Thoughts And Questions On Switching From DirecTV to Cable
I’m in the process of moving house and one of the decisions I have to make is whether to stick with satellite, or move to cable.
Now, I’ve been incredibly happy with DirecTV, but I’ve had enough of using an antenna to get the locals in HD. At the moment I can’t get NBC or PBS in HD due to issues with reception and I think that it’s going to get worse in the new house.
Also, I’d like to move everything to Windows Media Center using CableCard - I think that’s a way’s off with DirecTV and it’s available right now with cable. Excluding HD of course. Does anyone know what the timeline with Vista and HD CableCard access is right now?
Another question: the new house is wired for cat5 and coax. With cable, can I just distribute the incoming signal around the house and split where it’s needed when a set-top or WMC box wants multiple physical inputs for multiple tuners?
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If it is digital cable (which I imagine it is) then you can't just split it like traditional cable, you'll have to arrange something with the cable company as they have an IP for each cable box in the house. However, our cable company offers a deal if you purchase almost anything above the basic digital cable packages that allows you to have several digital boxes in the house, but will also send the "traditional" cable signal over the line so that TVs (or PC cards) without a digital receiver can still pick up channels.
I'm not sure I would switch. Our Comcast bill is > 200 a month. We have the platinum package (which is still not all the channels) but includes most. We have 2 digital cable boxes for 2 big TVs, one is DVR as well. We 2 regular cable boxes, one his hooked to an MCE and is mostly for recording SD channels like BBC America. We also have high speed internet.
I believe HP are shipping a basic cablecard HD machine for 1,500 right now, thats the cheapest I have heard of.
You might also want to look at HDHomeRun depending on which channels you need.
I tried to get OTA HD (we live opposite RedWest) but we need a big ass antenna and a booster to get this to work, which I don't feel like doing.
Is FIOS coming to Kirkland any time soon?
If it's regular analog cable (which, depending on your cable company, might also include some unencrypted HD channels) you can just use regular power splitters to send the incoming signal wherever you want it. If you do too many splits you might need a distribution amp to ensure you have good enough s/n at the end points.
If you are doing digital cable then you'll unfortunately need set-top boxes from your cable company.