Austin - TX - Help me get started

[momoune]

OK. You have a real Rookie here . where should I start to get HD satellite Service in Austin TX from Canada (30° 16' 0" N / 97° 44' 34" W). I am looking for mostly French Canadian TV to make sure my kids do not lose all of their French.

Being told Bell has better HD... But more difficult to get good reception in Texas

I currently have a starChoice DSR505 HD Receiver. no other equiment. I am ready to buy new if you suggest I go with Bell.

Can I buy Dish locally? Should I bring it back from Canada (I am going to Canada in December. I can bring back everything I would need.)

Which Model? Dish?

As you can see I have very little knowledge... I looked at many threads but did not find this type of answer.

 

[joshuals]

Bienvenue Momoune....

You will not be able to use Bell in Texas. The new Bell satellite, launched at longitude 82 in 2008, does not cover the southern US. I'm not a Bell customer, but I understand that some, or maybe all, of the HD is on the 82 satellite. Whatever programming that comes from the satellite at longitude 91 might still be receivable in Texas.

Shaw, on the other hand, would be no problem in Texas. The signal strength from both satellites is more than sufficient, well down into Mexico. You would want the larger of the two Shaw dishes....the 75e.

You likely would not be able to buy any equipment locally, be it Bell or Shaw equipment. You say you have a 505....if you already have an active Shaw account, all you need to do is get a 75e dish & LNB. You can order one from Kusat.com, have it shipped (1) directly to you in Texas: shipping about $130, or (2) have it shipped to a friend's address in Canada for much less money, and then bring it to TX on you trip back.

Note that Kusat.com has all sorts of Shaw equipment. They're in downtown Montreal, but I don't believe they have a storefront: the are primarily an Internet business.

If your 505 is not currently active, you will need to set up an account with Shaw. You will need a Canadian service address, such as a friend's or relative's when you establish the account. Have them bill directly to your credit card and sign up for paperless billing. This will keep you from divulging your Texas address. At that point, you have two options for getting the dish: (1) do as I described above, or (2) ask a Shaw CSR about siging up for the Home Away From Home Program. For a one time fee of about $100 they will provide you with a dish to use at your "cottage" in Texas. Of course, you may need to do the install of the dish yourself, or perhaps you can find someone locally with Shaw experience to do the install.

Do not, under any circumstances, try to piggy-back onto a friend or realtive's Shaw account. This is illegal.

Another reason for choosing Shaw is that they are much less unfriendly toward the idea that the receiver is located outside Canada. However, do all you can to avoid mentioning about your location to anyone from Shaw. They are not allowed to "knowingly" provide service outside Canada.

You would probably want the "Tout en Francais" forfait to get all the available French channels.

Bonne chance....

 

[momoune]

Thank you Joshuals. Your response is VERY complete. Truly appreciated.

 

[joshuals]

Another thought...

There is also a forfait called "Parfait Bilingue" that has not only the French channels, but a lot of English ones as well. I think this is available only to those whose service address is in Québec. Check out Shaw's website for more info.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah for some reason the Parfait Bilingue is only available in Quebec.

 

[momoune]

You guys are amazing. Thank you!

I was told that I should maybe be looking at 2 separate Satellite dishes instead of 1 combined... is it because the installer cannot get the "real" shaw dual dish? I would prefer only 1 and would get it from Canada at Xmas.

 

[Mr Tony]

yeah unfortunately if you go into a big box retailer all they will have is the receivers. If it was a new install the Shaw installer would bring the dish

kusat.com does have the 75e elliptical dish available but you might get by with 2 30" dishes instead. The drawback of the 75e dish is if the LNB craps out its a pain in the rear to get a replacement not being in Canada

 

[Mr Tony]

had a thought....if all you mainly want is French TV all those channels are on one satellite (111.1) so you wouldnt need the dual satellite dish. About 95% of the HD is on that same satellite (and all the french HD) so you may get by with one 30" dish aimed at F2 (111.1)

looking at the list (and using my very limited french) the basic "Le Classique" for $20 would get you a fair amount of French programming and some HD. Basically any English SD channel is on the "main" satellite (F1)....the HD and French is on F2
http://www.shawdirect.ca/francais/telefureteur/channels.asp?t=LCL

 

[joshuals]

Here are some thoughts:
(1) The Shaw 75e dish is about 75cm in it's horizontal dimension. The larger the dish, the more signal it can gather. If you were to buy a "generic" Patriot 85e dish (about 85cm in it's horizontal dimension) and a linear-polarity-ku-band LNB, you would potentially have more signal-gathering power and hence be less likely to lose the signal in a heavy rain.

(2) The downside to using the generic setup is that this dish/LNB is capable of receiving signal from only one satellite at a time. Hence you need two dishes/LNB's connected with a switch to get all the channels in your package.

(3) I once used a single Patriot dish for Shaw because I was only interested in French programming. Most of the French comes from the Anik F2 satellite (as well as most of the HD [English and French]). I was willing to sacrifice the English channels that come from the other satellite to cut the cost of the dish/LNB in half. But I also had to sacrifice RDI. You would also be missing the two cartoon networks for your kids (unless they have an HD counterpart on F2), if this matters to you, as well as some of the French audio-only channels.

(4) Since switching from the Patriot to the Shaw 75e, I have not noticed any increase in rain fade. In a heavy shower, both dishes have lost signal for a brief period. In moderate rain, neither dish was affected.

(5) Some people have recommended using the generic dish setup described above because all the parts are available from most any satellite dealer in the US that sells Ku-band free-to-air equipment. At one time the non-availability of replacement LNB's in the US was a concern. With the arrival of KuSat on the scene, this should no longer be an issue. They will ship to the US, whereas Shaw themselves will not ship anything outside Canada. I recently purchased a spare LNB from KuSat and keep it on hand just in case.

(6) If you're the least bit handy, you can install the Shaw dish yourself. They have an instruction sheet for self-install that I can send you in pdf format, or you can find it on the Shaw site. KuSat also has detailed instructions on their website for installation. Someone on this forum will also help you. If you decide to have a pro do it, make sure you ask if they have ever done a Shaw install; just because they have done Dish Network or DirecTV does not mean they will be efficient in doing a Shaw; you don't want to pay by the hour for them to learn how.

(7) Unless someone in your area of Texas tells you specifically that the 75e is insufficient, I would go with it. The 2-dish setup is fine, but it will cost you approximately double. If you live in an area controlled by an HOA as I do, they may not allow a second dish.

 

[joshuals]

Argghhh....apologies to Iceberg....

His posts #7 & #8 got posted while I was typing.....sorry for the duplication of info.....he must be a faster typist than I am......

 

[QCK]

(7) Unless someone in your area of Texas tells you specifically that the 75e is insufficient, I would go with it. The 2-dish setup is fine, but it will cost you approximately double. If you live in an area controlled by an HOA as I do, they may not allow a second dish.

I agree to get the 75E dish, as in 2012 when the G1 satellite is lanuched it will be easier just to change the LNB head out to get it's channels.

 

[joshuals]

when the G1 satellite is lanuched it will be easier just to change the LNB head out to get it's channels.

Will the G1 satellite's coverage include the southern US? I was of the understanding it was going to be a "Canada-only beam".....?

 

[Mr Tony]

Most of the French comes from the Anik F2 satellite (as well as most of the HD [English and French]). I was willing to sacrifice the English channels that come from the other satellite to cut the cost of the dish/LNB in half. But I also had to sacrifice RDI. You would also be missing the two cartoon networks for your kids (unless they have an HD counterpart on F2), if this matters to you, as well as some of the French audio-only channels.

In the link I posted above Teletoon and Yoopa are both on F2 (Teletoon is the French version). Also the Montreal radio is on F2. But yes RDI is on F1 as its available to everyone (both English only and French only packages)

I guess the OP should check the different packages and see what fits their need. If all they want is some french programming then the dish answer is different than someone who wants the "mack dadddy" bilingual package

 

[compubit1]

Howdy from Texas - I'm closer to the coast (between Houston and Galveston) - and have had no problems with the 75cm dish - I seem to have better luck during rain with that than my dish 18-20" dishes... Heavy rains lose both, but during heavy rains I'm rarely at home or asleep (or so it seems...).

Enjoy! Now I'd like to add some French programming (trying to learn), but haven't figured out how to add French packages to my English-based account... Don't want to lose the English programming, but would like to add a bit more French...

J

 

[joshuals]

but would like to add a bit more French...

If you are using a broker, and if that broker has given you a service address in Quebec, you might be able to switch to the Parfait Bilingue package. You would have to do this by calling your broker and asking.

If you're not using a broker, and if you know your Shaw account number, you can go to the Shaw website, self service page, and play around with the "change programming" matrix and see what you can add. I looked at this briefly just now, and the only French channels I saw that can be added to an English package are RDS and RIS, both being sports channels.

For some reason Shaw doesn't make it possible to add French to the English package a la carte or in groups. It doesn't work both ways, though, as I have a French package, and can add quite a bit of English programming to it, although not all English channels are available to me. Having said that, you might consider switching to the "tout-en-francais" package that gives you all the available French channels, and then adding the English to it as allowed. If you have specific questions about what can be added, and if you don't have access to the "change programming" webpage, I can answer specific questions as to what can be added.

 

[byron]

Will the G1 satellite's coverage include the southern US? I was of the understanding it was going to be a "Canada-only beam".....?

Found this old post about that. Sounds like you may be correct.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/canadia...912-telesat-launch-new-anik-g1-satellite.html

 

[joshuals]

Yeah......I don't have much information on this issue, but it sounds like, long term, Canadian satellite in the US may become a thing of the past. But maybe we're good for SDef channels until the current satellites come to the end of their useful life. Hopefully, that will be a few years from now......I'm trying not to think about it!!

At the same time, I sure would like to hear other posters' input on what this all means.....

 

[Satellite Expert]

Anik F1R/F2 have continental Ku beams as they are also used by Shaw Broadcast Services. As long as SBS exists, any KU band replacement satellites will have the same footprint.

 

[Bob5519]

What outside diameter mast does the 75e use? I have a ground pole that is 1 5/8 inch o.d using a Dish Net Turbo. If the 75e uses 2 inches, would a 1 5/8 to 2 inch adpater be stable enough?

 

[Jables]

It accepts a 2" OD mast - I can't comment on the stability of an adapter; I'm sure that depends on location and potential wind load.