Conjuror said:
How cool. I was hoping it will be something like that to make my life easier
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Will you please take a look on this setup and tell me how good or bad is it:
http://www.ftadirect.com/product_16874_detailed.html
I'm just trying to get a picture of "suitable" components in my area (GA).
Should I go with 1 meter dish, better rotor, different LNBF...? Don't know much about this but I am explorer and determined to go FTA after loosing Voom.
Keep in mind that none of these STBs do HDTV. The PCI cards for the computers do but from what I can tell, there isn't a whole heck of a lot out there in HD on the Ku band anyways.
I'm an ex-Voomer as well. I don't see FTA as a Voom replacement by any means but it does look like a lot of fun.
I didn't go with a setup like that just because I thought it was a lot to pay for either unknown or known poor quality parts.
I didn't want to pay for a 'junk' dish. That Fortec star dish is notorious for arriving dented, warping while installing, and just generally being poorly built. I'm sure it works, but for similar $$ you can get into a Winegard that is built more solid, has a better mount, and is generally concidered a premium dish.
They don't give any specifics on the LNB but I'd guess that it's a typical .6 noise figure LNB which will work, but there is better stuff out there.
It doesn't say which motor they are including, just a motor (or rotor).
I'd love to give the vendor the benefit of the doubt but I've been burned too many times. Now I want specifics.
The good thing is that the shipping seems reasonable from FTAdirect.
I'd piece what you want together. Some places combine shipping to save you some $$ but that hasn't helped me much.
A high quality equivelant to what you found would be:
CoolSat 4000 Pro on ebay - $199.99 shipped.
<link removed>
That's $385.99 to your door. Better stuff, cheaper. Shop around, it's worth it.