BBC HD needs a 3rd dish??

[Chimera]

ok, I'm a little behind the times and only just realized that Dish Network now has BBC America in HD. I noticed I wasn't getting that channel, so I contacted Dish Network and they're saying I need a 3rd dish in order to receive that channel. What's the deal? Is there any way to do this without having 3 dishes annoying my wife? I'm in VT and currently have the Top 250 + gold HD.

Thanks

Grahame

 

[whatchel1]

Yes

ok, I'm a little behind the times and only just realized that Dish Network now has BBC America in HD. I noticed I wasn't getting that channel, so I contacted Dish Network and they're saying I need a 3rd dish in order to receive that channel. What's the deal? Is there any way to do this without having 3 dishes annoying my ? I'm in VT and currently have the Top 250 + gold HD.

Thanks

Grahame

A different dish is most likely what they are saying. In VT I think you would be an EA customer and need the new 1000.4 dish which looks at 3 sats for the East Coast. 77, 72,7, 61,5. Do you have any SD receivers or only HD?

 

[viggen61]

Three dishes is one option. Perhaps you're not eligible for the single-dish (Eastern Arc) solution.

All the new HD is going up on sats at 72 and 129. None of it is on 61.5 or 110 or 119.

 

[Chimera]

I just chatted with the same CS rep again, and she said that she'd made a mistake before, and I can get EA but she said it would only replace 1 of my 2 dishes? Either way, I have an install appointment for tomorrow morning (very fast service!) and hopefully the installer can determine whether I can just go to 1 dish. Both of my receivers are HD (722 and 222)

Thanks for the help guys

Grahame

 

[Chimera]

ok, the tech came today and said that if I tried to replace both of my 500 dishes with the EA dish, I would lose some of my programming (stuff that's on 77 I think he said). He wanted to replace the 61.5 500 with the EA dish and install a switch to tie the EA and 2nd 500 together. I started having 2nd thoughts about having the much bigger EA dish right at the front of the house AND keeping the 2nd dish, and told him I wanted to think about it some more and he was fine with that.

So, was he right, if I drop both of the 500s and put up an EA dish, would I lose some programming?

I think I'm going to visit my local installer who installed the system, because they really know their stuff. Not that this tech didn't know what he was doing, but sometimes retailers will do stuff that Dish won't do officially.

 

[delta_charlie]

ok, the tech came today and said that if I tried to replace both of my 500 dishes with the EA dish, I would lose some of my programming (stuff that's on 77 I think he said). He wanted to replace the 61.5 500 with the EA dish and install a switch to tie the EA and 2nd 500 together. I started having 2nd thoughts about having the much bigger EA dish right at the front of the house AND keeping the 2nd dish, and told him I wanted to think about it some more and he was fine with that.

So, was he right, if I drop both of the 500s and put up an EA dish, would I lose some programming?

I think I'm going to visit my local installer who installed the system, because they really know their stuff. Not that this tech didn't know what he was doing, but sometimes retailers will do stuff that Dish won't do officially.

Hi, please hit menu 6 - 1 -3 and let us know what satellites pop up. Two dish 500 are normally used on 61.5, 110 and 119. Thanks, DC

 

[JonBlack]

The EA dish picks up 61.5/72.7/77. Your receivers support MPEG-4 so that shouldn't be an issue for EA vs. WA. You would get all national SD and HD programming off of the EA 1000.4 dish. Your locals may not be on the EA setup and that might be the issue at hand. Which DMA are you in?

 

[Chimera]

Correct delta_charlie, I show 61.5, 110 and 119.

I don't know what a "DMA" is...

 

[navychop]

Designated Market Area. Basically, what city your get your locals from. Unless your area requires 129 for locals, you only need the one EA dish. If your locals are on 129, then you need only the one WA (1000.2) dish. Line Of Sight issues are more likely for you with 129/WA.

If you have a clear Line Of Sight, you can get what you need from one EA dish (1000.4). As in my case, they will remove both dishes and put up one. So technically, they are replacing only one dish. They're just removing the other.

It would be unusual for you to require more than one dish, where you are, since you don't subscribe to internationals on 118.7. You should not lose any programming with a single dish solution. In a few months, you might well be required to move to a single dish anyway.

 

[Chimera]

In a few months, you might well be required to move to a single dish anyway.

Thanks...why is that?

BTW, I get my locals from Burlington VT.

 

[EricBskiVT]

The Burlington, VT DMA only requires a single 1000.4 Dish for 61.5/72.7 satellites. The signal from 77 is too weak to use and not needed anyway. You will not need a wing dish for sat 110 like the tech will probably tell you because 61.5 and 72.7 take care of all our channels so make sure it is a single dish install. I listened to the tech over my better judgment and now have an unneeded wing dish. A search of my guide shows no channels coming from 110.

 

[Bobby]

A search of my guide shows no channels coming from 110.

Yet.....

 

[navychop]

Thanks...why is that?

BTW, I get my locals from Burlington VT.

Dish is trying to move everyone to a "pure" WA or EA single dish configuration. Some, that subscribe to certain international channels, might still need a wing dish pointed at 118. But even that is not certain.

The 61.5/110/119 "hybrid" combination will not get all the programming available/paid for. This will worsen as they move programming off the 61.5 and onto the 72.7. This was planned to begin in the fall, with some period of duplication on both satellites. The plan has now been placed on hold. However, I believe this is only a delay, not a change in the overall plan. Perhaps they want to stretch out costs a bit more. Perhaps the first phase, involving 129 customers, is presenting more problems than anticipated. Perhaps they want to wait until Echostar 15 is happily in orbit.

If you're going to have it done, have it done right. Get the EA dish, not a 500 pointed at just 61.5/72.7. You never know, there may be much more coming from the 77 location in the future.

 

[whatchel1]

The list

Dish is trying to move everyone to a "pure" WA or EA single dish configuration. Some, that subscribe to certain international channels, might still need a wing dish pointed at 118. But even that is not certain.

The 61.5/110/119 "hybrid" combination will not get all the programming available/paid for. This will worsen as they move programming off the 61.5 and onto the 72.7. This was planned to begin in the fall, with some period of duplication on both satellites. The plan has now been placed on hold. However, I believe this is only a delay, not a change in the overall plan. Perhaps they want to stretch out costs a bit more. Perhaps the first phase, involving 129 customers, is presenting more problems than anticipated. Perhaps they want to wait until Echostar 15 is happily in orbit.

If you're going to have it done, have it done right. Get the EA dish, not a 500 pointed at just 61.5/72.7. You never know, there may be much more coming from the 77 location in the future.

The list so a bunch of the internationals on 77 that aren't available yet.

 

[fredp]

The Burlington, VT DMA only requires a single 1000.4 Dish for 61.5/72.7 satellites. The signal from 77 is too weak to use and not needed anyway. You will not need a wing dish for sat 110 like the tech will probably tell you because 61.5 and 72.7 take care of all our channels so make sure it is a single dish install. ...

I was converted over to EA today. Originally had the same fears of missing programming from 110. Well thats not the case. I have AEP/locals/Gold&Plat HD. Everything is on either 61.5 or 72.7 as others have noted. 77 which is useless to us here in BTV fails the sat search more then its detected. The few transponders that see a signal post in the range of 23 to 29 for my setup.

 

[Chimera]

Fred, that's good to hear...so you went from 2 dishes to 1 with no problems?

 

[fredp]

Fred, that's good to hear...so you went from 2 dishes to 1 with no problems?

Yes. Took an 1 1/2 hrs start to finish. Absolutely no surprises. Besides researching here I also got good info from Burlington, VT - HDTV - AVS Forum . The last few pages you can see some of us talking about the options etc. Very helpful folks in our neck of the woods..

 

[delta_charlie]

Hi all, isn't NASA, CSPAN and a bunch of CD music on 77w? If the OP is setup only on 61.5 and 72 I would think he would be missing those channels. Because 77w is weak in the N.E. wouldn't a 1000.4 dish for 61.5 and 72 then a wing 500 dish for one of the 110/119 pairs fill in the missing channels? The reason I said 110/119 is I'm not sure if both are needed or just one to get the missing channels. The OP should have the LNBs for either option from the previous install. Hope this helps, DC

 

[Ilya]

NASA, CSPAN and all music channels are on 72 (72.7)

I had a similar install yesterday, and in my case I opted to keep the second dish, so I can get 110. So I now have the 1000.4 dish (replacing my old 61.5 dish), that gets me 72.7, 77 and 61.5 and I also get 110 from the old Dish500. In reality, I cold've went with a sigle dish (I only get 2 SD local channels, which I never watch off 110), but I figured since I already have the second dish on my roof, I better keep it there, rather than worry how well the tech fixes the holes on the roof after removing the dish.

 

[Ilya]

By the way, if you want to see which channels (including locals) are coming from which satellite, our forum has a very valuable tool: "The List". It is linked at the very top of each page, just below the SatelliteGuys logo. Just click on it, select "Subscription List Home" and then select the satellite you want to check out, e.g. "DISH Network 77.0°W". You will see the list of all channels available there, including the names of the cities for locals. The nice thing about this list, is that it's very accurate: as I understand, it is automatically updated with every new uplink report. Pretty cool!