Heads Satellite TV , Tails Cable
Written: Dec 10 '00
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Pros: High quality images, solid reliable service.
Cons: High cost output,
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| GaryD's Full Review: RCA DS5230RBC Dual LNB DIRECTV System |
Folks, you will not even need to flip a coin (Heads Satellite TV , Tails Cable) to make your decision. Satellite TV is a real winner almost every time.
We purchased our service a few months back. The reasoning was very simple. Cable was going up, up, up each month - the number of channels we were receiving were dropping like flies.
It was indeed time for a change or rob a bank. The programming was to a point of rerun after rerun. Though there are a few advantages of cable. You receive local channels, the set up is simple and basically unobtrusive, with the advent of digital cable (the black box grew), and cable was up a good 99% of the time.
Some view cable in a negative sense because some of the programming is for a more mature audience. Which is fine if there are no smaller children scuffling around the house. Parental control before the digital boxes were available was difficult when you could not be there 24/7.
As stated earlier, the offset, the price was constantly increasing each month. While our channel choices were on a steady decline. With the loss of the history channel, the cartoon channel, and several sports channels. Now the only one that was truly missed was the cartoon channel. My niece loved that station. Myself, I'm not a big sports fan so those channels were not a great loss. However, like I informed the cable company, if you are going to remove channels the price should reduce - NOT INCREASE.
Comcast acted surprise when they received my call to cancel. They were quick to follow through with my request. I was surprised they did not attempt to keep me as a customer. Any good solid company would have tried - considering we had been with them for 10 years.
Now RCA Satellite TV graces our home. The installation took about three hours due to some wiring changes we needed. The service has been perfect and crystal clear to date. The images are sharp, crisp and bright. We have numerous stations to chose from (though their still mostly reruns).
The service runs under $50 monthly. The pricing is stable. The draw backs are -> You must buy the receivers and the Satellite units. Ours ran around $300 for the dual receiver and $150 for the second receiver. You must keep all receivers attached to a phone line as well. We didn't at first, and when the second month came, the second receiver stopped receiving signal. We needed and external antennae to receive local stations (that are not that great visionally), we needed a Satellite TV receiver for each television (each additional receiver is an additional charge each month), you must watch what you record or acquire another Satellite TV receiver for the VCR.
Like cable, Satellite TV is geared toward the adult audience (with reruns there has been a number of new material to watch). Should you have children in the house, you need to be far more watchful. You never know exactly what will appear on screen when you initially turn on the tube. This is even truer for those that have children around part time like I do.
Satellite TV advertises across all the channels (including the children stations). I was viewing a children's program with my niece (the rugrats) when they went into advertising. A few commercials ran and then the ads for show time etc started running. At first, I thought I may have hit the back key by mistake. That was not the case, I was somewhat in awe that "R" rated programs were being pushed with a layer over advertisements, on a juvenile geared station.
Whether you chose antenna, cable, or Satellite TV. Weight your options. In our rural area antenna does not provide satisfactory viewing results. Cable has no competition in our area, the quality and service is good, the price changes monthly and channels disappear without prior notice. Satellite TV, provides a wealth of stations, high quality images, low monthly fee, you must purchase the hardware. The more you want to do, like watch one channel and record another, or parents watch one station will the children view another --> additional receivers are needed along with an additional fee for each receiver each month.
CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH RCA Satellite TV
To date Direct TV customer service has been good. At least, after the wait, for a rep.
Our first contact with Direct TV customer service was regarding why the second receiver arrested signal input. This was handled quickly while on the phone. The second encounter was regarding billing. We were being charged twice for the second receiver. Everything was handled professionally and quickly.
My overall view, Satellite TV is worth the nominal upsets we encountered. We're saving several Hundreds of dollars over cable. We only view local weather programming via antenna - so this has been fine too. Most of our recording is performed while away of during the night time hours. The remote are universal - therefore we have also cut down on the number of remote needed to operate the equipment (TV, VCR, SURROUND SOUND Receiver, Satellite TV receiver, and DVD).
I highly recommend investing in Satellite TV. The initial cost will pay for itself as the years pass. Satellite TV is the wave of the future so it's best to start early.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 500
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Epinions.com ID:
GaryD
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Location: Kentucky
Reviews written: 279
Trusted by: 81 members
About Me:
My books R N bookstores, on-line ,Percentage of royalties donated to my favorite charities.
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