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mdavej
join:2004-06-09
united state

mdavej to bozzy

Member

to bozzy

Re: [CATV] Cable Cards: How much of a pain are they to deal with?

The higher price is the main reason I dumped DirecTV and later Dish for Charter. Their HD lineup is far better and service far cheaper overall. With cable card, I'm saving at least $40/month. Satellite does come anywhere near that. You'll get some discounts and freebies with DirecTV if you ask, but never anything close to new sub prices. I'll keep my 30+ additional HD channels, local sub-channels without resorting to OTA and dirt cheap cable card fee. Satellite is nice, but it ain't cheap.

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA
ARRIS SB6121
Netgear WNDR3800

msmisfit to desarollo

Member

to desarollo
said by desarollo:

Just look at the guide data of a Charter DVR, most of the space is dedicated to advertising.



I don't have any advertising on my Charter leased DVR. What model is this? I hope to avoid it, if that's an upgrade model.
bozzy
join:2009-08-25
Simpsonville, SC

bozzy

Member

said by msmisfit:

I don't have any advertising on my Charter leased DVR. What model is this? I hope to avoid it, if that's an upgrade model.

I've never seen a Charter cable box or DVR that didn't have ugly advertising all over it. I would love to know what you are using. But, even my TiVos have ads on them although not on the guide and they are much less intrusive. I'll take the TiVo user interface (in HD btw) interface over any Charter UI any day.

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA

msmisfit

Member

My box is a Motorola DCH 6416. I've had it a long time.
Zappa2000
join:2001-12-16
Kalamazoo, MI

Zappa2000

Member

said by msmisfit:

My box is a Motorola DCH 6416. I've had it a long time.

You don't see ads when you select the guide ?
a7thton
join:2014-01-23

1 edit

a7thton to mixdup

Member

to mixdup
Assuming 1 TV with DVR:

With Charter, the 12 month promo price is 79 bucks. 948 dollars/year.

With DirecTV, the 12 month promo price is 45 bucks. 540 dollars/year.

After promo pricing expires:

I don't know what the normal price for Charter is, but let's assume it jumps by 15 bucks, so around 95 a month.

The DirecTV package will jump by 35 bucks, to 80 bucks.

DirecTV is cheaper in every scenario.

HOWEVER, not bundling my internet access with Charter will likely result in me paying 10 bucks a month more (I'm guessing) for internet, but that still comes out to 95 vs 90...DirecTV still cheaper.

msmisfit
join:2004-09-13
Atlanta, GA
ARRIS SB6121
Netgear WNDR3800

msmisfit to Zappa2000

Member

to Zappa2000
I just checked the guide and there is a narrow bar at the bottom that does have an ad for tax services. Mea culpa ...

They have just updated my service to show that "add a channel update" when you access a wrong channel number, so maybe other things have been updated. I swear I have never noticed an ad at the bottom of my guide before. It's so unobtrusive, I'm not surprised I didn't notice it. When I read "advertising all over it" somewhere .... I got concerned.

Is there something else I've overlooked?

JimMcCoy
join:2011-08-20
Midlothian, VA

JimMcCoy to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
Out of curiousity, how many channels are we talking (on both DirectTV and Charter's side)?
a7thton
join:2014-01-23

a7thton

Member

DirecTV=150+
Charter=125+
a7thton

a7thton

Member

I forgot to add, Charter charges a 30 dollar install charge that DirecTV does not. Plus, the DirecTV DVRs are way better than what Charter is using.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
After my 12 month promo expired with DirecTV, I am getting internet + TV + phone for cheaper than I was getting charter internet + direcTV for TV, and this is with similar packages (I had Ultimate on DirecTV and I have every single channel on Charter except for stuff like NBA/NHL/MLB and spanish)

After my 24 month promo with DirecTV would've expired, I was going to be doing even better, and then when my Charter promo expired it was still cheaper than the 12-24 month promo DirecTV price.

I don't want to have to call in and constantly get put back on a 2 year contract, and I highly doubt that DirecTV would do that in perpetuity. Plus, I wanted a TiVo and to get rid of the Genie which was slow and maddening.

I have a better service for less money (even when considering my TiVo purchase and fees).
a7thton
join:2014-01-23

a7thton

Member

How is it that the prices you're paying are so different from the advertised prices? How much were you paying for DirecTV and how much are you now paying for Charter?
Zappa2000
join:2001-12-16
Kalamazoo, MI

Zappa2000 to msmisfit

Member

to msmisfit
said by msmisfit:

I just checked the guide and there is a narrow bar at the bottom that does have an ad for tax services. Mea culpa ...

They have just updated my service to show that "add a channel update" when you access a wrong channel number, so maybe other things have been updated. I swear I have never noticed an ad at the bottom of my guide before. It's so unobtrusive, I'm not surprised I didn't notice it. When I read "advertising all over it" somewhere .... I got concerned.

Is there something else I've overlooked?

Well, the big blue "UPGRADE NOW!" ad is incredibly hard to miss (when you just happen to select a channel that isn't part of your package)... but, yeah, the one on the guide was the only one I saw before.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
To be fair, I think the advertising is only on the iGuide boxes. I had a Cisco DVR running Passport for a few weeks and saw no ads. And, also to be fair, TiVo does have ads on the main screen and sometimes when you pause.
mdavej
join:2004-06-09
united state

1 edit

mdavej to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
said by a7thton:

DirecTV=150+
Charter=125+

Chart at avsforum says:
DirecTV 139
Charter 178

I'm getting at least 170 on Charter.

EDIT: I'm only talking HD, not all channels.

mixdup
join:2003-06-28
Alpharetta, GA

mixdup

Member

It depends on your area. All digital areas have a much better HD lineup than areas that are not all digital, and some non-all-digital areas are still better than others.

So far, though, it looks like after the all digital conversion there will be some uniformity to channel availability (aside from things like locals and regional channels of course)

oneoone
join:2010-01-20
North Hollywood, CA

oneoone to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
Also with Directv if you want more then a genie and clients, say 2 genies or 4 individual DVR's you will be paying 199.99 a pop. People love to leave that out. For Charter TV Gold, 30 meg Internet, Home Phone, 4 DVR's and 2 cable cards I pay 161.00 a month. For Directv Premiere, HD Extra, Sports Pack, 1 Genie and 3 Clients I would be paying 138.00 and thats with bonus credits.
Chubbysumo
join:2009-12-01
Duluth, MN
Ubee E31U2V1
(Software) pfSense
Netgear WNR3500L

Chubbysumo to mixdup

Member

to mixdup
you could always get something like an HDhomerun prime or a Ceton InfinTV tuner for your PC. The guide data is free. You are paying TiVO for the cost of them getting the rights to record copyrighted material and letting you share it with yourself.
a7thton
join:2014-01-23

a7thton to mdavej

Member

to mdavej
I'm talking about Charter's "TV Select" and DirecTV's "Choice" packages.

Both packages have all the HD channels that I want.
a7thton

a7thton to oneoone

Member

to oneoone
I only need one TV in my home. Perhaps two at some point in the near future.
mdavej
join:2004-06-09
united state

mdavej to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
Apples and oranges. When I pull up the Select list, I see 229 channels in my market, 50% more than Choice. Charter doesn't have a package as limited as Choice. Both lists count music, shopping, religious and Spanish channels. So you're actually getting a lot less than you think.

Even with just your 1 TV, you're still going to get hit with that $25 advanced receiver fee when your promo runs out. That fee is the main reason I dropped DirecTV. Just 2 months of that paid for my $50 PC from ebay that runs my cable card system.

If you want satellite and want to save even more money, you should also look at Dish. They have even more limited (cheap) packages plus HD free for life (no longer offered starting Feb 1). My Dish subscription was consistently at least $10 less than DirecTV for the same package and equipment, after promos expired.
a7thton
join:2014-01-23

a7thton

Member

The DVR fee is 15 dollars for the first 24 months...a 10 dollar discount.

I'm not really concerned with how MANY channels I'm getting. I just need the major networks in HD.

Also, DirecTV doesn't itemize out a HD fee, so I guess they got rid of that.
a7thton

a7thton

Member

I just wanted to point out that I didn't come here to bash Charter or uptalk DirecTV.

If the price were equal, I'd probably go with Charter (even though their DVR isn't as nice) simply because it's easier to get cable hooked up (no dish to install, etc.).

I'm just shocked that Charter's prices are what they are, considering the competition.
mdavej
join:2004-06-09
united state

mdavej to a7thton

Member

to a7thton
DVR fee used to be a lot less. They just added the $10 HD fee into the "advanced receiver fee". I had DirecTV for many years and really liked it. But the fees eventually went too high for me to tolerate anymore. I'm sure the same will eventually happen with Charter and I'll have to cut the cord altogether. I had free HD with DirecTV for 24 months which I managed to stretch to about 4 years. I also had the HD Extra Pack 3 months free trial every 3 months for 7 years. Not sure if that little loophole still exists or not.

I understand where you're coming from. The fact that Charter offers no new customer deals when all the competition does is pretty baffling. Obviously it costs them potential customers, including you.

I also agree that Charter's DVR really sucks. After seeing a Genie or Hopper, I don't see how anyone could ever settle for a Charter DVR. I only lasted a week before I switched to WMC.