When we moved from The Big House to our new condo, we discovered a disappointing fact: due to trees, various obstructions, and other issues, we’re not able to keep our beloved DirecTV. The loss of satellite access forced us to dial up Time Warner Cable and order the full-boat package … including their high definition channels.
Like you, I’ve seen the cable industry ads trumpeting the advantages of cable over satellite. The cable companies decry the fact that “satellite signal loss is possible whenever it rains.” (In more than eight years as a DirecTV customer, I’ve experienced brief weather-related service interruptions no more than five times.) Further, they warn that not all satellite customers get their local channels. (We do … but if we didn’t, frankly, we wouldn’t miss much.)
So, given all the cable hooplah, I expected cable to at least rival DirecTV.
I was wrong.
Despite the fact we’re using the most advanced cable boxes Time Warner Jackson has to offer, we’re seeing sub-standard performance:
– The lower tier of channels — including all local channels — are fuzzy and grainy. Granted, we’re watching them over a brand-new high-definition Samsung television, and our set has sufficient resolution to reveal deficiencies in the signal that lower definition sets would mask. That said, we’ve been catching up on shows we recorded on Tivo before the Big Move — low-definition shows from local stations, recorded off satellite — and the difference is dramatic. On DirecTV’s worst day, our local channels looked ten times better than they do on Time Warner Cable.
– The Time Warner Cable digital video recorder (DVR) sucks. Especially compared to the straightforward simplicity of our Tivos, the Time Warner DVR strikes me as a cobbled-together, poorly engineered solution.
The remote has waaay too many buttons; the on-screen interface is madness. Want to tell the DVR to subscribe to a favorite program? With Tivo, we’d type in the name of the show and pick it from a list — a process that takes no more than ten to fifteen seconds. With the Time Warner DVR, we can only type in the first letter of the show — and after that, we have to scroll down the entire list of available shows that begin with that letter. (Telling the DVR to record STAR TREK, for example, can take a full five minutes, because I have to scroll past every entry between S and STAR.)
Worse: during both live and recorded shows, the video and audio often aren’t properly synched — especially when we’re recording one show and watching another. The result? People’s lips move … and seconds later, the matching sounds occur — it’s a bit like watching a badly dubbed foreign movie.
I’ve read that Tivo has struck a deal with Comcast to supply the software that runs the Comcast Cable DVRs … all we can hope is that a similar contract with Time Warner is in the near future.
– The bill is a big shocker. Guess what? Every time your friendly Time Warner rep comes out to your house to adjust anything, you get socked with a minimum $16.95 charge. Want to upgrade to a better box? $16.95. Want the old boxes picked up? $16.95.
That’s in addition to numerous other nickel-and-dime charges: charges for connection, charges for account activation, charges for each box, charges for each remote control for each box (!) … the list goes on and on. None of these charges were included in the per-month estimates I was quoted prior to installation; Time Warner Cable likes to surprise you with them when the first bill comes.
At of now, I’m looking for ways to cut down trees or convince neighbors to let us mount a DirecTV dish on their rooftops. In the end, not even digital cable beats the quality and value of satellite-based t.v.
It sounds like you are working for direct TV.
Hi, Sean. Thanks for stopping by.
I understand your confusion. Increasingly, many blogs are for-profit webistes, run by shills who are happy to endorse a product in return for a penny or two.
Not MadeByMark. To be clear: I do not work for DirecTV. I am not paid by anyone to endorse any product mentioned on this site. The opinions expressed on this site are mine alone, and they are not for sale, at any price, to anyone.
I’m also bold enough, Sean, to own my own opinions: to associate them with my real name and email address … something I note you, sir, were not passionate enough to do.
I agree – cable is awful and Directv is far superior. And no, I don’t work for Directv. We had cable for years in Beloit, Wisconsin, and every time we turned around, we got hit up hard for a bill. You can’t ever (and I mean EVER) get through to a live person for customer service when you call. You have to go to the local office where you wait in very long lines to deal with customer service reps who are not qualified and are unable to resolve any problems. I was so glad we switched to Directv when we moved out to the country. In my naivete, I called cable (before I called Directv) to transfer services and they said they didn’t have cable “out there.” Too expensive to lay it, they said. Guess what – 2 months later, they had laid it in the whole subdivision. Too bad – every single new homeowner out here already went with Directv and is very happy. Another Charter Cable screw up.
Honestly? I’ve never seen any problem with TWC, based on the above accusations. They’ve actually helped me out alot, not only with bill payment, but quality and service. I’ve never seen charges for service calls, unless it involves actual manual labor, such as new cables.