Switch from digital cable to dish network?

[clor0xbleech]

Questions:

A) Does it go out in bad weather?

B) Is ther any remote lag (like if a press guide , it takes like 2 seconds to process)

C) Will they get indemand programming?

Receiver i plan to get

dish 522 dvr, use it in to rooms.

Email: Clorox@xrs.net

 

[SimpleSimon]

Welcome aboard!

A) Properly installed, it should only go out in extremely heavy rain. Overall, DBS outages are less than cable in most areas. Should be NO problem in Houston.
B) Depends on the receiver model, but the E* guide is HUGELY better than any cable guides - really!
C) There's lots of PPV, but you're NOT going to get "start the movie I want at 5:37 PM). The bandwidth just does not exist.

The 522 is far from perfect, but once you've adjusted to a PVR, you'll never watch live TV again.

 

[typerk]

Mine usually goes out in a storm. The rain itself doesn't make it go out it's the cloud cover in my case. I live in dallas area so it happens more than care for. The other stuff happens but should be fixed soon. Much much cheaper than cable. I had comcast and was getting robbed. I would definitely suggest you get it.

 

[clor0xbleech]

so...

Yeah, i am getting robbed by time warner digital cable, SBC has given me an offer to switch to dish network and sbc satellite tv. but, i had one more question, if i had a 522 in my bedroom, where do i point my remote if my living room is downstairs?

 

[Enforcer]

If you plan to have the 522, it comes with two seperate remotes for the two different tuners that are built into the receiver. So... you keep one remote in your bedroom and the other downstairs on your table. The second remote operates on UHF frequency so you can operate the receiver without pointing the remote to your receiver. Hope that answers your question. Good luck with your decision! Lovin it here!

 

[mike123abc]

You do not need on demand as much when you have a DVR, just pick a bunch of movies/shows to record in the guide then watch them when you want.

 

[Fishbelly]

Hi Clorox,

I live just north of Houston in Conroe, and have had Dish for the past 6+ years. My reception only goes out approx 2-3 times a year, only during a severe thunderstorm, and only for a few minutes. In addition, the quality of picture is MUCH better than cable--at least in the Conroe area. I hate to go to my in-laws here and watch cable TV at their house . . . can't stand the fuzzy picture.

I've only had a 522 for a week (finally convinced Dish to send me one) and I love it. I've not had the complaints that some have. Folks on these boards have been complaining about the new 522 receiver and it's bugs, but I've seen little wrong with it. Sure, I've experienced the "color fade" bug twice, but it's such a minor hassle, and was very easily corrected. Hell--this receiver is far less buggy than the Dishplayer 7200 I had as my first dvr back in the stone age.

 

[clor0xbleech]

Haha, alright, well, I'll be calling them on tuesday ( If their phone line isnt closed on labor day, ((Monday)) ) And get it installed, because i'm starting to hate that digital cable is billing me so much for a poor package, Thanks, And I hope my decision doesnt backfire.

 

[rhasselbaum]

Give it a shot. You won't be disappinted.

Yeah, one of the biggest under-publicized advantages of satellite over many digital cable providers (including Comcast here around Boston) is picture quality. It's like night and day, especially on a larger TV.

I am a little jelous of my cable friends who have On Demand, but all in all, the benefits of satellite outweigh the disadvantages as far as I'm concerned.

 

[clor0xbleech]

Great, because i've got a 51 inch sony in my living room, so the picture can get fuzzy, unless i watch a dvd with progressive scan on.

 

[Gunkk]

New to the forums here... but saw this and figured I can throw in 2 cents...

a) I live in Florida, and mine goes out only in HEAVY rain (1+ inch/hr thunderstorms). Light rain, clouds, hurricanes, etc. don't affect it much. Yep, that's right. Both Charlie and Frances were "near misses" here (< 20 miles to the eye as it passed by) and I never lost signal with either... well at least not while I was awake

b) Hardly any. Most response times are either instant or <1/2 second for displaying lists of things. Search with the 522 is fast and displays results as it finds them.

 

[clor0xbleech]

One more question, sorry, What is this E and D term, is it like an E firmware and a D firmware for the receiver, or is it the was the satellite itself is set up?

 

[red hazard]

Rain Fade Advice

Questions:

A) Does it go out in bad weather?

B) Is ther any remote lag (like if a press guide , it takes like 2 seconds to process)

C) Will they get indemand programming?

Receiver i plan to get

dish 522 dvr, use it in to rooms.

Email: Clorox@xrs.net

Contrary to some advice regarding weather related events, you can expect in the Houston area to have Ku band disruptions whenever there is a strong thunderstorm in the troposphere between your location and the satellite. Since you are in the Wet rain rate zone E (the worst in CONUS) you can expect to be adversely affected. It amazes that someone in an Arid rain rate zone (southern CA, UT, NM, & AZ) or in a Moderate rain rate zone (central CO, most of ID, MT, & WY) would infer that weather related disruptions (rain fade) would be insignificant in your location based on their living experience in an area that has significantly smaller rain rates. To put this in YOUR PERSPECTIVE, suggest you talk to neighbors that already have a similar satellite system that you're interested in. PM me if you're interested in a link to a Crane model CONUS map.

 

[SimpleSimon]

red_hazard and clor0xbleech: My apologies
I was under the impression that Houston was drier than it is. I was not inferring my climate to theirs, I was simply incorrect in my assumption of their climate. And I'm surprised to find that I live in a "moderate rain rate one". Even ignoring our current drought, I've always been under the impression that I live in a semi-arid zone. Maybe you can post a link to your source?

Still, the outages shouldn't be too bad - there's some nice posts from Florida right now about how little outage has been seen while in the hurricane.

One more question, sorry, What is this E and D term, is it like an E firmware and a D firmware for the receiver, or is it the was the satellite itself is set up?

It's just a little of our shorthand:
E* = Echostar (Dish)
D* = DirecTV

Finally, red's advice to check locally is excellent - I should've said that myself.

 

[clor0xbleech]

Oh, alright, thanks for clarifying that to me.

 

[red hazard]

If I did it right attached is the Crane model of CONUS rain rate zones.
The letters translate as follows:
B Moderate
C Maritime
D Continental
E Wet
F Arid

Within lettered zones, the higher numbered suffixes have the higher rain rates.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Thanks man!

I'm gonna guess that a finer resolution map might have a "semi-Arid" classification that would fit central Colorado. While our runoff supplies the water for a fair chunk of the country, there's not really a lot of rainfall here.

 

[Hall]

Great, because i've got a 51 inch sony in my living room, so the picture can get fuzzy

Assuming it's an HD television, I hope you don't get your hopes up... I have a 57" and with regular shows, it's by no means a "beautiful" picture. Some shows, some channels are definitely better than others too.... Others are downright "bad". We moved up from a 27" and on it, the picture was *great*. Quite frankly, large, modern TVs are "too good" for non-HD reception, IMO.

I also want to comment on losing signal during bad weather. On the *rare* occassion it goes out, it will only be for minutes, 5-10 or so, at the worst.

 

[Fishbelly]

Having read the post by red hazard, perhaps I was not specific in my own posting. I currently have a Dish Network setup in Conroe--a mere 20 miles north of Houston. Our climates are the same. I get great reception. Rain fade IS insignificant, at least at my house. Heck, there's a thunderstorm rolling thru right now, and I've seen nary a flicker.

Perhaps I'm just lucky, I dunno. But I thought I'd offer my $.02 to clorOxbleech, letting him know that it is indeed possible to have very nice reception with Dish in the Houston area.

 

[clor0xbleech]

rain

Cool, because if it rains hard, which it usually always does in houston , my cable goes out for hours. Man, it rains two weeks. and for half a week it's sunny.