Moved, need advice on cable alternatives

[Poseidon88]

I've been using SageTV with Comcast cable for nearly 2 years now, and my wife and I have become totally dependent on it. Especially since we had our first child earlier this year (watching TV programs at their scheduled times is rarely an option anymore). In October, we moved to a new house. When the Comcast techs showed up to install service, they discovered that there was a problem with the buried line leading to our house (the previous owners had satelite, so probably didn't know). It has now been over a month, and despite several visits from Comcast personnel (techs, work crews, and even a district manager) we still don't have service, and they are now saying it could be anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months longer before they can fix the problem. I'm sick of waiting with no TV or internet service, and am now looking at alternatives. My question is: If I go with a satelite service, will Sage be able to control the tuner box without my having to purchase any special hardware? Is there a preference for DirecTV or Dish Network? I'm currently just using a Hauppage single-tuner SD card. If I decide to get an HD package, can you reccomend some good HD encoder cards to look at?

[GbrNole]

if you go with satellite then sagetv best interfaces with directv boxes for channel changing through the low speed data port.

dishnet is great but all channel changing has to be through usb-uirt.

hd cards wont work with usa satellite tv but they will pull in any local channels in your area through antenna. the hdhomerun is probably your best choice for new purchases these days.

[SHS]

what PVR card do you have Poseidon88

[mtfred99]

I have a related question. what do you do if you don't have internet? can i download from work, then input the channel (shows) info. into sage for recording into sage at home. Im not sure if its worth 45 a month to update channel every week.

[dbfresh23]

Originally Posted by mtfed99

I have a related question. what do you do if you don't have internet? can i download from work, then input the channel (shows) info. into sage for recording into sage at home. Im not sure if its worth 45 a month to update channel every week.

You can get dialup internet for about $10/mo - You don't need broadband.

[dbfresh23]

Originally Posted by Poseidon88

Is there a preference for DirecTV or Dish Network?

If you are just interested in recording SD material then I'd go with DirecTV, mostly because that's what I have and the serial control for channel changing is great.

If you are interested in HD then a lot of people seem to be going with Dish Network because they currently offer more channels in HD. DirecTV is saying that they will be adding a lot of HD channels in mid 2007 though.

The only way to record HD via sat is to get the receiver modded with an R5000 or 169Time mod. Both are VERY expensive and IMO not worth it.

basically I use SageTV for watching / recording SD stuff and just ordered an HD DVR to record HD stuff.