 -0800

Digital satellite? Digital cable? [mi] I HATE Time Warner Cable. These are the most incompetent group of people that I've ever had to deal with. That said, I love digital cable itself. I particularly like the On Demand service and DVR boxes. Currently, I share the cable internet and digital service with the guys downstairs. It costs aprox. $185 pre mo. Unfortunately, the On Demand doesn't work most of the time and the boxes have to be constantly rebooted. I'm totally fed up.

Will satellite give me the same features as digital cable? Can I have DVR boxes and view different channels on different tvs at the same time? Is it more cost effective than cable? What about installation? Does satellite have On Demand?

Does anyone have any recommendations for online retailers for DirecTV?

TuxHeDoh — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 17:13:20 -0800

I'm looking into signing up for DirecTV, mostly for the free/cheap Tivo. I've checked out the PVRBlog, Matt's recommendation seems to be go through OrbitSat, I've also been referred there before from others, but they no longer deal with DirecTV. Google is full of linkfarm results for the same 3 or 4 online retailers, by instinct I don't want to give them my business. Does anyone have any recommendations for online retailers for DirecTV? I'm looking for a 2 room system, with a single DVR, and Triple LNB, for as cheap as possible.

how is satellite tv in bad weather

thomas j wise — Wed, 14 Jan 2004 12:36:59 -0800

Economic considerations make switching from cable to satellite look more and more appealing every day (as in same run of channels for about half the price). But there's a problem: I live in western NY, which has, shall we say, weather. Most of my acquaintances have cable and I haven't been able to run down any honest assessments of what it's like to have satellite TV in areas with significant quantities of white stuff. Can anyone out there share their experiences?