Switching to Dish need help with picking dish

[lovemymac]

I am getting Dish network after having D* for 2 weeks i dumped it. The GUI on the hr20 sucks and i have had dish in the past many years ago back before dish plus and all the new Hd stuff.

I live in the KC area and so i get my HD locals off 129. I know someone who has a dish 1000 here and every time it rains they lose their HD locals on 129. And has put up an OTA so they dont always lose the locals when they are watching a show and it snows or rains at all.

I have heard about the dish1000 plus and the dish 1000.2 and a dish 500 plus. I want to get the best signal i can without having to put up another dish. I will have another dish allready pointed at 61.5 for sky angel. I also have a antenna up for local Hds so if i could stick with 1 dish for all 3 sats at 110,119 and 129 would be great but its not a must.

Which of the dishes above would get me the best signal on all the sats? I realize that the dish 1000 plus is the biggest but its also pointing at more satellites i think so i am just trying to figure out which is best.

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[TNGTony]

First, the terms:
Dish 300 - Single DBS Slot Dish (61.5, 110, 119, 129, 148)
Dish 500 - Standard dish for Dish Network. Designed for receiving 110 and 119 at once
Dish 500 Plus - Dish specifically designed for 110 and 119 simultaneous reception PLUS 118.75° FSS satellite reception.
Dish 1000 - Standard dish for HD Dish Network but has the problem with 129° you mention. Specifically designed for 110/119/129 simultaneous reception
Dish 1000.2 - Same as Dish 1000 but slightly larger to help with 129° reception issues.
Dish 1000 PLUS - Dish specifically designed for 110, 119 and 129 simultaneous reception PLUS 118.75° FSS satellite reception. This is also a larger dish so it can also help with 129° reception.
Superdish 105 and Superdish 121 (Discontinued) for reception of 110/119 and either 105 FSS or 121 FSS.

To see what channels are on what satellite look at www.dishchannelchart.com

So getting that out of the way... if you want just one dish a Dish 1000.2 would be the way to go.
A Dish 1000 plus could work too but you have the extra PITA of hitting the 118° satellite.

If you want your best reception of the 129° satellite, a Dish 500 and a separate 24" single-slot dish pointed at 129° would be the way to go.

If you want the best possible picture of your local channels and you have a digital TV (or HDTV) an over the air antenna is the way to go. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will provide a better picture for your local channels than a digital TV with a good antenna. Not cable, not FiOS, not Satellite, nothing!

See ya
Tony

 

[lovemymac]

wouldnt a dish 1000.2 or plus get a better signal for 119 and 110 then a dish 500? or maybe not because the dish is also being used for other sats as well?

I have had a dish 500 when they first came out and i had such rain fade issues.
So i want to make sure i dont have that problem this time around.
My other question is if i used a 30in dish i have be better for the 129 slot or can it be used for the 110/119 slots?

By the way thanks for the info on the different dishes. dish really has quite a number of dishes out there. I noticed my neighbor just got D* and they installed some dish that looks just a bit smaller then the old super dishes. They hate it and are having it took down because its to big. This is a good sized dish can it be used for any E* sats or no?
The reason i ask is the installer told them when he installed it if they didnt like it hed come out and put up a smaller dish and they could do whatever they wanted with this one. They asked me if i could sell it for them or if i wanted it.

 

[TNGTony]

A standard 30" dish cannot really be used for more than one slot since it is not really a multi-focus dish. I am sure some one could modify it, but it is not a simple task.

The larger dishes like the 1000, 1000.2 and 1000plus are multi-focus dishes. So aiming them is more of a compromise. You have to sacrifice a little signal here for more signal there.

If the number of dishes aren't a problem for you, the absolute best resolution now would be a 24" dish for each 119 and 110 and a 30" dish for 129. No real rain fade problems then!

However for practical purposes, a Dish 500 will do fine since the satellites at 110 and 119 are very strong. A 24"-30" dish at 129 would be advisable but not completely necessary.

See ya
Tony