New bie quetsion -What satellite's are good to have for dish?

[lwh1993]

Hi, I've had dish for 6 months and really enjoy it, HD is good and I love the 722. I live in Minneapolis and I guess I get satellite's 110, 119 and 129.

I really don't know the difference between them. I'm assuming most of this is region related, but are some better than others(mpeg2 vs mpeg4), are some more geared towards HD?

Thanks,

Todd

 

[KAB]

http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/133476-confused.html

 

[harshness]

Different satellites offer different programming. They're simply spreading the programming around because it won't all fit on one satellite.

As it turns out with your market, the programming that you currently get from 129W will eventually be switched over to 61.5W. At that time, you'll get a new dish that looks at an entirely different set of satellites. Your HD locals are available on both 129W CONUS (covering the entire service area of the satellite) and from a 61.5W spotbeam (small footprint covering your area and not much else).

 

[Mr Tony]

Hi, I've had dish for 6 months and really enjoy it, HD is good and I love the 722. I live in Minneapolis and I guess I get satellite's 110, 119 and 129.

I really don't know the difference between them. I'm assuming most of this is region related, but are some better than others(mpeg2 vs mpeg4), are some more geared towards HD?

Thanks,

Todd

Dish has satellites at the following locations
61.5, 105, 110, 118.7, 119, 121, 129, 148

61.5 has National HD channels, HD locals for east coast cities. Now they are spotbeaming there to allow more HD locals to be on 61.5. There are some international channels too but they are moving them
105 use to have locals for some smaller areas but they are cleaning them off. Those locals have been moved to 129..Dish leases this satellite
110 is one of the 2 main programming satellites (the 2nd one).
118.7 has most International (ethnic) channels and some HD locals
119 is the original Dish satellite and has most of the main programming on it.
121 use to have Int'l and locals but those are being moved to 129
129 has a mish mash of stuff. National HD, local HD channels (like Minneapolis HD locals) and some smaller cities SD locals (the ones that were moved off 105 & 121)
148 has some International stuff (again being moved) and some smaller cities locals

Dish use to have International channels on 4 (FOUR!!) locations (61.5, 148, 121 and 118.7) but are now migrating all Int'l to 118.7

 

[lwh1993]

Thanks guys, great info

 

[Racer47]

Does anyone know the footprint (or maybe have a map) for the 61.5 spot beam with the Minneapolis HD locals? Or is there any speculation as to how long Minneapolis HD locals will remain on 129?

thanks in advance for any info

 

[kbailey11481]

Different satellites offer different programming. They're simply spreading the programming around because it won't all fit on one satellite.

As it turns out with your market, the programming that you currently get from 129W will eventually be switched over to 61.5W. At that time, you'll get a new dish that looks at an entirely different set of satellites. Your HD locals are available on both 129W CONUS (covering the entire service area of the satellite) and from a 61.5W spotbeam (small footprint covering your area and not much else).

How could I find similar info for Jackson, MS? I've currently got a Dish1000 pointed at 110, 119, and 129. My HD locals are now available on 61.5 which I'm told will require a second dish. I was trying to figure out if there is a way for me to get 61.5 without a second dish.

 

[Jim5506]

How could I find similar info for Jackson, MS? I've currently got a Dish1000 pointed at 110, 119, and 129. My HD locals are now available on 61.5 which I'm told will require a second dish. I was trying to figure out if there is a way for me to get 61.5 without a second dish.

Not at the present time. Dish's Eastern Arc is supposed to include 61.5 with two other sats viewable by one dish, but that's in the future.

 

[kbailey11481]

Not at the present time. Dish's Eastern Arc is supposed to include 61.5 with two other sats viewable by one dish, but that's in the future.

Thanks for info:up. One other question though- how far in the future is the Eastern Arc? I've currently got an OTA that does pretty well so I could wait if that seems like a better option. My main motivation with upgrading now was A) they offered me free without even having to ask and B) the desire to be able multiple HD inputs for the local channels since the OTA only has one.

 

[harshness]

I was trying to figure out if there is a way for me to get 61.5 without a second dish.

There isn't a DBS dish available that will give you 61.5W, 110W and 119W all at the same time. In Jackson, 61.5W is more than 90 degrees separated from 119W so a single reflector can't do either of them any good. Where I live, 61.5W is separated from 119W by only 64 degrees. Each location would require a fairly custom double dished reflector with two LNBs.

 

[GNASH]

Thanks for info:up. One other question though- how far in the future is the Eastern Arc? I've currently got an OTA that does pretty well so I could wait if that seems like a better option. My main motivation with upgrading now was A) they offered me free without even having to ask and B) the desire to be able multiple HD inputs for the local channels since the OTA only has one.

Eastern Arc is speculated to be later in May, but at first, Dish is saying that it will only be available to new subscribers.

Geoff