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HDRoberts

Last reply Jul 29, 2009 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

What would you want Dish to do?

In the Dish Channel moves thread, there is rampant speculation that this is to clear space for full time RSNs.

I personally hate the idea as there are several other national channels I wnat to see launched, and I think full time RSNs will take too much bandwidth. I'd rather see HD RSNs go to spotbeams, so people could get their local RSNs in full time HD without costing as much national bandwidth.

Catch is, RSNs on spotbeams would cost Dish the ability to offer out of market sports packs, like Center Ice and League Pass.

So what do you want?

Here are your choices:
Full-Time RSNs on CONUS, perhaps costing Dish the ability to provide AMC, IFC, TCM, HLN, E!, and other popular channels in HD?

Put full time RSNs on Spotbeam as capacity there becomes available, allowing me to get the RSNs we care most about, our own, but not impeding Dish's ability to offer more national HD.

What would you prefer Dish do?

Full-Time RSNs on CONUS... (See Below) Put full time RSNs on Spotbeam... (See Below)

113 votes total

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Smegal

Jul 20, 2009

RSNs

Could they not run the HD RSN on a spot and standard version on conus?
That would give the sports pack at least a feed so as not to diminish from the pack. As long as I get my local team on HD I'm good. If I want to see another team play especially near seasons end toward playoff time, standard version is ok. That would allow more space for national HD.

SpaethCo

Jul 21, 2009

Smegal said:
Could they not run the HD RSN on a spot and standard version on conus?
That would give the sports pack at least a feed so as not to diminish from the pack. As long as I get my local team on HD I'm good. If I want to see another team play especially near seasons end toward playoff time, standard version is ok. That would allow more space for national HD.

This is what they do today.

100% of the SD RSNs are up and available full time.
The HD RSNs are sharing 1 full TP (good for 8 channels) and a fraction of another TP. These shared feeds are used both for your local RSN, and mapped into the Center Ice / NBA League Pass / ESPN Full Court channels.

So on evenings when multiple teams from multiple sports are playing, once they run out of HD space all other RSNs get the standard def feed only.

The real problem is on heavy nights when the sports alts are in play, they compress the hell out of everything until it gets to the point where it is sub-YouTube quality when displayed on a HD monitor.

In the past it really didn't matter because most of the RSNs were part-time HD themselves due to uplink satellite capacity (ie, FOX Sports feeds) and lack of availability of HD production trucks to cover all events. Now that the networks are gearing up to go full-time HD, it doesn't make sense that Dish is still trying to manage the feeds as part-time channels.

HDRoberts said:
That will change with time. Two years ago when we first got TBS, it sucked. There is still room to go, but there is a lot more HD there. In 2 years, AMC and IFC might just have a ton of HD. But if Dish has no room for it, they won't have it.

So why not wait to add those channels in a couple years when they get a couple more birds launched and the capacity is readily available? Dish has launched "HD" channels like BET-J and LOGO that have never aired a single program in HD, and yet you have RSNs that are producing new HD content nearly every single night of the week and they don't get channel space?

HDRoberts

Jul 21, 2009

espaeth said:
This is what they do today.

100% of the SD RSNs are up and available full time.

The HD RSNs are sharing 1 full TP (good for 8 channels) and a fraction of another TP. These shared feeds are used both for your local RSN, and mapped into the Center Ice / NBA League Pass / ESPN Full Court channels.

So on evenings when multiple teams from multiple sports are playing, once they run out of HD space all other RSNs get the standard def feed only.

The real problem is on heavy nights when the sports alts are in play, they compress the hell out of everything until it gets to the point where it is sub-YouTube quality when displayed on a HD monitor.

In the past it really didn't matter because most of the RSNs were part-time HD themselves due to uplink satellite capacity (ie, FOX Sports feeds) and lack of availability of HD production trucks to cover all events. Now that the networks are gearing up to go full-time HD, it doesn't make sense that Dish is still trying to manage the feeds as part-time channels.

I'm pretty sure Dish gives RSNs 2 full TPs on each arc.

espaeth said:
So why not wait to add those channels in a couple years when they get a couple more birds launched and the capacity is readily available? Dish has launched "HD" channels like BET-J and LOGO that have never aired a single program in HD, and yet you have RSNs that are producing new HD content nearly every single night of the week and they don't get channel space?

As I said before, simply launching more sats is not a magic way to more space. There will have the same transponder allotments as they had before.

95% of the people who care about an RSN live in an isolated area. Putting them on spot would enable those to get all the HD on the RSN, while not stopping the national channels. I'm not proposing they don't go full time, but rather go full time in a way that doesn't take up as much national channel capacity.

SpaethCo

Jul 21, 2009

HDRoberts said:
I'm pretty sure Dish gives RSNs 2 full TPs on each arc.

Check the channel maps again. 61.5 has all of TP30 and they were using TP20 which now has had MAV and FTV added to it. 129 has all of TP25, TP27 has Cinemax, Bravo, Logo, Disney XD added. They were using TP8 on 129 for a while, but that TP frequency appears to have been assigned into spotbeams now.

HDRoberts said:
As I said before, simply launching more sats is not a magic way to more space. There will have the same transponder allotments as they had before.

Yes, and on the Eastern Arc in particular they could gain more spectrum if they replaced the dinged up sats that aren't able to power all of their licensed TPs. EA should be brimming with capacity as an all MPEG4 feed of content on 2 of the 3 sats (61.5 still has some MPEG2 content)

HDRoberts said:
95% of the people who care about an RSN live in an isolated area. Putting them on spot would enable those to get all the HD on the RSN, while not stopping the national channels. I'm not proposing they don't go full time, but rather go full time in a way that doesn't take up as much national channel capacity.

Which is great for the 95% who were going to remain subscribers no matter what. For the other 5%, I'm pretty sure that it won't take long for them to take their base subscription and over-the-top sports package dollars to another provider like D*. Killing national HD RSNs will absolutely have that effect.

HDRoberts

Jul 21, 2009

espaeth said:
Check the channel maps again. 61.5 has all of TP30 and they were using TP20 which now has had MAV and FTV added to it. 129 has all of TP25, TP27 has Cinemax, Bravo, Logo, Disney XD added. They were using TP8 on 129 for a while, but that TP frequency appears to have been assigned into spotbeams now.

Alright, I'll eat crow there.

espaeth said:
Yes, and on the Eastern Arc in particular they could gain more spectrum if they replaced the dinged up sats that aren't able to power all of their licensed TPs. EA should be brimming with capacity as an all MPEG4 feed of content on 2 of the 3 sats (61.5 still has some MPEG2 content)

EA space does not help. They need space on BOTH arcs to add national HD.

espaeth said:
Which is great for the 95% who were going to remain subscribers no matter what. For the other 5%, I'm pretty sure that it won't take long for them to take their base subscription and over-the-top sports package dollars to another provider like D*. Killing national HD RSNs will absolutely have that effect.

So you lose the 5%. Big whoop. And why are the other 95% subs "no matter what"? We can vote with our wallets just as easily. You'll lose more than the 5% if they don't keep up with national channels.

Ask yourself this: Which would Dish rather have, 5 $60/month subs, or 1 $300/month sub? The former, of course. Why? It's of course better to have more subs. One leaves, you're not out a ton of revenue.

And sports pack COST over the top money to buy, but that is not evidence they are huge moneymakers for providers. Again, if Dish made so much money with EI, why drop it?

SpaethCo

Jul 21, 2009

HDRoberts said:
EA space does not help. They need space on BOTH arcs to add national HD.

There's nothing to stop Dish from taking the Eastern Arc and loading it up with CONUS RSNs -- well, nothing except Dish internal policy. There could still be some value in being able to compete with D* on HD RSN coverage for half the country.

HDRoberts said:
So you lose the 5%. Big whoop. And why are the other 95% subs "no matter what"? We can vote with our wallets just as easily. You'll lose more than the 5% if they don't keep up with national channels.

The folks who were going to leave over HD probably left a couple years ago when D* was dominating in channel delivery and Dish was still lacking popular channels like SciFi and USA. It's to the point now where all 1st, 2nd, and most of the 3rd tier HD is available on Dish -- the only things to be added are 3rd / 4th tier networks that are still emerging with HD content. Dish has more national HD than D*, and I believe is currently only second to Verizon FiOS who obviously has a much smaller service footprint.

At least 60-75% of Dish's customer base is still SD-only, so we're already talking about a minority group of subscribers either way. Not that it's an excuse to ignore innovation, we don't need more General Motors type failures.

HDRoberts said:
Ask yourself this: Which would Dish rather have, 5 $60/month subs, or 1 $300/month sub? The former, of course. Why? It's of course better to have more subs. One leaves, you're not out a ton of revenue.

Conversely, for every $300/mo sub that leaves you need to gain five $60/mo subscribers to maintain the same revenue. Operational costs are somewhat constant regardless of the number of subs; it costs the same amount of money to keep a satellite in place with content uplinked whether there are 1 or 1,000,000 subscribers pointed at it. Your programming, support, and end-user equipment fees are the variables that change with subscriber count.

Revenue generation absolutely factors into how frequency space is used -- if it didn't they would cut back from 15 HD PPV channels and use some of that capacity for more national HD channels.

HDRoberts said:
And sports pack COST over the top money to buy, but that is not evidence they are huge moneymakers for providers. Again, if Dish made so much money with EI, why drop it?

Retailers like Best Buy need to purchase millions of dollars worth of TVs to sell them in their stores, the key is to make money on the transaction. As with most things in business, you need to spend money to make money.

As has been discussed numerous times, the cost of MLB:EI went up more than 300% in 2007 as a result of D*'s bid to get the package as an exclusive. InDemand was able to raise the funds because they negotiate on behalf of cable companies with 40 million combined subscribers, so they have the numbers to still be profitable with the package. Dish with 14 million subs and declining wasn't in the same position to make the same deal, especially when they were already struggling to get MLB:EI subscribers due to a lack of agreement with popular channels for that package like YES.

The qualifying requirements for locking up NHL Center Ice, for instance, are pretty minimal because the league struggles for ratings in the southern 2/3rds of the US. The payback on Center Ice is pretty big though; every CI sub is likely to be a GoldHD sub because of the agreement the NHL has with Versus, and they are kicking in $159/season on top of their base package. I bet it takes a few Bronze & Silver subs to make up for the lost margins when a single CI subscriber leaves.

HDRoberts

Jul 22, 2009

espaeth said:
There's nothing to stop Dish from taking the Eastern Arc and loading it up with CONUS RSNs -- well, nothing except Dish internal policy. There could still be some value in being able to compete with D* on HD RSN coverage for half the country.

There are the several thousand (or tens of thousands of) customers who will demand EA upgrades to get their RSN in full time. Face it. EA and WA have to keep the same service levels, and 61.5 and 129 need to mirror HD content, or else Dish will have a lot of dish upgrades to do.

espaeth said:
The folks who were going to leave over HD probably left a couple years ago when D* was dominating in channel delivery and Dish was still lacking popular channels like SciFi and USA. It's to the point now where all 1st, 2nd, and most of the 3rd tier HD is available on Dish -- the only things to be added are 3rd / 4th tier networks that are still emerging with HD content. Dish has more national HD than D*, and I believe is currently only second to Verizon FiOS who obviously has a much smaller service footprint.

There are lots of Dish subs, like me, that signed up in 2006 and early 2007 when Dish had a big lead. We were under contract in late 2007 and 2008 when DirecTV made it's moves. Then, before our contracts were up, Dish started to catch up. Now, DirecTV is launching a new sat that should make them comfortable enough to use the bandwidth they have been sitting on. This time, we won't be under contract.

espaeth said:
At least 60-75% of Dish's customer base is still SD-only, so we're already talking about a minority group of subscribers either way. Not that it's an excuse to ignore innovation, we don't need more General Motors type failures.

No argument. But I think RSNs on spot would be innovative.

espaeth said:
Conversely, for every $300/mo sub that leaves you need to gain five $60/mo subscribers to maintain the same revenue. Operational costs are somewhat constant regardless of the number of subs; it costs the same amount of money to keep a satellite in place with content uplinked whether there are 1 or 1,000,000 subscribers pointed at it. Your programming, support, and end-user equipment fees are the variables that change with subscriber count.

You miss the point. If the cost is per sub, Dish could guarantee a profit. They pay the NBA, say $150 per sub,. but charge $200 to each sub, bam, $50 profit for every sub. The NBA instead demands $50M a season, Dish has to find 250k subs before it makes a profit.

espaeth said:
Revenue generation absolutely factors into how frequency space is used -- if it didn't they would cut back from 15 HD PPV channels and use some of that capacity for more national HD channels.

Wait until you see the channel moves coming starting today. Right now there are 5 PPV channels on 110. There is also an empty TP (8 channels). 14 are supposed to go to 110. I'm betting those PPV channels on 110 will be gone.

espaeth said:
Retailers like Best Buy need to purchase millions of dollars worth of TVs to sell them in their stores, the key is to make money on the transaction. As with most things in business, you need to spend money to make money.

No doubt. But the sports packs being bid bucks make it much harder to make money on the transaction.

espaeth said:
As has been discussed numerous times, the cost of MLB:EI went up more than 300% in 2007 as a result of D*'s bid to get the package as an exclusive. InDemand was able to raise the funds because they negotiate on behalf of cable companies with 40 million combined subscribers, so they have the numbers to still be profitable with the package. Dish with 14 million subs and declining wasn't in the same position to make the same deal, especially when they were already struggling to get MLB:EI subscribers due to a lack of agreement with popular channels for that package like YES.

Yet DirecTV continues to offer CI even though they offer some exclusive channels. Hmmm.

espaeth said:
The qualifying requirements for locking up NHL Center Ice, for instance, are pretty minimal because the league struggles for ratings in the southern 2/3rds of the US. The payback on Center Ice is pretty big though; every CI sub is likely to be a GoldHD sub because of the agreement the NHL has with Versus, and they are kicking in $159/season on top of their base package. I bet it takes a few Bronze & Silver subs to make up for the lost margins when a single CI subscriber leaves.

Again, can someone tell me how many HD Center Ice subs there are so we can honestly see how big a deal this is? I don't think we will find there are that many that would need replaced.

crimpshrine

Jul 22, 2009

Well I know if they got rid of Center Ice, I would be gone. I don't really care about any other sports package but I do like my hockey. Just because you don't like sports packages and want your certain national hd channels added is your opinion, you don't speak for everyone.

HDRoberts

Jul 22, 2009

crimpshrine said:
Well I know if they got rid of Center Ice, I would be gone. I don't really care about any other sports package but I do like my hockey. Just because you don't like sports packages and want your certain national hd channels added is your opinion, you don't speak for everyone.

Why I started a poll. Seems a majority agree with me.

As Spock would say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

crimpshrine

Jul 22, 2009

HDRoberts said:
Why I started a poll. Seems a majority agree with me.

As Spock would say, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

First off, this message board doesn't count for all of Dish subscribers. So not everybody has offically "voted". 2nd, the vote is less then 20 apart which technically not a far enough majority. Plus most of the people on here probably still don't know what CONUS & Spotbeams are after you already explained it.

I'm sure there is a lot of people just satisfied with their full time RSN or don't want to shell out the money to buy a sports pack. But really I don't care too much for the channels (maybe IFC) that you want added in HD. So it comes down to what you like. I like my Center Ice package, so why would you want to take something away from a customer that is already there? It's basically like channel yanking like Voom, etc..

I don't want to sound like an ass about the whole thing and hope you get your channels in HD, but I just don't think it's fair to be taking stuff away to get them..

SpaethCo

Jul 22, 2009

HDRoberts said:
There are the several thousand (or tens of thousands of) customers who will demand EA upgrades to get their RSN in full time. Face it. EA and WA have to keep the same service levels, and 61.5 and 129 need to mirror HD content, or else Dish will have a lot of dish upgrades to do.

There are thousands (or tens of thousands) that are putting in for dish upgrades right now as Dish is expanding HD locals, or if people sign up for internationals, or people upgrading to HD.

The reason I say you could split the arcs is that RSN density is far heavier in the East:

Code:

Regional
Sports Network 			Channel #
CSN West 			409 HD  *West
Altitude 			410 HD  *West
FSN Prime Ticket 		411 HD  *West
FSN Rocky Mountain 		414 HD  *West
FSN Arizona 			415 HD  *West
FSN Southwest 			416 HD  *West
FSN West 			417 HD  *West
FSN Midwest 			418 HD  *East
CSN Bay Area 			419 HD  *West
FSN South 			420 HD  *East
Sun Sports 			422 HD  *East
FSN Florida 			423 HD  *East
CSN Mid-Atlantic 		424 HD  *East
FSN Ohio 			425 HD  *East
FSN Northwest 			426 HD  *West
FSN Cincinnati 			427 HD  *East
FSN Pittsburgh 			428 HD  *East
CSN Chicago 			429 HD  *East
FSN Detroit 			430 HD  *East
Sports Time Ohio 		431 HD  *East
New England Sports Network 	434 HD  *East
CSN New England 		435 HD  *East
FSN North 			436 HD  *East
Sport South 			437 HD  *East
Sports Net New York 		438 HD  *East

You could go full time HD within the slot capacity available on western arc today for the RSNs that cover states that are primarily western arc -- there's only 9 RSNs there compared to 16 East. Or worst case, continue to do the per-game assignments to the channels on WA but give priority to the western feeds.

On eastern arc, use the capacity on 72.7 & 77 to run all HD RSNs full-time.

The obvious benefits to an approach like this are:

Everybody gets their local RSN in HD as long as they have a dish in the right arc
The sports packages are only somewhat broken in the west -- you'd still see games of division rival teams, but western arc would get fewer eastern RSN games in HD. Some of those customers would be lost to D*
Everybody in Eastern Arc not only gets their local RSN in full-time HD, they get all RSNs in their respective sports package in HD. Big win for those east of the Mississippi.

HDRoberts said:
Why I started a poll. Seems a majority agree with me.

This isn't a presidential election where the slight minority just has to go along with things. If your poll represents people who will leave Dish if they can't get CONUS full-time RSNs, then 40% is a pretty decent chunk of HD customers for Dish to lose.

If they do what you propose and kill CONUS HD RSNs I'll cancel to go to D* -- I'm pretty sure the guy with username NoCenterIceNoDishNetwork will too.

Midas42

Jul 28, 2009

There are people who watch nothing but sports and there are those who watch nothing but locals. It doesn't matter what DISH does, it will not make EVERYBODY happy. They have try to hit the middle of the road with both.

long_time_Dish

Jul 29, 2009

Got JIP'd the other night and someone was asleep at the switch as they didn't cut over to the Mariners' game until well after the postgame for the game they were broadcasting on the shared TP was far into their broadcast...

mike123abc

Jul 29, 2009

I would expect them to move 7 or 14 (1 or 2 TPs) to full time RSN. I was expecting them to do it when they did the All American Direct HD move instead. If they start converting packages to 8PSK only in 2010 then they will free up more space on 110/119 for more HD.

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meStevo

Lifetime Supporter

Last reply 3 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Volcanic Eruptions

Continuing the Kilauea thread in the Pub here. Perhaps the Iceland one too next time there's remarkable activity.

Currently there is precursory lava flowing into the crater, leading to the next episode that'll probably start within the next day.

You can see the pace of inflation / deflation here. It serves as the primary predictor for when the expect the eruptions, which coincide w/ inflation turning into significant deflation and last for several hours on average with significant fountaining.

Monitoring Data for Kīlauea

For more information on how electronic tiltmeters and GPS receivers help monitor the deformation of Kīlauea volcano, see the HVO Deformation page.

www.usgs.gov

View: https://youtu.be/Uecu2seh4b4

Wife and I like the AfarTV feeds, for the discussion along w/ them, though they're otherwise just mirrors of the official USGS feeds.

View: https://youtu.be/iws3rh5vLAQ

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Foxbat

Oct 17, 2026

Oooo, quite the show now. All three vents have doming and overflows. The cone that built up around the North vent lost its upper quarter at 02:50 Oct 17 and is now spewing lava at a healthy rate. Don't know if I would say it's a fountain, but it's close.

edit: The USGS has called the official start of Episode 55 as starting at 03:19 HST Oct 17, 2026:

Alert Level: WATCH, Color Code: ORANGE 2026-10-17 13:43:56 UTC
HVO/USGS Volcanic Activity Notice

Volcano: Kilauea (VNUM #332010)

Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Issued: Saturday, October 17, 2026, 3:43 AM HST
Source: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
Notice Number: 2026/H488
Location: N 19 deg 25 min W 155 deg 17 min
Elevation: 4091 ft (1247 m)
Area: Hawaii

Summary: Episode 55 of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption began at 3:19 AM HST on October 17, 2026.

Volcanic Activity:
Episode 55 of lava fountaining in Halemaʻumaʻu began at the summit of Kīlauea began at 3:19 AM HST on October 17, 2026.

Fountain heights are relatively low at about 100-150 feet (30-45 m), and it is not clear whether this episode will evolve to the same heights as previous episodes. Continuous overflows from the vents began yesterday, October 16, just before 6 a.m. HST and transitioned into episode 55 fountains at 3:19 a.m. HST this morning. The current forecast is for winds are blowing from the north-northeast direction, which suggests that volcanic gas emissions and volcanic material may be distributed to the south-southwest direction from Halemaʻumaʻu.

All eruptive vents and lava flows are confined to Halemaʻumaʻu crater within Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. Tephra fall from volcanic ash clouds is greatest within 3 miles (5 km) of the vents, lighter ash and Pele's Hair may stay suspended for large distances from the vents.

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Foxbat

Oct 17, 2026

Kīlauea seems to be returning to the "normal" eruption script, impressive fountaining from the North Vent. For once, the V2 Cam has the best overall shot:

The lava flows have covered a good portion of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater floor.

Foxbat

Oct 17, 2026

Looks like Episode 55 is over at 09:00 HST, just under six hours. The USGS said the fountains reached 720' or 220 meters.

Reactions: RaiderPower

Foxbat

Yesterday at 10:25 AM

The USGS Kīlaeua Webcam #1 has been showing overflows and doming from the North vent overnight. Maybe the volcanic plumbing has settled back into its two-three week cycle of fountaining?

But I do miss the little cinder cone that broke up in the last episode.

Foxbat

3 minutes ago

Sorry, I should have posted these earlier:

We're still waiting on the start of Episode 56.

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Scott Greczkowski

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU! Cutting Edge

Last reply 14 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Song Name Game Part 3!

Sometimes a thread gets so many posts in it that is can cause issues for the server so that why today we introduce The Song Name Game Part 3!

So let the game continue!

The last song was added by Bobby who posted...

One Meat Ball - Andrews Sisters

CONTINUE ON AND HAVE FUN! WELCOME HOME TO SATELLITEGUYS.US!

Here are the original rules for the game as posted by WebbyDude back in 2006. http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/68645-Song-Name-Game

Just name a song title and the band who performed it. The next person does the same thing, but needs to list a song title or band name which includes a word from the previous entry. Pick songs from any genre.

Example:

Long Live Rock and Roll -- Rainbow

Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio

Another example:

Ride the Lightning -- Metallica

Lightning Strikes -- Ozzy Osbourne

Get it?

An additional note: we all know that song titles, sometimes, use profane words. Because this is a family friendly website it is advised that you clean up that title up a bit. This is accomplished by using something like sh!t instead of the real word. Thanks....

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Bobby

Today at 2:35 PM

The Saints Are Coming - U2

dishstaller

Today at 2:58 PM

Coming Back to Life - Pink Floyd

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gms49ers

27 minutes ago

Echos - Pink Floyd

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dishstaller

25 minutes ago

Echoes in the Rain - Enya

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gms49ers

14 minutes ago

Fool in the Rain - Led Zeppelin

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

33 minutes ago · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Intelligent Machines 895

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AzBMcXCMAc

Direct YouTube Link - Intelligent Machines 895
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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dishstaller

Pub Member / Supporter Lifetime Supporter

Last reply 53 minutes ago · posted in The Chit Chat Club

Deck screws these days are pure garbage

Now first, I'll mention that the area of FL I live in has extremely high humidity and not a lot of wind so things don't dry out very well for extended periods of time.
I'm in the process of tearing down and rebuilding a pergola with a surrounding deck that I built 9 yrs ago. 90% of the deck screws are just sheering off at the head because the screws rusted out. These are the deck screws you buy in the 25 lb box at your lumber yard. Very annoying. So I just ordered some 316L stainless steel screws to use for when I go to rebuild it.

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AZ.

Today at 2:45 PM

dishstaller said:
Now first, I'll mention that the area of FL I live in has extremely high humidity and not a lot of wind so things don't dry out very well for extended periods of time.
I'm in the process of tearing down and rebuilding a pergola with a surrounding deck that I built 9 yrs ago. 90% of the deck screws are just sheering off at the head because the screws rusted out. These are the deck screws you buy in the 25 lb box at your lumber yard. Very annoying. So I just ordered some 316L stainless steel screws to use for when I go to rebuild it.

Screws are all crap, soft and useless! Sick of going through 3 to get one not to break, strip or shear! I aint that strong in my old age!

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telstar_1

Today at 4:22 PM

Well, isn't removal of screws intrinsically much tougher than drive-in, simply because over time they become more adhered to the wood, whether or not they actively rust? Possibly there could be less of that effect with stainless.

dishstaller

53 minutes ago

telstar_1 said:
Well, isn't removal of screws intrinsically much tougher than drive-in, simply because over time they become more adhered to the wood, whether or not they actively rust?

I have seen that happen that not in this case. I had also used some screws from an old box I had that I needed to use up....didn't think much of it at the time. ALL of THOSE screws came out perfectly and had virtually no rust on them. The ones that you find at your lumber yard....those with the orange snap on lids were mostly rust. The problem with the heads sheering off was that I had to get my crowbar and pry each board up one joist at the time. Took a simple job and made it 1000% harder.

As for adhering to the wood...true story. Back when hurricane Michael hit, it almost took the weather vane off of the old milk barn behind my parent's house. I climbed up on the roof and only one nail was still holding it. Grabbed my hammer and tried to pull it out...wasn't budging. Grabbed a short crowbar (all I had access to) wouldn't budge. Ended up cutting the stupid nail so I could get the weather vane. Barn was built in the late 40s, I guess the nail had become one with the pine lumber used to build the barn.

osu1991

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply 58 minutes ago · posted in Movie Talk

The Beekeeper 2 (2027)

View: https://youtu.be/5HK3wimDxBI?si=NS6_wah3oU6MumaH

In Theaters January 2027

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dishstaller

58 minutes ago

Yep....looking forward to it.

TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 4:42 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Apple Unveils New Touchscreen MacBook Pro

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dMHcPrYfH8E

Direct YouTube Link - Apple Unveils New Touchscreen MacBook Pro
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ewindowman

Lifetime Supporter

Last reply Today at 4:33 PM · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Dish Bankruptcy - Business as Usual

Looks like dish is Bankrupt. Filling tomorrow Tuesday June 30th

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nelson61

Monday at 12:22 PM

Washington Post

SpaceX has held talks with Boost's parent company EchoStar in recent months about launching its own signature wireless service through a deal with the company, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Musk, the SpaceX CEO, has discussed the deal personally, meeting with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, according to the people. The potential deal may result in SpaceX acquiring Boost Mobile or SpaceX gaining access to its network, which it leases from AT&T and T-Mobile US, the people said.
Access to those lease agreements would be a coup for SpaceX. The back door would allow Musk to make a play for a U.S. wireless market that equity research firm MoffettNathanson estimates is worth $235 billion. But the proposed service may need consent from those carriers for the service to actually launch, the people said.

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Scott Greczkowski

Monday at 1:25 PM

nelson61 said:
Washington Post

SpaceX has held talks with Boost's parent company EchoStar in recent months about launching its own signature wireless service through a deal with the company, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.
Musk, the SpaceX CEO, has discussed the deal personally, meeting with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month, according to the people. The potential deal may result in SpaceX acquiring Boost Mobile or SpaceX gaining access to its network, which it leases from AT&T and T-Mobile US, the people said.
Access to those lease agreements would be a coup for SpaceX. The back door would allow Musk to make a play for a U.S. wireless market that equity research firm MoffettNathanson estimates is worth $235 billion. But the proposed service may need consent from those carriers for the service to actually launch, the people said.

Can't remember where or who I saw predict this.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Elon soon own all of DISH / Echostar in the future.

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MikeD-C05

Yesterday at 9:17 AM

Scott Greczkowski said:
Can't remember where or who I saw predict this.

It wouldn't surprise me to see Elon soon own all of DISH / Echostar in the future.

So Charlie is going to sell out and give it all the Elon?

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Bruce

Yesterday at 10:17 AM

Scott Greczkowski said:
It wouldn't surprise me to see Elon soon own all of DISH / Echostar in the future.

Again, why would Musk want a TV Service, specially one that is losing over a million subscribers a year.

Phone service…maybe, but not TV.

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Scott Greczkowski

Yesterday at 10:21 AM

MikeD-C05 said:
So Charlie is going to sell out and give it all the Elon?

I would say yes, but he will stay on board with Elon somehow.

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Scott Greczkowski

Yesterday at 10:22 AM

Bruce said:
Again, why would Musk want a TV Service, specially one that is losing over a million subscribers a year.

Phone service…maybe, but not TV.

I know he wants TV. He wants to deliver EVERYTHING to EVERYWHERE.

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Bruce

Yesterday at 11:30 AM

Scott Greczkowski said:
I know he wants TV. He wants to deliver EVERYTHING to EVERYWHERE.

Again, if so, why would he want Dish/Sling of all the providers?

He could deliver anything without actually owning, for example, watching the Lions game in my Tesla Y on it's screen via the YT app, while on the way to my future in-laws on Sunday.

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rvvaquero

Yesterday at 11:31 AM

If Musk did acquire DISH, he would just convert it to use his own satellites to deliver it. Might be easier than creating a new startup. Change my dish out to one which connects to Starlink? Who knows?

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slow_poke_pete

Today at 4:33 PM

Starlink Mobile: 14 MHz Deal, No Phone Plan Yet [2026]

SpaceX agreed to buy up to 14 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum for Starlink Mobile. No Musk phone plan, price or coverage map exists yet.

shattered.io

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teachsac

Staff member HERE TO HELP YOU!

Last reply Today at 2:58 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

Streaming Deals

Post any of the deals you find here.

Right now HBO Max has some deals if you pay for the year. $165 for the top plan again

https://www.hbomax.com/?utm_id=sa%7C22341445177%7C177853044713%7C308971700861&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22341445177&gbraid=0AAAAApH9fnqtQuqBPGgca7BX1wgna266G&gclid=CjwKCAjw9NjRBhATEiwA_p2J8VUJaL8sxqoVpTQ0kt5UeqM-jJ27ie0gfTJghoYOXD0Xn5Of5Z4q_hoCreAQAvD_BwE

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Bruce

Oct 12, 2026

AMC+ is on sale for $40 for the year, the no commercials plan.

For basically $3.34 a month, thought I would give it a try again.

Today is the last day for the deal.

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reubenray

Oct 12, 2026

Bruce said:
AMC+ is on sale for $40 for the year, the no commercials plan.

For basically $3.34 a month, thought I would give it a try again.

Today is the last day for the deal.

Thanks for spending my $$. I figured I would try it also.

navychop

Oct 12, 2026

Hmmmm.

Jimbo

Today at 2:37 PM

We should be coming into the Streaming Deals time of year

I will be looking for Yearly deals, not the 7 day trial or a 1 month deal like we had the last year or so.

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Jimbo

Today at 2:58 PM

I just managed to get 30% on Paramount Plus Commercial Free Yearly ... total was $99.
I haven't gotten the 50% off deal in a few years, so when she said $99, I thought that was a pretty good deal, that includes Showtime, which I rarely watch, but its there .

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TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Today at 2:42 PM · posted in TWiT Tech Podcast Network

Windows Weekly 1008

Time for another AWESOME video from the TWIT Network!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVbYDMkb9XU

Direct YouTube Link - Windows Weekly 1008
TWIT's Website
TWIT Live Feed

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comfortably_numb

Pub Member / Supporter

Last reply Today at 2:34 PM · posted in Internet Television (IPTV) Discussion Forum

Philo now offers discounted annual plan

Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.

5 Replies · 137 views

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Jimbo

Today at 9:41 AM

comfortably_numb said:
Not sure saving $24/year is worth it unless you're a hardcore Philo user. I'll stick with monthly.

View attachment 195247

$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

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Howard Simmons

Today at 11:16 AM

Jimbo said:
$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

But when you cancel you still have to watch until the plan runs out. With monthly you're done at the end of the month.

Reactions: Mr Tony, comfortably_numb and dishstaller

Jimbo

Today at 2:30 PM

Howard Simmons said:
But when you cancel you still have to watch until the plan runs out. With monthly you're done at the end of the month.

Sorry, my point was the expense.

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comfortably_numb

Today at 2:33 PM

Jimbo said:
$24 for the Year, would be more useful.

Philo's monthly price is reasonable, IMO, because it's still the cheapest way I'm aware of to get all the linear Discovery networks AND access to the Discovery Go apps.

Jimbo

Today at 2:34 PM

comfortably_numb said:
Philo's monthly price is reasonable, IMO, because it's still the cheapest way I'm aware of to get all the linear Discovery networks AND access to the Discovery Go apps.

I guess if it was something I used on a regular basis, I suppose.

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Deck screws these days are pure garbage

The Beekeeper 2 (2027)

Apple Unveils New Touchscreen MacBook Pro

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Starlink Mobile: 14 MHz Deal, No Phone Plan Yet [2026]

Streaming Deals

Windows Weekly 1008

Philo now offers discounted annual plan