Needing another project (I'm not happy unless I have half a dozen or so projects going) and not being real happy with the quality of the E* SD picture on my Hitachi HDTV, I decided to go with a BUD. After much research, head scratching, confused mumbling to myself, etc. I decided to let Mike Kohl ( http://www.global-cm.net ) figure out what I needed and get them shipped to me.
This definitely is not a DIY project for the faint of heart. Installing the 10' BUD was the hardest part, rented a ditch witch to dig the trench across the drive way to the dish. The walk behind Ditchwitch didn't hack it, had to get the bigger ride on. This southwest Colorado clay is HARD. The BUD instructions wanted a 2' diameter hole 5' deep for the pole. Ended up using an air chisel with a 5' piece of pvc pipe hose clamped to it with a remote air valve to chip out the clay, and a shop vac to vacuum the chips out of the hole. Finally, after three day of chipping got to 18" diameter 4 1/2' deep and said thats good enough. Mixed the concrete (11 bags of quickcrete) and set the 4" od pipe. Used 2-1/2" pvc conduit in the trench. Punching a 3" hole through the concrete foundation to get into the house is another story. Assembling the dish took another 2 days, would have been easier if I had arms like an orangutan, reaching 5' to the center of the dish from the edge to put in screws. Got all the cables hooked up, and started tracking the dish. Took a while to get it tracking, had never done it before. Understanding the principals and doing it are two different things. Ordered a month of the 'get it all' programming from NPS ( http://www.callnps.com ) to see what was available before making a final decision on what to get. Very nice and friendly people. Really go out of their way to help newbies. They gave me a month of the digital pack free.
Looked at the SD programming, had to double check to see if it wasn't HD. The picture quality totally blows E* sd picture quality out of the water. Did side by side comparisons using the same S-vidio input on the Hitachi.
Looking at the HD programming, about the same picture quality, but a lot more choices on BUD. (East and West hbo, starz, etc.).
Only thing not on BUD that I will miss is Hallmark. I have not completely make up my mind, but I think I will keep the E* HD pack, and drop everything else.
Now all I have to do is set up my 'mediacenter' pc to time shift the bud stuff. (Another project.)
All in all, I am not disappointed in what I got. It is an expensive (about 3 grand) alternative to E*, but in my mind worth it. Since I have 2+ acres and am in the county putting up a 10' dish is no problem, but for a lot of people a BUD is not an option.
Bruce
This definitely is not a DIY project for the faint of heart. Installing the 10' BUD was the hardest part, rented a ditch witch to dig the trench across the drive way to the dish. The walk behind Ditchwitch didn't hack it, had to get the bigger ride on. This southwest Colorado clay is HARD. The BUD instructions wanted a 2' diameter hole 5' deep for the pole. Ended up using an air chisel with a 5' piece of pvc pipe hose clamped to it with a remote air valve to chip out the clay, and a shop vac to vacuum the chips out of the hole. Finally, after three day of chipping got to 18" diameter 4 1/2' deep and said thats good enough. Mixed the concrete (11 bags of quickcrete) and set the 4" od pipe. Used 2-1/2" pvc conduit in the trench. Punching a 3" hole through the concrete foundation to get into the house is another story. Assembling the dish took another 2 days, would have been easier if I had arms like an orangutan, reaching 5' to the center of the dish from the edge to put in screws. Got all the cables hooked up, and started tracking the dish. Took a while to get it tracking, had never done it before. Understanding the principals and doing it are two different things. Ordered a month of the 'get it all' programming from NPS ( http://www.callnps.com ) to see what was available before making a final decision on what to get. Very nice and friendly people. Really go out of their way to help newbies. They gave me a month of the digital pack free.
Looked at the SD programming, had to double check to see if it wasn't HD. The picture quality totally blows E* sd picture quality out of the water. Did side by side comparisons using the same S-vidio input on the Hitachi.
Looking at the HD programming, about the same picture quality, but a lot more choices on BUD. (East and West hbo, starz, etc.).
Only thing not on BUD that I will miss is Hallmark. I have not completely make up my mind, but I think I will keep the E* HD pack, and drop everything else.
Now all I have to do is set up my 'mediacenter' pc to time shift the bud stuff. (Another project.)
All in all, I am not disappointed in what I got. It is an expensive (about 3 grand) alternative to E*, but in my mind worth it. Since I have 2+ acres and am in the county putting up a 10' dish is no problem, but for a lot of people a BUD is not an option.
Bruce
also have a standalone vc2 unit with no ird.
