I've been getting free QAM stations for about a year but the small cable company I get the stations from was just bought out by Comcast. So, I'm revisiting who to subscribe with. I thought about AT&T U-Verse but the user reviews have been horrible. Crazy compression. Locally, Comcast has decided to run 3 stations where they used to run 1, so they are now compressing much more than before... also lots of complaints. And they're crazy expensive. That leaves DirecTV an Dish. I get the impression that DirecTV with MPEG4 has better PQ, but it's also a heck of a lot more expensive since you have to purchase the receivers despite the fact that they are still leased (I have 3 HDTVs). I'm thinking about getting the Dish HT only package (42 HD stations for $29.95... not a promo price) and supplementing it with the locals, HBO, Cinemax and Showtime (the last three would be HD and SD). The cost would be about $72/mo plus tax and there are very few channels I watch that aren't a part of that package (and none that I'd miss). It seems like the best deal, and I've read good things about their new ViP 722 HD-DVR. The other thing that I like about Dish is you don't have to pay up front for leased equipment. The only catch seems to be a 2 year contract. BTW, I'm in a major metropolitan area so getting OTA signals with the ViP 722 won't be a problem (so compression of the locals shouldn't be an issue). Am I missing anything? Any suggestions?
