HD Upgrade Path

[flash503]

I plan to eventually upgrade to HD, but wish to wait a bit to see how the monitor technology settles out.

In the mean time, I would like to upgrade my D* dish to reduce rain fade. I have an old RCA non-HD D* satellite reciever running S-video through a home theatre audio reciever to a Sony non-HD monitor.

My question is: Can I install an HD-compatible dish with good rain-fade characteristics (i.e. big?) and use my current satellite reciever and monitor? If so, does anyone have suggestions regarding a good dish to run with?

Thanks,

Todd

 

[GeorgeL]

I was in a similar position as you. I was suffering form constant rain fade issues with my 18" single LNB dish. I also wanted to have an upgrade path to HD. I opted for the Channel Master GainMaster dish. My signal levels went from the low-mid 70s to the high 90s on all transponders. I have yet to suffer from rain fade since the upgrade and we have had some serious storms.

 

[kevindef]

GainMaster Dish

I have also been considering the GainMaster dish. I have good signal on 101 and 119 (90-95)and a very fair signal on 110 ( 60+ ). I have thought about bringing in someone to get the signal up on the 110, but the guy when he did the install, said this is typical. 90+ on 101 and 119 and 60-70 on 110. I just think it is a bunch of crap. I think all 3 should be in the 90's. Anyway, the problem is, I will lose my HD channels in bad weather. So I am considering the MC GainMaster triple LNB dish. The only problem is, will I have to deal with similar signal results and will it be a waste of time and money???

Another thing I have considered, when the new Sats go up, will I need a different dish set-up anyway? Should I wait before doing anything and deal with my current signal situation until I see if a new dish is needed???

I live in Morris County in NJ (about 30 miles or so from NYC) and am wondering if those new Satellites will have any impact on me.

Thanks,

Kevin

 

[beast37799]

I have also been considering the GainMaster dish. I have good signal on 101 and 119 (90-95)and a very fair signal on 110 ( 60+ ). I have thought about bringing in someone to get the signal up on the 110, but the guy when he did the install, said this is typical. 90+ on 101 and 119 and 60-70 on 110. I just think it is a bunch of crap. I think all 3 should be in the 90's. Anyway, the problem is, I will lose my HD channels in bad weather. So I am considering the MC GainMaster triple LNB dish. The only problem is, will I have to deal with similar signal results and will it be a waste of time and money???

Another thing I have considered, when the new Sats go up, will I need a different dish set-up anyway? Should I wait before doing anything and deal with my current signal situation until I see if a new dish is needed???

I live in Morris County in NJ (about 30 miles or so from NYC) and am wondering if those new Satellites will have any impact on me.

Thanks,

Kevin

i live on the border on momouth/ocean county in nj and i have all high 90's most 100 strength on most of the transponders on all 3 sats so i dont know what your installer was talking about . As for if u should wait well that all depends. your gonna get all 4 local hd channels now the only thing youll miss on sat is pbs hd wb hd and upn hd . so i would go for it now

 

[kevindef]

Beast,

Are you using the GainMaster Dish? I felt that the installer was just trying to take the easy way and figured it was just good enough. I have also considered paying the 7.99 a month that Directv charges for the protection plan. Then I could just call and say I need the dish aimed. But also thought that in the long run it may be cheaper to just shell the service charge instead of 8 bucks a month. Who knows. I do not like it when I lose the signal, I had to go up and clean the ice off last week. I did lose all the sats with the ice storm. Removed the ice and all came back. When the news birds are launched are we supposed to get ALL the locals in HD, icluding UPN, WB, PBS etc.?