As I am involved in the technology industry I decided to find out what the truth was about cable vs. satellite TV. I contacted Verizon and ordered their Dream Team plan. This consisted of DirectTV, Verizon DSL and their Verizon phone service, the process was long and tedious. For the following two months there were billing mistakes which took multiple calls, constantly repeating the same things before I was able to get the issues resolved.

The installation started a little after 8:00 am and lasted until 4:00. The installer did not seem familiar with the satellite he was installing which may have been why the installation took so long. The installer did not clean up after himself.

The quality of the HDTV picture on Time Warner Cable is substantially better than that of DirectTV, one channel, ESPN2 became unwatchable. DirectTV suggested relocating the satellite on the roof. As the dish was already at the edge, this was not an option.

The DirectTV user interface for the DVR has a nicer appearance then that of Time Warner Cable, it looks up-to-date. The DirectTV setup also allows for more ways to view channels and breaks down the channels according to show type. This can be good or bad depending on each person's viewing habits.

Recording episodes of programs, DirectTV provides the ability to record only latest shows if that is what is desired. Time Warner has no such feature. When I set the DVR to record the O'Reilly Factor, not only did the unit record the new show at 8:00, it recorded the ones at 11:00 and 4:00 as well. While this may be a programming issue, the fact remains that I needed to delete multiple shows daily. This could also pose a problem vacationing as recording space may become all used up. The record only new shows was useful for other programs.

The DirectTV DVR also has a better feature when fast forwarding through commercials. It will stop at the beginning of a segment or commercial, as opposed to the Time Warner DVR which stops as soon as you press the play button. The benefit of the DirectTV method is it gets you watching your show faster and with less fast forwarding or rewinding.

If you watch any of the local weather channels, you will need to purchase a HDTV antenna. While I was able to get the local weather stations, the pictures would often freeze. While an outdoor antenna might have resolved this issue, I was not about to install one.

The DirectTV boxes remember what your last station was on when it is turned off, and pulls up that station the next time it is turned on. The Time Warner Cable box always returns to the favorite channel selected.

While I did not experience any weather related problems with the dish, when the leaves appeared on the trees, I lost all High Definition reception. There have been several time when I have lost all reception on cable.

On a cost comparative basis, depending on the promotion available, either company could have the advantage.

I ended up returning to Time Warner Cable because of the lack of High Definition TV reception and loss of local weather stations. Despite DirectTV's inability to provide HDTV reception, I was not credited for the initial cost of the boxes which was several hundred dollars. They did cancel the contract without any cancellation fee.

DirectTV requires a contract while Time Warner Cable does not.