Will Cable, Dish Providers Continue To Charge For DTV?

One of the things that I've been waiting on will finally become reality early next year, full digital broadcasting. With all TV broadcasters forced to transmit only in digital by the February 17, 2009 date, an interesting thought came to me. Once this becomes the standard, will cable companies like Comcast stop charging people for digital service?

Digital service will be the standard and will no longer be a premium that should be charged for. All the HD channel premium monthly service that Comcast, Dish Network, or DirectTV charge for will cease right? Not likely.

Now I'm not sure how they will justify charging you for service that will be the standard across the board. And perhaps they will stop, but get the feeling that they won't without a phone call. Considering that this will cut into the revenue of the cable and satellite providers, I'm sure that they have a contingency plan on how to make that money back. It certainly might be worth your time to find out what they have in store for you, before the February 17, 2009 deadline.

Or you can sit back and see what happens. I'm sure the cable company has your best interests in mind.

Does cable, satellite, or fiber provide more HD?

Particularly of late, cable television providers have been bullying each other on the air and proudly proclaiming superiority in the high-definition department. One would immediately assume that there's some black and white somewhere in this equation, but honestly, things are pretty gray. Hard though it may be to believe, there actually isn't a clear cut answer to this week's Ask Engadget HD question, which comes to us from the bewildered mind of Brian:"I want an unbiased opinion, and more importantly, the facts. DISH Network is looking more and more like the leading HD provider with its weekly HD additions this past fall. However, now my local cable provider, Comcast, is running ads stating that it has More, More, More HD. My question is simple: who has more HD channels including and not including HD VOD?"The inability to find a clear cut answer hasn't stopped us from forging ahead in the past, and it won't be slowing us down today, either. Ready to plunge deep into the increasingly murky waters of HD offerings?

Read the full story here!

Great to be a customer, Dish Network!

So as some of you may know, when I moved into my house I made the switch from Comcast to Dish Network. Pricing is much better, high def seems to be in higher quality, and the 2 room DVR has been a great experience. I've been very happy so far. In the worst storms we've maintained our regular TV, but have lost High Def. To some this may be an issue...but when I was in the apartment complex and had Comcast, we were accidentally unplugged 9 times. 9. And each time it was at least a day turn around (but whoopee, they gave a 1 day credit!) until I had my cable.

Well, on Black Friday I picked up a 500 GB Western Digital USB hard drive because a) it was $100 and b) Dish now allows you to hook up a USB drive to your DVR for more storage. Why not, right? So when I hook it up and try to transfer TV shows to it ( a few Christmas specials my wife wants to keep), I get told I have to activate it for that functionality.

I call in thinking it's a non-issue...but I should have known better. To be able to do this Dish Network requires....$40. Granted it's not a ton of money, but a one time fee of $40 bucks to allow me to hook up a USB hard drive (that I bought) to a DVR (that I pay for) is ridiculous.

That's just pathetic. That's something Comcast would do.