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article is below but i am getting (hopefully) the drake and it said it has a built in computer to get the sats, my question is will this work since most sats changed names?
those prices are high!

VIDEO;
Big Dishes Come Back
By HANS FANTEL
Published: July 15, 1990

LEAD: Mark Twain considered reports of his death exaggerated. Likewise, the widely proclaimed demise of big-dish antennas (to receive satellite television) also turned out to be grossly overstated.

Mark Twain considered reports of his death exaggerated. Likewise, the widely proclaimed demise of big-dish antennas (to receive satellite television) also turned out to be grossly overstated.

Those antennas that have become contemporary landmarks of the American countryside aren't even moribund. They are doing nicely, thank you.

Granted, they've been through rough times. The trouble started back in 1986 when HBO, Showtime and Bravo began scrambling their broadcasts to prevent dish owners from tapping programs from the sky free of charge. That put an end to video freeloading, and dismayed freeloaders complained that ''the skies have gone dark.'' Dish antennas, they said, would have to be converted into giant birdbaths if they were to be of any use at all.

The market promptly crashed, falling more than 70 percent from an annual installation rate of nearly a million. But now, to almost everyone's surprise, a healthy revival has been sparked by the coincidence of several propitious circumstances.

For one thing, video watchers have realized that the dish still offers a good deal - in both senses of the phrase - even if you have to unscramble the encoded premium channels and pay for them, just like cable subscribers. There is simply nothing else offering as great a choice of programming, what with 150 channels on the air, including the major commercial networks, PBS, CNN and many of special program services. Besides, there are an estimated 20 million viewers in the United States with poor television reception and no access to cable.

Nor are they likely everto be reached by cable services because cable companies can make a profit only in densely populated areas where they can hook up at least half a dozen houses for every mile of cable. In rural settings, viewers are out of luck, and the dish is their only choice.

Finally, the dish provides the clearest and steadiest picture outside of videodisks - better than the images provided by most cable services and those transmitted directly from television stations. For places equipped with large-screen installations, the dish is therefore the preferred method of capturing broadcast signals.

But the most important single factor accounting for the current dish renaissance is the development of new receivers with built-in decoders. They function like cable boxes, opening up the scrambled channels if the subscription fee is paid.

One of the most advanced and versatile among these satellite receiver/decoder combinations is Toshiba's new TRX-2000 ($1,949), the first to furnish a Super-VHS signal for recording satellite programs in that markedly superior format. Even if no recording is done and the signal from this receiver is directly displayed on a television set equipped with a Super-VHS connector, greater sharpness and clarity is evident.

Another useful and unusual feature of this model is its program selector. With so many channels to choose from, viewers often have trouble finding the kind of program they like. To help them, the Toshiba receiver contains a memory that ''knows'' which channels carry movies, sports, news, etc. On command, it scans whatever is on the air within these preselected program categories - a procedure that avoids a frustrating random search for programs.

Other conveniences include instant push-button tuning for up to 20 favorite channels and automatic orientation of the dish antenna to various satellites at different points in the sky. There are connections for a VCR as well as a videodisk player, enabling the Toshiba TRX-2000 to serve as the control center of a complete satellite video system. A built-in timer can activate the satellite receiver and the VCR simultaneously to record satellite programs in the owner's absence.

Another new satellite receiver/descrambler combination, the Drake ESR-1424 ($1,689) is less elaborate but boasts a notable new feature to simplify installation. It contains a small computer that calculates the position of the various satellites in the sky. This is done automatically once the antenna has been properly zeroed in on the first three satellites from the installation site. Since accurate aiming of the dish is the key to clear reception, this feature provides added assurance of good results.

The total cost of a private satellite receiving station now averages $3,000 for dish, receiver and installation. Hardly more than a decade ago, the price was $36,000. By comparison, the current models, aside from being a lot more sophisticated, seem a bargain to growing numbers of rural and exurban viewers.

In addition to Toshiba and Drake, the main manufacturers in this field include Panasonic, Zenith, Orbitron, Uniden and Channel Master. Viewers wanting additional information can get a free copy of ''A Simplified Guide to Satellite TV'' (published by Satellite TV Week of Fortuna, Calif.) by calling 1-800-345-8876.