DISH Network/DirecTV Merger?

Yep, the odds are better that one of those ill-adjusted sets will
inevitably catch some ones attention and purchase it.

I use to hate to go over a friends house to watch a football game as the
red on his set was so hot it was painful to watch. I wasn't the only one
that complained, but it didn't bother him in the least. One day I
finally convinced him to allow me to adjust the set and got it looking
pretty good. The next time I went over, it was back to being saturated
with red flares. What can you do?


Hook it up to a UPS, recalibrate, then disable the menu function? -Dave

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 09:44:13 -0400, "Mike T." wrote:


"Bill Jackson" wrote in message
...
Doubtful on the price increase.

If they're stupid, they would do it, but cable is the alternative and
people
would switch IN DROVES.

Not really. Looking at DirecTv, prices could up about 50% and still be
competitive with cable. -Dave


I currently have DirecTV. I just checked a list of prices from the
cable company (which now provides a similar assortment of channels
using digital), and it seems that it would cost a little less than
DirecTV for the same service. However that leaves out at least a
couple of things:

1. Cable prices have gone up since then, probably making cable more
now.

2. The unknown quality of the DVR provided by the cable company. The
on from DirecTV uses TiVo software.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

On Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:52:07 -0500, "Thomas T. Veldhouse"
wrote:

In alt.dbs.directv Mike T. wrote:
Not really. Looking at DirecTv, prices could up about 50% and still be
competitive with cable. -Dave


In my area, Comcast is about $15 more for the same programming and if you get
the DVR, it is about $20 more for the same programming.

Now, if you have high speed Internet from Comcast and give you a $15 discount
on the Internet service if you have cable, effectively reducing the difference
to about $5. That $5 is worth it to me to keep signal during storms when I
really want to see weather updates on my locals. Fortuantely for Dish
Network, the Comcast DVR (Motorola 3412) is a HUGE PIECE OF $HIT, and I was
not willing to use it for free little enough pay $9.99 / month for it. Word
is that they will upgrade the same DVR to use Tivo software. If it proves
stable, they will get me back at the end of my Dish Network contract.


will they have a HD DVR? When I was comparing cable and satellite just
now, that was one of the important points.

Oddly, you can blame my willingness to back to cable [if they get a Tivo DVR
as predicted] on QWest! They have not remained competitive with their
Internet offerings, which drove me off of 1.5M/1.0M DSL and onto 8.0M/768K
cable HSI with Powerboost (I see speeds burst at 24.0Mbps/s). If a company
like Verizon were to come in and offer Fios ... I would be all over it ... but
that is going to compete with DBS as well. Tough sell for DBS in the long
term.

I don't think I'd really want FIOS, but that may give the cable
company a reason to offer better internet.
--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.laughingsquid.com

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin

I have found on both my Panasonic and Sony HD sets that it is very
difficult
to get the black level set to a good level without making the entire
picture
extremely dark. That leads to adjusting the brightness and contract levels
which tends to ratchet up the color levels too.

And in any given household you've got a number of opinions as to the
settings.

(Although I remember as a kid when the neighbor down the street got the
first color TV on the block. We kids had a field day adjusting Bozo's
hair.)

Awww, you've noticed that just about every setting on a tv/monitor affects
other settings. Very observant. You've also noticed that everybody's
eyeballs are calibrated differently.

I've been in the CCTV business (in some fashion) for many years. I can
eyeball a monitor pretty damn close to perfect.

But I'll give a hint to help the average joe . . . there are good DVDs that
will walk you through contrast, brightness, tint, etc. They'll even help
you calibrate individual color levels (red, green, blue, gray, black) if
your set will allow you to do that. I've got my own tools for this, so I'm
not real familiar with these DVDs. But I have tried the one produced by Joe
Kane (link below), and it is pretty good. -Dave

http://www.shop.com/op/~Digital_Vide...oprod-13073489

In alt.dbs.directv Mark Lloyd wrote:
will they have a HD DVR? When I was comparing cable and satellite just
now, that was one of the important points.


Who? Both DirecTV and Dish Network have one. The DirecTV version does not
support MPEG4, but it is Tivo based. They are expected to deliver a MPEG4
version soon.

I don't think I'd really want FIOS, but that may give the cable
company a reason to offer better internet.

What is wrong with Fios that you wouldn't want it. If the price is right and
the features are there, how can you go wrong?

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

In alt.dbs.directv Bob wrote:

You don't know the situation in Chicago.

If a builder tries to bring in non-union labor, all the trades walk off the
job.


It seems there is a problem in Chicago with illegal immigrants in
construction. It is referenced several times in this article.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...laborer16.html

and note this --- remember the walk out a couple of months back:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/01/imm...day/index.html

"As protesters marched through the Windy City's business district, some waved
Mexican and American flags and carried signs that read, "We're not terrorists"
and "We build your homes." "

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Mark Lloyd wrote:
And some TVs have the "autof*ck" button on the remote, that's actually
labeled something like "picture reset" where one press can make a mess
of your carefully adjusted picture.

"autof*uck" button - LMAO, how true.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" wrote in message
...
In alt.dbs.directv Bob wrote:

You don't know the situation in Chicago.

If a builder tries to bring in non-union labor, all the trades walk off
the
job.


It seems there is a problem in Chicago with illegal immigrants in
construction. It is referenced several times in this article.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/...laborer16.html

That's a nice article but it has nothing to do with Chicago. Tthat was
reprinted in the Sun-Times from the Wall Street news service. Dateline
Agoura Hills, CA. Nothing in the article says anything about Chicago.


and note this --- remember the walk out a couple of months back:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/01/imm...day/index.html

"As protesters marched through the Windy City's business district, some
waved
Mexican and American flags and carried signs that read, "We're not
terrorists"
and "We build your homes." "

I don't know what that article says, can't access it.

However a study done by the U of I showed that 75% of the marchers in that
rally were US citizens and legally employeed around the city. They for the
most part were not illegal immigrants, as you are stating.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-immi18.html



--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

Thomas T. Veldhouse wrote:
I don't think I'd really want FIOS, but that may give the cable
company a reason to offer better internet.

What is wrong with Fios that you wouldn't want it. If the price is right and
the features are there, how can you go wrong?

The price for FIOS may start low, but that would be only to get as many
customers as possible in the beginning. Guarantee that the prices will
eventually go up and probably close to satellite and cable. After all,
they are getting the same programming from the same content providers.
The providers will not be giving FIOS a discount and not satellite and
cable for their programming. In the beginning, FIOS may want to lose
money to get customers, but eventually they will have to make money just
like satellite and cable.

"Bob" writes:

This last paragraph is patently false. You have a RIGHT to inspect the
work
at every step of the way. They will probably not allow you on sight while
they are doing work, or certain types of work [like setting trusses or
pouring
cement for the foundation], but you can be there during non-hazardous
times.
I think the issue is that you decided to pay to have them do this work
rather
than to followup and ask "when can I get in to the site to install coaxial
and
network cabling?". You don't ask them "Can I?", because they will answer,
"We
really don't support this but our team has an excellent crew that does
this
work [for you]." They then proceed to sub it out and take a cut ...
raising
the end cost to you.


It's an industry standard/practice.

Please cite your support for this statement.

Man, you're a real piece of work.

How the heck do you know what conversations I had with the builder of my
house? Stop pulling nonsense out of your butt and posting it.

I did not have the right, as you so emphatically state, to inspect the house
at every step of the way. I had 3 opportunities. One when the foundation was
poured, a second pre-drywall to ensure all electrical, plumbing etc was done
correctly and a third, a final walk through prior to closing. It's in the
contract, black and white. I was not allowed in the house other than those
times. Did I go in on my own? Of course I did, but if they wanted they could
have had me arrested for trespassing if they chose to.

Cite a legal principle under which anyone but the government
can forbid you from entering your own property and be arrested
for trespassing if you do.

Did they allow me to
go into the house with them at other times? Yes, they did. However, they
were not required to do so and they didn't have to let me in. They were
being nice, but they could have easily told me to stay out.

There was no option for who was installing the coax. Their guy was doing it.
Period. End of speculation.

And you were had.