THSCC Forums

If it's like this:




The small three piece section in the front picks up the higher frequencies. That is all that I have mounted in my attic, and I can get the Raleigh and G'boro Digital stations. Currently they are broadcasting at the higher frequencies to not interfere with their normal frequencies. If they switch back to this after the switchover, I will have to add the larger section.

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In need of car.

Yeah, I have one like that. I also have a one story house, so my range might not be as good. I need to check it's alignment.

Timely: http://lifehacker.com/5128408/six-best-dvr-applications

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Marek Rozanski

mdroz@me.com
919-648-2433

Update on options for those interested:

I just got off the phone with Dish Network and here's the best deal they offer IMO:

-DVR radio box that runs two tvs.
-40+ hd channels
-~200 regular channels
-1 yr. of Skinamax for $.1 with monthly bill draft
-$99 install for dish otherwise free w/ 2 yr commitment
-$50 back on first bill
-$30 back if referred by someone

$59 mo. plus tax.

Seems like a great deal if the service is good and there's no catch. Anyone else with Dish Network by chance?

thanks,
Matt

Can I install the dish myself for $0? Also, the 2 tV system doesn't do HD on the second set (deal breaker for me).

I got the Dish Turbo HD Silver service with locals and the VIP722 DVR for free with no installation fees and Cinemax for free for one year by doing online bill pay. I don't have an SD package. My bill is $43/month. Here is a link to my referral code (DRC177820286) info:
http://www.genejockeys.com/240/Dish%20Referal.pdf

You get free activation, $80 Credit, free HBO and Starz for 3 months and Cinemax for 1yr for 1penny.

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2003 Subaru WRX Sportwagon = daily driver/boost and booster seats
2000 BMW 540iT = wife's kid hauler
2012 Toyota Highlander = the boring reliable vehicle

my Dad has Dish. he switched from DirecTV because of the two TV one box deal. no complaints as best i can tell. and he lives in snow country.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

Thats my understanding as well. I think the main advantage of the Dish 2TV system is that you probably can record it in one place and watch it on any TV. But the lack of HD on the second TV would be a deal breaker for me as well, but may work fine for others. I don't want to turn this into a Dish vs. DirectTV thread, but in general you get more with DirecTV than you do with Dish, but you also pay a bit more. So I think you can walk away with a lower monthly with Dish, but I also think that DirecTV is the better value for what you pay.

It sounds like you are looking to significantly reduce cost and while I love Sat and I think it is much better than cable, I don't think a Sat is going to solve your problem. It sounds like you have a pretty narrow range of content you want and pretty much any commercial solution is going to bundle more than you want and you are going to pay extra for that.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

AT&T is offering Uverse in the area you can look at that. I priced there u200 system whick comes with an HD whole house DVR and it was right around $95 before tax's and free. So I am considering switching.

https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do

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David Teague
2015 Lexus IS 250c
1994 Honda Del Sol HS 39
2009 Dodge Journey R/T
http://teaguefamily.us

Wow. That's not too bad! But I take it you don't have the 200 package, just the 50 or so HD channels with the Silver package?

Correct. I don't subscribe to any of the Top hundred packages. I think you can add a SD package for $10-15 more I think. I don't watch enough of that content to justify it.

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2003 Subaru WRX Sportwagon = daily driver/boost and booster seats
2000 BMW 540iT = wife's kid hauler
2012 Toyota Highlander = the boring reliable vehicle

The 200 channel plus TurboHD-Silver, with 2HD DVR's is $73/month+tax.

It looks like free installation and an $80 credit at sign up. The extra HD-DVR is $99 due up front and an extra $7/month there-after (vs TWC charging $11 for HD service and another $7 for the box).

In the end, Dish would save me about $25/month. I can get TWC close by threatening to cancel and not have some installers mucking up my house.

So far, Sally really doesn't seem keen on losing cable...

Scott

Scott,

You mentioned earlier about doing a "self install". I have always done 100% of my own wiring, etc. DirecTV used to allow self install (may still), but my recent experience has been that they want to do the installs. I am not sure what the deal is, but I suspect it is to prevent people from screwing it up and then blaming DirecTV for their own mistakes and then having to send a tech out anyhow. Maybe Dish is doing the same.

Anyhow, my point is that even with recent work I have had done and DirecTV wanting to have one of their guys do the work, I still do my own work and they just show up and I sign whatever they want me to sign to say the job is complete. It's much easier if there really is no work for them to do. Now my recent DirecTV installs have been free, so its not like I get money back, but my goal is not to recoop install fee, but rather to make sure it's done to my spec/quality expectation.

So you may be able to run whatever cable (if any) is needed for Dish or DirecTV and then when they "install" they just do the stuff that they can't screw up. Many houses have a "home run" cable setup in that all of the cables run to a central location and then there is maybe a few splitters at that location and a single wire running out of the house. If that is your case and the coax is decent (RG6 and not RG59) and you don't have any splitters hidden in any walls, you should be able to use all of your existing wiring. You could then just run a new wire from your home run location to wherever the dish would be mounted. DirecTV has a new system that allows just a single wire (uses a special splitter). I think the goal is to cut down on interior wiring and/or be compatable with existing home wiring. Dish may have a simlar setup. In the old days if your DVR had two tuners, you had to run a coax for each tuner. Two coax into a single room was rare, while one in not.

With the cable run to the dish location, the "install" may consist of just hooking up the dish and then verifying it all works. Of course this is all on the assumption that you are considering staying with TWC. If you are considering staying with TWC (not looking for ultra low cost solution) then I would look into moving to sat.

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

^ Dish does duplex cable signals over one rg6 line for their DVRs. I recently rewired the house with rg6 and cat5e and sent 2 rg6 lines to each room that I thought I was going to need a DVR. As it turns out you don't need two anymore, but I do use the extra rg6 line for the 2nd TV that runs off of the DVR. Also with Dish, you can use an ethernet connection to replace the phone line connection. If you don't have either connected, they will charge you a fee.

Dish also has an Eastern Arc satallite now. For me, it was nearly due South in Raleigh, so that worked well for me so I could avoid trees that were in the other arc.

As to the self install, I did all of the wiring in the house in advance, so all they had to do was mount the dish and wire to my box outside. Then they activated my system.

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2003 Subaru WRX Sportwagon = daily driver/boost and booster seats
2000 BMW 540iT = wife's kid hauler
2012 Toyota Highlander = the boring reliable vehicle

I agree with Richard except what I would do is everything except aim the dish. I'd let them get up there and do that part. I hate aiming dishes now that you have that extra axis to mess with.

My first DTV dish was a Sony receiver AND dish. The LNB had an LED on it. You start moving the thing around in the sky and when it got any signal it would flash slowly. As you got it more locked in to the signal, the faster it flashed. Man, that was awesome. Then Channel Master started making all the dishes and that went away. Then the extra axis got added making it way tougher to aim them...Ah the good ole days...


--Donnie