[Vision2020] KAYU, Time Warner, DirecTV, & DISH

Saundra Lund sslund at roadrunner.com
Wed Dec 5 23:57:30 PST 2007


Visionaries:

After losing KAYU about a year ago, I think I've been more than patient, as
Pat Kraut counseled waaayyyy back then.

Time Warner has yet to be successful in their negotiations with KAYU.  For
their most recent platitudes (11/21/2007), check out:
http://www.timewarnercable.com/Northwest/MoscowKAYU.html
I'm not interested in placing blame because there are always at least two
sides to every story.

Coupled with their ongoing unacceptable intermittent delays and failures
with email sending and receiving, I'm about ready to jump ship.
Particularly since I figured out that if I jump to DirecTV or DISH, I'll get
all the programming I pay for on *every* TV without exorbitant additional
monthly fees for each TV on top of already pretty steep monthly costs with
Time Warner.

I've reread the discussions here on the Viz regarding the DirecTV & DISH
options we've got locally from back when KAYU and Time Warner reached their
impasse, and I've contacted a person or two I know who use one option or the
other.  Since more people have made the jump since that original discussion
about a year ago, I'm wanting to revisit it, if anyone cares to share their
thoughts & experiences.

I've looked at the channel line-ups, so I'm fairly familiar with the
differences between the two.  Music "channels" matter not a rip to me, and,
unfortunately for me (but luckily for my dh), neither DISH nor DirecTV
offers a "sports free" package option <sigh>.  Maybe I can use parental
controls to block the sports channels <g>.

I am, however, very interested in local performance differences, if any,
between the two.  One of my concerns about making the jump is that we've
rarely experienced cable outages with Adelphia or Time Warner regardless of
weather.  How often do those of you using DISH or DirecTV experience outages
and how long do they typically last?  How was performance during our recent
heavy snows?

I'm also unclear about locating the dish itself.  We live in a single family
home in an older residential neighborhood with lots of trees -- are the
trees likely to be a problem?

I know this is a long shot, but if anyone uses ReplayTV (the
better-than-TiVo-option) units, I'm particularly interested in any comments
about your experiences.

I'm especially curious about the outputs on the standard receivers (we have
no need for DVR capabilities because we are die-hard RTV folks), something
I'm not having a lot of luck finding out.  For instance, for one of our TVs,
the existing cable outlet services the TV and two separate RTV units located
there -- is that kind of set-up possible with the DIRECTV or DISH receivers?
Can the signal be "split" like cable can be split?

I'll also be appreciative for any other comments folks care to share about
their experiences with non-Time Warner TV service.  I was hoping against
hope that perhaps FiOS has made it here since the last time I checked, but
it hasn't . . . maybe in a decade or so <sigh>


TIA,
Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
nothing.
~ Edmund Burke

***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2007 through life plus
70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce outside
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