Why doesn't your cable provider offer more features?
Across the country people have cable envy, as someone in Hawaii who might even have the same provider can get an extra HDTV channel or VOD selection they can't. Prices vary, rollouts are staggered, capacity is limited etc. etc. etc. This WSJ article does a bit more delving into the wheres and whys of cable feature offering and prices.Among our HD Beat readers, are you generally satisfied with the selection (everybody needs more high definition channels) and features your cable company offers, or are you waiting to/have already switched to satellite or IPTV offering for more capabilities?
Filed under: Cable
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dn @ May 6th 2006 6:13PM
yep got sick of old technology so i started my own! MPEG4 over fiber with lots of VOD and network based pvr
Bob Colby @ May 6th 2006 6:23PM
I'm not happy, but I'm not so unhappy as to uproot everything in my household (I'm not the only viewer, so I couldn't do that unilaterally anyway). And I have to admit, I watch too much TV as it is.
But if you want to see a really prime example of envy at work, go to this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=424081
and check out the posts from #996 (page 34) on. The poster wants everyone else to be denied if his local Comcast operation doesn't carry a particular channel. Just amazing.
John @ May 6th 2006 6:24PM
I'm happy with Cox Communications for the most part however I would like more HD channels, and faster internet speeds. I have the fastest package available but I want those faster connections that I always read about some other lucky person having. Such as Fiber to the home type of services. Oh yeh and more HD channels as well!
Griffon @ May 6th 2006 8:40PM
Feh, in sunnyvale CA all the choices are bad for one reason or another. That is really the root of the problem is there is no true competition so there is no reason for all of them not to suck ass one way or another.
Chris M. @ May 6th 2006 10:46PM
I switched to cable, Time Warner, for HD when I got my HDTV. I had been a DirecTV customer for a number of years and was very happy...except when they insisted I pay $400 for the HD equipment.
I get a discount on my RoadRunner and Digital Cable through work, so the price is pretty decent. I have 5MB internet (w/ 512k up) and the Digital Cable package with HD. The Scientific Atlantic 8300 HD-DVR is not too bad, though the interface does not hold a candle to my old DirecTV TIVO.
I guess I am happy with my service from Time Warner. I too wish there was more HD content. I find myself preferring to watch mediocre HD programming over SD programs I like. I do have to say, I love HDNET Movies. That is a great channel. Seeing Hackers, Art of War, etc in HD is tremendous. Universal HD runs Battlestar Galactica on Sunday nights. LOVE IT! Looks better there than on SciFi.
frank d @ May 6th 2006 11:17PM
Not happy. Adelphia cable overcharges per month as is for cable + digital cable. They will send ads in the mail, but they never have a price. Local office in our case when we got cable, did not know about the special offer on TV. Different areas get different prices. We would have to get the most expensive package for HD & pay extra to rent a DVR. As it stands we're not watching HD, unfortunately enough.
We would get & watch HD if only we could make a selection of let's say 40 channels we actually watch with some regularity. The hundreds of others we do not watch. A few times a year we'll use a digital music station for background music.
BDevorzon @ May 7th 2006 4:28PM
I live in Hawaii and get cable through Time-Warner, and we have to be one of the worst in the nation for HD programming. For network programming, we only get ABC.
Terrence @ May 8th 2006 10:02AM
I know this is off the subject but I have Dish Network and I don't understand why I can't get UPN, WB, and other local channels that broadcast in HD. Starz has an HD broadcast that we don't get either. Anybody know why?
Bob @ May 8th 2006 3:43PM
I live in Montgomery County, MD and the Comcast cable offerings here suck beyond belief considering it is part of one of the largest demographics in the country (DC/NOVA/MD). It is over priced, the techs on the phone don't even know what channels the HD stations are on, They run commercials advertising TNT-HD on channel 204 when it is on channel 249, they can't even get internet access to work at my house: even after sending out technicians 3 separate times, I had to replace my HD-DVR 4 times in the past 6 months because it stops working, one I received was a refurb and hadn't even been fixed: it still contained shows recorded by the last person who returned it for not working correctly, they sent out a batch of "bad remotes" that were not on the correct frequency so they did not work with their own cable boxes, there is less HD content available than what my brother gets and he lives in BFE on a small cable company, they give us Universal HD during the olympics and then take it away. Why? If it's available then give it to us (I want it for Battlestar Galactica in HD), their website sucks, their tech support speaks broken english at best, The HD bandwidth is highly limited: to the point where DVDs look better, the signal goes out all the time, the on-screen menu has recently been "upgraded" to include advertisements at the bottom of the screen, thus taking away an extra channel-info display line. They already charge too much, now they get extra revenue from this and make the user interface even worse?!? Should I go on, because I can?!?!?!?!?!? Come on Verizon, get on the move and offer your service in my area.