Cablevision/DishNetwork in NY (1 Viewer)

[shivas7]

Anyone have any thoughts on the comparative quality of Cablevision and Dish in the NY area?...I've had Dish for quite awhile, but am getting fed up with the limited HD content, and tired of waiting for the vapor Superdish...any opinions? should I jump to Cablevision I/O?...is the HD picture quality similar between Cablevision and Dish?...any thoughts appreciated...

 

[John_Bonner]

I had Dish for 3 years before switching to Cablevision Digital iO about 2 months ago. I really liked Dish. I had a PVR501 which was great, I really miss it. I would still have Dish if were not for trees on my neighbor's property. I had the dish mounted on the very peak of my roof and up on a pole about 8 feet. I couldn't safely put it any higher and around May or June when the trees filled in my signal got very spotty and so I had no other choice.

I can't speak of the comparative HD content since I didn't have an HD receiver with Dish. Last week I got the HD reciever from Cablevision and I've got mixed feelings. The non-HD local channels are not very good. Some days they are better than others. The digital channels are quite good. As good as the best satellite channels. The Scientific Atlanta boxes are awful, slow to respond and freeze up on occasion.

Yes the HD content is somewhat better with cable but still more is needed. Here's the current HD line-up:

146 Fox Sports HD - Mets home games are broadcast in HD. The picture is beautiful. Right now that's about the only HD content on this channel. Re-broadcasts of games are non-HD.

147 MSG HD - I believe Knicks home games are in HD. Most programming ont his channel is not HD.

310 HBO HD - Most movies are in HD as well as original programming (Sopranos, etc.). Looks nice. Some movies are better than others.

330 Showtime HD - Most movies on this channel are upconverted. I'm kinda disappointed with the picture on this channel.

700 HD On Demand - For $6.95 per movie this is a Pay-Per-View channel with movies in HD. I don't know if they are upconverted or not, as I will never pay $6.95 for any movie.

702 CBS HD - This is the HD version of channel 2. The shows that are in HD look very good as well as events like US Open Tennis. I was surprised that Yankee home games on CBS are not in HD.

705 Fox DT - Just added this week. This is Fox (channel 5) with certain shows in digital widescreen (480p). I believe Fox will go to 1080i or 720p next fall.

713 PBS HD - Wow. This channel is the creme of the crop. The picture is amazing. You'll sit and watch the HD loop over and over with a grin on your face. If all HD content looked like this channel, I'd really be impressed.

So overall the good thing is that there's no extra charge for these HD channels. The bad thing is that there's not much in the way of programming. PBS-HD shows HD content all day but some of the others like MSG & FSNY show very little HD content.

Hope this helps!

 

[shivas7]

John...thanks for the thorough reply...I appreciate it....right now I've got Dish and Cablevision (non-I/O)...a little ridiculous to have both, not to mention expensive....I just got CBS-HD OTA back after an unexplained absence of several days..the SC-GA game looks great....thanks again for the input...