Sidecar 905...

[BubahJim]

I seen ads saying add a Sidecar device to a existing c band analog reciever in order to recieve digital tv signals. My question is this for the guys is this. If you have a good digital reciever like the Fortec Classic do you really need this?

Bubahjim

 

[dfergie]

The Sidecar gets you 4dtv which is much different (subscription) than the FTA that the Fortec gets you...

 

[BubahJim]

Thanks for setting me straight.

Thanks for the help. I was getting the two confused.

 

[stardust1]

also note that a side car unit is designed to work with an "existing c band analog reciever"

 

[partyharty]

Does anyone still sell the 905? I have looked around but I havent been able to find one (that was actually for sale, I have found many many different "specs" pages but thats about it).

I have a good (gi) analog receiver and I figured this would be an easier way to get 4dtv (vs buying a 922 for $299+6 mo premium sub package).

 

[stardust1]

partyharty- try good old e bay, ats electronics or skyvision. A side car isn't that much cheaper than a used 920 and it will move your dish. It is really nice to just pick a channel from the guide hit enter and have the dish move and tune the channel for you. A 920 with a blind scan dvb reciever is a great easy to use setup

 

[truckracer]

905 vs 920

One thing to keep in mind when choosing an older 920 is that it only receives multi-channel per carrier signals or known as MCPC. where as the 905 will receive single channel per carrier and multi-channel per carrier.

SCPC capability is good for Digicipher 2 free to air signals that only have one channel on a transponder. That is if you plan on using your dsr-9xx for any free to air plus your subsciptions stuff.

True with a 905 you will need a dish mover but i found my analog orb-7500 at www.eyeinthesky.net for less than $100.00 new with remote and my dsr-905 from ebay for $200 new in the box with remote (never opened).

I like having analog so you can watch some of the free analog stuff.

 

[stardust1]

truckracer- very interesting - How many channels are you getting scpc?

I think which unit you get is a personal judgment call. Each has advantages and disadvantages. For instance the 920 remote has uhf capability the 905 does not. The 920 is more family friendly over the 905 being only one unit. The 922 does it all but is more expensive. I'm going to pick up a 922 at some point and keep my 920 as a spare or use it with a second dish. In my case I watched ebay for about a month and scored a broken 920 for $70 with 2 remotes. I sent it to ats they repaired it and installed a new battery for $100 bucks.

"I like having analog so you can watch some of the free analog stuff." Just to be clear both the 920 and 922 are analog recievers with built in 4dtv(Digicipher II) and Videocypher decoders

920/921/922/905 comparison
http://anubis.macross.com/~drlev/19130.1.htm

– Multi-Channel Per Carrier

Multiple Channels Per digital data Carrier. MCPC DCII is the only kind of digital carrier the 4DTV can tune. For Example: Discovery Science Channel is on Virtual Channel 612 on Satcom-C3. The actual transponder is transponder 22. There is one digital data stream on transponder 22, but that stream is divided into 9 data sets which are rendered as 9 channels. SCPC - Single Channel Per digital data Carrier. A digital carrier that has only 1 channel on it. PBS has some affiliates with Single-channel carriers in the sky. GSOD - Grey Screen Of Death - The grey screen of death is when the unit displays a "This channel is not available." screen. Most common with un-mapped DCII channels. These channels may not be subscribed to as they are not configured for 4DTV authorization. Some channels may show a "Not Subscribed" message similar to Classic Sports on XB-400 .