Fed up with Comcast (w/ R5000's), interested in switching to DirecTV/HD-PVR's

[mkanet]

I've been a happy camper using Comcast and my R5000s boxes for a while now. But, since April this year, Comcast has completely gone downhill to an unacceptable level.

1) First, they started over-compressing their HD premium channel content to look closer to old fashioned DVD video starting April this year.

2) Now, they somehow managed to messup the HD signal going to my house; where all my HD premium channels pixelate, drop out video/audio; incuding On Demand; even when connected my boxes directly to the Point of Entry at my home.

There's no way I'm putting up with Comcast anymore; and now looking into what it will take to get 4 direcTV HD tuners connected to my SageTV comparable to the HD quality I used to get on my Comcast (not re-encoded).

Can someone please tell me where to get started from the very beginning. I dont have DirecTV at all.

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by mkanet

(not re-encoded)

There is no DirecTV HD solution that doesn't involve re-encoding. The HD-PVR take analog component input and encodes it to h.264. I understand the quality is very good (I don't have an HD-PVR myself), but if you're looking for a way to capture the digital stream directly as it comes from the satellite, there isn't one for DirecTV.

Dish is another story; you can get Dish receivers R5000-modded to provide digital USB output with no re-encoding. But four of those mods will cost you > $2000, over and above the cost of the receivers themselves.

If DirecTV + HD-PVR is what you want, there are a couple of existing threads explaining how to set that up. But again, it's fairly pricey: ~$1000 for four HD-PVRs.

[mkanet]

DishNetwork is kind of the Kmart of Satellite TV. I'm not sure how long they will even stay in business. I doubt I'm going there.

The question of the day is how does re-encoded HD-DVR DirecTV HD look compared to Comcast's completely overcomrpessed HD premium channels.

Another problem with DirecTV boxes are how much it will cost to have four of them per month. I currently have 2 R5000 Comcast boxes and 2 tuner HDHomeruns (at no cost).

Originally Posted by GKusnick

There is no DirecTV HD solution that doesn't involve re-encoding. The HD-PVR take analog component input and encodes it to h.264. I understand the quality is very good (I don't have an HD-PVR myself), but if you're looking for a way to capture the digital stream directly as it comes from the satellite, there isn't one for DirecTV.

Dish is another story; you can get Dish receivers R5000-modded to provide digital USB output with no re-encoding. But four of those mods will cost you > $2000, over and above the cost of the receivers themselves.

If DirecTV + HD-PVR is what you want, there are a couple of existing threads explaining how to set that up. But again, it's fairly pricey: ~$1000 for four HD-PVRs.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by mkanet

...what it will take to get 4 direcTV HD tuners connected to my SageTV...

First you rob a bank...

Seriously though, could you get by with one of the tuners (or two) being just for locals OTA? That would save you some coin (get an HDHR and an antenna).

Otherwise.... HD DirecTV dish (compatible with 4 tuners... don't know if that would require two dishes), four HD STBs, four HD-PVRs....

[stanger89]

Frankly if I were you, I'd seriously consider Dish. You can send in your modded cable boxes and get the mods moved to Dish VIP211s, and you can sign up for one of the TurboHD packages and not even have to deal with the pesky SD channels.

I have no idea what you're getting at with the "Kmart of satellite" comment.

[mkanet]

Hmmm... I'll definitely look into it. My perception of Dish Network has always been the inferior of the two Satellite offerings. I'm not sure why I feel like Dish will be the next Satellite company to either file chapter 11 or sold to a larger company. Man, if DirecTV had an R5000 offering, I would jump on it so quick.

Originally Posted by stanger89

Frankly if I were you, I'd seriously consider Dish. You can send in your modded cable boxes and get the mods moved to Dish VIP211s, and you can sign up for one of the TurboHD packages and not even have to deal with the pesky SD channels.

I have no idea what you're getting at with the "Kmart of satellite" comment.

[mangriotis]

Originally Posted by mkanet

But, since April this year, Comcast has completely gone downhill to an unacceptable level.

1) First, they started over-compressing their HD premium channel content to look closer to old fashioned DVD video starting April this year.

2) Now, they somehow managed to messup the HD signal going to my house; where all my HD premium channels pixelate, drop out video/audio; incuding On Demand; even when connected my boxes directly to the Point of Entry at my home.

Question: Where are you located? Has your quality decreased significantly in the past month or so??

I ask because I have Comcast also, and have noticed a significant increase in dropouts/pixellation on HD channels. This is affecting my HDHR reception also (QAM), and is getting quite annoying. I had the technician out to my home, and he said, "All the levels are fine", but it's not acceptable.

I am in Elgin, IL, and I know several of my neighbors have been complaining of the same issues...

[mkanet]

I'm located in North California. I think the more important question is which model receiver do you have? I noticed that both my DCT-5100's were somehow affected recently on the higher frequency channels. I tried other, newer receivers (ie 6200's) and they work fine. It's possible that the oldest series boxes aren't tolerant to the latest QAM channel mapping changes.

Originally Posted by mangriotis

Question: Where are you located? Has your quality decreased significantly in the past month or so??

I ask because I have Comcast also, and have noticed a significant increase in dropouts/pixellation on HD channels. This is affecting my HDHR reception also (QAM), and is getting quite annoying. I had the technician out to my home, and he said, "All the levels are fine", but it's not acceptable.

I am in Elgin, IL, and I know several of my neighbors have been complaining of the same issues...

[SHS]

I have also see this same problem on TWC Ravanna, Ohio I have noticed over past mouth a more significant increase in dropouts/pixellation and other common error as well my guest would be is that there in midd of upgrade there network.

[mangriotis]

I tend to lean toward SHS (a Comcast signal quality problem), as I just changed out my box to a newer DCH3200 (to try to eliminate a problem with the AV/C Panel disappearing from Device Manager, thereby failing to change channel via firewire... it didn't fix this.)