Satellite vs cable/fiber optic or other?

[teneightyp]

Which technologies bring the highest possible quality/bandwidth in 2011 and the future?

 

[goaliebob99]

Fiber hands down..... Nothing can beat it.. Nothing comes close.

 

[Daymon74]

Fiber Cable Fiber Optic & Satellite TV: What's The Difference & How to Choose

 

[teneightyp]

What about satellite vs cable?

 

[Daymon74]

My Dish is great. Better than TWC.

 

[Tampa8]

You are asking about only one aspect. That's fine if that's all you want to know. In the 14 or so years I have had Dish, virtually never have I lost the signal for any sustained amount of time. Cable/Fios seems to go out relatively often - power outage (and I mean other than a power outage affecting my house), car into pole, pole fire, wires taken down by truck, etc.. etc.... It certainly depends on the area you live in, but in CT it Cable goes out too often I feel.

 

[mdavej]

Fiber Cable Fiber Optic & Satellite TV: What's The Difference & How to Choose

The author makes some good points, but his conclusion is way off base. He seems to think U-verse is fiber optic. U-verse isn't fiber to your house and has very limited bandwidth. It will generally have worse PQ than sat and many cable systems.

To answer the OP's question, cable PQ can vary from horrible to excellent depending on where you live (it's incredibly bad where I live). At least satellite has the same HD PQ no matter where you live. In any case, it's foolish to choose a provider on bandwidth alone. OTA has great bandwidth and is absolutely free, but don't count on more than 20 channels or so. DirecTV has more bandwidth than Dish, but their SD PQ and selection of HD nationals stink. Cable could have a lot of bandwidth if they use switched digital video, but the systems that don't use it have awful PQ.

 

[SaltiDawg]

...
In any case, it's foolish to choose a provider on bandwidth alone. OTA has great bandwidth and is absolutely free, but don't count on more than 20 channels or so. DirecTV has more bandwidth than Dish, but their SD PQ and selection of HD nationals stink. Cable could have a lot of bandwidth if they use switched digital video, but the systems that don't use it have awful PQ.

mdavej,

Any comment about Fios? It would seem that it has virtually infinite bandwidth and its programming seems comparable to the Sats... in my neighborhood, the reliability is essentially 100%. (I am a contented Dish customer that is not jumping to Fios only because of the Vip DVRs - I love 'em.

 

[yosemitesam]

Has it changed /

The author makes some good points, but his conclusion is way off base. He seems to think U-verse is fiber optic. U-verse isn't fiber to your house and has very limited bandwidth. It will generally have worse PQ than sat and many cable systems.

To answer the OP's question, cable PQ can vary from horrible to excellent depending on where you live (it's incredibly bad where I live). At least satellite has the same HD PQ no matter where you live. In any case, it's foolish to choose a provider on bandwidth alone. OTA has great bandwidth and is absolutely free, but don't count on more than 20 channels or so. DirecTV has more bandwidth than Dish, but their SD PQ and selection of HD nationals stink. Cable could have a lot of bandwidth if they use switched digital video, but the systems that don't use it have awful PQ.

For many years Dish has had more band width available ! how they use it is their choice. But on the west coast Direct has to use 5 satellites to present their line up Vs. 3 locations for dish, dish thought ahead to make sure they had the transponder availability. Can you see the problem on doing anything big with direct ? Get it past Direct, then Hughes, Then G.M. Geez Hey I am not in love with either one !

 

[navychop]

Yep, the author of that article ALMOST knew what he was talking about.

Regarding Fios- do a little research. Although the fiber intrinsically has very large bandwidth, I recall reading something, probably on this site, about them already running out of space. Not because the fiber is full, but because they were using a system (from coax cable?) that simply did not recognize or use the fiber to it's fullest capacity. And to make it do so, they would need set top boxes that were truly unique to them. Expensive. My memory of this is a bit fuzzy, but it's a start if you want to look into it.

That being said, if Fios ever brings an HD DVR to my area that is similar to my ViP722s, I'd seriously consider switching to them, if it also meant I'd save significant bucks each month.


ON EDIT: Here's a link.

 

[mdavej]

mdavej,

Any comment about Fios? It would seem that it has virtually infinite bandwidth and its programming seems comparable to the Sats... in my neighborhood, the reliability is essentially 100%. (I am a contented Dish customer that is not jumping to Fios only because of the Vip DVRs - I love 'em.

I thought the OP took fiber off the table a few posts into the thread. No doubt that's the best technology today. But it's not an option for most.

 

[Daymon74]

Actually U-verse is fiber (to the node), where FiOS is fiber to the home. Unless they've changed it U-verse is not hybrid fiber like cable either. It seems I remember reading somewhere that the original plan for U-verse was fiber to the home, but can't remember why they decided on fttn.

 

[Bobby]

Actually U-verse is fiber (to the node), where FiOS is fiber to the home. Unless they've changed it U-verse is not hybrid fiber like cable either. It seems I remember reading somewhere that the original plan for U-verse was fiber to the home, but can't remember why they decided on fttn.

$$$$$..... To bring fiber all the way to the home meant to have to reinvent the wheel. They already had copper all the way to the home. By going just to the node they had the opportunity to serve hundreds of homes from one location instead of bring the fibers all the way.

 

[Mike500]

From what I've experienced over the last 50 years, the quality of the service depends on the qulity of maintainance of the delivery systtem.

I grew up in the early 1960's and at that time all television was FREE with rabbit ears or an OTA antenna. Paying for something that I can get for free always seemed to me like a waste of money

For a short period in the 1970's cable was about $7 a month. That was OK, if there were channels that can't be had with an antenna.

After they lured customers in with inexensive prices, and when they in effect, became the only game in town, with their exclusive municipal contracts and special "deed restrictions" and exclusive contracts with apartment buildings, they became greedy. The annual price increase becam a ritual to gouge the hapless subscribers.

Along came c-band, which was a very very expensive option with high entry costs.

DBS became the very first low cost option to supplement OTA. Their provider model first had so littly band width that the so called "local channel" option delivered via satellite was only a glint in Charlie's eyes.

The nice thing with DBS is that you can now only buy channels that you can't receive through OTA and not pay for what you can get free with OTA. On that account, prefer the DBS model. And, that model continues to this day.

With other services like cable, Uverse and FIOS, you continue to pay for what you can get fro FREE.

Each provider has issues in picture quality and service outages from time to time. Contrary to the cable TV ads, my Dish Network service has always been ultra reliable. I've had it for 12 years. Just a week ago, I got upgraded with HD for Life, a HD receiver and a NEW EA dish, all for free.

HD appears a lot better, when compared to SD, as OTA HD is better than analog. After you get used to it, it no longer WOWs as it did when you first got it.

I'm getting HD locals for free with HD for life. I don't use it. HD OTA is much better and has more channels. No cable company, satellite or fiber company will likely offer tem all.
While there are new services and new devices available, I am completely satisfied with what I have.

 

[SaltiDawg]

...
That being said, if Fios ever brings an HD DVR to my area that is similar to my ViP722s, I'd seriously consider switching to them, if it also meant I'd save significant bucks each month.

ON EDIT: Here's a link.

Thanks for the link. The article is three years old and if I understand it correctly, it was suggesting there might be a bottleneck in the Fios distribution that would limit the national level distribution of the number of channels, not limit bandwidth to individual channels. At that time, again as I understand it, Verizon said they were aware of any limitations and hardware upgrades would take care of any such restrictions.

My reaction to that the above is there does not seem to be any channels of interest to me that are not available on Verizon Fios, so if there is or was a limiting restriction on the number of channels it isn't presenting a problem.

I agree with you that if Fios came out with decent DVRs that rivaled the Dish Vips I'd also consider jumping ship. (BTW, jumping ship is a huge step for a submariner. )

I already have Fios internet and I use Vonage for my telephone. The switch to Fios for TV would not be a big deal.

 

[SaltiDawg]

$$$$$..... To bring fiber all the way to the home meant to have to reinvent the wheel. They already had copper all the way to the home. By going just to the node they had the opportunity to serve hundreds of homes from one location instead of bring the fibers all the way.

And yet that is exactly what Verizon has done. They ran fiber optic cable to my home which already had Verizon copper wire for phone service. When I switched to Fios, Verizon abandoned the copper to my house. (However, they still must maintain the neighborhood copper phone distribution system until everyone in the area switches over to Fios.

 

[KAB]

And yet that is exactly what Verizon has done.

And has stopped doing. No more roll-outs in the near future, if ever. Lost too much money.

 

[navychop]

.......BTW, jumping ship is a huge step for a submariner. .......

Yep. I've been on targets where one or two people "disappeared." But strangely, on the boat, we always had the exact same number of people on board when we pulled in to port, that we had when we left port.

 

[SaltiDawg]

And has stopped doing. No more roll-outs in the near future, if ever. Lost too much money.

I didn't realize that... well, Fios is available in my area and at a reasonable price for internet and TV. With the solid internet connection, vonage is a very cost-effective high quality telephone option.

As I said, if they come out with a decent DVR I'd give Fios a serious look.

 

[navychop]

And has stopped doing. No more roll-outs in the near future, if ever. Lost too much money.

I'm wondering how they're going to handle the local governments they signed deals with. Verizon is now not going to cover the percent of market that they promised. At least here in Fairfax County, they signed a deal to cover a certain percentage of the county, with specified goals and timetables. I wonder what the penalty clause is, and if it will be enforced.

Hopefully, they aren't considering dropping the Fios program, but are only delaying it.