Cox vs. DirectTV  

I'd go with DIRECTV if I were you.

Whether it's COMCAST, COX, or whatever, cableltv companies suck!

I assume you're in the New Orleans area ... you may find the following links helpfull:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ht=New+Orleans
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ht=New+Orleans
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ht=New+Orleans
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ht=New+Orleans
http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/discuss...at=&Board=HDTV

Satisfaction with Cox is going to vary greatly from area to area ... and then of course, there is the question of which service meets your needs the best (Cox vs. DirecTV). Cox's offereings in New Orleans look rather ... dissapointing.
An 'Over The Air' (OTA) STB can be used WITH an antenna to get your local digital channels. I'd probably try to focus on OTA first ... see if/how well you can pick them up. An OTA STB can be picked up relatively cheaply. If you end up getting DirecTV you'll be counting on OTA for HD locals anyway (at least for the near term future) ... might as well make sure it's good. And if you end up with Cox ... OTA will give you all the locals untill they offer them.

AntennaWeb is also a good site to check out:
http://www.antennaweb.org/

In most locations, Cox is moving more to a 'included with tiers' approach. There is an extra charge for the box, but locals are included with the standard 'basic service'. Things like EPSN, INHD, etc. are included with the 'expanded service'. And things like HBO are included with a subscription to HBO. The main exception seems to be Discovery ... which seems to be an extra charge everywhere.

Are you sure about that charges per channel by Cox?

My Cox in OC, CA gives me free Local HD (right now CBS/NBC/ABC), free Premium if I'm already a subscriber (HBO-HD/SHO-HD), Free INHD-1/INHD-2, and an HD Tier that runs $9.99 (currently has ESPN-HD/Disc-HD), and my Moto 5100 is $9.99 vs $2.99 for the old Moto DTV box.

And the blanket statement Cable sucks...what a joke! In some markets, yes. As does drop outs, crappy performance, support, etc that some Sat's can give at times.

For something today, either can work very well. In the future though, cable has a huge bandwidth advantage over Sat that will come into play as more HD comes online.

And in some areas Cable offers many services. I run not only the TV, but my PC and Phone are all digital service from Cox. My Phone rate has dropped over 30% since I made the switch 2+ years ago. (and my calling areas have expanded, and not 1 problem. Ever!) And my PC cable is ALWAYS at the Max speed. (and rated #1 in the yearly PC mag readers picks) Service has always been fantastic. I could not be more please. I laugh when I see the Sat suckers going for AOL equiv of TV service out here. In your area, it may be a better choice, for now......

i would also check antennaweb.org and see which OTA hd channels are available in your area.

get your HD OTA they are free. when you consider that directv is cheaper. And they are launching another satellite soon. for 10.99 they have discovery hd, hdnet, hdmovies, espnhd and the showtimehd and hbohd if you get those movie packages, and hd pay per view, also they are adding fox in hd later this year and have already added cbshd if your in the right market.

Cox Digital service in OC is a joke. The main channels you would watch are analog, only the premium channels are digital and a few discovery channels. DirecTV is all digital. Cox is only offering cbs,nbc,abc in HD which is only half of the locals I watch. It's truly best to get OTA receiver for locals and one of the satelite services for additional channels.

GPC2, if you have not already done so, I encourage you to check out the forum hosted by the New Orleans CBS affilliate WWL. There is a HD section that seems to be the main location on the Internet for posting about HD in the New Orleans market. You'll see lots of discussion there about whether it is best to go with Cox or DirecTV or Dish for HD in New Orleans. Go to http://www.wwl.com and then click on "Forums" on the left and the click on "HDTV".

My main complaint with Cox New Orleans HD was that you had to buy the box. But the current rumor is that, starting in March, you'll be able to rent the box for like $10 a month. You still won't get WWL-HD as of now, but you will get WDSU (NBC) and WGNO (ABC). You say that you don't get WWL-HD with DirecTV, but that is only partially true. With DirecTV, you'll also want to have an antenna that will allow you to get the Over The Air (OTA) digital stations, including WWL-HD. That's what I do, and I can currently get the following stations OTA in New Orleans:

WWL-HD (CBS)
WDSU-HD (NBC)
WGNO-HD (ABC)
WNOL-HD (WB)

There is also a religious station that broadcasts digital but not HD, and the UPN affiliate in Slidel has a digital station but it is very difficult to pick it up in New Orleans. So as far as I'm concerned, you *DO* get WWL-HD with DirecTV in New Orleans.

On Cox, you won't get quite as many HD channels as you get on DirecTV -- for example, no HDNet and HDNet Movies -- but if I didn't already have DirecTV and was trying to make a choice right now, I'd think long and hard about Cox. And I'm sure that some day soon Cox New Orleans will add WWL-HD, and then it will be a very attractive alternative to DirecTV for HD in New Orleans.

-Jeff

Jeff, what type of antenna(s) are you using, where do you have it located (inside, attic, outside), and what part of town do you live in? (Sorry for the numerous questions... just seeing if there's any chance of using an internal antenna when I go HD sometime this year).

BrettStah, I use an indoor antenna, the famous Silver Sensor. Keep it located in my TV room, pointed at the window. I do need to adjust the direction somewhat for diffrent channels -- there is a different "sweet spot" for WWL than for WDSU, for example. I live near the Garden District in New Orleans. In this area, an indoor antenna works fine. Not great, but fine. Some nights I get no breakups on local channels, some nights I get a breakup about once every 30 minutes (annoying but no big deal) and rarely I just can't get a good signal at all. So depending upon where you live in New Orleans, an indoor antenna will work fine, just not 100% of the time.

-Jeff

P.S. I tried other indoor antennas before the Silver Sensor and had much less success with them. The second best was the Radio Shack double bow tie, but even it does not work nearly as well for me as the Zenith Silver Sensor.

Thanks Jeff... I live in Algiers. I'm waiting primarily for the HD-Tivo, so I'm going to want a solution that doesn't involve moving the antenna so that the HD-Tivo will be able to automatically switch channels as needed to record various shows.

I'll start with the Silver Sensor indoors, and then if needed progress to the attic (possibly with a larger antenna).