direct tv advice

[regdent]

i live in california and my choices are comcast, dish and direct tv. i am with comcast and at the moment i am paying around 100 bucks a month for HD and dvr service, all the regular channels no premium like hbo etc.

I am considering changing but when looking at packages i would probably spend 65 before taxes etc and would have to spend like 200 to lease equipment.

Whats the best way to get started with direct tv? buy the boxes myself? lease?

Should i stay with comcast? any advice is welcomed.

[regdent]

any help?

[dragons lair]

Stay with Comcast for now since they do full HD, 1920x1080i with a bit rate around 19, DirecTV does what is called HD Lite-1280x1080i, bit rate anywhere from 8-13.

D* is about to launch a crap load of HD channels, about 40-50 by the end of October, no one knows if they are going to do full HD or HD-Lite yet so wait for now, also DirecTV is going to have a new HD-DVR come out the end of October with 100 hrs of HD recording time.

As far as leasing or buying, always go with leasing, the odds are you will need a new stb after about 2 years or so, leasing is cheaper then buying one every 2 years.

[Spankey]

Stay with Comcast for now since they do full HD, 1920x1080i with a bit rate around 19, DirecTV does what is called HD Lite-1280x1080i, bit rate anywhere from 8-13.

All of the MPEG4 channels on directv are full 1920x1080i. They look spectacular and as good as OTA. There are only a handful of channels now that are still HD-Lite and even they look pretty good.

I would definitely go with D* if you don't think you will have access to FiOS in a couple of years.

Here is the list from AVS of the new channels Directv is now testing in engineering mode:

9800 CSTV
9801 FSN Midwest
9802 FSN Bay Area
9803 FSN Houston
9804 Disney Channel
9805 Animal Planet
9806 FSN North
9807 FSN New England
9808 FX
9809 Toon Disney
9810 ESPN News
9811 FSN Northwest
9812 FSN New York
9813 CD USA "The 101"
9814 Cinemax HD
9815 National Georaphic
9816 FSN Pittsburgh
9817 MSG
9818 MTV
9819 HBO West
9820 NBA TV
9821 FSN Rocky Mountain
9822 SportsNet New York
9823 A&E
9824 Starz Edge
9825 NFL Network
9826 FSN South
9827 YES
9828 Starz West
9829 Starz East
9830 NHL
9831 FSN Southwest
9832 Science Channel
9833 History Channel
9834 Showtime West
9835 Outdoor
9836 FSN West
9827 SportsSouth
9838 Discovery
9839 Movie Channel
9840 Tennis Channel
9841 FSN Prime Ticket
9842 Speed
9843 Fuel
9844 HGTV
9845 Spike
9846 Sun Sports
9847 Starz Comedy
9848 Big Ten
9849 CNN
9850 Comcast SportsNet Chicago
9851 FSN Ohio
9852 Sho Too
9853 The Weather Channel
9854 TBS
9855 Cartoon Network
9856 FSN Cincinnati
9857 Starz Kids & Family
9858 Bravo
9859 Comedy Central
9860 Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic
9861 FSN Florida
9862 TLC
9863 CSN West
9864 Versus
9865 MASN/ SportsTime Ohio
9866 Altitude
9867 Cinemax West
9863 Sci-Fi
9869 MHD
9870 FSN Arizona
9871 Chiller/ SAC MNT
9872 ABC Family
9873 USA Network
9874 Nickelodeon East
9875 FSN Detroit
9876 NESN
9877 CNBC
9878 The Food Network
9879 VH1

Also your local channels will be in MPEG4 at full resolution. By this time next year, MPEG2 and HD-Lite should be a thing of the past on D*

THIS SITE seems to have the current Directv offerings. I'd go through Directv and have them set you up with the equipment you need to there is no, or minimal cash out of your own pocket.