Why did analog c band die?

[satjay]

I was just reading on some websites about C Band, looks like this provider is trying to "Simplify" things for those who are not Tech savy but would like the C BAND experience?

DSR-410 Digital Programming

 

[Greg Mueller]

I can remember in the mid 90's when my parents dropped cable and went to the big dish it was great as far as wild feeds and stuff, but towards the end before they moved. It was getting frustrating for them as signals were moving and such. But back then if you could handle that stuff and were intrested in the tech stuff it was they way to go.

Yah, wild feeds, Wahoo

News feeds
When they had that earthquake in SF they setup a camera and just let it feed for hours if not days.
There was plane that skidded off the runway and broke in half (by Denver I think) and they set up a camera pointed at the airplane and let it run.
There was a big tornado in Atlanta that a helicopter followed. You couldn't see the tornado, so it looked like a big invisible giant smashing stuff and breaking power lines.
None of this stuff had any narration so sometimes it took awhile to figure out what was going on.

I used to really enjoy watching the CNN feed. They had sort of a square jawed guy that would be reading a book most of the time and every once in awhile he would put down the book and look into the camera and say a couple lead in lines for the next story. Then he'd pick up the book again. Once in a while he would talk to the camera crew, but you couldn't hear them, only him. A couple of memorable lines....

"Six and a half (that's not a personal statement)"
"Ever wonder how Oral Roberts got his name?"

Warming up the cameras for baseball games was fun too. They would look around for pretty girls and zoom in on them and stuff like that.

 

[satjay]

Yah, wild feeds, Wahoo

News feeds
When they had that earthquake in SF they setup a camera and just let it feed for hours if not days.
There was plane that skidded off the runway and broke in half (by Denver I think) and they set up a camera pointed at the airplane and let it run.
There was a big tornado in Atlanta that a helicopter followed. You couldn't see the tornado, so it looked like a big invisible giant smashing stuff and breaking power lines.
None of this stuff had any narration so sometimes it took awhile to figure out what was going on.

I used to really enjoy watching the CNN feed. They had sort of a square jawed guy that would be reading a book most of the time and every once in awhile he would put down the book and look into the camera and say a couple lead in lines for the next story. Then he'd pick up the book again. Once in a while he would talk to the camera crew, but you couldn't hear them, only him. A couple of memorable lines....

"Six and a half (that's not a personal statement)"
"Ever wonder how Oral Roberts got his name?"

Warming up the cameras for baseball games was fun too. They would look around for pretty girls and zoom in on them and stuff like that.

The wild feeds for sports were great I was in high School when we had teh big dish, nothing like hearing the play by paly guy during breaks talk about "Man is this game a blow out" and such things like that

Or seeing people prep for those interview VIA Sat as well

 

[Inno]

Dexcel, that's the name I was looking for! Thanks! Come to think of it the polarity toggle switch looked like something somebody added after the fact so it was probably a modification.

 

[rv1pop]

Can you believe that Amway used to market a satellite system?

I have that one, and the manual for it is in the manual section of the forum!

 

[Dah-Henny]

I had a mesh 10 footer and a Echostar Star Trak 8. My best times I think were watching March madness on the CBS ku feeds. I'll never forget watching Michael Jordan prepping for an interview, and every other word coming out of his mouth was f-ing this and f-ing that.

As far as the OP goes, as an end user, I got tired of the endless maintenance on my BUD, as I live in the snow belt of the south and lots of wind and snow. It seemed like I was constantly having to replace the actuator arm. The last winter that it was in service, we got a 70 mph gust & spun the dish 90 degrees. I'm sure I looked like an idiot out in the yard many times at midnight in my pj's sweeping snow off the dish.

 

[melgarga]

rupert didnt own Directv back then....Hughes did

Yeah, I know Ice. Rupert is a relative newcommer. Where I was going with that is that RCA and Sony were vying for the ird contracts Hughes had when Rupert took over.
Besides, I try not to pass on any opportunity that presents itself to trash him and Charlie E.
...considering the underlying theme to the thread seems to be GREED, I figure them two fit right in......lol

 

[Techfizzle]

I found an analog fox feed on TP-18 on Galaxy 16.
It was the bernie mac show. I almost cried at the pq, makes digital satellite look like rabit ears.

Would youtube ban the video if I uploaded it? Its basicly an epesode of the bernie mac show with color bars before it, then it starts flashing ROLL TAPES NOW!

 

[Radioguy41]

I hate digital! I can't tell you what my wife thinks (censored) of digital TV! Yes, under perfect conditions 1080 OTA is beautiful but the problem is, it never stays perfect. I'm fortunate in that my house (and antenna) is located in a nearly direct line between Philadelphia and Scranton/Wiles Barre PA which allows reception off the front (Philly) and backside (SWB) without having to rotate the antenna. Now the bad part, in either direction there is an airport approach line intersection LOS. Soooo, right when you're all settled into watching a game or movie, an airplane enters the flightpath and there goes the picture, poof! In analog days there would be some ghosting but in digital the picture becomes total crap.

As for satellite feeds, lines of resolution means nothing if the picture is compressed especially if it's a recompressed refeed. The American consumer was sold a bill of goods when the FCC failed to set a standard for PQ. I was watching a movie the other day and the feed was so compressed that when an explosion took place on screen the explosion showed as a square white block all pixilated around the edges. Give me analog c-band any day.

 

[emuman100]

jeepguy,

There are digital broadcasts that are first generation and look really good. Scripps and Discovery channels look DVD quality. PBS on AMC 21 looks beautiful. The master broadcast feed of Weather Channel HD on AMC 10 is 1080i at a bitrate of 16mbits, though only affiliate customers such as muself see that feed. Though 16mbits is kind of low when you talk about the PBS HD multiplexes on AMC 21.

I'm in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area and know the OTA. The transmission power is really low. After the digital transition, they will increase the power, so drop-outs like that won't happen much. I'm in an area where a small UHF antenna is enough to receive a decent quality signal. Other than WVIA, and the few specials and events on the ABC and NBC, I find the rest worthless. I don't even have a perminent antenna for my locals, because I get everything I watch over C and Ku band.

So don't hate digital, because if you receive the master broadcast feeds, the picture is to die for.

 

[Inno]

So don't hate digital, because if you receive the master broadcast feeds, the picture is to die for.

But how many people are fortunate enough to receive the master broadcast feeds?
If digital is done properly it's to die for. But the problem is that most of the time it's not! And if it is, most average consumers don't have the knowledge to make the best of it. The average Joe figures because he's got "digital" TV be it cable or satellite that it's 1. perfect 2. high definition (because he has a hi def set) 3. the best 4. he can connect his digital box to his digital tv with coax cable and get a "digital quality" picture.
Brings to mind a commercial where a techno geek kid is teasing a bully about being analog. "No you're analog". "What time is it at your house Billy? 12:00, 12:00, 12:00".
Funny Stuff. The industry has convinced everyone that digital is the best but never bothered to show them how to make it the best it can be.

 

[tvropro]

But how many people are fortunate enough to receive the master broadcast feeds?

The way things are going only the guy in the control room will be able to soon

 

[Radioguy41]

The wild feeds for sports were great

There was a time when the Monday Night Football game could be found on a direct-from-stadium wildfeed. What was really great, besides the incredible PQ, was there were no annoying talking heads, only actual stadium sounds. It was wonderful, no whinny Phil Simms or Troy "How many words can I say during one football game" Aikman (I swear he's paid by the word)! I miss those days!

 

[Mr Tony]

they're still out there

 

[eurosport]

they're still out there

...And in stunning 1080i HD too!:up

 

[Techfizzle]

I have that one, and the manual for it is in the manual section of the forum!

Kind of funny I couldnt find it

 

[rv1pop]

this should be the one:: Amway Satellite Receiver 2000

http://www.satelliteguys.us/fta-manuals/121572-asr200-analog-receiver.html

and just for grins, here is the dish they sold with it:

http://www.satelliteguys.us/c-band-...egard-pinnacle-project-10-ft.html#post1657181

POP

 

[Techfizzle]

Ok i was looking for amway not asr2000
there is a winegard pinacle like that north of me

 

[rv1pop]

There are quite a few of the Winegard pinacles around and I have refered a few people to the manual on the forum, but we can only get the first page and a half for some reason, so I split the original into its 13 pages and changed them from tif to jpg.