I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

I had Dish Network, dropped them and went to cable to get local channels and
internet. Seems they are broadcasting local channels now, so that objection
has been over come. I like my internet service, other than that I would drop
cable like a rock and go back to Dish!
Cable here brags about no loss due to the weather compared to dish. Well
every time a little thunder boomer rolls through cable is running weather
advisories, fine, I think the feds require it, but for every little rain
drop? On the other hand, dish would lose signal maybe once or twice a year
during torrential rain.
So I guess you could say I was very satisfied with Dish Network, kind of,
almost, sort of satisfied with cable!
Greg


"FreespiritedFem" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard
there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4
TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is
still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend
on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

I just switched from cable to Dish no way I would go back I have a PVR that
takes care of 2 TVs. I have a TV in the bedroom and no box at all. It can
record 100hr of TV and I can pause and rewind live TV since it has 2 tuners
I can do PIP. Not quite as good as Tivo but I felt the package was better
from DISH. I still have cable internet but have been toying with DSL but
Comcast draws you in with the 3 MB download speed which works pretty well
where I have probably 1/2-2/3rd of the homes in my neighborhood have cable
access but the backbone is new so it does not bog down.

Between Dish and Direct you need to look at the packages they offer and what
fits your viewing. Each has pluses and minuses. Dish now has Sirius radio
also. I don't use it but you might.

Wayne


"FreespiritedFem" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard
there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4
TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is
still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend
on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

FreespiritedFem wrote:
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry


I've got Directv and am happy with it. I've been with them for about 10 years
now and have only had a few episodes of signal fade due to extremely heavy
rainfall. Frankly, Cablevision had more service outages.

You should be able to find installation of four receivers for free if you're a
new customer. $50 would buy you TIVO for one of those receivers if you wanted
that. But for just four ordinary receivers: free. Of course, you'll have to
obligate yourself to a service contract for a year, but so what? You've got to
get your content from somebody, right?

Seeing as how you live in a city, you'll be able to get your local stations on
Directv. Not all markets do, but if Wilmington, NC can, I know Philadelphia
will.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

I subscribed to both cable TV and cable internet simultainiously. When
Comcast took it over I switched to Direct TV, but kept my cable internet
service, because cable kept on increasing it's subscription rates at least
once a year and I got fed up with being screwed over.

Then, about a year and a half ago, I got notified by Comcast, my internet
provider, that if I didn't subscribe to cable TV and the internet they would
increase my internet subscription by almost $20.00/month. I emailed them
telling them I wouldn't be strong-armed into buying their cable TV service
and if they persisted I would go to DSL. I received a response pretty much
telling me that it was the policy and they were not going to change, so I
gladly switched.---cable still arrogantly treats consumers as if they are
the only service in town. I'll never go back to cable.

Direct TV is great and I've never had any problems with it.


"FreespiritedFem" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard
there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4
TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is
still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend
on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

Here on Long Island ,NY Cablevision has a special "triple play"
promotion. You get digital cable TV, high speed internet, and Voice
over IP unlimited phone service, each for $30 for the first year.
After that, it goes up slightly for the second year, then it goes to
full price for the third year, which right now would be about $63 for
TV, $45 for internet, and $35 for the phone, which is $143 for the
month, which is not bad IMO. I'm happy with the service.

Direct TV would be ok if you didn't have to have a receiver for each tv.

Why can't they have one central tv converter and use a different remote for
each tv set.

Tom


"FreespiritedFem" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard
there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4
TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is
still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend
on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

I'm in the Philly suburbs. I have had DishNetwork for over 6 years. I have
been very happy with their service. Make sure you get DVR receivers, at
least one for your primary viewing location. I have a model 721 and model
501.

Make sure Dish has a programming package that is to your liking. DirecTV may
be better for you if they have a channel Dish doesn't and its one you really
want. DirecTV has NFL Season Pass or something like that, gets you all NFL
games. Dish does not. Dish has NHL and MLB season passes. (Not that NHL
matters right now). Make your decision based upon programming then look for
the best deal for that vendor.

I have used www.dishdepot.com with good success.

"FreespiritedFem" wrote in message
...
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard
there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4
TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is
still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend
on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

I'd also figure out how HDTV fits into your plans. Currently, many
cable providers offer the
local networks in HD, while the sat providers, do not. With Sat, you
still need to use an antenna
to receive the locals in HD. The sats do have an assortment of 8 or so
other HD channes, eg Discovery,
HBO, etc avail in HD as do many of the cable companies.

And don't forget internet access. By bundling that into the deal,
cable becomes more attractive.

I have used both cable and DirecTV. I rarely encountered weather
related problem with cable (when I was in New York City and in Fort
Lee-New Jersey). Since I have switched to DirecTV, I have weather
related problem whenever there is mild-to-heavy rain. This may have to
do with the fact that my house is not tall (2 floors, relatively flat
roof), and there is a not-so-short tree south of the house.

The other thing is that DirecTV requires a decoder box at each TV. If
I remember correctly, each additional decoder box costs additional
monthly fee. I used cable basic service and I didn't need a decoder
box. The use of decoder box not only costs more but also causes some
inconveniences. For example, I cannot use picture-in-picture any more
because that would require 2 decoder boxes in one TV, and I cannot
watch TV in more than 2 locations in my house because I am restricted
to 2 decoder boxes (and I don't want to pay extra). Of course, this
point is irrelevant if you want to watch premium channels in cable or
if you want to subscribe to HDTV cable service or your local cable
requires you to use a decoder box even for basic cable service (such as
in New York City); in these three cases, you will need a decoder box,
and cable will not be better than DirecTV in this espect.

I am still staying with DirecTV because a family member wants to watch
a channel that cable doesn't carry. Otherwise, I would have switched
back to cable.

Jay Chan

On 9 Dec 2004 08:05:23 -0800, wrote:

I'd also figure out how HDTV fits into your plans. Currently, many
cable providers offer the
local networks in HD, while the sat providers, do not. With Sat, you
still need to use an antenna
to receive the locals in HD. The sats do have an assortment of 8 or so
other HD channes, eg Discovery,
HBO, etc avail in HD as do many of the cable companies.

And don't forget internet access. By bundling that into the deal,
cable becomes more attractive.

Cable TV with cable Internet costs $85+taxes here. Dish is close to
$40 (minimum setup) and my AT&T Internet is $14 a month.

"wayne" wrote:

I just switched from cable to Dish no way I would go back I have a
PVR that takes care of 2 TVs. I have a TV in the bedroom and no
box at all. It can record 100hr of TV and I can pause and rewind
live TV since it has 2 tuners I can do PIP.

Do you have the DVR522? If so, do you find that the audio gets out of
sync with the video when playing recordings? They keep saying they
know about the problem, but they haven't fixed it yet.

Other than that, I love Dish Network and the DVR. And it's a lot
cheaper than cable in my area.

--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply to: )

What kind of internet access do you have for $14? Sure sounds like
dial up, in which case you're comparing apples to oranges.

On 09 Dec 2004 03:18:27 GMT, (FreespiritedFem)
wrote:

I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

Love digital cable, broadband internet and DVR's on every TV. For
$140/month I get a bazillion channels, 3 DVR's and screaming internet
access.

If you go wwith Satellite, make sure you have an unobstructed view to
the satellite(s) in question. No tall trees or buildings or hills in
the direction of the bird. I think both direct and dish have aiming
info on their websites. In Philly it will probably be southwest.

IOn Thu, 09 Dec 2004 19:00:42 -0500, Paul Franklin
wrote:

On 09 Dec 2004 03:18:27 GMT, (FreespiritedFem)
wrote:

I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

Love digital cable, broadband internet and DVR's on every TV. For
$140/month I get a bazillion channels, 3 DVR's and screaming internet
access.

If you go wwith Satellite, make sure you have an unobstructed view to
the satellite(s) in question. No tall trees or buildings or hills in
the direction of the bird. I think both direct and dish have aiming
info on their websites. In Philly it will probably be southwest.

I get basic cable access and digital internet for about $50 per month.
I don't care about the TV at all but I like the fast internet access.
Dan

On Thu, 09 Dec 2004 18:18:03 GMT, Phisherman wrote:

Cable TV with cable Internet costs $85+taxes here. Dish is close to
$40 (minimum setup) and my AT&T Internet is $14 a month.

For about $100 (phone, TV and internet): Internet - 256K Internet connection for
T1 and T2 only pay a few bucks more, TV - All local channels, digital tier, HBO
and sport.

Greg, I see what you mean. Positive and negative about both. I didn't realize
you don't get the storm warnings with a dish. I get them with the news
channels on cable. Don't remember if I get them with others. I don't think
on TV Land but maybe I just don't notice, taking them for granted. We pay
139 a month for all cable stations but it's not digital, so if the dish is
almost as good and a lot less cost, that's probably better for us. Thanks for
replying. Sherry

Wayne, I know what Tivo is but not the other two anachonyms you mentioned. PIP
is picture in picture? PVR? We have 5 television sets so don't know if this
will destroy any good package deals. I know there was a deal for 4 tv's.
We've been falling for the ads by cable showing the dish so vulnerable to
elements so far, which seemed reasonable, although our cable has been down for
several hours at a time several times a year. We just didn't think anything
was better. Is any particular dish preferred, especially as far as quality and
reliability? Direct TV vs dish? Next maybe to investigate the current offers.
Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Ray, at least one thumbs up for Dish Network in particular with your reply.
We'll do a little more investigating. Thank you. Sherry

Mortimer, if you've read all my posts in this thread, you see I know basically
nothing about anything but cable TV, but hearing such glowing things about Dish
Network and Direct TV I think it's time my household became more educated,
especially since we pay 139 monthly even without digital. We're curious as to
how many movie channels, if any, come with a basic dish package. Also we need
to keep our 5 TV sets operating with full package of movie channels, etc, which
we are dependent on. HBO and Starz are favorites at my home. How many
channels do you get? Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Ron, had no idea cable used such arrogant manipulations. I'm wondering if the
dish programming shows problems caused by CABLE as cable does with the dish!
Of course over the years we've seen cable ads showing dishes wiped out by
inclement weather and it looked reasonable. With something sitting on a roof,
porch, etc. it does seem vulnerable. Apparently if the dish had those
problems, they've been overcome. The replies in this thread are evidence of
this and we have no one else to ask about this. Husband said friends from New
Jersey all love the dish over cable in every way but I can't go by what they
say. We needed objective opinions and we're grateful to have them. Thanks for
your reply. Sherry

Mikepier, you're doing great for having cable. We pay 139 monthly just for
cable on 5 tv sets with 5 movie channels -- no digital. Local phone is about
60 monthly and ATT for long distance ends up about 16 monthly. I don't have
the AOL figure as another household memeber handles that but it's in the 20's
monthly. So we're waaaayyy above what you pay. Is everything else cheaper
there? hehe! We have comcast here (formerly Suburban Cable). I assume also
you're happy with the service. Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Tom, well we have a "jerrold box" for each our 5 TV sets. Don't know if that's
the counterpart to the receiver you speak of. Dish still sounds better than
cable from the replies so far. We'll check out offers. Thanks for your reply.
Sherry

Phisherman, we don't yet have an HDTV set. We have ordinary ones as we're not
into TV features that much. We're interested in content and number of channels
available because of 3 people with diverse TV interests. We're going to look
over the offerings as well as cost and service. Hope we don't have a conflict
because of differences within the household. :/ Thanks for your reply.
Sherry

Paul, guess what's to our southwest?????!!! Next door neighbor's HUGE sycamore
tree! Leaves are up to 14" across and many end up in our yard due to
mysterious wind gusts isolated on our property. Maybe this will all be moot
for now as we're moving in about 6 months. We have comcast and doubt we could
get a deal like yours. Where are you from, BTW? We tried to get digital on
one TV set, a very basic Sylvania VCR combo and they couldn't connect digital
to it. We have a newer TV now but the others are all older and maybe none are
compatible with digital. So we do have many questions for the dish companies.
Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Dan, basic cable here is probably a little more than your cost but our issue is
3 viewers with diverse TV viewing interests. I don't care about Court TV, for
example, but mom would miss not having it. Also she loves the home decorating
shows and my husband watches dopey shows like "favorite TV bloopers" which mom
and I would never watch. Necessary -- large package to satisfy all of us.
Thanks for your reply. Sherry

FreespiritedFem wrote:
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry
Hi,
I am on digital cable TV/Internet combo.
I know dish is affected by weather conditions.
Some does not provide local programming.
I have over 400 channels of HD digital video, music, pay per view, etc.
Tony

We get "local channels" (i.e., the local outlets of the major networks)
via DirecTV, and they broadcast the storm warnings. What we don't get
are the truly local channels such as public access and broadcasts of
city council and school board meetings.

We've lost our signal twice in the year we've had DirecTV, but only
during torrential rain, not during normal rainfall. But the cable
companies are receiving their signals from satellites too, so sometimes
the signal they receive (and pass on to you) will deteriorate too; the
only difference is that their dishes are bigger.

With any kind of satellite system, your signal quality will depend on
how well your dish can "see" the satellite, so nearby trees and tall
buildings need to be taken into consideration.

Check all the available services and packages and figure out which gives
you the channels you want for the most affordable price.

Perce


On 12/09/04 11:17 pm PaNjDeFemale tossed the following ingredients into
the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

Greg, I see what you mean. Positive and negative about both. I didn't realize
you don't get the storm warnings with a dish. I get them with the news
channels on cable. Don't remember if I get them with others. I don't think
on TV Land but maybe I just don't notice, taking them for granted. We pay
139 a month for all cable stations but it's not digital, so if the dish is
almost as good and a lot less cost, that's probably better for us. Thanks for
replying. Sherry

PVR/DVR = Personal Video Recorder/Digital Video Recorder

Perce


On 12/09/04 11:30 pm PaNjDeFemale tossed the following ingredients into
the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

Wayne, I know what Tivo is but not the other two anachonyms you mentioned. PIP
is picture in picture? PVR?

Without a DVR receiver you lose the ability to record now and play back
later *with the same picture quality*. You could still record to a VCR,
but you won't see the same quality on playback.

We have a combo DirecTV receiver and TiVo PVR/DVR that offers features
ike "Season Pass" that will automatically record all episodes of a
particular program (with or without repeats) without us having to worry
about scheduling each episode individually and worrying whether it's on
at a different time or whether it's a 2-hour episode instead of the
usual 1-hour one.

Perce


On 12/09/04 11:57 pm PaNjDeFemale tossed the following ingredients into
the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

Brikp, what would be missing without a DVR receiver? As you can see I'm
totally ignorant regarding dish viewing. Do you have to ask for particular
models? Are some better than others? I put dishdepot.com into my favorites
for now. More research to do. Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Also we don't know if cable would have to remove their wires
and dish install theirs.

Last time when I switched from cable to DirecTV, the installer didn't
remove the existing wiring. He simply ran new wire using a different
route. This was a good thing because local squirrels like to bite the
wire of the cable service that was put in a way that squirrels have
easy access to the cable.

We expect also to move in 6 mos. so we don't know if it's
worth it.

Probably not. You will lose a vacation day just to sit in your house
waiting for the installer to show up.

Jay Chan

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
We get "local channels" (i.e., the local outlets of the major networks)
via DirecTV, and they broadcast the storm warnings. What we don't get
are the truly local channels such as public access and broadcasts of
city council and school board meetings.


You get the warnings the local channels broadcast, you would get them on an
antenna too. Our cable breaks in on whatever channel you are on and goes to
the weather channel so they can tell you to run and hide because it is
raining outside. If thet ran a banner at the bottem of the screen it would
be ok, but they interupt what ever show you are watching and tune to the
weather channel, you can not turn back to your movie, sports, what ever,
they run the show.
You might be watching a pay per view movie and they will interupt the show!
It ticks me off!
Greg

On 12/10/2004 2:16 PM US(ET), Greg O took fingers to keys, and typed the
following:

"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...


We get "local channels" (i.e., the local outlets of the major networks)
via DirecTV, and they broadcast the storm warnings. What we don't get
are the truly local channels such as public access and broadcasts of
city council and school board meetings.




You get the warnings the local channels broadcast, you would get them on an
antenna too. Our cable breaks in on whatever channel you are on and goes to
the weather channel so they can tell you to run and hide because it is
raining outside. If thet ran a banner at the bottem of the screen it would
be ok, but they interupt what ever show you are watching and tune to the
weather channel, you can not turn back to your movie, sports, what ever,
they run the show.
You might be watching a pay per view movie and they will interupt the show!
It ticks me off!
Greg

That's a 'feature' of your particular cable company and perhaps your
local govt. The local govt. has a say in what, and how, cable will be
distributed ( I want to say 'broadcast', but that's not the proper
terminology with cable).
Where I live, with Time-Warner cable, if there is a weather alert, they
have the scrolling banner on the bottom of the screen, *except* on any
premium channels.

FreespiritedFem wrote:
I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry

I switched to DirecTV since it had become cheaper than cable. (price had
gone up steadily since Comcast took over the local co-op) I love the fact
that I now have a dual-tuner Tivo instead of a single-tuner standalone one.
I like that I get Comedy Central on East Coast time, even though I'm on
the West Coast. I don't like that I have to plug the Tivo into the phone
(the standalone one I had before can use a network connection)

Is the $50 you mention the installation fee or the monthly cost?
If it's the installation fee, shop around. You can get free installation
for up to 4 rooms, at http://www.expertsatellite.com/ for example.

And, I should add, our combo DirecTV receiver and TiVo PVR/DVR has dual
tuners, so we can record two different program simultaneously, and even
watch a pre-recorded program at the same time as these other two are
being recorded.

Someone else had complained about not being able to use the
picture-in-picture feature with satellite systems, but since this thing
has twin tuners I assume that we could also get PIP if our TV had that
feature.

Perce


I wrote:

Without a DVR receiver you lose the ability to record now and play back
later *with the same picture quality*. You could still record to a VCR,
but you won't see the same quality on playback.

We have a combo DirecTV receiver and TiVo PVR/DVR that offers features
ike "Season Pass" that will automatically record all episodes of a
particular program (with or without repeats) without us having to worry
about scheduling each episode individually and worrying whether it's on
at a different time or whether it's a 2-hour episode instead of the
usual 1-hour one.

Brikp, what would be missing without a DVR receiver? As you can see I'm
totally ignorant regarding dish viewing. Do you have to ask for
particular
models? Are some better than others? I put dishdepot.com into my
favorites
for now. More research to do. Thanks for your reply. Sherry

On 09 Dec 2004 03:18:27 GMT, (FreespiritedFem)
wrote:

I'd like to hear from various customers of all the different methods of
receiving TV stations regarding cost and service satisfaction. I heard there
is a current sale with Direct TV where you get service and install on 4 TV's
for $50. I don't know if this is as good as it sounds or if the sale is still
even on. Any replies are appreciated. Also does the best system depend on
geographic area? I'm in Phila. PA area. Sherry


I'm one that has has cable/DirecTV (now/Switching to Dish Network very
soon.


All of the above offer local channels in my area.


Cable....higher priced/local support/internet (big plus)

DirecTV slighly priced higher than Dish, lower than Cable (DirectWay
internet is crap if you do anything other than surf and is highly
overpriced). I got DirecTV for the NFL Sunday Ticket, the only one
that offers this if you are a football fan like myself. Also , when
local channels were added, I have to add a additional Dish, so two
dishes instead of one, check into this.

Dish Network....the cheapest of the bunch, no NFL Sunday Ticket,
only one dish.

So depending on what choices you want these are your options.

Jason wrote:
that offers this if you are a football fan like myself. Also , when
local channels were added, I have to add a additional Dish, so two
dishes instead of one, check into this.

Dish Network....the cheapest of the bunch, no NFL Sunday Ticket,
only one dish.

Not necessarily. DirecTV can give you an oval dish with a triple LNB,
allowing it to look at 3 satellites at the same time. My neighbor
just got Dish Network, and for some reason they put 2 dishes on his
roof, pointing in different directions.

On 10 Dec 2004 05:22:13 GMT, (PaNjDeFemale)
wrote:

Paul, guess what's to our southwest?????!!! Next door neighbor's HUGE sycamore
tree! Leaves are up to 14" across and many end up in our yard due to
mysterious wind gusts isolated on our property. Maybe this will all be moot
for now as we're moving in about 6 months. We have comcast and doubt we could
get a deal like yours. Where are you from, BTW? We tried to get digital on
one TV set, a very basic Sylvania VCR combo and they couldn't connect digital
to it. We have a newer TV now but the others are all older and maybe none are
compatible with digital. So we do have many questions for the dish companies.
Thanks for your reply. Sherry

Sherry,

I'm in Northern OH. (Adelphia--much maligned, but other than a few
glitches when they started up in the area, I've no complaints) Tree
may be a problem, but often there is a spot on the house that has a
clear enough view to work; the installer can check your site ahead of
time. (I hate those wind gusts that only ever seem to blow leaves
*onto* your property!)

Digital cable usually requires a STB (set top box) or a cable DVR/PVR
(digital/personal video recorder) for anything other than the basic
cable channels. They generally have both video and RF outputs so they
should connect to any TV except the few units that have no antenna or
video connection at all. And the dish won't be able to connect to
them either.

Regardless of which you go with, I highly recommend (as have others)
the DVR/PVR. It completely changes the way you watch TV, and for the
better. The ones supplied by my cable company allow you to record two
different shows while watching another prerecorded show, or watch one
show while recording another. I think the units provided by the dish
companies have similar capabilities. Good luck with your choice. Paul