Is Cable or Satellite Best for your Home Theater?
This may be a debate that goes on until the end of time. We've found that most people are in one camp or the other, there is very little middle ground. It's like the Hatfields and McCoys, good vs evil, Cain vs Abel. How do you know which is best?
The choices are fairly limited, pay your cable company or pay a satellite provider. Here are pros and cons of each.
CABLE
Pros: Cheaper monthly fee as long as you don't want digital service. It also tends to stay functioning in bad weather.
Cons: Even if you have digital channels not all of them are digital so you are stuck with some fuzzy analog channels on your beautiful theater system. Fewer HD channels than satellite. Cable is not available everywhere.
SATELLITE
Pros: EVERY channel is digital. There are (at this time) more HD channels available than on cable. Satellite is available anywhere you can see the southern sky. Has more special packages available (such as sports, HD, DVR options, etc)
Cons: I personally think their ads are misleading. Satellite TV can be more expensive than you think and their $30 package only has 40 channels, none of which are HD. There seem to be more hidden costs and you pay extra for multiple TVs being on the service.
I am a bit biased toward Satellite for home theater owners. I feel there are more options and better brighter pictures available. So now the question is, DirecTv or Dish Network? Honestly I'm struggling with this myself. Of course its very time consuming and difficult to compare the two providers. You can go with your friendly local dealer on either one and go with the crowd. A lot of people will go with what their friends have. Understandable. From an HD standpoint Dish Network currently has more channels, but DirecTv is rumored to be adding over 100 more channels in 2007... that would give them a significant advantage.
Ultimately I don't think you can go wrong, these two companies will always be volleying back and forth over whose service is best. If you are an HD fan you may want to go with the one who has the most HD channels you actually like and would watch. Otherwise throw a dart at the wall and see which one you hit.
The choices are fairly limited, pay your cable company or pay a satellite provider. Here are pros and cons of each.
CABLE
Pros: Cheaper monthly fee as long as you don't want digital service. It also tends to stay functioning in bad weather.
Cons: Even if you have digital channels not all of them are digital so you are stuck with some fuzzy analog channels on your beautiful theater system. Fewer HD channels than satellite. Cable is not available everywhere.
SATELLITE
Pros: EVERY channel is digital. There are (at this time) more HD channels available than on cable. Satellite is available anywhere you can see the southern sky. Has more special packages available (such as sports, HD, DVR options, etc)
Cons: I personally think their ads are misleading. Satellite TV can be more expensive than you think and their $30 package only has 40 channels, none of which are HD. There seem to be more hidden costs and you pay extra for multiple TVs being on the service.
I am a bit biased toward Satellite for home theater owners. I feel there are more options and better brighter pictures available. So now the question is, DirecTv or Dish Network? Honestly I'm struggling with this myself. Of course its very time consuming and difficult to compare the two providers. You can go with your friendly local dealer on either one and go with the crowd. A lot of people will go with what their friends have. Understandable. From an HD standpoint Dish Network currently has more channels, but DirecTv is rumored to be adding over 100 more channels in 2007... that would give them a significant advantage.
Ultimately I don't think you can go wrong, these two companies will always be volleying back and forth over whose service is best. If you are an HD fan you may want to go with the one who has the most HD channels you actually like and would watch. Otherwise throw a dart at the wall and see which one you hit.