Will It Make You Ditch Cable?
Dec 30 '00
Satellite tv (specifically DirecTV) has been advertised in almost every newspaper, magazine, and tv channel in the past year in the hopes of switching people from their cable systems to the cute little dish that sits facing southward at some point in their yard. The question many people are asking is one that can't be answered with one common answer - the solution to go satellite or cable really depends on the individual and where in the country you live.
In order to have a receivable signal to the DirecTV system, you must have a clear view to the south. While most people have no trouble with this, if you live in a heavily wooded area, installation could be a tad bit tricky, if not outright impossible. Because tall trees block parts of the signal, when those nice shade trees are full of leaves you may not be able to get the minimum required signal, resulting in no picture, not even a grainy one. (The minimum signal strength required to digitize the picture on your end is 40 out of a scale of 100)
In parts of the south (and even in the north) high thick clouds bring heavy rainstorms almost daily in the spring and summer. Be aware that your signal WILL be affected. Many times this past summer we lost signal strength for up to 2 hours at a time when heavy storms passed through the area. For those in the north snow, thankfully, does not seem to affect the system as much (mainly due to the lower clouds that do not break up the DirecTV signal). If you live in an area that is frequented by heavy rainstorms or thick clouds during certain parts of the year, look around for those with a Dish visible in their yard or on their roof. Ask around and see what downtimes are like to make sure they are within your acceptable range.
Because of the numerous additions to the local channels DirecTV has added in the past year, picture and sound quality has gone far downhill. The more channels the system carries on one satellite, the more bandwidth required, which in turn means obvious pixelation and fuzzy sound. At times, I have found the pixelization is far worse than the horrible cable service available in our area. If cable in your area is good and a crisp quality, think long and hard about how crisp you want that made for tv movie to be.
With local channels available to most major metro areas around the country, cable can no longer say they are the only ones to offer good looking local channels. The problem, however, occurs with DirecTV's two satellites. Located in different locations of the southern sky, those with local markets (or those wishing for HDTV HBO channels) will be required to buy a more expensive system, which usually costs around $250, as opposed to deals of $50 in markets which are on the same satellite. If you are perfectly happy with the reception from your roof antenna, it may be hard, if not impossible, to purchase a cheap system locally.
The annoyances of poor sound quality, poor picture quality, and rain fade may be a non issue, especially in an area where cable service is poor at best or there is no local cable service. If cable service is decent or good, study the available packages in the range of your current cable costs (be sure to add the $6 monthly) if you wish to receive local channels through the dish) and decide if the good points make it worth switching.
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