Newbie and New Dish Customer

[Brutus]

Hello everyone,

I'm an ex-Voom subscriber. As you've all probably heard by now, Voom will be shutdown as of April 30th. I've done a little research and have settled on Dish Network (or E*, in veteran's terms, right?), and I have a couple of questions that I'm sure the people on this site can answer.

My location is Rhode Island, and my install date is April 28th. I'm getting the DVR-942, the superdish, and the Everything package. Currently, I have the Voom dish still standing. My questions are as follows:

1) I assume that a DPP_44 switch is going to be used to combine the dish's three coax lines into one line, and then a diplexor to split that one line into two for the two sat inputs in the 942. Can the Voom dish be plugged into the fourth input in the DPP_44? Obviously, E* bought the Rainbow 1 satellite, so sooner or later it's going to be utilized and I've already got the old dish pointing to it.

2) How are OTA signals handled? On the Voom STB, it was simply an additional input, and the OTA channels were below channel 100. Does E* and the 942 operate similarly? Also, although Voom provided an OTA antenna, I decided to purchase my own. Does E* provide an OTA antenna, and can I purchase my own?

 

[Dishpointer]

Here you go:

1. The Voom dish cannot be plugged into the DPP 44 switch until the lnb is switched out to a Dish Pro lnb. Since a DP lnb will not fit on the Voom arm, you will need a Dish 300 or 500 dish with a DP lnb. You will also need to use a DPP seperator, not a diplexer, to split the one feed into two for your 942.

2. Your OTA feed can fed into your receiver feeds with a diplexer. E will not provide an OTA antenna. That is up to you.

 

[mdonnelly]

...
2) How are OTA signals handled? On the Voom STB, it was simply an additional input, and the OTA channels were below channel 100. Does E* and the 942 operate similarly? Also, although Voom provided an OTA antenna, I decided to purchase my own. Does E* provide an OTA antenna, and can I purchase my own?

OTA should be handled the same on the 942. E* doesn't supply an OTA antenna, but if your old antenna is pulling in digital OTA, just move the cable over to the 942. Remember that you will have to tell the receiver to scan for local channels before they will show up.

 

[Brutus]

Thanks for the quick reply, mm1 and mdonnelly.

Of cousre, that brings up more questions.

1) Is it better to have two feeds from the DPP44 going to the 942 instead of a DPP seperator?

2) What are your personal opinions about E* and their future plans for HDTV?

 

[SimpleSimon]

A1. Should be no difference in operation or performance. Note that I said "should". Early reports on DPPlus indicate SOME receivers can't handle a DPP device without a separator, others can't handle it with one.

A2. E* lies through their teeth at everybody and they will avoid doing anything that does not put large amounts of money into charlie's pocket.

P.S. What makes you think you'd be getting a DPP44 siwtch anyway? Standard pack for a StupiDish is a DP34, and that unit can NOT use a DPP Separator.

 

[chaddux]

A1. Should be no difference in operation or performance. Note that I said "should". Early reports on DPPlus indicate SOME receivers can't handle a DPP device without a separator, others can't handle it with one.

A2. E* lies through their teeth at everybody and they will avoid doing anything that doe not but large amounts of money into charlie's pocket.

P.S. What makes you think you'd be getting a DPP44 siwtch anyway? Standard pack for a StupiDish is a DP34, and that unit can NOT use a DPP Separator.

Doe not but? Siwtch? StupiDish?

Typing while drunk?

 

[SimpleSimon]

Doe not but? Siwtch? StupiDish?

Typing while drunk?

LOL - was editing it while you caught it. My old laptop keyboard is flaky.

I missed "siwtch", but "StupiDish" is slang for that big piece of crap that tried to catch 105 or 121.

 

[chaddux]

LOL - was editing it while you caught it. My old laptop keyboard is flaky.

I missed "siwtch", but "StupiDish" is slang for that big piece of crap that tried to catch 105 or 121.

Heh. That's the first time I've heard StupiDISH although it did seem to be a bit of stretch for a simple misspelling of SuperDISH. I read the "doe not but" sentence with a Forrest Gump accent and it made me laugh.