Mailing List Archive

I'm not sure what work is going into cable boxes, but I've been trying to
keep track of the satellite front. Unless I am mistaken, Dish has pretty
much not been discussed at all, whereas DirecTV has received quite a bit
of coverage.. I'm not *really* sure how Dish beats out DirecTV (ethnic
channels, maybe?), but it does seem that DirecTV has more subscribers in
general, which means that their stuff has been better supported on the net
(and consequently on MythTV). I run DirecTV, and it's relatively
complete.. and not overly hard, though things like Pay Per View have in
the past been a pain in the ass..

tarek : )

> This is somewhat of topic, but I'm trying to decide amongst various TV
> provider options, and one of the considerations is how well the
> providers will work with MythTV. Here are my options:
>
> Comcast Digital Cable
> RCN Digital Cable
> DirecTV
> Dish Network
>
> All of these require some sort of set top box. My experience so far has
> been with analog cable, so I'm not clear on what, other than having
> MythTV call an external tuning script, I will need to get any of these
> working. I know there is a possibility of using a serial interface with
> certain set top boxes, and I know I could probably get an IR blaster
> that would work with most things, but if anyone has any specific advice
> about set top boxes to get to work with any of these providers, or ones
> to avoid, I'd appreciate it. We're in Boston, if that helps, since I
> know that some providers use different set top boxes in different areas.
>
> Any tips you might have would be great.
>
> Thanks
> Mike
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

As a recent convert from Adelphia Cable to DirecTV, I'd have to HIGHLY
RECOMMEND (1) dish over digital cable, and (2) DirecTV over Dish Network.

First, the signal from satellite is noticeable cleaner (as compared to
Adelphia Digital anyway). I recently bought a new HD-ready high-ish end
TV and was really disappointed with how things looked under Adelphia. I
decided to get DirecTV and the picture looked MUCH (MUCH, MUCH) better.
You'll probably end up paying a tad bit more for satellite, but it's worth
it.

Now, DirecTV vs. Dish Network.... From the [limited] research I've done,
it seems that only (?) the DirecTV receiver boxes have the "low-speed data
port". This port, as Tarek pointed out, allows you to *very easily*
control the channel changes via your computer--no need to build an IR
transmitter. I build the cable that connects my RCA satellite box with my
serial port in under five minutes...and I'm pretty much brain-dead with
electronics. The signal path is really clean as compared to an IR
blaster.

As far as I'm concerned DIRECTV IS THE BEST WAY TO GO!! But that's just
my opinion :)


Jeremy


Tarek Lubani said:
> I'm not sure what work is going into cable boxes, but I've been trying
> to keep track of the satellite front. Unless I am mistaken, Dish has
> pretty much not been discussed at all, whereas DirecTV has received
> quite a bit of coverage.. I'm not *really* sure how Dish beats out
> DirecTV (ethnic channels, maybe?), but it does seem that DirecTV has
> more subscribers in general, which means that their stuff has been
> better supported on the net (and consequently on MythTV). I run DirecTV,
> and it's relatively
> complete.. and not overly hard, though things like Pay Per View have in
> the past been a pain in the ass..
>
> tarek : )
>
>> This is somewhat of topic, but I'm trying to decide amongst various TV
>> provider options, and one of the considerations is how well the
>> providers will work with MythTV. Here are my options:
>>
>> Comcast Digital Cable
>> RCN Digital Cable
>> DirecTV
>> Dish Network
>>
>> All of these require some sort of set top box. My experience so far
>> has been with analog cable, so I'm not clear on what, other than
>> having MythTV call an external tuning script, I will need to get any
>> of these working. I know there is a possibility of using a serial
>> interface with certain set top boxes, and I know I could probably get
>> an IR blaster that would work with most things, but if anyone has any
>> specific advice about set top boxes to get to work with any of these
>> providers, or ones to avoid, I'd appreciate it. We're in Boston, if
>> that helps, since I know that some providers use different set top
>> boxes in different areas.
>>
>> Any tips you might have would be great.
>>
>> Thanks
>> Mike
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users@snowman.net
>> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

Dish is slightly cheaper I think but DirecTV has better sports programming
availability (NFL Sunday ticket etc...). Also Dish makes all of their
own set top boxes whereas several companies make STBs for DirecTV
(I may be wrong about that first phrase tho)...
M

Tarek Lubani(tarek@tarek.2y.net)@2003.05.20 20:53:06 +0000:
> I'm not sure what work is going into cable boxes, but I've been trying to
> keep track of the satellite front. Unless I am mistaken, Dish has pretty
> much not been discussed at all, whereas DirecTV has received quite a bit
> of coverage.. I'm not *really* sure how Dish beats out DirecTV (ethnic
> channels, maybe?), but it does seem that DirecTV has more subscribers in
> general, which means that their stuff has been better supported on the net
> (and consequently on MythTV). I run DirecTV, and it's relatively
> complete.. and not overly hard, though things like Pay Per View have in
> the past been a pain in the ass..
>
> tarek : )
>
> > This is somewhat of topic, but I'm trying to decide amongst various TV
> > provider options, and one of the considerations is how well the
> > providers will work with MythTV. Here are my options:
> >
> > Comcast Digital Cable
> > RCN Digital Cable
> > DirecTV
> > Dish Network
> >
> > All of these require some sort of set top box. My experience so far has
> > been with analog cable, so I'm not clear on what, other than having
> > MythTV call an external tuning script, I will need to get any of these
> > working. I know there is a possibility of using a serial interface with
> > certain set top boxes, and I know I could probably get an IR blaster
> > that would work with most things, but if anyone has any specific advice
> > about set top boxes to get to work with any of these providers, or ones
> > to avoid, I'd appreciate it. We're in Boston, if that helps, since I
> > know that some providers use different set top boxes in different areas.
> >
> > Any tips you might have would be great.
> >
> > Thanks
> > Mike
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > mythtv-users mailing list
> > mythtv-users@snowman.net
> > http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@snowman.net
> http://lists.snowman.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

--
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Mark Ethan Trostler mark@zzo.com
Computing Solutions http://www.zzo.com
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