On 2/8/2012 6:05 PM, Jim Whitworth wrote:
> Mitch& Hunter - I don't claim any intimate knowledge re HD. I'm only repeating what the Direct TV people told me over the phone and was also confirmed by the new dish / new receiver installer - and that was that (a) Direct had more programming in HD than their competition
Hi Jim,
Again, thanks for your reply and info. As far as I can tell from my
own research is TCM on Direct TV channel 252 is SD (Standard Definition)
only.
I bought a new 27" Samsung HDTV TV/Monitor last June when an Arizona
Internet Distributor had a sale on them and at that point made the
switch from Cable TV to Dish Network based on what my brother had to say
having made the switch a couple years previously to satellite TV from
cable.
Initially, it was my intent to buy the Direct TV service based on his
like of Direct TV at that time and reading comments of others who have
it (Hunter included) or in a couple of cases, RV'ers who switched to it
when their Direct TV contracts ran out. I tried hard with the Direct
TV sales people however no two would tell me the same thing and the RV
issue was what really tipped the scale and I ended up getting Dish Network.
Fortunately, in my career as an oceanographic equipment designer and
engineer, one of my projects back in the early days of satellites
becoming a practical service for those other than DOD agencies, I worked
on a project to use satellite communication for data acquisition, at
that time through a French satellite, and a key part of my involvement
in the project was to research & develop antennas to be used on bouys at
sea to communicate with the satellite.
The point of this diatribe is, after talking with two of the local area
satellite TV installers, I realized they were purely mechanics who knew
how to screw a bracket to the wall of the house and use a fancy meter to
aim the dish. Their knowledge of what Satallite TV was or actually
involved was humorous at best or non existent and I decided that I would
be better off installing my own system, after all, my intent was to be
able to set it up and maintain it when on the road while traveling.
After all, any argument that a specially trained or licensed technician
was needed was rapidly lost in the debris and flotsam of the
conversation when I offered to send them copies of my GROL, RADAR, &
GMDSS maintainers licenses... (I actually had Direct TV sales people
hang up on me when I made that offer! It was obvious they had no clue
what I was talking about nor what they were talking about either).
On the other hand, Dish Network people were very cooperative and put me
in touch with a distributor in Ohio (http://www.sadoun.com/) who shipped
me all the Dish Network receiver/antenna and related hardware needed and
provided me with satellite aiming coordinates for my present location
and included free of charge, a little signal meter to use aiming the
antenna. Bill at Sadoun was very cooperative and helpful answering any
technical questions I had.
So, yes, satellite sales is loaded with hype and BS, I found both
companies hand it out freely however, in my experience, less so with
Dish Network whose hype and BS was easier to get around and receive
meaningful answers which I never did with Direct TV marketing...
End result, I have a Dish Network system, am happy with it and for
RV'ers, in my opinion, Dish Network is the most practical way to go...
--
--
Mitch Hill
(Sent from HP DV6T)
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