It is now 29 June 2008

[chapelrun]

OK, first off I'm pretty cheap! Not completely true but I really don't like monthly reoccurring costs when I can avoid them.

Anyway - - in the past I did have SkyAngel on satellite and did not go with SA IPTV.

I have FTA setup for 123W and 119W and really like this way of getting programming. This was done once I knew SA was going dark. We have all covered similar ground here and no need to rehash.

Now I'm missing Fox News and a few other things and would like to explore the cheapest way to get Fox News back.

Options:

1. Cable - I have Comcast for High Speed Internet and could add Extended Basic to get Fox News (cost $33.70 per month) too much!

2. DISH FAMILY - I already have a dish pointed at 61.5 and 119 plus I have my old receiver (cost $19.99 per month) not too bad

3. Sky Angel IPTV - I guess I could get the Family Television package only (cost $19.99 per month) or if I get Faith and Family (cost $24.99 per month)

4. Do nothing and forget about Fox News. (cost - ZERO)

This may seem trivial but lately what I watch is Retro Television Network (RTN) on FTA 123W and really like it. If a PAY for TV - - - I will watch RTN less and be watching Fox News, etc.

When Sky Angel IPTV first came out I was upset with them; but now I have mellowed about the whole thing.

I'm torn between options 2, 3 and 4 - - - Please help me decide.

 

[Cemguy]

Fox news is FTA on AMC4 (101 degrees).

 

[chapelrun]

I think Fox News is encypted on 101W

Although I see a Fox affliate on 101W - - - Fox New is encypted with PowerVu on that satellite.

This information came from "The List!"

05-Fox News 1560 1520 1560 Hotel Media PowerVu

 

[digiblur]

Just get a motorized dish and catch the various news channels that way.

 

[JeffH]

OK, first off I'm pretty cheap! Not completely true but I really don't like monthly reoccurring costs when I can avoid them.

Anyway - - in the past I did have SkyAngel on satellite and did not go with SA IPTV.

I have FTA setup for 123W and 119W and really like this way of getting programming. This was done once I knew SA was going dark. We have all covered similar ground here and no need to rehash.

Now I'm missing Fox News and a few other things and would like to explore the cheapest way to get Fox News back.

Options:

1. Cable - I have Comcast for High Speed Internet and could add Extended Basic to get Fox News (cost $33.70 per month) too much!

2. DISH FAMILY - I already have a dish pointed at 61.5 and 119 plus I have my old receiver (cost $19.99 per month) not too bad

3. Sky Angel IPTV - I guess I could get the Family Television package only (cost $19.99 per month) or if I get Faith and Family (cost $24.99 per month)

4. Do nothing and forget about Fox News. (cost - ZERO)

This may seem trivial but lately what I watch is Retro Television Network (RTN) on FTA 123W and really like it. If a PAY for TV - - - I will watch RTN less and be watching Fox News, etc.

When Sky Angel IPTV first came out I was upset with them; but now I have mellowed about the whole thing.

I'm torn between options 2, 3 and 4 - - - Please help me decide.

Go with Sky Angel IPTV. I have had no problems using it with Comcast high speed internet. The channel lineup is excellent as well (we have Faith & Family), such as FamilyNet; my favorite program on FN is Wretched with Todd Friel which can be found on ch 107.

Jeff

 

[Cemguy]

Although I see a Fox affliate on 101W - - - Fox New is encypted with PowerVu on that satellite.

This information came from "The List!"

05-Fox News 1560 1520 1560 Hotel Media PowerVu

The list is wrong (at least for now). Maybe encription has been off for the last week and will go back on, but it's viewable now.

 

[jholland]

I have Comcast cable, Sky Angel Faith and Family, and Comcast high-speed Internet. I will likely scale SA back to the faith package at some point. I love the Sky Angel lineup. My favorite channels (both TV and radio) are some that are not available on other broadcast options (like FamilyNet and America's Talk). And the 48-hour review on the faith TV channels gives me tremendous flexibility to watch Christian programming. It's almost like having DVR of virtually the entire lineup! I don't miss DVR one bit. There is so much more content on SA IPTV than there was with the SA DBS service -- it's easily worth the cost!

 

[chapelrun]

A Few Questions - - -

Thanks for eveyone's responses! (keep 'em coming)

I kinda like the idea of adding a motorized FTA - - - I have a large maple tree in the backyard that just died and I may cut it down and see if motorized would work for me (still have other trees to worry about and that is why so far I have stayed with fixed dishes)

I did get the prices right on SA IPTV - - - I looked on the SA web site and the Faith and Family is $24.99 per month which is about $300 per year. Again not too bad for the line up and possibly a better value than DISH FAMILY (not sure yet)

Is it really 24.99 per month or are there any hidden costs?

jholland - So on any Faith channels you can "rewind" up to 48-hours ?! That would be kinda cool.

Still noodling on this - - - but thanks for all the input!!!!

 

[Larobpra]

And then there is all the Video-On -Demand. Most of it is free as well. (Part of the package anyway)

The only extra cost was a one time $30 charge (IIRC) when we started. It's been $24.99 since then.

 

[jholland]

The 48-hour "rewind" means that you can view any program on the faith TV channels that was broadcast during the previous 48 hours. The programs are usually available as soon as one hour after the regular broadcast time. So if I forget to watch something I meant to watch, or if I just want to have a wide selection of programs to choose from when I have some viewing time, I can look through all the listings from the previous 48 hours and select what I want to watch. This feature is not available on family TV channels (SA doesn't have authorization to do it on those channels) or radio channels (because radio channels are a continuous stream).

When you watch a program that way, you can do "DVR-like" things, like pause, fast-forward, rewind, skip commercials. I rarely took advantage of the DVR on the DBS service, but now it's like I have a huge selection of programs ready and waiting, and I can watch them with those "DVR-type features." And I don't have to manage a DVR library. A practical reason I like this feature is that I can watch a 30-minute program in less than 30 minutes, I can fast-forward through commercials, or if I am watching a program like Praise the Lord and want to see just one particular guest, I can fast-forward to that point and watch only that portion of the show.

I have taken the time to create a reference file (mine is in ListPro, could also do it as a Word or Excel document). I enter my favorite shows, along with time and channel number, then I can just pop that file up anytime to see what favorite shows are on at a time when I want to watch/listen. In ListPro, I can click on any field and quickly display, say, only Saturday favorites, or all times/channels when I can watch Charles Stanley, etc. I know it sounds like a lot of trouble, but it really isn't after an initial time of collecting the info. Then I can quickly edit/add changes.

I am home most of the time, and I don't want to fall into that habit of using my remote to keep flipping through programs. My little investment of effort ensures that I will actually use my Sky Angel service and will capture what I personally consider to be the best programs to watch/listen to.

I don't consider the $$ I pay Sky Angel to be payment for the actual programming as much as I consider it payment for the service they provide by making the programming available in a consolidated and convenient format. Can I get a lot of the same programs on-line? Yes. Would I be as likely to go to the effort to access them? No. The IPTV service is well worth $14.99 for the faith package!

 

[Scroll]

I don't know why channels such as Fox News don't make themselves available directly to non-DBS subscribers via Ku even if they have to charge a fee directly to the consumer to avoid issues with their other contracts.

We know that many FTA receivers have a smart card slot and being a rookie in this area some say the slot is useless and others leave the impression that it can be properly used to pay for some subscriptions. So I don't know.

I'm not certain if the access card option is cost prohibitive or if the reasons have nothing to do with cost at all. But it does seem like a lot of people would like that availability for programming reception without paying for a package of channels.

As a currently available paid package however I would have to say Direct TV's Family Pak seems the best bang for the buck. If you object to certain channels just block them. For unrelated reasons I have been considering a switch to cable because it's required to get a faster broadband speed from my provider but BHN provides virtually no Christian programming outside of local channels, so it basically leaves me with choosing either FTA or paying a 2nd provider.

If common sense prevailed we would all eventually have the ability to choose from all programming in the market place and just pay per channel, if a fee were required of the broadcaster, but I don't see that happening. The cable lobby is too strong to allow that as are the media companies who subsidize bad programming by bundeling it with more desireable channels.

I suppose that perhaps the next best thing is that over time an IPTV like box will make more programming available via broadband, but as we know from SA IPTV that it has decided to block the ability to allow other content to avoid objectionable content (in it's opinion) even if it were available for a separate subscription. At least that's the impression I get. That's one main reason I decided not to go with IPTV. It never will be an all in one box solution because SA does not want it to be. And my broadband is starved for bandwidth as it is.

 

[chapelrun]

I'm now leaning towards SkyAngel IPTV

After reading all the responses I'm leaning towards SkyAngel IPTV.

I really liked jholland's response and read it several times. (thanks!)

One area I did some research on was the SkyAngel VOD - and folks say they like this feature and SA is adding new VOD's all the time.

May sound stupid but everytime I go golfing it cost me $25 dollars for 9 holes; so $25 for a month of TV didn't sound too bad.

 

[jholland]

I agree. I also have cable and pay much more for that than I do for Sky Angel IPTV. $14.99 or $24.99 is a bargain compared to cable prices!

And BTW, I do use my DVR constantly on cable. I just never saw much need for DVR with the SA programming.

I kinda think of all the faith TV programs as additional VOD -- because they are just that for 48 hours. Since a substantial portion of the faith programming is ministries that repeat weekly (or daily if M-F) and are often repeated on multiple channels, with a little planning, I won't ever miss a program I want to see. For example, I like Aspiring Women. It is on at least three of the channels at different times. I have 48 hours from each one of those broadcasts to catch the program. VOD from my perspective!

And, Chapelrun, if you haven't caught my comments about an FM transmitter in other posts, let me tell you that for an additional $100, I added an FM transmitter that sends the audio of all SA channels to every radio in my house, garage, or yard. As I go about my day, I can pop a radio on wherever I am and listen to the SA programming.

Then . . . I spent a bit more to get a second SA remote and an RF transmitter (think that is what it is called). I inserted that in the second remote in place of one of the batteries and Voila! I have a remote I can carry with me around the house -- and I can turn SA on/off and change channels from anywhere in the house. I can even turn it on in the middle of the night from my bed.

Hey, you can tell I wanna get good use from Sky Angel programming!!

 

[chapelrun]

Took forever to decide

I finally took the plunge today and signed up for Sky Angel IPTV. I know, I know - - - I took forever to make up my mind but I did many things before going this route.

1. I did setup a GloryStar like dish that gets 101W and 97W which I really like. (The hard part for me on this one was Line of Sight - had to cut some limbs down)
2. More closely compaired DISH Family and SkyAngel

I was with SkyAngel in the Satellite days and always missed it after it was gone. Now I can have Foxs News again for the election!


Anyway ultimately I went with SkyAngel IPTV after debating on it for about 3 months.

 

[jholland]

Good for you, Chapelrun! Enjoy!!

 

[Yode]

Subscribed to Sky Angel satellite programming from about 1998 through 2008, 10 years at an average cost of about $90-100 per year. I thought it was great, inexpensive, and wholesome programming for my family. I was upset when satellite service terminated but gratefully accepted refund from SA. I waited 7 months and Tuesday(Oct 7) ordered SA iptv. Received equipment in NE Indiana and installed Friday(Oct 10). Initially shocked by poor blue picture but took care of problem by going into advanced configuration and setting video connection type. I think S-connector is default but must set to Comp[onent] Video if using 5- and 3-cable connectors. Had a problem receiving SA iptv when set Westell 7500 firewall security to typical(medium) so had to reset to minimum security. Don't know how yet to keep medium security and receive SA iptv, maybe something in port forwarding. Speed test from New Yord to Indiana on DSL at about 2.4 to 2.8 mbps. No SA buffering problems.

I have a 32-inch Toshiba LCD digital TV and recently subscribed to Verizon 3.0 mbps DSL. Set up SA and Verizon on same day and was simple and quick to get SA working. Picture quaility is as good or better than satellite. I will carefully monitor and review quality and will not hesitate to return SA equipment during 30-day trial if quality degrades. From what I've seen, I am satisfied. Pleased to be receiving channels we have enjoyed over past 10-years. My son likes Qubo, I don't care for rock christian channels. My wife laughed for almost an hour watching Ken Davis tonight.

I think work is needed on Set Top BoSTB) and remote, could be clearer and simpler to use. Satellite equipment is more straight forward, easier to use, and get quicker responses. I think SA iptv is a good choice for families, especially with children in home, but a dependable internet connection is needed. I would prefer SA on satellite but am happy as long as I don't have internet slowdown. Bought satellite dish & receiver from Glorystar.tv and watched FTA that for a while but not much variety as SA iptv.