Noob.. Gotta start somewhere..

[Zombie069]

I've read the rules so I hope I'm ready to post..

I've seen the FTA systems on ebay and never really thought alot about it until I found this place and started reading.

First question is, why is it that all these signals are up there FTA? I was one of the unassuming that thought all sat signals simply needed decryption to view. I see tho there are alot of channels.

Second, am I reasonably safe buying a setup from ebay? I have read about several people ending up with hacked/cloned junk that doesn't work..
I've been a D* customer for 15 or so years of and on and I'm capable, just not knowledge with this yet. I don't want to waste money on crap if it's avoidable..

:

 

[Anole]

I think eBay isn't so much good or bad, as that there are good and bad vendors and prices to be found there.
As with anything, good shopping will find you the best deal... which isn't always the lowest price.

You should probably choose a number of receivers that meet your needs, then go shopping for those.
The first step of course, would be to determine what your needs are.

There are threads around here where folks have discussed their favorite receivers, and a small hand-full seem the most popular.
However, with favorite satellites, there is a bit more discussion.

Our advertizers offer package deals on receiver, LNB, and dish.
You might explore those as a first step.
Feel free to discuss several potential receivers, if you're not sure about them.
For many bits of equipment, we have reviews in the ... review section.

 

[Tron]

First question is, why is it that all these signals are up there FTA? I was one of the unassuming that thought all sat signals simply needed decryption to view. I see tho there are alot of channels.

Most of the channels we receive FTA are uplinked for broadcasters and cable TV headends. We are not the intended audience, but are eavesdroppers There are plenty of "wild feeds" that are up there for news departments to capture. The Equity channels on G-10R (123w) are meant for the Equity-owned affiliate stations.

On the other hand, most religious and ethnic channels are up there for direct-to-home reception. This includes most of what is on G-25 (97w).

 

[Zombie069]

You should probably choose a number of receivers that meet your needs, then go shopping for those.
The first step of course, would be to determine what your needs are.

Well I guess that's the hard part.. I don't know what my needs really are..
I have alot of show set to record now that the season is starting, AND theres CI, AND my roomate watches a ton of football, so I thought if it was possible to add some more inputs to the tv's then why not..?

I've got an extra dish500 and LNB the installer left me so I could set it up to get Colorado locals vs. NM locals, will that work with an appropriate FTA receiver?
Also see some Coolsat 7000 units that allow PVR via USB devices. Is this an ok unit that I'll get some life out of? I'd rather not buy something I'll outgrow next month.

:

Thanks

 

[lumpkin666]

Well I guess that's the hard part.. I don't know what my needs really are..
I have alot of show set to record now that the season is starting, AND theres CI, AND my roomate watches a ton of football, so I thought if it was possible to add some more inputs to the tv's then why not..?

I've got an extra dish500 and LNB the installer left me so I could set it up to get Colorado locals vs. NM locals, will that work with an appropriate FTA receiver?
Also see some Coolsat 7000 units that allow PVR via USB devices. Is this an ok unit that I'll get some life out of? I'd rather not buy something I'll outgrow next month.

:

Thanks

The dish500 dish to seriously undersized for almost all FTA reception except for only the strongest signals. The Dish lnbf would not be useful for any FTA except maybe to receive NASA, some audio channels, and the "barker" channels from a Dishnet sat.

Check list link - FTAList.com Master Channel List
That is a list of channels your can expect to receive using a 30" (or larger) dish and a linear (not dishnet) lnbf.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Beware of shopping on Ebay for FTA receivers, many reports of people ording and getting a dead unit that someone screwed up trying to hack it.

Also remember you could win a complete setup from SatelliteAV.

 

[Anole]

As Lumpkin said, that FTA List will get you right to the English (that's apparently all you want) programming and weed out all the foreign language.
Then, a 36" dish and linear LNB would be appropriate (and cost-effective).
The 20" dish is too small and has a circular LNB.

I'm trying not to prejudice you on receivers, but since you've mentioned the Coolsat 7000 pvr, let me counter that with the Visionsat IV200.
We also have a lengthy review of it in our FTA Review Department.

There are many fine receivers which don't provide the ability to record shows.
If you are looking at any of them, we can discuss some of the more popular models.

An area that may or may not be important to you, is the number and type of video outputs on the FTA receiver.
- coax for channel 3 output
- RCA Composite video
- S-video cable
- RCA Component video - 3 wire
Video quality gets better as you go down the list.
Of course, it does depend on programming material and transmission bandwidth.
Whitesprings isn't known for its high quality source material.

I have two receivers.
One has RF and Composite output for video.
I use the Composite output, and get a very nice signal.
It also has digital audio on an RCA coax connector, but I use standard RCA audio cables.

My other receiver has RF, Composite, S-video, and Component outputs for video.
For digital audio out, it has an optical connector in addition to standard RCA linear audio.

On a minor note, a receiver with lots of outputs might be used to feed two TV sets, or for some trick hookups with PIP.

There are two other features that may or may not be useful to you:
- blind scan, to find programming that's not documented, such as news or sports feeds
- ability to reliably control a motor to move your dish
We can discuss those later, but no need to overload your brain just yet.

Hope this gets you thinking...

 

[Wescopc]

I've got an extra dish500 and LNB the installer left me so I could set it up to get Colorado locals vs. NM locals, will that work with an appropriate FTA receiver?

You will not be able to get locals with a legal FTA receiver.
Bob

 

[Zombie069]

You will not be able to get locals with a legal FTA receiver.
Bob

It wasn't left for the FTA end of it.. The Dish installer gave it to me to add to my dish setup for their locals I just never got around to installing it. I just live with out-of-state locals. If it won't work I'll just save it.

I'm pretty ebay weary with anything.. There's a few sellers on there who claim to be authorized coolsat dealers, figured they would be the safest to deal with.

Thanks for the info Anole, I have some reading to do. But yes mainly looking for english channels, I had glanced at that site lastnight from another of your posts.
The PVR isn't the deciding factor although it would be nice. I have a JVC RX1028 reciever with tons of inputs so the more options the better. Digital audio is a must. And HD tv is coming in the near future so HDMI might be nice but not necessary ATM. I'll hit the reviews link and check out some options.

Thanks guys for all the info. :

 

[Mr Tony]

check out thelist for a better up to date list of channels to get with a 30" dish