Triple-LNB Dish Advice

[xgdfalcon]

When I first got DirecTv a few years ago, I bought the 3LNB dish for to prepare for HD. Well, about 2 months before I got an HDTV, my 3LNB dish was broken in a windstorm from a flying shingle. (luckily I had an extra 1LNB dish). Now, I need a new dish for HD.

I've been researching for weeks now, and I'm just more confused. Here is what I have.

1) I've read that you can eliminate 'rain fade' and other problems by going with a higher quality dish. Is this true?

2) WNC, Funai and TERK are consider low quality. True?

3) Channel Master and KTI are considered high quality. True?


Here are a few I have found:

It's URL is TERK, but the picture says KTI. I asked them, and they say it is an KTI. Fishy though. http://sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Terk/TRK-S25.htm
One of the selling points is that it is smaller...isn't bigger better?

If bigger is better, then this would seem the best. Although, it doesn't have a built-in multiswitch.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=SACGAINCOMBO

This is the one that our local Best Buy has.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1063225191589&skuId=6032704&type=product&cmp=++

Not sure about this dish from circuit city.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Phas.../sem/rpsm/oid/92867/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do



Any, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

--Larry

 

[Mike500]

Larry,

They are all about the same. I've installed several hundred of these. Wistron Neweb Corporation of Taiwan owns the US patent to the Phase III triple lnb dish. They license it to DirecTV and all of the other manufacturers. I've seen the RCA and Terk logo on both KTI, Eagle Aspen, and Winegard Dishes. I've seen WNC lnbs on Winegard dishes, and so on.

They are almost all manufactured overseas with the exception of the Winegard dish. The way to identify the Winegard dish is that the mounting protractor has a smoother finish than the others. The screws and bolts have a brighter zinc finish, not the dull galvanized gray. The dish pan, also, has four holes around the edge, a signature characteristic of all Winegard dishes. They use these holes to hang the part in painting and paint drying.

The Channel Master Gainmaster is made overseas and uses separate lnbs. Unless you are in a fringe area of the footprint, you don't need it. It is tedious to set up and requires a lot of connections and tweaking.

Mike

 

[xgdfalcon]

Thanks Mike.

The differences in the dishes that I've read have something to do with "powder coating". I guess (for ease of purchase), I'm just going to go with the Circuit City one.

Thanks again,

--Larry

 

[dfergie]

Thanks Mike.

The differences in the dishes that I've read have something to do with "powder coating". I guess (for ease of purchase), I'm just going to go with the Circuit City one.

Thanks again,

--Larry

Check out the dish store ones... under 80$...

 

[Mike500]

Thanks Mike.

The differences in the dishes that I've read have something to do with "powder coating". I guess (for ease of purchase), I'm just going to go with the Circuit City one.

Thanks again,

--Larry

Larry,

They are all powder coated. DirecTV specifies that how they must be made.

Mike