You've undoubtedly seen the various DIRECTV HD ads that have been running for the past year or so featuring stars like Jessica Simpson, Charlie Sheen, William Shatner and soon, Pam Anderson reprising their past roles in "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Major League" etc. Time Warner Cable sued DIRECTV based on the satcaster's claim that it offered the best-quality HD picture, to which DIRECTV responded by inserting the word "soon" in its latest ads. A judge then ruled in DIRECTV's favor, saying that by claiming it will "soon" offer more and better HD channels, the satellite provider was in the clear.
Comcast has decided to up the ante, taking the fight from the courtroom to the, well, lab room. The cable giant enlisted the services of a TV research firm called Frank N. Magid Associates to compare the HD picture quality of a Comcast cable signal to DIRECTV and DISH Network on identical HDTVs. Consumers were then asked to say which picture they preferred. According to Magid, 66% of the 309 consumers preferred Comcast over DIRECTV; 70% preferred Comcast to DISH.
When asked for comment by TV Week, a DIRECTV spokesman questioned the methodology used in the study. According to Magid, the HD signals were rotated among the HDTVs to eliminate set bias, and consumers were also shown a variety of different high-def programming from different genres and channels.
The results of this study look a tiny bit self-serving to me. The biggest flaw I see in this study is that the research firm could only use the cable signal from one Comcast system at one location. We don't know whether or not the cable system in question is representative of a typical Comcast system or whether the one Magid used has been completely upgraded, thereby offering more bandwidth and better-quality HD pictures.
The issue with cable is that there are a number of factors that determine the quality of picture you'll get from your local cable company -- like whether it has invested a significant amount of money in upgrading its local system and whether it's is in the middle of a digital simulcast transition to reclaim analog bandwidth. Comcast, as the biggest cable provider of them all, has fairly wide variations among its local systems in what it is able to offer.
Don't get me wrong -- satellite has issues too, specifically with regards to bandwidth and signal compression. My recommendation is that you take all of these factors into consideration when making your cable vs. satellite buying decision.
I'd like to hear from readers as to why they chose cable or satellite HD service and whether they had one before switching to the other.
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4 comments:
I chose Comcast HD over DirecTV and DISH for several reasons:
1) Quality of HD Content - great channel selection.
2) Local and Pay HD channels grouped together and easily accessible. No external antenna or second dish to deal with.
3) Initial cost is lower if you want a complete HD DVR package. At the time I got the DVR package, DirectTV required you to purchase it!
4) No ugly DISH on my roof!
5) Broadband Internet package bundled - DSL not available in my area.
6) I'm just waiting for U-Verse anyway, so Comcast is a cheap temporary solution. I actually HATE Comcast!
You will be waiting for a while for U-Verse if you don't want a dish on your roof. U-Verse is teaming with dish network to provide HDTV since SBC/AT&T can't seem to get their act together and have only 10,000 u-verse customers NATIONWIDE.
I just switched from Comcast to AT&T's new U-Verse and the HD quality has been very disappointing. I'm very close to switching back and its only been 3 days.
I'm moving and presently have UVERSE. My wife really misses the TiVo software that we had with DirecTV before we moved into our present location. Now, we're moving back into an area with Comcast. I could go with DirecTV, but I've heard that they've left TiVo as a supplier of settop boxes. So confusing . . .
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