Dishnetwork switching to Directv Questions

[kif]

Ok, I have a few questions, well actually alot of question so please be patient.

1. Question:Choosing a dish to purchase, I'm guessing if i want HD tv i have to go with the triple LNB dish or no? I dont currently have HD ready TV but I may in the future and just assume go ahead and do it now.

2. Question: I would also like to install the dish to connect to 4 diffrent TV's. I want 2 DVR's and 2 standard receivers. I want to get the use of the dual tuner in each of the DVR's. I also still pay for standard cable service, so i would prefer to have a switch that supports adding that, to cut down on the number of cables runs i have to do.

3. Question: Cable runs, Will i have to run 2 cables to each DVR to get the dual tuner feature or is there some fancy switch to help with this as well.

4. Question: I'm sure this has been ask about 100 times but which brand of receiver. Man, there are so many which is another reason i'm switching to Directv.

5. Question: Does the Directv dish point in pretty much the same direction as the Dishnetwork one does, South/West. (Atlanta, Ga)

Thanks so much for any help. I will be a self installer and just need a little education.

 

[riggscm]

I can tell you from experience that if you want HD you'll want/need the Triple LNB (oval) dish.

regarding the switch you'll need for you equipment I'd suggest a 5x8 multiswitch, I have the one by terk and it works well. the 5x8 will give you the ability to input a 5th signal line, there will be 4 coming out of the Triple LNB dish.

I have 2 cable runs to each of my Tivo's from the 5x8, but some D* guru might have a better idea for you.

regarding the receivers, I have a RCA Tivo, and the rest are Hughes brand (which I think is RCA guts, but diff. label) and they all work great.

You'll be pointing to 101, 119 and one other sat, so you'll prop. be in the same spot more or less. you can use your existing mast.

 

[bsic]

1. Question:Choosing a dish to purchase, I'm guessing if i want HD tv i have to go with the triple LNB dish or no? I dont currently have HD ready TV but I may in the future and just assume go ahead and do it now.

Yep, triple lnb needed to grab HD

3. Question: Cable runs, Will i have to run 2 cables to each DVR to get the dual tuner feature or is there some fancy switch to help with this as well.

yep.. u need two cables to each dvr, one for each tuner.

4. Question: I'm sure this has been ask about 100 times but which brand of receiver. Man, there are so many which is another reason i'm switching to Directv.

My understanding is the DVR's are the same, just a different name stamped on the front. Dont know if this is true, but ive seen it in several places here.

5. Question: Does the Directv dish point in pretty much the same direction as the Dishnetwork one does, South/West. (Atlanta, Ga)

I just switched from E*, and the dish points in the same direction- you will grab 101, 110, and 119.
Thanks so much for any help. I will be a self installer and just need a little education.

 

[boba]

I will agree with the rest of the answers except for the triple LNB dish, if you will get you locals from 101 you don't need the triple LNB dish seeing you are not planning on HDTV. Next year 2005 Directv is planning to launch 2 Ka band satellites to vastly increase the HDTV offerings. These new satellites will probably require a new satellite dish. In the past Directv has provided for the necessary upgrades to continue using their technology so I expect when you want to upgrade to the newest HDTV dish Directv will have an offer for you.

 

[kif]

Thanks for all the response. Does any one have any questions on direction of the satelite and how difficult of a task this is.

Boba, thanks for the info on the dish, I'll probably wait then.

 

[Neutron]

The 5th input of the 5X8 is for OTA.