Der Perplexed: (Marcie)
I know exactly what you are saying.
So far we have stuck to cable tv. Our reason is
we,(hate to say it), have TV's and recorders, in different rooms of the house. We like to do lots of recording of programs so we can watch them when we want. With cable you could be watching a different program on every TV and recording a different program on each recorder. (Don't but could).
Now I know it is getting better BUT with dish network or any other brand you can only watch one program and record one program at the same time. To do it the way are cable is working would require a seperate dish for each TV. Now that would look swell on our home since we have restrictions and can't have antennas anyway.
I really feel the 200 channel is a little misleading. Example: HBO You can watch the same movie at different times of day on HBO east, HBO central, HBO West etc, and those are all seperate channels.
Yes you may have to learn lots of 3 digit numbers to pick up your favorite programs.
Oh yes one more thing.
You may not be able to pick up ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX off cable because you are within the mileage radius. If so you have to use rabbit ears or some other kind of anntenna.