FTA Newbee

[AverageJoe]

Hi all:
I am a current DishNetworks subscriber in VT. My friend in Canada told me about FTA. I wanted to get more information on FTA.
In particular I wanted to find out:
1* if I buy a new FTA box do I need to cancel my current DishNetwork subscription?
2* if I buy a new FTA box can I do the setup by myself or do I need a professional to set things up?
3* where can I find a satellite professional to do the set up for me? I live in a small state (Burlington, Vermont) and not sure if regular satellite installation companies will offer FTA set up.
4* where can I buy quality equipment?
5* how does this whole digital stuff we see on TV affect FTA?
6* is FTA really worth it?

Any help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr Tony]

1. you probably will want to keep it. FTA has different things than Dish does.
2. most of us have set it up ourselves
3. see point 2
4. check the sponsers at top (sadoun, gosatelite,satelliteav)
5. it doesn't. That is for over the air TV stations
6. well it depends. If you want like TNT, TBS, USA type channels, then FTA probably isn't for you. FTA in allot of cases can supplement existing setups (Dish, Direct, cable). check out thelist at the top to see some of the channels that are out there. If you like news feeds (raw, uncensored, unedited) and sports feeds, then FTA is probably a good investment

best thing to do is read some posts here, ask questions and see for yourself

 

[AverageJoe]

Thanks Iceberg for you quick response.
I only have one more question if you don't mind ...
Set up ... how complicated is it for a complete novice? I understand that you have to know how to point your dish and change some settings on the dish to accept non-DishNetwork signals, etc? Please advise ...

~ Joe

 

[Inno]

For starters you really can't use your current Dish Network dish to recieve any FTA signals, it's too small. You'll need a minimum of a 30" dish to be effective. Secondly the LNB needed to receive FTA signals is different from the one on your current dish. So you'll need a dish and reciever to get you started.
Probably best to do some reading, there are some really good articles on getting started right here on this site. I'd start with the FAQs here FTA / MPEG2 FAQ's - SatelliteGuys.US .
If you read all that and still want to give it a shot, there's more than enough knowlegable people here who can talk you through just about any problem you might have in setting it up.
It's a really great hobby and can lead to some fun TV watching...seeing things your neighbors can't!