charter communications or direct tv (1 Viewer)

[Ben_Hud]

Im moving into a college apartment with my bro, and my friend. We have the choice of getting digitial cable from charter communications or direct tv. we probable would get the basic package + mabye 1 extra(movies from dig cable and sports package from direct tv). I don't know the what the viewing habits of the other 2 are right now, so i wanted to know if anybody knows how good the digital picture and sound from charter is compared to direct tv

direct tv is :
TOTAL CHOICE® (without Local Channels) $31.99/mo.
TOTAL CHOICE® PLUS (without Local Channels) $35.99/mo.
month
+any additional packages we choose
+ 50 bucks install(including reciever, sat, and 2 room wiring)
http://www.circuitcity.com

charter dig cable is 45.00 a month for basic(include rental of their box)
http://www.charter.com/service/chann...ID=1030&LID=71

it seems to me that direct tv blows charter outa the water. charter is the only cable provider in the area? is that why it costs so much more or does charter have some hidden value that im missing?

thanks

 

[Dave Moritz]

I would get the Direct TV as you will get better picture quality. And Direct TV is cheaper and offers more channels. I live in the Charter Cable service area and there digital cable sucks. I am waiting to upgrade my standard direct view tv. To a HD rear projection or front projection model. Then I will look into Direct TV or Dish Network.

You are not missing anything in the Charter equation at all. Cable companies have allways overcharged for there service. Cable also has data from internet access and analog cable that affects the overall quality of digital cable. You can only have so much bandwith on a cable and they chew that up really fast. There are specials for as many as 4 rooms wired for satalite. I hope this helps?

 

[Tom McA]

I think it depends on your particular service area. I'm very happy with Charter in my neighborhood. I have digi cable in two rooms, all pay channels, and broadband internet including modem lease for $93/mo, including all taxes, fees, etc.

We may be talking about apples and oranges here, since you're talking about $40-45 service levels, but my basic point (I do actually have one) is that you may want to look again at the actual channel variety of the cable in your particular 'hood, because when I looked at DirecTV vs my local cable, I had a lot more basic channels on cable than on satellite. And local channels.

As for picture quality, meh... Some of my cable channels do look less than perfect, but I've seen some pretty gnarly DirecTV too. Most of the primary channels look great, and as for the secondary channels, if the Style network occasionally looks a little blocky, I don't care, and my wife doesn't notice.

Sound quality - Does the DirecTV package you were quoted include receivers with Dolby Digital 5.1 outputs? My cable does, and it's pretty swell.

In general, I'm happy with cable, but that's just me. I've hated the cable in other places I've lived. Here, I love the channel selection and tech upgrade options. 5.1, hi def, on-demand PPV (with rewind, FF, pause, etc), built-in PVR (soon). With DirecTV, each of those involves buying a new box, and installing a new dish in the case of hi def.