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I think the audio is encoded (compressed?) at a bit rate of about 20 kbps. Neither XM nor Sirius has ever divulged what rate they use. For me I find the sound quality of the music channels to be about on par with broadcast FM stereo; the talk-only channels range from okay to terrible. I...

I've been an XM sub since 2006 and I'm seriously considering dropping it. The decades channels have had their playlists completely gutted. For example, 80's on 8 now repeats the same song roughly every 30 hours. And it seems the programmers need to be reminded that the decade actually ran...

As I posted in another thread I couldn't rely on USALS to get the RTNs on AMC-9. I had to manually adjust the dish to find the sweet spot. The 11744 "flamethrower" didn't flinch in terms of quality after adjusting for RTN.

Speaking of Magnum PI, what was the deal with the opening theme? It wasn't the usual one. Was this an early episode/pilot?

Thanks. I did notice Retrojams was alive again. Always good to have them back. :) I was able to get the new RTN channels a little better on my Diamond 9000HD, or at least the picture was more stable.

Getting it borderline with my CS5000, 90cm Fortec and QPH-031. USALS wouldn't cut it for aiming; had to use diseqc fine tuning. I normally watch WNGS OTA from Buffalo for my RTN fix. But they're showing some B-rate flick instead of my usual "Emergency!"

I too have experienced some of the things Anik has mentioned. The lack of blindscanning is irritating. I either rely on global-cm's MPEG-2 list or fire up the Coolsat and scan away. By far the most annoying, though, is the stuttering audio when playing back a show recorded in HD (OTA...

Another thing I noticed about my 9000HD is how the loop out functions. I have it going to my Coolsat 5000 (for blindscanning) and I notice the Coolsat won't receive a signal unless the 9000HD is on. This makes things a little annoying because I can only scan TP's that have the same polarity...

I just discovered Retro Jams was back on KU after checking out the Global CM list. Outstanding! I've got my Diamond 9000HD connected to my 32" Aquos via HDMI and it sounds great. Nothing like reliving some of my youth! :)

Both my Coolsat 5000 and Diamond 9000HD have a horizontal bar that fills and says "Moving To". The only real feedback you have indicating the dish is indeed moving is to watch the signal quality level change. This assumes you're moving to a satellite with an active transponder.

Received my 9000HD today and hooked everything up (36" KU and OTA). Boy, the picture quality is FANTASTIC using HDMI to my 32" Sharp Aquos! HD OTA looks amazing. PBS HD on 87w is equally good. I like how I no longer need to run the audio through my home theatre receiver to hear AC3 audio...

Very thorough review, thanks! I recently picked up a 9000HD PVR (it's "in the mail") and I'm trying to figure out what size/make of hard drive to get. Any suggestions?

I'm looking for an HDD-based DVR that I can use to record OTA HD broadcasts. I've come across a few of them from the "mainstream" manufacturers (Panasonic, LG, Philips, etc.) but they all seem to downconvert the HD signal before saving it to the HDD. Presumably this is done because the...

Heh, there's an understatement! ;)

There's nothing stopping you from doing it. The problem is DBS birds do put out a stronger signal than FSS ones. That's how you can get away with such a small dish for those services. Another problem is many of these dishes have no easy way to skew the lnb if you're pointed somewhere other...

Yep, that LNB will work. With respect to your friend's 32" dish it'll do okay for FTA but is certainly not optimum. Your 39" is much better.

Fortec Canada has its head office in Mississauga. You could check out their website as they may have a dealer's list of some kind. I got my Fortec 90cm from a buddy near Peterborough but that may not be helpful for you. :)

A 90cm dish will be fine for Hispasat from your location. I have the same thing and get a couple dozen of channels.

There are a lot more than 7 channels on 121w but nearly all are encrypted. One way to tell is if you get the Dish Network "barker" channel because they're always in the clear..

Are you skewing the LNB properly? What kind of receiver do you have? My Coolsat allows me to select transponders from a list. As has been mentioned you'll need to find an active transponder first before you can do anything else. The fact that you're getting 121 is a good sign. It means...

Hispasat will be pretty low on the horizon from your location. Make sure there is nothing semi-tall blocking the view! :) As far as skew is concerned you have to twist the LNB in its holder. Looking at the front of the dish it will appear as if the bottom part of LNB (presuming you have one...

Really? I did a test several months ago with my 405. I received a number of "in the clear" channels including Knowledge network and Alberta legistlative channel. I should try it again.

Yeah, I noticed watching the other night. The audio was fine but the video was terrible, like really severe macroblocking.

My Fortec 90cm was about 6 degrees off from what the scale said. It seems the figures you get from sat finder calculators are more guidelines than absolutes. Set the dish to whatever it says but tweak for best signal and quality, which means you might be off -- sometimes substantially.

Might be a dumb question but here it goes... Would a previously-activated SC box be able to receive the free previews? I was a subscriber until about 2 years ago. I still have the box (DSR-405) and can turn my dish to point at the Anik satellites.