DBS vs Cband/Ku

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PILMAN

The Cable Killer
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Jan 2, 2005
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Fort Walton Beach, Florida
DBS vs Cband/Ku input please

I'm not very new to the satellite scene as I've only had dish network for about a year. I am originally from Chicago and we had cable service there the whole time I lived there. My grandpa (passed away now) was a rich man and was pretty much into technology. He had some very big screen tv's (maybe rptv?) with lots of remotes and I remember he had a very large satellite dish in his backyard (it was black and looked like a spider web with a pole looked like some kinda transmitter), it was a giant and mounted into cement, also had a motor on it. I still haven't scene anyone with a satellite dish as big as his was. All I remember was that the picture was amazing and so crisp and clear on his big screen. This was around 1994-1995. Since it was Cband I'm sure he didn't have a specific provider but I swear I remember seeing a directv logo on there somewhere.

I remember when the small satellites (or the digital scene) came into effect. I saw them on tv and it looked really affordable, my dad was against it for some reason as he said it was expensive, had a 1-3 second delay, and some other factors as we just had cable at the time. When we moved to Florida we were using Cox Digital Cable and it was a little better than standard cable but not by much.

I remember getting digital cable and the picture was quite a bit better, after we moved to our new house bought dish network with the standard receivers. The picture looked really good on our regular tv's but on our 42" plasma it looked awful. Everything was so stretched and pixelated, it looked like a really bad movie on a computer screen like a really low resolution video stretched on a high resolution monitor. I was not pleased. I finally was able to afford an HDTV receiver and the picture looked awsome, I was blown away as it looked so lifelike. I was wishing every channel would be hdtv and I would have no complaints but I'm sure the cost factor would be really high.

Alright down to what I'm asking about. I've been trying to find out the purpose of the big satellites for a long time. I figured they were of no use anymore and figured you had to have a subscriber to use them. Heck my uncle up in Illinois still has one of those large satellites but it's one of the older ones Echostar offered at the time. I finally found out I guess that they were c-band.

How would Television compare on my regular tv's with c-band compared to digital compressed satellite signal that we get now? Regular tv looks fine but on the plasma it's horrible. I don't think it'd save the stretching issue but would it look closer to a fullscreen dvd without all the pixelation and blotchiness? If possible are there receivers that work with C-band/KU that would accept HDTV picture? And due to the fact it's raw compared to compressed would the picture look any better? I can't imagine it being but I figure it might be due to the compression not being there. Are these systems considered outdated or is there still a future? From what i've heard it sounds more like a freelance thing for fun but i'm not sure if it's still taken as serious, in my area I live in somewhat a urban area in florida yet we still have more than what most urban areas would have but we're no where near a suburb.

Please give me your input, originally before we bought satellite my mother was freaking out because she figured we'd have this huge monster satellite taking up our whole backyard so she was against it at first. I don't know if I'm going to switch but this whole digital compression thing is just getting worst and worst. Dish thinks we still all have 4:3 sets or something. We have a satellite shop here who seems to sell some of the bigger satellites here as I see a lot of people here still have them but I don't know if they still use them, I do live in hickland so who knows.
 
a properly setup c-band or (BUD) is the best picture by far. it also offers free channels that DBS and cable do not.
 
I understand the free channels and all. I'm rather interested about the technology but I'm wondering about how the picture would be on my plasma. Would it still be stretched? I'm sure it would be but I doubt it would have the artifacts and pixelation and nasty color blending like regular SD content on DISH since everything is very overcompressed there. I don't know if they had HDTV back in 1994/1995 but I remember watching tv on my grandpas big screen and the picture looked really nice.
 
This link will tell you a lot:
http://satellitetheater.com/C-Band World.htm

On small dish you get HD light not that good, and SD that looks so bad I can't even watch it, and high prices and heavy rain and snow cuts you out.

On the big dish you get real high quality HD that is breathtaking, and SD that is far superior to any other system out there, you get analog and digital feeds, heavy rain and snow have no affect, very high winds will at times cut you out, you have a la carte programming lower cost subscription, and you can shop around for your programming, and buy from multiple providers, a fullview system now is made up by a 10' dish c/ku band feed and lnbs a 4dtv with hdd 200 and VCII+ board a DVB box slaved, there you have the best possible system money can buy, more free channels than there is subscription on small dish.

The big dish is to dedicate to the big screen the home theatre room, the latest box 4dtv dsr 922 is already outdated and guide is slow, but if it is the highest quality feeds you want, big dish is the number one chioce :)

Grab a used dish it will save you money, good luck.
 
Thanks for the information. So the HDTV I am getting isn't real HDTV? I'm using dish network and the HDTV channels (not many) seem to look really good and lifelike. Not sure how it could get better but I am definitely sure the SD content would look much better on a big dish over a small dish. Do I need a dish with a motor? I've seen a lot of the larger ones in peoples backyards but my mother is pretty fussy over the super dish (36' dish) in our backyard right now. I just can't have anything huge. If I wanted to buy new where could I buy a satellite dish and are the big ones even sold to public anymore? Thanks.
 
You would have to have a 10 foot dish with a motor. The channels come from many different satellites there-fore if you change from one satellite to another you will have to wait for the dish to move.

As far as the stretching, just quit stretching the SD programs and have black or grey bars on the side.
 
not all content looks stretched, I can't stand blackbars, even with the blackbars you can still see the digital compression and it's pretty bad. I don't know if I am going to switch and the only reason would be due to space constraints, but it's definitely something I will look into more. If I bought a dish, I would buy it new honestly though.
 
Well you can't go wrong with the big dish, get rid of those blocks and nasty looking SD. And you will finally witness real HD :) go for it! And having both systems wont kill you also.
 
First off some HD on the bud is alone on a transponder, or with a few SD channels, on small dish they over compress the HD, and on a big screen you really notice the flaws in the small dish, the small dish has blocks and looks less crisp and clear, on BUD it is very good, discovery HD being the best. And your are getting the first generation master broadcast feed.
www.4dtv.com
 
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