Choosing a home’s television service provider gets a little more difficult each year. Emerging technologies, changing rates and packages, and access limitations all factor into this battle royal between old – and new - enemies. There are some basics you can expect from everyone, like DVRs, HD channels, and bundled internet service. But take a closer look and you’ll see some differences that may push one of them over the top and into your home.
Cable
That the word “cable” is often used to refer to any television service – digital, analog, HD, you name it – is suggestive of the dominance over the television industry of those companies providing service over coaxial lines. What we can now call “traditional cable” service is associated with heavy-hitters like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and the like. These companies provide digital cable content, including HD service, largely via underground cable lines.
Although the cable industry is taking heat on many fronts (regulatory issues, inflated bills, etc.), the bigger companies have been at the table for a long time, and that experience can be seen in the way these providers shape their content. “Our on-demand service just passed six billion views since 2003,” says Derek Harrar, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Video Service for Comcast. He broke their numbers down farther, adding: “We’re seeing 250 million views a month, or 100 views a second.” Research into the habits of Comcast’s 14 million subscribers indicates that on-demand usage is on the rise, and the company has responded by expanding their on-demand offerings to include much more than just current-release movies. Customers can find television episodes, music, and educational content. “We even have guitar lessons available,” says Harrar.
Detractors of cable cite the industry’s aging infrastructure as a reason to switch to the competition. Some think that the increasing bandwidth demands of high-definition content will prove to be too much for the existing network; others say that the need to compress content – particularly high definition – leads to less-than-expected picture and audio quality on the receiving end. Comcast recently countered these claims with a blind, third-party picture quality test, pitting Comcast’s Hi-Def picture against one of the leading satellite’s. “Two to one the satellite customers chose the Comcast picture,” states Harrar. So much for the detractors…
Cable companies like Comcast are also able to offer bundled services. Their Triple-Play package includes cable, internet, and digital voice (VoIP) services that use the same network. Bundled services are payable on one bill, and usually incur a lesser cost than the sum of the individual services.
You forget those of us who live in apartment houses in large cities like New York!
Many of us have no CHOICE but cable!
(1) If our apt. windows don’t face the right way, we can’t use any DBS systems, and (2) frequently Verizon’s fiber optic lines may not be available where we live.
In New York city (all five boroughs), that’s a lotta people.
I’ve had FIOS here in Tampa for about a year and a half now and it’s great! The main reason I changed was that it was cheaper than cable and at the time had about twice as many HD channels. I was paying almost $80 a month for cable with a HD box (not even a DVR). I switched and started paying $60 a month for HD service WITH and HD DVR and more HD channels. It was a no-brainer. Apparently cable has bumped up their HD lineup (per this article), I haven’t looked back at all since changing. I can’t wait for the increase in HD channels though!
An important point about Direct TV is missing from the article. They are adding additional HD channels by reducing the bandwidth for each channel. The additional compression results in them having amazingly poor HD.
A well mastered DVD has more detail than most of DTV’s HD offerings. This is a huge step backward. It is in all of our best intrests if this business model fails.
A huge amount of money is being spent to upgrade the whole broadcast infrustructure. Cable and Satellite are pressured to follow suit. Consumers have to replace their $300-$400 TVs with much more expensive digital HD sets. What a waste that the quality of the content is being downgraded in this manner.
DTV isn’t the only one, either. Broadcast TV is reducing channel bandwidth also in order to provide additional sub-channels. So far, those sub-channels are carrying 24 hour wheather or news ( and in horrible picture quality to boot). They are reducing PQ of the main HD channel to provide a bunch of crap that few will be interested in. The FCC made a mistake in approving this, IMO.
The whole move to reduce PQ in order to provide even more channels is going to hurt all of us. Eventually, most folks will have a large enough HD display to see just how bad the picture is. Will it will be to late, then?
I have Cox Cable in Orange County, CA. The PQ is quite high. It appears similar to the quality of HD-DVD and BR. They are being pressured to add more and more HD Channels. I just hope that they don’t do it by reducing the PQ of all the HD channels.
I watch TV on a 123” diagonal front projection screen at home. The degradation in PQ from DVT might not be so obvious to someone who is sitting 15’ away from a 32” display. What until you are viewing a 50"-60" display, or something even larger, like I am.
I have had Cablevision’s bundle package for four years and cannot wait until I get FIOS. Cablevision has not upgraded their DVR in all the time I have had it. Satellite has always had great channel selection but I cannot take the weather interruptions.I know FIOS will only improve over time. The bandwidth will allow for it. However, will Verizon keep the costs economical is the question.
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I’ve had DirecTV for about 2 years now. When we first got it, the picture quality was great on a 36” Sammy. Most recently I have noticed some PQ loss as teh HD channels don’t look HD anymore. I live in good ol’ Philly and the city does not have Fios as I have been waiting patiently for Verizon to lay the groundwork for it! The funny is that Fios is all around in the surrounding counties (Suburbs of Phila) and from what I hear the PQ is superb! I would also like to benefit from their download/upload speeds since I am currently using Verizon’s DSL @ 7mps. Not slow but could be a lot faster.
Signed,
Waiting Patiently . . .