Newbie to Satellite

[Nate82]

Hey all,

I am pretty new to to the whole satellite arena(coming from cable), and was wondering if you guys could answer some of the questions I had. A google search showed me satelliteguys.us is THE biggest and best place to get my questions answered, so I registered and here I am.

I am located in Houston, TX area, and was thinking of going with Dish rather than directv because of mainly the prices ( still thinking about it). I have read up on few things, but confused regarding some others. here they are:

1) I wanted international and HD channels. What dish am I looking for in my area? I see that 1000.4 is what I want but wanted to confirm. I also see that there is a black and light grey version. Is there a difference? And if I am asking specifically for for the 1000.4, how do I make sure dish installs the correct one, as in is there a way to identify this dish from lets say a non-1000.4 one.

2) What is the pro vs con programming wise for dish vs directv?

3) A standard install will cover how many rooms. and do you need an extra receiver for each room?

4) Any way I could get more familiar with the whole satellite area like a wiki or something similar

Sorry, if some of these questions are dumb and too obvious. Please forgive my stupidity then. And any response is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[garys]

1. You would want a Dish 1000+, it would give you 110, 119, 118, and 129.
2. Mostly sports, if you want pro sports packages ie: NFL or MLB, you will want Direct tv.
3. Four rooms would be two dual tuner receivers.
4. Search here and Dish and Direct sites and keep asking questions.

 

[MaryB@SlingTV]

Hey all,

I am pretty new to to the whole satellite arena(coming from cable), and was wondering if you guys could answer some of the questions I had. A google search showed me satelliteguys.us is THE biggest and best place to get my questions answered, so I registered and here I am.

I am located in Houston, TX area, and was thinking of going with Dish rather than directv because of mainly the prices (still thinking about it). I have read up on few things, but confused regarding some others. here they are:

1) I wanted international and HD channels. What dish am I looking for in my area? I see that 1000.4 is what I want but wanted to confirm. I also see that there is a black and light grey version. Is there a difference? And if I am asking specifically for for the 1000.4, how do I make sure dish installs the correct one, as in is there a way to identify this dish from lets say a non-1000.4 one.

2) What is the pro vs con programming wise for dish vs directv?

3) A standard install will cover how many rooms. and do you need an extra receiver for each room?

4) Any way I could get more familiar with the whole satellite area like a wiki or something similar

Sorry, if some of these questions are dumb and too obvious. Please forgive my stupidity then. And any response is sincerely appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi and to Sat Guys! I will be happy to answer some of your questions. In the Houston area you can get your service from an Eastern Arc or a Western Arc installation. The technician doing you install will normally make this determination on site at the point of installation as Line Of Site is very important.

1. The technicians are normally limited to the dish install they have on their truckand what type od programming you are wanting. You would most likely be a 1000+ for HD and internationals. There is not way to choose the color unless you possible go thru a local retailer and they have what you are looking for in stock.

2. Dish does have a much larger selection of international packages than Direct. The main difference in programming will be that DISH has more national HD channels and Direct will have more sports, especially Regional Sports Channels in HD full time.

3. Dish will install up to 6 rooms. We do have Duo receivers which will work 2 rooms independently, with one in HD or one in SD. If you want HD in all rooms it will require a receiver in each room. You will be limited to 3 leased receivers. DISH does have a new receiver (The Hopper) which will allow for a whole home DVR if that is something you may be interested in. It has not been released yet but it is coming soon.

4. I am not sure what type of satellite area you are looking for, but if you search this site for a specific question and you will get a lot of answers.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance to you!

 

[Tampa8]

I will try to give a fair minded answer, I have Dish Network.

MOST important - there are representatives from Dish Network who are on this site like MARYB above. They have become specially trained and you will get the best most complete answer from them about what you need. I strongly - no - very strongly advise you to contact one of them.

1. Let the installer decide the best set-up for you. Dish has more international programming than anyone else I believe, so depending on what you want they should have it. I will explain about HD.

2. As for HD, I am not familiar enough with the international programming to know now how many international channels are in HD, but for sure only some are.
Comparing Direct TV and Dish network really isn't hard, I believe they are the two best ways to go rather than most Cable companies. Direct TV has more sport options than Dish Network, although the gap has narrowed. Direct has the NFL Sunday Ticket and MLB Extra Innings, Dish does not. Direct TV also has most every local sports network, Dish is missing a few, they do have yours. However Direct TV most always will broadcast a local pro sports team in HD, with Dish it depends. In the Boston market for instance, it's a sure bet the Red Sox or Bruins will be in HD, as well as the Celtics almost always. But in some markets only sometimes will it be in HD. So if that is most important to you, consider Direct TV or find out how often Dish broadcasts your local pro teams in HD.
Dish however has more what I call regular channels in HD, like BBCA and History 2, just to name two of about 15 or so that Direct TV does not carry in HD. Depending on your particular set-up, Dish may cost less, but not always and I wouldn't go by cost when deciding, go by what you watch.
As for equipment, Dish is coming out with what is called a Whole House Solution, similar to what Direct TV has had for awhile. Or you may just want regular receivers. Whatever, I would go over that with the Dish Network CSR's from this site.