Eastern Arc vs Western Arc

[Skip06]

When Eastern Arc first came to be, there was a web site that had video comparisons between Eastern, Western and Direct TV.
At that time Eastern was much better.
Is this still the case?
Since it looks like Jonesboro, Ar HD locals will be on 61.5,
I'll need a new dish or maybe use an old 500 as a wing dish for 61.5.
Which gives a stronger signal for 61.5 a 1000.4 or a 500?

 

[MikeD-C05]

A bigger dish will give you stronger signals ,especially if you use it just for 61.5. But DISH is doing eastern arc install using a 1000.2 dish with the new eastern arc lnb for just 72.7 & 61.5 now. No more use for 77 sat and the old 1000.4 dish for eastern arc is discontinued now. So most likely if you call DISH they will give you the eastern arc lnb or the 1000.2 dish with eastern arc lnb.

 

[Mr Tony]

some markets are being added on 77W (see the uplink report)

 

[Skip06]

A bigger dish will give you stronger signals ,especially if you use it just for 61.5. But DISH is doing eastern arc install using a 1000.2 dish with the new eastern arc lnb for just 72.7 & 61.5 now. No more use for 77 sat and the old 1000.4 dish for eastern arc is discontinued now. So most likely if you call DISH they will give you the eastern arc lnb or the 1000.2 dish with eastern arc lnb.

I haven't seen my old 500 in a while I can't remember if it's bigger (1 sat signal area) then the 1000.2.
If I can get 61.5, are you saying I might just be able to get a eastern arc lnb and aim my current 1000.2 for 61.5 and 72?

 

[3HaloODST]

I haven't seen my old 500 in a while I can't remember if it's bigger (1 sat signal area) then the 1000.2.
If I can get 61.5, are you saying I might just be able to get a eastern arc lnb and aim my current 1000.2 for 61.5 and 72?

1000.2 pulls in a marginally better signal than the 500 on WA, and a lot better signal on EA (as there is no EA LNB for the 500.)

Sent from my iPhone 4S using Forum Runner

 

[the mack]

Eastern arc has always been mpeg4, where Western arc may of had some mpeg2 hd channels? many say sd is better on EA.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I haven't seen my old 500 in a while I can't remember if it's bigger (1 sat signal area) then the 1000.2.
If I can get 61.5, are you saying I might just be able to get a eastern arc lnb and aim my current 1000.2 for 61.5 and 72?

The two headed lnb for eastern arc is just for 61.5 and 72.7 and it fits only on the 1000.2 sat dish,not the dish 500. Take a look at this website and look under both dishes and lnbs to see the new eastern arc lnb and dish.

www.dishdepot.com

 

[MikeD-C05]

some markets are being added on 77W (see the uplink report)

Figures. DISH looks like it is finally getting all the locals to 61.5 and they add new ones to 77sat. You can never know when it comes to DISH whether a discontinued dish stays discontinued or not. THey have so many different configurations to go with.

 

[TheKrell]

Maybe the 1000.4WA will be coming back too.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Maybe the 1000.4WA will be coming back too.

Maybe. I still use mine, and its 5 years old. In fact I installed it myself after I bought it from dishdepot.com . Six years ago today Hurricane Humberto hit my home town of Nederland ,Tx and five years ago the same day we got hit by Hurricane Ike. But luckily I learned from Hurricane Rita in 05 not to leave your satellite dishes up or they get crushed from the wind. So I took it down and put it in the house when we evacuated. Once we got back & the power was back on, I re-installed it myself and was watching my tv within 30 minutes. My sister had to wait for a month in 05 and 08 for her cable to come back with Time Warner Cable.

 

[navychop]

EA shifted to MPEG-4 some years ago. WA is still MPEG-2 and not even 8PSK. It will take some time before enough equipment is exchanged before WA moves to MPEG-4. Keep in mind some STBs that work on WA will not work on EA.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[boba]

EA shifted to MPEG-4 some years ago. WA is still MPEG-2 and not even 8PSK. It will take some time before enough equipment is exchanged before WA moves to MPEG-4. Keep in mind some STBs that work on WA will not work on EA.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

HD on WA is MPEG4 and SD is MPEG2/8psk.

 

[Mr Tony]

HD on WA is MPEG4 and SD is MPEG2/8psk.

SD on WA is still QPSK....not 8PSK
There are plenty of older QPSK receivers out there (like 301's)

 

[navychop]

Yep. And I keep reading there is more bandwidth to be gained from the move to 8PSK than from 8 to MPEG-4.


We've done this "How many million QPSK only receivers are still out there?" too many times.

 

[3HaloODST]

8PSK makes for about 30% more throughput vs QPSK. MPEG4 on average consumes 50% less bandwidth than MPEG2.

So we will have 30% more throughput whenever the 8PSK conversion is complete, then (years down the road) when they flip the SD to MPEG4, the SD channels will consume 50% less bandwidth.

 

[JosephB]

8PSK makes for about 30% more throughput vs QPSK. MPEG4 on average consumes 50% less bandwidth than MPEG2.

So we will have 30% more throughput whenever the 8PSK conversion is complete, then (years down the road) when they flip the SD to MPEG4, the SD channels will consume 50% less bandwidth.

One would think (hope) that when they can push the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 button, they'll just drop any SD feeds.

 

[whatchel1]

One would think (hope) that when they can push the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 button, they'll just drop any SD feeds.

The SD feeds will just be MPEG 4 as well. They are on EA.

 

[120inna55]

A bigger dish will give you stronger signals ,especially if you use it just for 61.5. But DISH is doing eastern arc install using a 1000.2 dish with the new eastern arc lnb for just 72.7 & 61.5 now. No more use for 77 sat and the old 1000.4 dish for eastern arc is discontinued now. So most likely if you call DISH they will give you the eastern arc lnb or the 1000.2 dish with eastern arc lnb.

That explains a lot. I had an installer out Saturday to install my Hopper. He was young and had only been doing this for 2 months. He had a look at my 1000.4 EA and said he'd never seen one of those before.

I didn't know there was "no more use for 77 sat". I'm out of the loop.

I keep a spreadsheet in which I catalog the signal strengths of all available transponders. I know that's overkill. There used to be a condensed list of transponders specific to each arc with average signal strengths. This would give amateurs like myself an idea if we're getting the strengths we're supposed to be getting. That list is out of date, though. Does anyone know which transponders I should check and what signal strengths I should be getting?

 

[vash1090]

I thought that some places still used the 1k4 EA, when sat 77 is needed. I know sat 77 is still in use because it carries about 40% of the latino package channels for the eastern arc. Western half of USA definately only uses 1k2 EA because it is so much less commonly installed than places with all their HD locals on EA only.

 

[JosephB]

The SD feeds will just be MPEG 4 as well. They are on EA.

Yeah, but eventually it would make sense to just drop the SD feeds, and for customers with an SD set, give them an HD box that can downconvert to an SD output like RF or composite.