4dtv help...

[jself1982]

Ok, about to hook up the old 10' cband...gotta order my 4dtv however... will someone please answer these questions in layman's terms and not refer me to the cband faq which didn't help all that much...thanks for any input. Just needed to know b4 I spent the $$$.

In your opionion, which channel retailer offers more for less? (NPS, Skyvision, etc.) Very interested in all the premium movie channels, wild feeds, and a few select analogs such as Turner, a Nick/Disney/MTV & all the digitals avail on 4dtv.

I have a widescreen 16:9 tv, if I get the DSR 922, and the sidecar for HD, (where as I just read the Skyvision ad that said I would get all c-band HD broadcasts)--does this mean w/ the sidecar I can watch per sey a movie on an Analog SD channel in HD if the movie is broadcast in HD? (ex. if TBS said this movie is in HD where available, would it show up in HD or SD since TBS is analog)???

Next, on my 16:9 tv, when I connect the 4dtv, will it stretch SD/Digital channels to fit or will is have black bars on the side?

Third, on this 10' mesh cband dish, w/ c/ku available, in order to get FTA on my big dish, what do I need to do other than purchase the receiver and split the line in? Would I have to go thru the motions of taking the feedhorn off and rewiring another LNB? And what satellites would I be able to receive on the normal C/Ku E-W axis?

Thanks for any help, hope someone will answer asap and please tell me normal terms and not refer me to google or cband faq's....thanks!

 

[tdti1]

You will not get all the HD channels on C-band with the HDD 2xx, you will get HBO, Showtime and others if your have a sub.

If you do not have a c/ku feed and lnb's you will need to replace the feedhorn with a new one, and you can get a new C-band lnb, and you will need a ku one also.

When hooking up the 4dtv do it direct, do not pass your SD through the HDD 200 use the HDD only for HD feeds, it has the worst upconverter I have ever seen.

With c/ku you will add many channels to the 4dtv system, if you wish to add a dvb (fta) unit for free channels on c/ku then you will just do it like so:
http://www.dmsiusa.com/add_a_receiver.htm

Your 4dtv will get you anaolg ntsc free/sub and most DCII free/sub feeds, a Pansat/Coolsat will get you free dvb feeds, take a look at whats on all the satelites:
http://www.lyngsat.com/america.html

 

[jself1982]

Thank you. Does this mean I will only get FTA on W9 to C1? How would I get SBS6 or would that be too far for my dish to turn?

 

[tdti1]

Thank you. Does this mean I will only get FTA on W9 to C1? How would I get SBS6 or would that be too far for my dish to turn?

A 24" are should get many birds, I get from AMC-8-AMC-12.

 

[jself1982]

If I choose not to get the HDD2xx w/ my new 4dtv, will the DSR922 stretch to fit my 16:9 TV or will there be black bars on each side? I know w/o the HDD2xx I wouldn't get HDTV but just didn't know how 4dtv would do on my 16:9 tv.

 

[Shawn95GT]

If I choose not to get the HDD2xx w/ my new 4dtv, will the DSR922 stretch to fit my 16:9 TV or will there be black bars on each side? I know w/o the HDD2xx I wouldn't get HDTV but just didn't know how 4dtv would do on my 16:9 tv.

That depends on how you have your TV set.

It's just a SD 4:3 input. I can watch it either way on my TV.

 

[tdti1]

If I choose not to get the HDD2xx w/ my new 4dtv, will the DSR922 stretch to fit my 16:9 TV or will there be black bars on each side? I know w/o the HDD2xx I wouldn't get HDTV but just didn't know how 4dtv would do on my 16:9 tv.

You should be able to do that with your TV.

 

[jself1982]

Thanks you all for the help...

Finally, was looking at Lyngsat, where is AMC-12? I found the AMC-8 but no AMC-12...Heard there is a lot of feeds on SBS 6 over the weekends, I at least wanted to get that w/o my dish breaking !!! HA HA HA...but overall thanks for the input and yes my TV has the stretch option but on my cable on some channels that won't work, that's why I had asked.

Thanks.

 

[Shawn95GT]

AMC12 is WAY East over at 37.5W. Where you are at in the US and if you have a good Eastern line of sight will make the difference as to whether you'll be able to see it or not. Even on the East coast it's only like 30 degrees of elevation to see it.

 

[jself1982]

Greenville SC, about 130 miles NE of Atlanta GA....would a 24" arm allow the 10' dish to move like that? Or would I need something else?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Short answer... it depends.

The problem you are going to run into is that when you go for for the far East sats you will be on the extension side of your actuator. As you arm extends it'll reach a point where the dish will 'flop' and the actuator will bind.

It's more of a problem for the East coast guys because in the Western US the far West sats are the extension side and 139W [W8] isn't all that far west of True south for us. I'd venture to say that most 4DTV owners don't spent much time west of 135 [C4].

In your case, a fixed dish might be more practical for AMC12 with the polar mount serving your other satellite needs. You could split off from the 4DTV for you other DVB wants.

Think this diagram with a 2nd fixed dish connected to an available port on the diSEqC switch:

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Installation/Multi-LNBF/BUD-Slave-KIT-II.htm

 

[jself1982]

Thanks, do you think I could at least get SBS6 w/ it? Or would that be too extended on the arm?

 

[jself1982]

And not to keep bugging you, so if I also chose to get an FTA receiver, are you saying I would not have to do anything to the LNB/Feedhorn at all to get FTA, just basically split the wire as on the chart on the link? And then just tune to the satellite and search for FTA's like that? This FTA thing is confusing... but I would like to get it too....

 

[tdti1]

A 24" Venture (recommended) should not have a problem taking you past sbs6.

 

[iammike]

I'm in Roanoke, VA and my Von Weise 24" arm can go from AMC8 when pretty much full retracted to at least as far east as Intelsat 805 at 55.5 degrees. It flops not too much farther east than that, but I haven't really experimented with sats farther east than 805. Mileage will vary with different arms and different dishes, but I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get SBS6 and more likely a good ways farther east.

Mike