Mark from Lemon Grove writes:

Thanks for your web site…..however, this is still confusing to me. So I’ll tell you what my wife and I would like to accomlish.
1. we currently have 2 hdtv’s and will add a 3rd in near future.
2. we still have Cox Cable and do not think they have served this
market very well. So I am researching satellite service. We are
not getting a digital signal from Cox yet. The kitchen table top tv
is the only hdtv (Samsung 19″) hooked up to cable and the picture
is of poor quality. I have been told by Best Buy that I need a
cable top box to decode the signal. I don’t understand why. I
thought Cox would already be sending a digital signal by now. I
think they are dissing their customers. I just bought a Sony 32″
hdtv and it is still boxed. I will hook it up when I get the proper
signal. OK so what do I do?
3. My wife needs local channels to watch the Padres games. I’m not a
big sports fan but don’t mind watching sports like the NFL, MLB,
etc. when guests are over that are sports fans. Premium channel mo
vies, PPV, etc., I could care less–don’t need. Hdtv channels? Why
not? That is why we bought these tv’s in the first place.
4. I want the best service for the best price—I don’t see as yet,
much difference. What consumers really need is alacarte program sel
ection so we can customize our service and not pay for the many
channels avail., but will never watch. Well, since that will prob
ably never happen. Who do we choose? Cox Cable…..screw them!
Direct and or Dish…..don’t know yet.
5. I guess we need an HD DVR and HD receiver. What about TIVO? They’ve
got the best software. Can a TIVO be purchased and used w/ either
Direct and or/ Dish and still get HD programming w/o buying 5000
stations+? I just want the local channels for my wife and Speed,
History, Food, AMC, Discovery, Outdoor, H&G, Travel, and such for
the rest of us. What do you think? What would you recommend?
Thanks for reading this…….Mark

Mark,

I assume that Cox Cable is similar to Comcast. If you use their set top box then you get a digital signal, otherwise it just comes in as analog.

As far as your choice between Dish Network and DIRECTV, they are more similar than not, so its mostly personal preference. Overall, Dish Network is slightly cheaper, unless you get a lot of upgrade packages, then DIRECTV tends to get cheaper. I personally prefer Dish Network mainly because I like their guide a lot better. It just seams faster, it’s easier to tell which channels you don’t have and filter them out, and using favorite lists is easier. I’ve heard some say they like Dish’s DVR better than TiVo and I think TiVo is trying to sue them or something. But if you really want TiVo, I think they only work with DIRECTV. DIRECTV actually dropped TiVo a few years back and people have been complaining ever since. I’ve heard that they soon might be bringing TiVo back.

I hope this helps.