New guy. Where do I start?

[Mr Gump]

Ok. So I got the bright idea to jump into this world with no real research. Bought a cheap reciever off eBay to see what it was. ( x-square technolgy M1 ) There is a fairly new dish hd dish mounted on the roof of the house I am renting, seems to be ok. I live in zip 32137. Recent transplant from georgia. I have read a ridiculous amount of stuff online over the last 2 days, can't find anything that gives me enough info to pull in a decent signal from anywhere.
Need a good starting point.
Here's what I would love to figure out....
I have kids, 10 and 13. They love cartoons, nikelodeon, cartoon network, etc.
I have this sick addiction to the Atlanta falcons.
We watch a lot of movies.
What is my best shot at hitting a satellite fta and satisfying most of those things?
Thanks guys.

 

[Magic Static]

Welcome to the Forum!! You will find all the info you need here . I would start by throwing that receiver you bought away. Those cost $7~$8 from China and can't do much except frustrate you, IMHO. TheTurbo Dish on the roof is not the right kind for FTA, disregaurd that. Now there are some starter kits that might fit your needs for around $200. This would be a good choice..Satellite AV, LLC - Satellite Broadcaster Support and Equipment Distribution
There are many others you could choose from, but I like this one. That will get you into an KU band FTA setup. There are many more channels available with the older C-Band dishes, the 8' and larger ones. Those can be had for free at times

 

[phlatwound]

Check out this link to get a general idea what kind of channels that you can get FTA.

SatelliteGuys.US_TheList - TheList

You are not going to find the vast majority of the typical "cable" channels, but some stuff like that does appear occasionally. And there are lots of college sports feeds that appear during their seasons.

 

[KE4EST]

Welcome to the Site. Yes that receiver is not going to make you happy. Also you will need a different dish and LNBF. The Link that Magic provided is an excellent start.

Not gonna get the channels you listed. You might get the Falcons on a wild feed though at times, but nothing consistent. Still plenty of stuff out there to receive....welcome to the hobby.

 

[chaskuchar]

with what you want to receive, the dish family pack at about 15 per month might fit the bill but you have to have a dish receiver and a dish and cable installed. sometimes they have specials also. one thing about dish is if you own the receiver you can quit anytime you want. you are not on a one or two year contract. hopefully i got this right though. and sometimes dish has free movies for the month. this month is encore or something like that. 5 or 6 movie channels. charlie