D* sub looking at E*

[KeithAP]

*** Sorry guys - placed in wrong forum ***

Ok, so now as a longtime Colorado D* subscriber I need to replace my satellite dish and receivers for access to the new HD channels. I'd have to do this too if I wanted to switch to Dish. So I'm looking at my options.

My HD requirements are really limited to local stations and sports access (NFL and NASCAR) and everything else is gravy that I really don't care about including D* Sunday Ticket.

I have many questions - but I need to do more research first. Here's a couple though:

- Does E* provide a single satellite dish solution for SD and HD? Looks like I'd want the AT200, HD package, locals (w/ HD) with some mix of receivers for two HD and two analog tv's.

- Is there a service commitment for new subscribers - 1 or two years?

Thanks.

 

[dfergie]

To SatelliteGuys... are you in the Denver DMA? if so I believe a Dish 1000 will work for you... and yes if you lease the equipment there is a commitment, unlike Directv you can own your Dish receivers. I have both but have upgraded on the Dish side, waffleing on the DirecTv side.

 

[royrose]

I believe the commitment is 18 months.

Roy

 

[jeepers94]

You might want to check on your locals. There is a good chance they won't be in HD! Direct offers my locals in hd,but Dish only offers them in sd. I am too far out to use an antenna,according to antennaweb. If I would have checked into this better,I would have went with Direct.

 

[harshness]

My HD requirements are really limited to local stations and sports access (NFL and NASCAR) and everything else is gravy that I really don't care about including D* Sunday Ticket.

You'll need to be more specific than "Colorado" or let us know whether you have OTA access. It is customary to give a zip code when asking about local service if you haven't already used it on the respective provider's website to establish local channel availability.

Know that the E* HD receivers offer only one digital OTA tuner while the latest D* HD receivers offer no OTA tuners.

 

[JAG72]

Know that the E* HD receivers offer only one digital OTA tuner while the latest D* HD receivers offer no OTA tuners.

This is a bit deceiving as there are D* HD receivers that have OTA tuners in them. The HR20 has two OTA tuners in it unlike the one that is in the 622. Also the H20 non DVR receiver also has an OTA tuner built in. So if OTA is a big deal for you the HR20 and D* might be a better choice for you.

 

[KeithAP]

My ZIP is 80439 - foothills outside of Denver. I ran a locals search on the Dish website and it indicated HD was available on the four major networks. OTA is not an option being in the mountainous area far from any transmitters.

The biggest dealbreaker to going with the E* would be a requirement for multiple dishes - but if that's not a problem by using the Dish 1000 at my location - I can keep researching the E* option. I presume the dish points southerly (is there a site to determine sat positioning for E*)?

 

[dfergie]

What dish do you have with Direct a Phase III?

 

[harshness]

The biggest dealbreaker to going with the E* would be a requirement for multiple dishes - but if that's not a problem by using the Dish 1000 at my location - I can keep researching the E* option. I presume the dish points southerly (is there a site to determine sat positioning for E*)?

E* does not require two dishes for Denver DMA subscribers. They would likely install a Dish 1000.2. The view needs to be a little more Westerly (6-8 degrees) than the a 3LNB DIRECTV dish to catch 129W. The Behemoth D* dish points at 101W, but still manages to gather in 119W "out of the corner of its eye".

 

[KKlare]

Dish 1000 center eye points at 119, while joined head points at 110 and outside head points to 129. "Best" reception is to zero in on 119, then minor adjust to improve the weak 129. With the wrong skew you will not get both 110 and 129, 10 degree spacing in space. Expect 129 to be 30 to 50 and others 50 to 70. This is 30 points lower than before renormalization of 622 and 722. It does not mean worst reception, just lower numbers and a lower threshold for working reception.
BTW, the 110 etc. angle is the satellite longitude, not the azimuth, which depends on your Zip code.
-Ken

 

[TNGTony]

Just for the record.

Many SD channels, Denver SD locals (except KWGN) and some HD channels are at 110°

Most SD channels including KWGN are are 119°

Denver ABC HD, CBS HD, NBC HD and Fox HD plus many HD channels and a few additional SD channels are at 129°

Two Denver area locals are not available on Dish
KRMT TV 41 (Daystar) which was removed in favor of ch 263 (the national Daystar Channel) on 6/7/06

and KMAS TV 24 (Telemundo) Steamboat Springs. This channel was uplined and removed as well. Telemundo National is available on DL Bonus pack for $12.49 /mo added to AT 100 and up.


See ya
Tony

 

[KeithAP]

Thanks - this is all great information. I'll have to check on the new 5-lnb D* dish and its signal strength across all satellites, but having the weakest reception associated with the HD channels seems counter-productive to me. Maybe it's just the nature of the transition to HD at the present time.

 

[mdwatt]

Don't be afraid of the signal strength numbers. They can be deceiving. Being located where you are there should be no reason for 2 dishes. I live in Ohio and have the same type of setup that you're thinking of getting and I can say that I have had no issues relating to signal strength, other than rain fade, which is not anything unique to Dish OR Direct. The 129 signal strength does read lower than the other 2 sats, but that's just due to the design of the dish. It will not affect your reception or the picture quality.

 

[jayn_j]

It seems that a lot of the folks posting don't live in the DMA. I was subscribed to AT-250 + HD + locals up in Ft Collins until 2 weeks ago.

What people say about locals is mostly true. There are more present than you are likely to receive OTA, but most of the content is junk. The only must carry station I found of interest was KBDI-12 (PBS). The big 4 are available in HD, but not KWGN-2 (CW) or channel 20 (MyNetwork).

Yes, 129 is the weakest signal. Some have reported improving reception by going with a dedicated dish for 129. However, I had a DISH 1000 and the signal was OK 99% of the time. What I did notice was that 129 would be the first set of channels to go in heavy weather. It usually wasn't an issue because the other sats would drop signal a few seconds later. However, there were a few times this summer where I was able to continue to watch a network show on SD (110 sat) after the HD (129 sat) dropped out. This happened twice last summer during heavy storms. The SD signal didn't drop out in this case, but had numerous breakups and macroblocking incidents.

The 1000.2 is supposed to be a bit better at 129 than my original 1000. The 1000 was slightly larger than the 500 it replaced, but this really wasn't noticable. That DTV 5 sat job is a monster in comparison.

 

[KeithAP]

That DTV 5 sat job is a monster in comparison.

This isn't the Slimline AU9 that you're referring to is it? It must be the AT9?

Thanks for the firsthand report for this area and others experiences, it's reassuring :up.

I've seen the same sort of selective dropouts with D*, some channels are toast while others keep on going, sometimes with inches of snow (powdery, not wet) covering the dish. Rain isn't normally a problem; most of the time the storms start to build up here and then move down into town and the plains.