Home Audio Video Advisor

Yesterday in the mail I received advertising from Comcast, DirecTV and AT&T U-verse all claiming to offer the best service for the lowest price. Now it’s not unusual to receive one or two offers a day but when it hit three I was impressed by how much they missed me and wanted me back, the large sums of money they were willing to offer in rebates and the amount of equipment they were willing to offer and install for free.

For some unknown reason I always have to study each offer with a fine tooth comb searching for the true meaning of each asterisk. Sure it takes some time but I eventually figure out exactly why they aren’t the best service or even the lowest price. At least for my current needs. Outside of AT&T’s relatively new U-verse service I have used all of them for an extended period of time. Certainly long enough to know what I’d be in for should I decide to go in their direction.

For starters I don’t do movies on TV except for the extremely rare ocassion. Blu-ray was invented to enjoy movies and if it’s worth two hours of my time I’ll enjoy it all I can. Also outside of a few exceptions I don’t do SD on TV. Since HD was invented there really isn’t any reason to.

Outside of the Super Bowl I never watch anything live. I simply can’t sit through commercials as they too easily inform you just how boring what you are watching really is! I tend to instantly drift into something else if a commercial comes on and seldom make it back. Also who in their right mind is going take an hour to watch an hour show when it’s only 45 minutes tops.

I have been using TiVo for going on 10 years along with several other DVRs. Right now I use a TiVo HD for over-the-air channels. I also have a Dish VIP722. Which tells you exactly why all of the other providers want me back.

I currently subscribe to Dish Network for one simple reason. At the time I signed up they offered an all HD package. I refuse to pay for untold SD channels I won’t watch even if they are free. I also believe HD is a replacement for SD not a premium service. As such I feel you shouldn’t have to pay more to receive HD channels if they are available in SD and vice-versa.

I even believe it strongly enough that for a while all I was left with was OTA channels when Comcast took over my local cable company and my HD only package no longer fell through the cracks. With Dish Network I have HD Absolute (no longer offered) and it’s pretty much what the name suggests. If it was available in HD outside of the premium movie channels you got it. For some silly reason they throw in a few SD channels but I never remember which ones since I never watch them.

Which means for $29.95 a month you get every HD channel you’ll watch or at least the channels I want to watch. Oh and they charge $5.95 a month for the VIP722 HD DVR which isn’t TiVo but does have a few redeeming values. I have had this package for a year now and so far so good. There hasn’t been any new HD channels I care about. My biggest worry is what will happen when my two year contract runs out… will I be back to OTA only with my TiVo or will any of the companies realize TV is now HD. Quit trying to sell it as a separate package and offer it at a reasonable price. Currently they are only making Hulu, VUDU and everyone else that will replace them happen sooner rather than later.

Now if you have read all the way down to here or were somehow smart enough to skip over the above I’m going to list a few items that just might help in dealing with the companies in question. At least they have for me.

• DirecTV has the most HD channels and in most cases the best HD picture
• DirecTV will give you a service credit for virtually any reason
• Dish Network will never give you a service credit regardless of  the valid reason
• AT&T U-verse started out virtually featureless and is slowly catching up
• With FiOS you can’t go wrong
• Almost every company will pay all or a good portion of your contract cancellation fee to get you to switch services