2 dish vs 1 dish

**peano** · 11-27-2009 06:42 AM

Originally Posted by SandFarmer

I had a two dish set up since we first needed it to get locals and it was completely trouble free.

You don't need two dishes. 129 is super strong now so your 1000.2 will work fine. You should have mid 50s to low 70s for signal strength on 129.

**MikeInAlaska** · 11-27-2009 08:09 AM

> I know no satellite or cable TV service has totally crystal clear HD.

I keep hearing this but I'm not quite believing it yet... I have a strong signal on 129W and a VIP211K receiver putting a 1080i signal out onto a Panasonic 1080P plasma display and there are tons of times when it is crystal clear and gorgeous to the extreme.

Of course it is dependant on the channel encoding method and the source media. For example HBO looks about as good as I could ever ask television to look I think. Obviously something like "Jaws" from 1970's is never going to look like "Star Trek" from 2009, but still even with Jaws you can tell it is very high resolution, and very well encoded, decoded and presented.

If someone gets Dish HD and thinks the picture quality is not all that, I would question their cabling, their display, or obviously, what on Dish they are watching. You should definitely be able to find something which POPS! and looks mindblowing.

Sometimes the shows we watch will appear to be filmed in lower quality (but still HD) and then it will flip to a commercial which is amazingly HD with a great sense of depth and clarity to it, very obviously 1080.

**peano** · 11-27-2009 02:32 PM

Originally Posted by deathcow

>
If someone gets Dish HD and thinks the picture quality is not all that, I would question their cabling, their display, or obviously, what on Dish they are watching.

Bingo! If your HD doesn't look good, it is one of the above. Signal strength will never affect picture quality characteristics such as sharpness, depth of color, contrast and graininess.

If the signal strength is on the edge of the "digital cliff" it will be obvious and you will see massive macro-blocking and tiling and the signal will go out and come back.

**SandFarmer** · 11-27-2009 04:04 PM

My issues are only with stuff coming off of 129 and are large block pixelation, banding, picture tearing, channels dropping, picture and audio skipping and dropout, jutter and Loss of Signal under simple cloud cover. Of which we did not have prior to the "tweaks" that were done on the dish. Cabling is not going to cause this, especially since it's doing this on two separate receivers that have straight runs from the dish and isolated to fair off 129. Both sets of cables can't all of a sudden be bad right after work was done on the dish.

I was waiting until after the next storm to see what happens, but this is happening first on perfectly clear days. I can only imagine what will happen with a storm.

Well, I'm suppose to call the FS back with an update and I will let him know of these new developments and see what he has to say. From what I read here the two dish route, since I have the capability, might be the way to go. But if 129 is as strong as is being said, then it looks like my dish needs further "tweaking".

Thanks.

**peano** · 11-27-2009 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by SandFarmer

My issues are only with stuff coming off of 129 and are large block pixelation, banding, picture tearing, channels dropping, picture and audio skipping and dropout, jutter and Loss of Signal under simple cloud cover.

A perfect description of symptoms of a poorly aimed dish.

Originally Posted by SandFarmer

But if 129 is as strong as is being said, then it looks like my dish needs further "tweaking".
Thanks.

Absolutely, positively your dish needs a proper aiming. As I said, 129 should come in mid 50s to mid 70s on the signal strength meter. My guess is you are at about 20 - 30.

**SandFarmer** · 11-27-2009 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by peano

A perfect description of symptoms of a poorly aimed dish.

Absolutely, positively your dish needs a proper aiming. As I said, 129 should come in mid 50s to mid 70s on the signal strength meter. My guess is you are at about 20 - 30.

Right now under perfectly clear skies I am getting 49-52 cross the board, except for Trans 21 which is at 62. Something else I noticed, it may not matter though, but the 129 meter results take a lot longer to come up and come and go compared to 110 and 119 that pop right up and stay there.

I originally had the appointment set up to do a simple realignment. But the Level 2-3 Tech (CSR) that I talked to at the time recommended the two dish set up for my area. Which was in the back of my mind all along. I see the logic and merits in it and understand what others have come up with in the limitations of the 1000.2 config. When I brought this up to the FS, he agreed that this may be stretching the capability of the 1000.2. He left it to me to decide which way to go and I chose the "tweak" for now and reserved the dual install for later. I'm just fishing for info, but recent physical happenings may dictate the situation for me.

**whatchel1** · 11-27-2009 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by SandFarmer

Right now under perfectly clear skies I am getting 49-52 cross the board, except for Trans 21 which is at 62. Something else I noticed, it may not matter though, but the 129 meter results take a lot longer to come up and come and go compared to 110 and 119 that pop right up and stay there.

I originally had the appointment set up to do a simple realignment. But the Level 2-3 Tech (CSR) that I talked to at the time recommended the two dish set up for my area. Which was in the back of my mind all along. I see the logic and merits in it and understand what others have come up with in the limitations of the 1000.2 config. When I brought this up to the FS, he agreed that this may be stretching the capability of the 1000.2. He left it to me to decide which way to go and I chose the "tweak" for now and reserved the dual install for later. I'm just fishing for info, but recent physical happenings may dictate the situation for me.

It is sounding more like the dish doesn't have a peaking problem but an LNB, or switch. Two E* dishes are not going to give you any higher signal levels than what you are reporting.

**SandFarmer** · 11-27-2009 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by whatchel1

It is sounding more like the dish doesn't have a peaking problem but an LNB, or switch. Two E* dishes are not going to give you any higher signal levels than what you are reporting.

But it will give me more accurate targeting of 110/119 and 129 if separate. As from what I am hearing from DISH, is that as you move to the center of the country, this is what they are doing to resolve this. I had the dual set up and there is no problems going back to it. Even if doesn't solve the problem. But it can't hurt to try.

I just talked to the FS (Field Supervisor) and he agrees that something is not right and that the next step is to try the dual dish set up and see what happens. My neighbors are curious about this too. It looks as thought they are having the same problems with the same equipment. So we'll see.

**whatchel1** · 11-27-2009 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by SandFarmer

But it will give me more accurate targeting of 110/119 and 129 if separate. As from what I am hearing from DISH, is that as you move to the center of the country, this is what they are doing to resolve this. I had the dual set up and there is no problems going back to it. Even if doesn't solve the problem. But it can't hurt to try.

I just talked to the FS (Field Supervisor) and he agrees that something is not right and that the next step is to try the dual dish set up and see what happens. My neighbors are curious about this too. It looks as thought they are having the same problems with the same equipment. So we'll see.

Were all of these dishes installed by the same company and close to the same time? Did E* install or a local company? I'm wondering if there may have been a bad run of 1000.2 LNB/switch set ups. The only way to get more accurate targeting is to go with 3 dishes. Then each has a single LNB centered on each dish. I have that but the dishes are not made by E*. I have a 24" on 72.7, 32" on 77, & 36 on 129. I will switch the 36 & the 32 after I move in the future since I really don't need the largest one on 129. I put it up 1st when 129 was still a very weak bird. I use the larger dishes because of the heavy thunderstorms that we get here in TX.

**SandFarmer** · 11-27-2009 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by whatchel1

Were all of these dishes installed by the same company and close to the same time? Did E* install or a local company? I'm wondering if there may have been a bad run of 1000.2 LNB/switch set ups. The only way to get more accurate targeting is to go with 3 dishes. Then each has a single LNB centered on each dish. I have that but the dishes are not made by E*. I have a 24" on 72.7, 32" on 77, & 36 on 129. I will switch the 36 & the 32 after I move in the future since I really don't need the largest one on 129. I put it up 1st when 129 was still a very weak bird. I use the larger dishes because of the heavy thunderstorms that we get here in TX.

The mounts I installed and DISH has put whatever dish was necessary for that particular application, after my initial install. Since 1994 we have never had any of the issues that we are having now and since the install of 1000.2. With 300 and 500's for years it has been smooth sailing. Now after a year with a 1000.2 issues are arising and will need to be addressed. Until now, as I have said, I have not had any weather issues. So, to me, the first logical step would to go back to what worked the best for all these years and go from there. And that is what we are going to do.

Next Spring we're scraping the house and rebuilding. I have a special place on the new roof designed especially for dishes. And at that time, I will have the most over kill (within reason) set up. So, yes, larger dishes are on the forefront. I'm just looking to get through the Winter. Since it looks like it's going to be a nasty one.