Satellite TV - Anyone in the business?

[Rich D]

I thought one of our members sold or connected satellite TV. If so, could you or anyone else here answer questions regarding Direct TV service? Cable rates are going up again and I want to switch but have some concerns regarding the installation process.



1. I believe the dish needs to point to the south west sky, the best vantage point for that from my house is the peak of the roof on the opposite side of the house from my utilities. Would I regret having it mounted there? It is about 30ft from ground level...



2. I do not want wires visible running across or down the house other than the main bunch already there. Would the installer be able to run the wires along the roof line or under the gutter to the existing wires and into the house where the existing cable goes in?



3. When I remodeled the house, I had the cable lines run behind the walls to outlets in the family room and bedroom. Can I use these existing wires or are splitters bad?



Thanks,



Rich D

 

[Mini]

What kind of cable did you install?



Mini

 

[Rich D]

I am pretty sure the guy used rg59... but will have to double check to be sure.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Yeah our cable is gettin' ready to go up too. We all need to band together and really stick it to these money hungry cable companies that are making too much money in the first place. Remember when it was free? Pretty soon we'll be charged for anything we do...WAIT A MINUTE>>>IT's already here!

No body sticks together..So nothing gets done and we all complain. Nobody is on the same page anymore. Everybody has there own ideas ....which is not necessarily a good thing. Someone needs to take control

 

[Michael Snow]

You must, must, must get the DirectTivo unit. $99 for the 70 hour unit at Best Buy. DUAL TUNERS!!!!

 

[Rich D]

Dave, Thanks for the pix. A set up like that would be fine with me. Any problems with snow build up on the dish?

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Sounds like the way to go...Our cable goes out at least once every couple of months. My neighbor has a dish...looks like I'll need to talk to him. I just don't like the idea of the cable companies getting richer then, in turn make you feel like your getting more channels...when in reality they're just puttin' more crap channels out there like Shopping Networks...phooey!

 

[Rich D]

Someone needs to start a dish/cable company where the customer can pick all of their channels! 100% customized to the consumer!

 

[Rick Cohoon]

OK fact or fiction time.



Wind ruins dish reception?

Sun spots in the spring and summer ruin reception?



I had considered DTV when we moved to the new house, however, I need High Speed internet for work. With out calbe I am screwed.

 

[C C]

As far as my my Dish TV goes so far in the two years we have been using it at our summer house:



FICTION - Wind ruins dish reception?

FICTION - Sun spots in the spring and summer ruin reception?

FACT - Blinding rain storms effects reception.

FICTION - Snow effects reception



With the DVR systems I would think that Tivo, Cable and Satellite DVR systems are going to get a run for their money. Netflix along with all of the other rental companies could eventually become a thing of the past. I have a Panasonic DVR with a 120Gig HD that uses TV Guide for programming and I can record up to 217 hours of anything I can plug into my system. Plus make DVDs with it and I don't have to pay anyone anything extra for the ability to do it or have a phone line hooked up.



Even better Hitachi just came out with a new Hard Drive 500 gigs, it should be available by April they are putting out the 400 Gig drive first. Wahoo!!!



Cass

 

[TrepMan]

I ran DirectPC for 2 years, everything CASS and others say is true, never had an outage but twice and both times I just rebooted my PC and the signal was back up!! That was through rain, sleet, snow, ice, wind and sun!!



I'm with you Rick D, but from what i've read it will never happen. Governement won't and shouldn't mandate it, and the companies (cable and sat) won't do it as it would loose them revenue in the short term. For our family we pay the BASIC BASIC cable rate (With Bankrupt Adelphia thats still $20/month) and all we get is networks, PBS, TNT and Bravo. I'd LOVE to add 2-3 channels like Outdoor for me, Cooking for Beka and maybe Disney for the kids. But we don't need or want to pay $35+ amonth!!



I've considered cancelling it completely and ONLY watching DVDs, but the kids actualy learn from PBS and get their 30 mins each day of regular TV and enjoy it.

 

[Texas Transplant]

I have had ice/snow mixture on my diretv dish that somewhat affected reception. I just hosed it off - cleared up.



Big rain strom (just rain), will not affect your reception. It's the big 'electrical storm' that affects it. Screws up the digitial decoding.



Had DirecTV for many years. Love it. Most of the profesional installation will be just that, professional. If not, call directv and they will likely get it corrected.



Yes, the Southern sky. Mine is way up on my roof also, with many trees around. They just adjusted it so that it got a maximum signal. You need to let them select where it goes. If you want it in a particular place, that may not be best.



I run several splitters in the house. No problems - and one of them drives a 100' cable from the reciever.



Tex

 

[Rich D]

Tex,



Yeah, I won't be too picky about location, but I also have a lot of big trees around my house and I think I only have 1 or 2 places for it! My wife does not want it in the middle of the yard or mounted to the deck, it would interfere with her flower planting.

 

[Bob G.]

I know cable prices are getting a little rediculous, but I happen to like Adelphia Cable. We have the all digital package on our main TV with all of the premium movie channels (including the west coast feeds, in case you miss a movie, it'll be back on in 3 hours) and extended basic on two other TVs along with a cable modem connected to a router and 3 computers. We have very little down time for the TV and modem signals.



I remember one night that the whole shabang was down due to a major storm rolling through the area and my wife and kids and I looked at each other and said....What do we do now?!?! LOL!!!



Bob G.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Yeah Bob but what do you pay? All of the cable/satelite companys have DVR or TiVo now. They all offer them. I have Adelphia digital, expanded basic with 1 that's right 1 priemum channel (HBO for the Sopranos) and I pay over 80 bucks a month. That's for 2 TV's. I tuned in to OLN the other night and is was blocked so I called them up and they told me that they made a "Sports Package" and that was part of it as well as the Outdoor channel. If I want them I have to buy the "Package" Bastages!!!!!!



TOXIC

 

[Tom Major]

One word. Look it up.......Al7bar

 

[Bob G.]

Toxic,



We pay $129 for everything and that includes the cable modem which is smoking fast!! We get all of the premium channels and OLN and Outdoor Channel.



Bob G.

 

[Terry Hutchison]

Could be that I have my dish aimed a little wrong but it doesn't take much to knock my DirecTv signal out. Very heavy clouds without rain will do it. I had Dish Network for several years but switched to DirecTv to get the TiVo. Dish Network didn't get interrupted as much as DirecTv does. I did my own install of both systems and I have the signals maxed out. No cable at my KY place and I wouldn't have it. My landlord in TN supplies basic cable and it seems OK, with occasional outages. I have cable internet in TN but can't get anything but dial-up in KY. Hutch

 

[Texas Transplant]

Hutch,



Heavy clouds should not affect the signal from the satellites. I'm suspecting that something is not kosher, either with the setup, or the 'active' part of the dish.



Tex

 

[byron cooley]

That's right -- Al7bar.tk and a Fortec Lifetime Ultra. Trouble "free" tv with every channel Dishnet offers.Also BEV channels.

 

[Rich D]

I looked at that on the internet. Too complex for me. Plus anytime I try anything like that, I end up screwing something up and it costs me more than if I would have just subscribed in the first place!

 

[byron cooley]

The Al7bar software is very simple to flash into the fortec ultra with your PC and a serial cable. You can buy one for about $150.00 and a dish 500 dish for less than $100.00. So for about $250.00 total -- TV with no monthly bill. There are a few questions about legal issues but if they bounce the signal off your roof without ordering it -- it must be free!!

 

[Ken Sabin]

Rich,

I admit I didnt read all of these posts about your new system. But my own .02 would say make sure you get a high definition dish and receiver. I would suggest this even if you dont own a hi-def tv. Hi-def is the way of the not so distant future. I have a hi-def set up and tv and it is absolutely incredible, the difference will amaze you. And as far as the wiring, Uoy wont see much from the ground. Mine is on the roof, runs down behind the downspout and enters the house via an existing cable box. The installer was there 45 minutes, hooked up 3 TV's and was gone. I was watching the system in minutes after hookup.



As far as getting bootleg tv reception, if you live where i do, anal retentive Northern Va, beware. Is TV reception worth being dragged into court over....I think not!

 

[Rich Stern]

I fired the cable company back in September. Put up with some of the worst customer service imaginable for 12 years. Now have and love DirectTV. NFL Sunday Ticket...heaven on Earth.



Our dish is out on a 5' post tucked amidst some shrubs in our back yard. They trenched the feed cable to the foundation of the house.



We've lost signal twice in five months. Goes out a lot less than cable did for us.