News from NPS

[tdti1]

This from a dude at NPS:



NPS has verified and officially confirmed, TNT, TBS, CNN, CNNHL, Cartoon
will be staying in their current analog positions til the end of 2006.


Thank you,
John Ferguson
C-band Sales
NPS
jferguson@callnps.com
1-800-444-3474 ext 599

 

[nailzs]

Hi John,
A while back there was talk about Motorola working on a program that would let the DSR922 receive Megapipe encrypted channels. Have you heard any more about that?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Hurray for analog! I'm going to miss Starz / Encore when it goes digital .

Shawn

 

[mkm4]

Hi John,
A while back there was talk about Motorola working on a program that would let the DSR922 receive Megapipe encrypted channels. Have you heard any more about that?

That was just a rumor and is phsically impossible. It's a limitation in the hardware that prevents a 92X/905 from receiving megapipe.

 

[Diamond Jim]

NPS has verified and officially confirmed, TNT, TBS, CNN, CNNHL, Cartoon will be staying in their current analog positions til the end of 2006.

I was wondering about that because I just received a bill for those services. I caught them running a sham where they would hit you for a yearly fee for an analog service then it would go digital, then about two months later I got my Absolute Digital bill with a slight raise and low and behold there was the services that I had just paid for being recycled on this bill. I called and complained and they made an adjustment. Don't get me wrong, I like NPS, been with them for 20 years, but if you don't keep track of your services and payments they will stick you.

 

[voomvoom]

Jim, I've had the same type crap happen to me with Netlink. I've been using there Absolute Pakage/+ Starz! digital for years. When I first got it, it was just under $700 annually, and now they want $950. I also once got there Digital Basic Package and even later there Digital Expanded Package. This was when channels started leaving analog for digital and these were channels that I already had paid for in the Absolute Package. So I know what you're talking about. Mine expires tonight 12-6-05 and I'm going to let it do just that. As I've noticed I don't watch any subscription analog except an occassional Sci-Fi program. So, I only watch digital movies. I've decided it's no longer worth it to me to stay loyal to them. About 4-5 years ago I started using NPS for there digital sports programming. A couple of years ago I noticed I was paying duplicate charges to Netlink and NPS for some non-sports digital programming. At that time I dropped Netlinks Digital Expanded Package. Now I'm dropping Netlink entirely and adding NPS's "Movie Lovers Pack". That should save me about $400, and I'll be a happier voomer.

Al

 

[tdti1]

Yes we should support the ones who support us, NPS and SRL.

 

[truckracer]

I got nps and 4dtv up and running today, they were super super nice and helpful to me. I have a dsr-905 with a 7.5' sami mesh, c/ku lnbf's (an astrotel c-band lnbf with a hole drilled in the rear end and a KU lnbf stuck in the hole with silicone for adhesive-and yes it gets great signal qualities-LOL).

On the digital HBO's and Cinemax channels, i get a quality of 60 on some and a quality of 49-50 on the others. I have no idea what the tp frequencies or polarities. I have not got that far into it yet, I did find a few free digicipher 2 channels on some of the other birds. I love 4DTV!

 

[tdti1]

"On the digital HBO's and Cinemax channels, i get a quality of 60 on some and a quality of 49-50 on the others."

That is good for a undersized reflector, you must have it peaked very well.

 

[iammike]

"On the digital HBO's and Cinemax channels, i get a quality of 60 on some and a quality of 49-50 on the others."
That is good for a undersized reflector, you must have it peaked very well.

This got me wondering. Is there any place we can go to pull up some reference numbers on what is a good 4dtv quality rating for the different sats? It would sure help us newbies figure out how well we've got our dishes set up.

 

[tdti1]

For HBO/MAX

Well with reading on many forums I see many people with 12' getting 80s and up 10' 76 and up 8.5' 60s and up people with dishes smaller than this get them 40s and up or not at all.

These readings are for the 905 and 922.

920 has different quality readings.

 

[iammike]

Thanks! Now I'm looking forward to going home and seeing how my 7.5 foot or so Cassegrain dish stacks up.

 

[Wayn23]

Thanks! Now I'm looking forward to going home and seeing how my 7.5 foot or so Cassegrain dish stacks up.

I can give numbers for my two dishes on G1 HBO's

Dish 1 Orbitron C-10, 10 ft. mesh with button hook feed support.
Hbo 100 -111 quality varies between 77 and 81 112-117 quality
was between 67-71 dish now stuck on G-1 waiting for new arm.

Dish 2 Birdview 8.5 ft spun alluminum solid with six point feed support

HBO 100 -111 Quality 74, 112-117 quality 64 vary seldom changes I believe due to much more solid constuction.

Location So California 905 sidecar.

 

[iammike]

Well the server just ate my first reply, so here goes again.

I think my numbers are looking okay. I'm getting 59 and 60 on 100-111 and 53 and 54 on 112-117. Interestingly enough, if I go over to G9 and try HBOHD my quality jumps up to around 77. It seems like I read something a while back about G1 being kind of notorious for poor reception. Is that true, or am I getting it confused with something else?

Another interesting fact I came across while playing just now is that HBO and Cinemax descramble their signal when they're between shows. They let you watch all the previews, and rescramble right after giving the rating info for the next program. Kind of a good marketing ploy if you ask me. I was really impressed with the picture. It's much better than the picture I remember when I had it on Dish network a year or so ago, and I was watching through a composite input. Kind of makes me wonder what CBand through that r5000 pvr would look like.

Thanks for posting the numbers guys!

 

[tdti1]

HBO/MAX will have lower quality reading than Starz on G1-150 and up, this is do to the fact that HBO/MAX use a higher FEC (forward error corection) rate that improves picture quality, though this is of course ment for cable headends with the proper recieve site gear, undersized or misaligned reflectors will have difficulty locking these feeds, they maximize the picture other than the signal.