Abuse-spotted-in: rec.video.satellite.tvro Abuse-Subject: Changing from BUD to Little Dish... and yes it's long Type-of-abuse: ECP, EMP, Totally off topic usenet posting De_script_ion: Ref: http://www.landfield.com/usenet/control/rec/rec.video.satellite.tvro For your newsgroups file: rec.video.satellite.tvro Large Dish ( BUD ) systems and technologies. Small dish is off topic to the r.v.s.tvro newsgroup Path: twister.austin.rr.com!cyclone.austin.rr.com!news-west.rr.com!cyclone.kc.rr. co m!ngpeer.news.aol.com!nntp2.aus1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nntp3.aus1. gi ganews.com!nntp.cytechcis.net!news.cytechcis.net.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 12:12:13 -0600 From: Charles U. Farley < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Newsgroups: alt.dbs.echostar,rec.video.satellite.dbs,rec.video.satellite.tvro Subject: Changing from BUD to Little Dish... and yes it's long Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 13:12:11 -0500 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Lines: 138 NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.62.178.185 X-Trace: sv3-V3KWQW3iggKT5dyiWDdVjPOl6HZQXOYyryL7KLDTUms927Bvuo69njWiJCHYdRQ4AIkdaCQ q4 mdQ4pC!t/0dxJHUqdiIQotragGMUoC2dGBFN52ebPlH08YDMi6U+jznnzm5Mc625X7kDvd7BR7P W+ ceb5ZP!Ke5C3Q== X-Complaints-To: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it X-DMCA-Complaints-To: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Xref: cyclone.austin.rr.com alt.dbs.echostar:205343 rec.video.satellite.dbs:149972 rec.video.satellite.tvro:120846 After over 13 years with my trusty HTS VIII+, I finally had to make the move. I've only had to replace the power supply and probably about a total of 3 or 4 LNBs during this time _frame_ so I'm used to long term reliability and a great picture.  But the picture had started to cut out every once in a while after the receiver had been on for a while so I made a decision, _base_d on the systems age, that if anything else went wrong I was going to investigate replacing the system with a little dish. A big windstorm hit and my Von Weiss actuator finally broke. Got a dish error message one time and from then on, when I went to change sats, the polarity would change and the receiver would indicate the dish was moving but it doesn't budge. This on the day of Super Bowl and I'm out in the bush so I only receive one OTA signal and it isn't ABC. Had to manually move the dish to get the FTA ABC feed and secure it with duct tape, in 15 degree weather. That was sure fun. <g Until NPS recently started raising prices and cutting channels, I always got a better deal with programming on the BUD than I could with the little dish but since the system was down, I started investigating my options. I put the dish back to G5, re-duct taped it and since I still had a month to go on my NPS sub_script_ion, at least I was still able to get most of the channels we watch. My wife and I aren't TV freaks so I was looking for the lowest cost entry point with HBO mandatory. With both Dish and Direct offering essentially a free install and hardware for a basic system, Dish had a edge because the AT50 with locals and HBO came in about $7 USD a month cheaper than Direct ($43 vs $50). Started checking out the little dish forums and read with interest about DVR's. Liked what I read so investigated further.  Because of the Tivo additional monthly cost and higher entry point for the Direct's DVR ($200 vs. $89), and with the monthly price cheaper, the Dish 508 choice was a no brainer as far as I was concerned. My wife wrinkled her nose about spending the extra cash for what I could only convince her was a jazzed up VCR but she's totally sold on it now, _totally_. For that matter, so am I. It's an almost commercial free life for me now and my wife loves the fact that I no longer channel surf because... we _don't_ watch commercials anymore. <vbg Ordered the 508 from allsat.com, online, and there's where the first little snafu started. I web surf with all graphics/videos/sounds turned off for increased speed on my 56k pipe. Filled out the form, agreed to all the conditions and got a confirmation email from them. After three or four days I called to get a tracking number and was told the shipment wasn't released because they hadn't gotten a faxed confirmation form from me. This was totally unexpected because there was nothing about that requirement on the website, at least with my graphics turned off anyway. An Allsat CSR, who has the funniest real name I think I have ever heard, emailed me the form and I got standalone fax machine that had long ago been banished to the closet and faxed them the form. A bit frustrating but I could still get the install done before the February 1st price increase. I got the dish after another three day wait, on a Tuesday. Called Dish to schedule the install and was told Friday January 31 was the earliest they could do the install and that it would be between 8 and 1. Managed to juggle my schedule to be home on Friday and around 10AM I started to get a little antsy because no one had directions to my house. I called and the Dish CSR said they hadn't gotten any info indicating the installer wasn't going to make it so I waited until 1PM and called them again. This time the CSR did a little digging and found that the install wasn't going to happen. I was pretty hot, to say the least. She kicked me up a level and the next CSR studied my account and did something that is exceedingly rare in business today, he admitted _they_ screwed up. How refreshing, instead of blaming the installer or me, the actually took responsibility for the mistake. The initial CSR should have gotten a code number from me for the free install but didn't. Since they didn't have that number, it was never actually scheduled. And it gets better. <vbg Since this was the last day before prices were scheduled to go up, I inquired about paying for a full year right then, before the install, so I could take advantage before the $2 monthly increase and get the old price. He said they couldn't allow me to pay for it until they knew there was going to be a clear line of site. I explained that I already had a C-Band system so I knew there was a clear line of site (I live on top of a mountain). He said they still couldn't do it and even worse, the cutoff date for getting the old price was on the 27th, not February 1st so I could not even get the old price even if it was installed as scheduled. I asked the CSR if this is really how they wanted to start off a relationship with a new customer because if it was, I was canceling my order and going with Direct. That got me kicked up one more level and then all was made right, excepting my lost day for the missed install date. I paid the new price and was given a $24 credit to my account, so I did get the old price, locked in for at least a year and a new install was scheduled for the following Wednesday. All in all, a fair outcome as far as I was concerned. On Monday, I got a call asking if I wanted the install that day or wait until Wednesday. They came that Monday and the installer was giving the final exam for two new contractors so I got what I can only describe as a perfect install: under my deck overhang, mounted to the 6X6 deck post. To ground it at the service entrance, they had to run about 70 feet of cable to the breaker box (which is inside my _base_ment) and they attached the switch to the foundation block inside the _base_ment so it wouldn't be subject to weather. The installer showed me how to add an additional receiver in the future, without the need for $120 service call. When all was said and done, everything worked and my signal strength was pegged at 125. If you C Banders are still reading this, here's where it gets interesting. Since I still had my NPS package active, I could directly and on my own system, compare a C Band system with a little dish. I'm exceedingly familiar with MPEG compression, so I was expecting a natural drop off in image quality. Guess what? It's hardly discernable unless I'm about a foot away from the screen and even then it's hard to tell the difference. Now it may be because the VIII+ connections are composite and the Dish connections are S-Video, but on my top of the line (at least it was 2 years ago) JVC 32 TV it is impossible to tell the difference when viewed from a normal viewing distance in normal weather conditions. There is a little image degradation with very (and I mean very) heavy fog or rain. Heavy snow is not a problem and no more going out to the big dish and sweeping of the snow/ice. <vbseg The signal strength drops to around 85 then but the image is still quite good. The only time I can consistently tell the difference is on my local FOX station when I watch 24. Since it's frequently filmed in low light conditions and is a local feed, I get a bit of pixelization in those scenes. Again, image problems are most noticeable on the local feeds, HBO is almost always crystal clear.. Speaking of local feeds, it is refreshing to get real local news now instead of New York's. <vbseg And high winds have absolutely no effect on the small dish, unlike BUDs. Pros and Cons after about a month of use: Total cost per month under the old price and getting a free month by paying yearly, the total cost is $36.58 per month. I was paying $38 per month to NPS for I think it was called Ultraview or something like that. Anyway,  I lost Sundance, The Movie Channel and Showtime but gained Disney, Court TV, MTV/VH1, E!, Food Network, and HGTV. No big deal either way for my wife and I. Because the 508 is a DVR, there is a two to three second delay when changing channels, which takes a little getting used to but the flipside is there's no wait because of changing satellites. Very minor, almost imperceptible image degradation with the small dish was the biggest surprise. I always thought it would be easily noticeable but it's really not and I've got an pretty elaborate home entertainment system. Which reminds me, Dolby Digital 5.1 which I get with the 508 and not possible with the VIII+, there's a slight improvement in sound vs. Pro Logic. Bottom line is, I'm glad I switched to the little dish but I'm also glad I waited until now simply because of the DVR capability. If you C Banders ever try them out, you'll change over to the little dish in a heartbeat. I guarantee it!