Satalite TV is a do or do not

ccasey612

I have ATT broadband cable, Web access and phone at home. If one goes out they all go out. I hate it. Wednesday my phone is being swithced the the Verizon. I am getting Cavalier web and I need to know a little about Satalite Television. Is it worth it? Hows the price? Do you get all the channels?

If you will blame gun makers for every shooting then blame car maker for every car accident.

Nighthawk

We have the new Dish Network and we subscribe to every channel offered and its about $86.00 a month we get ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, east and west.All the super stations and all the HBO, Cinemax,Stars the works.I think they are about 200 viewable channels and maybe 40 audio channels.But the ABC,CBS etc.channels arent availiable in all areas.You might want to check,if your like me Football is hard to live without.

Rugster


Toujours Pret

airborne

I converted to Dish Network over a year ago, excellent picture, service, etc. Remember it took alittle time and some confusion in the beginning to figure out channels, settings, etc. After the initial frustration really enjoy.

Do not know exactly how many channels I receive, somewhere in the 300 range.

Costs is $85.00/mo for one dish, two converter boxes, and four jacks.

B - BreatheR - RelaxA - AimS - SightS - Squeeze

Edited by - airborne on 08/26/2002 15:00:02

Spring Creek

You'll never be sorry.
I put a receiver upstairs and downstairs.
Now wife can watch what she wants and me what I want.
Newer systems let you watch two channels, on different tvs without two receivers--that would be the way to go now.

offeror

My apartment complex is getting tired of all the little dishes, so now they highly recommend that if you want DirecTV you fill a large tub with concrete and stick a post in it, let it dry, and mount your dish on that, so that it doesn't have to be attached to their buildings. I have heard that the satellite signal can be obliterated by bad storms, just when you'd be most likely to be indoors wanting to watch TV, if not the weather updates.

I have been so close to getting the DirecTV $40 package so many times I can't tell you, but then somebody lets the air out with some comment. But cable is arrogant and overpriced for everything, so I'm still debating. I personally think the best deal is the $32 or $33 package that DirecTV has going, but I don't need any movie channels -- I rent. And I don't need pay-per-view either. I like news, history, discovery, medical, veterinary, documentary, etc. And Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics give me all the movies I need at home. I would like the GoodStuff, or GoodTimes channel, whatever it is that's running Hawaiian Eye and Surfside 6, though, and I can't get that on cable. Also I like the Miami Vice reruns on FX, which is a man's channel. Too much wimpy stuff on cable here. And I've had a heck of a time keeping the price down to $44 even without any deluxe channels.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Alpine

I have Direct TV. We have a $39 package and an additional two recievers, for $6 each (package includes locals). The Direct Tv system requires a reciever for each tv, however the dish with a dual LNB (with an additional module can service four to ten recievers), is all that is required.
The picture is digital, so you either have a perfect picture or you don't have a picture (except for some extreme weather conditions). Sound is also digital, and also there are many music only channels with out commericals, in groups to suit many tastes.
Also they have a HDTV bird in orbit and with appropriate parabolic dish and HDTV reciever you can recieve HDTV.
As for content.......well that old saying of 100 channels of TV and nothing to watch.............you will have to judge for yourself.
Also Direct Tv is trying to buy Dish network and they are going through a card swap at the same time.
Additionally Direct TV offers the same satellite internet connection as Dish Network, at about the same money.


"If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."
offeror: Your apartment complex cannot object to the dishes. There is an FCC code that allows the "little dishes" to be attached to the building, and they cannot object. If you need a link to the FCC code section you will find it at the Direct TV web site.

Edited by - Alpine on 08/26/2002 17:13:32

Edited by - Alpine on 08/26/2002 17:19:41

BT99

I really didn't have too much of a choice. Cable not available
here. I build a house on 294 acres in the middle of nowhere. Dish
network wouldn't work because of all the trees. Went with Direct TV becausethe sats are higher in the sky and a steeper angle would work.
Thats according to the installer. Its fifty couple dollars and more
channels than any three people can watch. Two receivers so the wife
can watch a different program. I loke it much better than the cable I had at the other house. A strong rain storm will cause it to lose the
signal.

4wheeler

I bought the direct tv dish system 1.5 years ago and have not gotten it out of the box yet.Thanks for the reminder,may get it out and put it to work.

"It was like that when I got here".

Iconoclast

I've had far better luck / reception with sat (Direct) TV than cable. Only reason I've kept cable is one local channel and it is the only game in town (hell, the county) for broadband Internet access. You can have interrupted signals in real heavy weather, but generally by the time it is that bad, the electricity is out anyway . I also find sat TV customer service & attitude a big improvement over the cable companies with whom I've dealt. They figure they have a monopoly (at least in rural areas), so the consumer has to take it or do without.

Alpine

BT99: Your installer was not telling you the truth. All the Sats are above the equator in geosynchronous orbit. Roughly above Texas. They are spaced a couple of hundred miles apart, but they are 23,000 miles out in space. One is not any "higher" than another.

4wheeler: You better use the system pretty soon. The H or HU conditionall acess card that came with that system is being swapped out to a P4 card. They will charge you for a new card if you are not already a customer. New cards are $110.00

"If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."

Edited by - Alpine on 08/26/2002 17:34:54

Mercury

Alpine,
Why are they swapping cards? I have Dishtv.........I love it!

Merc



NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!

****************************************

"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt

Alpine

Merc: DishNet and Direct Tv use two differant systems to keep unauthorized people from watching their tv. DishNet uses differant codes, utilized by the reciever to determind if the signal is processed out to the tv. These codes are changed on a weekly basis.
Direct Tv uses a Conditional Access Module (a 7816 compliant card, a computer in a credit card, like the American Express card). This small computer has unique ASIC code, and idenity.
Some terrible people have hacked into this little computer and fed it false information. Telling it that these people can watch tv that they have not paid for. So every once and awhile NDS (the company that came up with the card) swaps cards and says "this card cannot be hacked". Of course that is just waving a red flag in front of those people that like to be challenged. So about 3 weeks to six months later the cards have been hacked so completly that a small percentage are again watching free tv.
So that is the differance between DishNet systems and Direct Tv systems. Both have been hacked. And about 5% of both their customers are watching for free. When compaired to cable (12% to 15%) the number of people watching for free is small.
I'm sure that is much more than you ever wanted to know about DishNet and Direct TV.

"If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."

Mercury

Alpine,
Actually, I love hacking stuff. I have a degree in electronics, so I know basically what you are talking about.

When I used to run a pir8 BBS, we'd get all the "new" satellite dish codes (for the older, large satellites) each month. That has nothing to do with the dishes now, of course.

Merc



NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!

****************************************

"Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt

djcisse

I got the dish network 500 system after local cable went up for the third time in a year. Wouldn't go back. Normaly dish is running some kind of promotion were you can get a system for free as long as you keep a certain programing package for a certain length of time which varies from promotion to promotion. I think Echostar bought out Direct tv an before that direct tv bought primestar and echostar is the company that makes dish network. Dish network also has a receiver that has the tivo functions so you can pause live tv.

ccasey612

Just a little FYI I decided to stay with cable for a little while until I move. I have this guy coming out to explain to me how everything works and run over some numbers with me.

If you will blame gun makers for every shooting then blame car maker for every car accident.

offeror

I have a theory about this stuff. It's called, "they're all just utilities." TV access, digital TV access, internet access, hi-speed internet access, phone services, cell phone services, internet phone services, TiVo -- these are all just technologies waiting to "converge" into one machine. Now we have cell phones with cameras in them, and dish receivers with TiVo in them, and cable TV offering internet access -- but only if you pay for the "option." Marketers are breaking out all their services as "luxury options." When you get the basic service, so far, it only does the very fundamental things. If you want "features," (I actually heard a cell phone guy on the phone ordering my service saying, "no features") you gotta pay extra -- for now.

The process of all these things coming together is what the engineers have given a new buzzword: "Convergence." Look for it on the magazine stands; it's everywhere in the technical magazines. Convergence this, convergence that. Convergence, convergence. One tool that does it all -- and we're getting there, slowly. But it scares the marketers, because they want to charge separately for everything -- meaning having everything is not very affordable right now for the average consumer.

The typical guy cannot afford all the "utilities" being offered to him these days at their prices. In my opinion, digital TV is not an optional feature -- it's progress. It's a new standard that will take over the market. It has no business being priced as a luxury option. Interactive TV is coming fast, but they want $10 a month for TiVo. NOT.

The cable company wants to provide me with digital signal -- for an extra $15 over the $44 a month I now pay. And if I get off MSN and go with my cable company for hi-speed net access? Another $40-50.

Exactly when did TV go from free off the air to $50-100 a month (AND STILL WITH COMMERCIALS!)? Exactly when did the information superhighway start coming with price tags dangling from every input?

You see where I'm going with this. I'm not willing to pay unless I get a great deal. And I'm willing to pay less in the future, not more, as the country gets fully saturated. Stick that in your pipe, marketers, and smoke it.

- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Alpine

You are correct in most respects. However anything electronic will get cheaper as time goes on.
Example: 6 years ago when we moved there was only 2 tv stations that we could get "free off the air". I paid $700 for the Direct Tv set up. Now that same equipment is free if you sign up for a year.
Example: Cell phones were orginally a ham radio pasttime, with radio operators setting up passive and active repeaters around San Diego untill they had almost full coverage. Then cell phone companys made the 2 meter guys take down their stuff. Cell minutes used to be very expensive ($1.50 per minute), and now pretty cheap. Satellite phones will go the same way and take over the cell market.
I still remember when the FCC code included that Americans had the right to recieve any radio signal. Now that ain't so no more.

"If you ain't got pictures, I wasn't there."