Cox HD / Digital VS. AT&T U-Verse....need advice

[Conan71]

As for the mention about local channels on cox being fuzzy half the time in HD, you have to remember that a good majority of the programming available on local channels, mostly during the daytime, is not shot or broadcast in HD.  In these cases even when tuned to an HD channel you will still be receiving SD programming.

It's not a matter of fuzziness.  It's pixelation and freezes in the video and audio and no one has been able to tell me what the problem is. 

Your other points are appreciated and well understood.  It has more to do with the "landlord" mentality than anything else, I suspect.  People get settled in and comfortable where they are at and the landlord starts raising the rent every six months because they are counting on most people not wanting to go through the donkey-pain of packing and moving so they will just pay a higher rent instead.  I've been a loyal customer of Cox and it's successors for over 20 years, but 10% hikes each of the last two years is ridiculous.  Even without the discounts for the first year, Direct is a better value for me with the DVR equipment, HD recievers, and DVR service.

[DolfanBob]

So glad to hear all the DirecTV praises. As I have said before, Im in the Satellite TV business so let me know if you want to change.
TUAlum you are spot on with what you are doing. I too pay Cox Cable for internet only and have DirecTV for my Television. I also have a windstream landline and internet bundle at their rate of 49.00 a month. 57.00 with all the BS charges. After the ice storm of 07 I wont go without the working landline.
Here at the office if you would like to compare Dish HD against DirecTV HD we can show you that. In my opinion, DirecTV HD looks better and yes Dish now does have more HD channels including the pay movie channels. But because of the amount of compression they are doing, I feel they are giving up quality for quantity.
We also have a 55 inch plasma next to a 52 inch LCD to help with the difference too.

[sgrizzle]

I too pay Cox Cable for internet only and have DirecTV for my Television. I also have a windstream landline and internet bundle at their rate of 49.00 a month.

You have two internet connections?

[nathanm]

It's not a matter of fuzziness.  It's pixelation and freezes in the video and audio and no one has been able to tell me what the problem is. 

You have a wiring issue somewhere, either in your house or in the outside plant nearby. That's exactly the sort of issue I had when I first moved into this house. Turned out the wire that screws on to the back of one of my outlets was loose and letting RF in from outside. It caused serious problems on a few QAM carriers, manifesting itself exactly as you describe some of the time and total outage on those carriers other times.

If you only have the problem on DVR boxes, it's also possible the DVR's hard drive is slowly failing.

[DolfanBob]

You have two internet connections?

Yep. For the past five years I have been paying Windstream 52 dollars for just phone. When they started the bundle for 49.00 I contacted them and for five dollars more I now have both.
And with four gamers in the house. I need all the broadband they can get.

[Conan71]

You have a wiring issue somewhere, either in your house or in the outside plant nearby. That's exactly the sort of issue I had when I first moved into this house. Turned out the wire that screws on to the back of one of my outlets was loose and letting RF in from outside. It caused serious problems on a few QAM carriers, manifesting itself exactly as you describe some of the time and total outage on those carriers other times.

If you only have the problem on DVR boxes, it's also possible the DVR's hard drive is slowly failing.

Weirdly enough, it's only channels 705 through 709 which appear to have this problem. 

[TURobY]

Weirdly enough, it's only channels 705 through 709 which appear to have this problem. 

I had a similar issue. Turned out that the cable drop from the pole to my line was damaged during the ice storm. They switched the drop out and I haven't had any issues since.

[nathanm]

Weirdly enough, it's only channels 705 through 709 which appear to have this problem. 

Do you really have an issue with 707 (CW)? I ask because the others you mention are on channels 79 and 80, while 707 is on a different carrier down on channel 71.

KTPX (the ION affiliate in Okmulgee) is on channel 29, which is the same frequency as channel 79.

My ingress issue was worse, as I recall. It took out a whole bunch of stuff. The installer was easily able to see the issue with his meter, so if you care at all, you could probably get someone out there to fix it. Not much point if you're switching, though.

[Mike 01Hawk]

OP,

I said FU to Cox Cable back in April of 09 after they raised our 1 HD-DVR package w/ no premium channels to $85.

Now I have my HTPC sorted out and am doing just fine streaming (still paying Cox $30 a month for internet) or getting OTA for free.

I've invested under $500 FWIW.  Oh and $5 on a DIY Antenna that rocks my socks http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=17609768&postcount=807