My apologies if this has been covered before as I am sure it has but after literally spending HOURS googling the net and searching through avsforum, I am unable to find much info about this topic.

I have been a subscriber to Directv for many years and prior to that, I was with DISH so it has been at least 10 years since I had cable TV service.


Since I recently went from a 50" 720P Resolution Plasma to a 52" 1080 Resolution Sharp LCD (The LC-52D92U), Directv's 'HD Lite' treatment of their High Def channels has now become REALLY obvious to me.

I still use a Roof antenna for my Local channels and I have both formats of the High Definition DVD so seeing the difference between Directv's High definition channels and true High Definition is quite dramatic now.



Therefore, I have finally had it with Directv's 'HD Lite' and now that my area is wired for FIOS, I am thinking about switching from Directv to Verizon FIOS for my Television.

Obviously, if Verizon is the same or worse than Directv then making a switch would be foolish.
I sure would appreciate if folks could post any first hand experiences of Directv's High Definition Picture Quality versus Verizon FIOS's as well as any links to Polls or articles that have been done about this.


Thank You

As someone who has Directv's HD only package and now FiOS after having switched from Comcast, I can assure you that both Comcast and FiOS' HD looks way better than Directv. I actually prefer FiOS to Comcast although it is close on HD but not SD which looks way better on FiOS than on Comcast. I can't imagine you being disappointed at all with FiOS PQ. Good luck.

From what I have seen personally, FiOS is noticeably better than the current DirecTV MPEG2 HD feeds.

Yet local HD, when it is MPEG4 is not different at all, to my eyes, when viewed side-by-side. It even seems the same as OTA -- at least to my eyes, here in Los Angeles, viewed on either an older 64" Pioneer Elite 1080i RPTV or a new Panny 42" 720p plasma.

Apparently, barring another satellite mishap, September 5th is the day for the beginning of the DirecTV HD expansion. If the channels are on MPEG4, similar to what we are seeing for our locals and RSNs here in Los Angeles, I suspect it will be hard to tell any difference.

But then September is a long way away.

As someone who has Directv's HD only package and now FiOS after having switched from Comcast, I can assure you that both Comcast and FiOS' HD looks way better than Directv. I actually prefer FiOS to Comcast although it is close on HD but not SD which looks way better on FiOS than on Comcast. I can't imagine you being disappointed at all with FiOS PQ. Good luck.

Your comparison is truly 'apples to apples' since if I am reading you correctly, you have 2 sources of HD material.

Thanks to both of you who replied.

Your posts and this one that I finally found makes my decision for me:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10415789&&#post10415789


I am curious why you have kept Directv's HD package since FIOS has those same channels plus more.
I have a 'highly modified' HR 10-250 HDTIVO which will be a shame to give up since it is on my network.

I have a special deal with D* where I get the HD tier and HBO HD and NFL ST. I kept it to get HDNet which Comcast sis not have. Since FiOS has HDNet (which Comcast didn't) I almost never watch the HD Tier but keep it to keep HBO which is cheaper than on FiOS and access to NFL ST. I may drop the whole thing anyway but have kept it for now as it is only 10 bucks. I can also watch HD programming when the FiOS DVR is recording two shows so it comes in handy that way. Went to FiOS in Feb. 2007.