Official Rogers Digital vs Satellite thread

[Ezegoing]

Thanks Que,
I live in Toronto and have updated my profile.
Cheers,
Eze

[987654321]

If you don't want Centre Ice, the best deal is the Digital Advantage package from Star Choice. SC does not charge extra for HD + their SD quality is the best. For $44/month you get Detroit/Seattle in HD + Buffalo/Spokane in SD. No other provider offers 4 US net feeds.

[que3jxp]

???

I get the same prime time programming regardless of locale unless the time zone is different. What is so much better with one vs. the other.

Don't forget to also mention that *C only lets you get ONE of the east and ONE of the west feeds. You do not get all 4.

Oh, and the HD feeds are not up for selection with *C. You get what they give you.

And lastly, Rogers has 12 HD channels that are available right off the bat. The extra money for HD gives you the west coast feeds and HD-Discovery and HD-TSN.

On the one annoying side with Rogers, they only have 2 HD PPV stations and the HD TMN station is only available with a subscription to the TMN movie package.

OOPS!!!

I just noticed that the extra HD channels are $4.95. Still worth it to me as NBers are still without our dual tuner PVRs. Where you would have the SA8300HD, you should not need the west coast feeds.

[S.A.M6]

I new to this forum and it is great. I've been reading through various posts fro the last couple of weeks and found it to be informative.
I just bought a sony KCFE 50a10 from best buy one time price $2499.99. Buying that TV has allowed me to have th e roger digital cable for free(6month). I chose the HD pvr.
I used to run dish before but no longer want to use it. I want to stick to legal CAN veiwing from now on. Right off the bat the CAN chanle choices are far inferior to US. The movie pack on dish was way better than anything offered by CAN sat or cable....but anyways I still want to head the route of a CANADIAN provider.
My impressions of rogers is dim. Thier inability to provide a fav chanle guide makes going through the chan-lineup a tedious task. I miss my old dish single tuner standared def for this as I can select on the chanles I want so I don't get confused as to wich I watch/like to those I don't. The dish unit I'm assuming is the same in function as the bell unit right?
I need oppinions from people who know wich is better Bell or rogers. I have a 20" i beleive dish already with a daull lnb, can I use this with bell. I like the bell reciever(HD PVR) alot better than rogers, now it;s just a matter of programming and quality of chanles that's going to lead me to one or another. I've read through alot of the pros and cons fro both, and still not sure wich one is better for me. If someone can help me out and point me in the right direction. I leaning toward the bell reciever, for service I've allready had numerous problems with rogers customer service and I've only had the box for a week. What about programing ie. HD channels, movies, adult....are they the same? Lastly pict qaulity between the two, does it vary...or the same?
Thanks for any help or advice For a newby

[ykky]

I just switched back from SC Rogers with their ditch the dish. I switched because I just bought my first HD TV and even though SC just added 3 new channels, they are still lagging behind the competition in terms of what they offer. Since they just added new HD channels, based on their history they won't be adding any more for quite a while. I was also scared off by the bad reviews of the 530 HD PVR. Its only been a couple of days for me with the 8300 (2 years free rental with the win back) and so far no problems.

Like others have warned in the Rogers forum, the Roger guide is poor. I am however pleasantly surprised that the PQ looks about as good as my SC. I went to SC about 4 years ago since their PQ was a million times better than my old Rogers analogue. Some Rogers channels look a bit worse, but most appear about the same. I'd give the edge to SC, but not by too much.

Many people in the Rogers forum complain about Rogers delay in adding channels. If you really want frustration, get SC and wait for new channels, especially HD. SC advertised they were going to add CP 24 for well over a year before they did. Most people on SC couldn't care about that channel, but I wanted it since it was the easiest way for me to get local weather instantly. I am disappointed that Rogers isn't offering NBA TV in HD, but I will give anyone pretty good odds that Rogers will have this before SC.

Bell still seems like the best option for HD content right now, but I went with Rogers since my hardware (incl the 8300) didn't cost me anything for now, installation was free, and I got 2 months free programming. With the cost of installation, multiple recievers, including an HD PVR, and installation, it would have cost me well over $1,000 to go with Bell. And also there are the legendary horror stories about Bell's customer service, buts thats probably the luck of the draw. Just seems like too many people have too much bad luck though.

I also bought the super sports pack, which you can only get on Rogers. When (hopefully when, not if) Rogers starts showing a lot of HD hockey on super sports pack, that will make it even better.

All things considered, so far so good. Now, if they can only do something about that guide. Looking forward to watching TV during a bad thunderstorm for the first time in years!

[S.A.M6]

Sgnal during storms?....When I had direct tv or dishnet I only had a problem with bad viewing once, out of alot of storms over a couple years. does bell have probs in this area compared to what I had with dish. Does the type of dish/switch/lnb you have make a difference in reception?
Whos' got better PQ with SD or HD bell or rogers? I'm not like rogers so far to confusing,I hate flipping by numerous channels that I don't watch of are unsubsribed to. Bell has a fav chanel guide.

[Joxer]

Originally Posted by Wayne

I have Rogers digital as well and I just spent two weeks at a cottage using BEV. I don't find BEV's layout any better or worse than Rogers but I do prefer the Rogers onscreen guide, at least you can still see the channel while in the guide. Rogers gives prime spots to Rogers channels, BEV gives the prime spot to BGM channels - surprise, surprise. Timeshifting would be the same under the two systems, particularly for Canadian specialty channels which have, at best, an east and west feed that are 3 hours apart.

Late, but here goes. Wayne, you either had an old reciever at the cotage or had not set up the options correctly. With BEV, you have the option of onscreen display while in the guide or not (rogers does not give you that). With BEV you have around 4 real favourites lists which you can program to show exactly the channels you are interested in (and the lists can be huge if you want). With BEV you can see what channels you actually have, not just guess when you hit select. The prerecorded lists are much easier to navigate (well, all of the SA stuff is terrible with those stupid a b c buttons, awful if you need an all in one remote or if the directions on which button to hit are barely visible if at all due to stretch modes. I've had Rogers for a couple of years and when I go to my parents place once a year I immediately love the guide on their BEV. Searching for programs is also much easier, except that it is limited to a measly 2 days - but I just can't use the Rogers search function, instead just scroll through the program listings hunting for the show on a channel I think I get that may show it at some time. And the BEV channel setup and packages are MUCH better for me, HD not included.

I switched to Bell when Rogers could not deliver me a competent picture quality on many channels, no matter how many times they replaced the drop from the house. I tried their digital box at the time and went yuck and called Bell, buying a 5100PVR. Then came HD.

I switched back to Rogers for the HD - free lifetime dual tuner HD PVR rental, bundled up my services, etc. The first while was painful (so was the early 5100 days) but things are generally pretty good now. However all their user interfaces are terrible, the only saving grace being the channel listings go a week in advance instead of only 2 days.

However, I have more problems with weather now than I did on satellite. Whenever we get any amount of rain the high mhz HD channels start to break up. Since I'm often recording them I don't see this until later. Somewhere down the line there's a junction box that isn't sealed properly and they haven't fixed that yet (a long handled brush solved my snow issues myself on satellite). And a week or so ago I had a couple of phantom recordings show up in my recorded list - I'm afraid to delete them in case they corrupt current recordings. Maybe a reset of the box would clear that up. And i just have a general complaint about the quality of the HD - but people here say that satellite actually compresses their HD more, which is truly sad. Sometimes I'd prefer to watch a SD feed rather than put up with the artifacts on HD, and I never PPV on HD, as DVD from Rogers Video is a much more watchable medium, if lacking a bit in ultimate resolution, at least no macroblocking. I really hate this on TMN as a premium package (and I don't care about the SD portion, I feel my entire $20 a month is HD-TMN as that's the only reason I have it, HD versions of HBO series etc., not even the movies).

[S.A.M6]

I have a (dish 500) dish, does that improve signal fade out compared to bell's dish? So HDPQ is better on rogers than with bell true/false? What about SD channels? Can you build your own channel line up as opposed to rogers bundling?
Thanks.

[ykky]

SAM6,
I guess you were luckier than me with rain fade. I would get it about 10 times a year. Usually not for more than 20 minutes, but enough that it was a bit of a bother. Rogers just added NBA HD TV today. Some in the Rogers forum were upset at how long it took them to add that HD channel. Didn't seem that long to me!

[Twilight Cowboy]

Originally Posted by que3jxp

???

Don't forget to also mention that *C only lets you get ONE of the east and ONE of the west feeds. You do not get all 4.

Wrong- you can set it up to get Buffalo/Spokane in SD + Detroit/Seattle in HD

11 HD channels + 128 SD for $43 - check your Rogers bill to see the cost.

[dmccorm140]

I threatened to leave Rogers today for BEV due to some billings issues I had with ROGERS. Customer service at Rogers transferred me to their Customer Care department I guess for customers threatening to leave. The Rogers Customer Care department studied my bill and said if I left Rogers for BEV I would be highly dissappointed with BEV's Adult programming. I currently subscribe to Playboy, Playboy VOD, Hustler, Red Light District, AOV Movie Channel and AOV Clips. They said BEV only has Playboy. I had to agree, so Rogers keeps this customer. Any idea why BEV has so little Adult Programming? I'm excluding Pay-per-view in this as both companies have it and its overpriced.

[bete_noir]

Well, not that I would have any personal knowledge......

But doesn't ExpressVu have tons of XXX content, namely the Venus channels?????

[TJ77]

BEV has 10 channels of Venus which are PPV. I would have to say that they don't have anyother adult programing because they don't want competition to take away money made by their own in house service.

[dirtyjeffer]

BEV also offers adult movies on 302 after midnight between Wed. and Sat.

[QualityIsJobOne]

Originally Posted by dmccorm140

I currently subscribe to Playboy, Playboy VOD, Hustler, Red Light District, AOV Movie Channel and AOV Clips.

...Whoa!...That's a lot of pricey porn/month!

Originally Posted by dmccorm140

Any idea why BEV has so little Adult Programming?

...Just a guess....Perhaps that CBC Fifth Estate investigation into the illegal porn on ExpressVu raised some eyebrows at Bell HQ?