2 dish vs 1 dish

**MrDogDad** · 10-30-2009 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by CowboyDren

But the quick way to tell which is closer to your dish is to look at your elevation. The lower on the horizon, the longer the hypotenuse, and the greater distance (more importantly, how much atmosphere) you have to listen for the transponder.

Am I wrong?

Looking at a mostly worthless 2D map, it looks like OH is closer to 61.5W than it is to 129W, but I'm pretty sure that even if you live in Miami, CIEL-2 is going to kick out a stronger signal than Rainbow-1 (E*12) or EchoStar-3 ever could.

That's true. According to dishpointer.com, in Columbus OH, 129 is at 24.2 deg elevation while, 61.5 is at 38.7deg. The higher elevation would not make much difference in signal strength if both sats had the same effective radiated power and there is clear line of sight to both. However, the shape of the satellite's antenna pattern along with its transmitter power will determine how much signal is received.

**jeffero** · 10-31-2009 02:54 AM

I have a 500 dish on my roof still but the LNB is gone. It's still pointed at 61.5 and I have 1000.2 now. I'll probably stay with what I have but some shows and movies look absolutely horrible. Like the signal is coming from a web cam. As an example the kids movie High School Musical 3 on Starz looks terrible for some reason. My dish is peaked and I have a new 612 DVR. Then theres times when it doesn't look to bad. I still like Dish Network. No one can match their prices and willingness to give freebies and excellent DVR and reciever boxes.

**whatchel1** · 10-31-2009 02:57 AM

Originally Posted by jeffero

I have a 500 dish on my roof still but the LNB is gone. It's still pointed at 61.5 and I have 1000.2 now. I'll probably stay with what I have but some shows and movies look absolutely horrible. Like the signal is coming from a web cam. As an example the kids movie High School Musical 3 on Starz looks terrible for some reason. My dish is peaked and I have a new 612 DVR. Then theres times when it doesn't look to bad. I still like Dish Network. No one can match their prices and willingness to give freebies and excellent DVR and reciever boxes.

Have you yet checked the setting for your resolution yet? I've seen you on another theard and don't remember if you ever said that you have set the resolution to either 720p or 1080i.

**CowboyDren** · 10-31-2009 04:52 AM

I guess there have been several complaints about the picture quality on 612s that may not be resolved by changing a setting. Check your settings, but I'd call Dish and bitch about a bad receiver. No amount of pointing and peaking will fix an ugly picture, just an unreliable signal.

**mike123abc** · 10-31-2009 02:25 PM

Picture quality is not affected by the dish. Loss signal pop ups and picture cut outs would be. This sounds like a connection between the 612 and the TV. SD on Dish on an HDTV will just look bad, not much can be done. You can turn down the sharpness on the TV to help with the picture that is about it. HD should look good, are you using HDMI? Is the 612 set to 1080i?

**jeffero** · 10-31-2009 10:16 PM

It's set to 1080i. The guy from Dish Network that came out was the field manager because they were busy and he was the only one available and he knew what he was doing. He called tech support and had them note my account that even with the new reciever the picture was still grainy. As of last night I think Dish did something because it's starting to look better. I needed to reboot my reciever once last night (before the last post I put up on here) because the picture went black and wouldn't change channels or anything. Before that the fan in the reciever came on high as if it was getting an update but it wasn't time for it to get an update and I was able to watch TV while the fan was running on high. I figure they were doing something to it. It does look better now. It's not perfect but looks good. I want to get a 1080p TV sometime also. I have a nice 32" Sony LCD though. It's an XBR4 with 120Hz processing but it's only 720p. I know having a 1080p would eliminate the pixel gaps in the picture and would make a difference. Thanks everyones help again.

**whatchel1** · 10-31-2009 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by jeffero

It's set to 1080i. The guy from Dish Network that came out was the field manager because they were busy and he was the only one available and he knew what he was doing. He called tech support and had them note my account that even with the new reciever the picture was still grainy. As of last night I think Dish did something because it's starting to look better. I needed to reboot my reciever once last because the picture went black and wouldn't change channels or anything and before that the fan in the reciever came on high as if it was getting an update but it wasn't time for it to get an update and I was still able to watch TV while the fan was running on high. I figured they were doing something to it. It does look better now. I want to get a 1080P TV sometime also. I have a nice 32" LCD though. It's a Sony XBR4 with 120Hz processing but it's a 720P model. I know having a 1080P would eliminate the pixel gaps in the picture more. Thanks everyones help again.

I think it is unlikely that E* sent any commands to your DVR. It sounds more like you have a problem with the unit. I hope you have the EHD function applied to your account so you can keep all the recordings on it instead of the HDD in the 612. What cables are being used to hook up your 612 to the LCD?

**CowboyDren** · 11-01-2009 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by jeffero

I know having a 1080p would eliminate the pixel gaps in the picture and would make a difference. Thanks everyones help again.

Um, no, it wouldn't; LCDs don't work like CRTs. Your "720p" display is actually 1365 (or 1366)*768 panel, so even 720p signals have to be [up]scaled to that resolution by a chip inside the TV before they're displayed. When you send it a 1080i/60 signal, it takes the 1 frame and the 2 frame, deinterlaces them into a static picture, [down]scales it to 1365*768, and displays that (twice, I believe). If you can see a "pixel gap", you're sitting about three times closer than you should be.

You didn't mention if HSM3 was on Starz or StarzHD...the SD picture quality from Dish is notoriously awful. If you're 100% sure that you're getting poor picture on a High-Def channel, tell Dish that you want a new receiver.

**thenight11** · 11-01-2009 04:49 PM

so ill ask this here because im in this situation. I live in south texas(78596) had two sats but they came out and replaced it with one dish. Now they are having trouble getting the 129 sat , have had two installers come out and they are telling me i need the one sat because 61.5 is going away the 1st of Jan. Just wondering if this is true and advice on my situation

**whatchel1** · 11-01-2009 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by thenight11

so ill ask this here because im in this situation. I live in south texas(78596) had two sats but they came out and replaced it with one dish. Now they are having trouble getting the 129 sat , have had two installers come out and they are telling me i need the one sat because 61.5 is going away the 1st of Jan. Just wondering if this is true and advice on my situation

61.5 isn't going anywhere (maybe something in your area is being taken off it). In fact it's gonna get a replacement in a while, maybe that's what they are talking about. Thing is you have said nothing about 61.5 and are talking about 129. If you are having trouble with it then something is wrong w/pointing of dish or you are on the edge of spotbeam and need a dish just for it. We need more info as to what is wrong and what are the problems on 129.