FTA vs D*

[icstephen]

Let me start by saying I have D*, SC & FTA and this is an observation so I may just be crazy. I have been thinking of ditching the dish (D* that is) not because I dont like it but because most of the so called cable channels have really gone down the tubes (especially on the weekend when I want to watch tv) and I am having a hard time justifying paying $60.00 a month for the service....Ok I said all that to explain the following. I have started watching allot of FTA & SC just to see what it will be like if I dump D* (and if I will go through extreme withdrawl), but my observation is that the PQ on FTA (ku band) far excides what I am getting on D*, I know allot of people with big tv's complain about the PQ but frankly I never saw it until I was flipping between the two. So am I all wet? or is the PQ on fta really that much better? Its funny I have had D* for along time and I know that the PQ on SC was higher quality but I was suprised to see that Free stuff (most of the G10r channels anyway) are clearer than the most expensive programming in the house.

PS: After watching for a week I think I will can D* after xmas and get a bottle of 15Yr old scotch with the savings

 

[voomvoom]

I was a subscriber since 98 and dropped them about 4 months ago. I don't blame you at all, although I had other issues with them. Good move on your part. I think they must miss me, as I've already gotten two letters from them, trying to get me back. So you can expect the same.

Al

 

[rdel]

I dumped d* a few months ago, never looked back and I'm happy. Of course when the new season of stargate comes up I may be kicking myself

 

[Tron]

FTA quality is wide-ranging, and can be nearly pristine, as is the case with many feeds, or web-streaming-like, as is the case with some channels in IA-5.

Where FTA really shines (IMO) is in the fact that it offers programming that you can't buy at any cost. In reality, news via FTA eliminates media information gatekeepers from the loop, affording the viewer an uncensored (and often disturbing) look at the world. It is worth having for that fact alone

 

[mastermesh]

Of course when the new season of stargate comes up I may be kicking myself

See the iptv forum thread. There's some p2p channels and/or tv over internet channels that just might have what you are looking for - quality may not be as great, but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

FTA eliminates media information gatekeepers from the loop,

Couldn't agree more. BTW, if you are all for avoiding the gatekeepers, why not try going direct to the source where most of the gatekeepers get their non-local stories? http://www.ap.org/

 

[SatinKzo]

Where FTA really shines (IMO) is in the fact that it offers programming that you can't buy at any cost. In reality, news via FTA eliminates media information gatekeepers from the loop, affording the viewer an uncensored (and often disturbing) look at the world. It is worth having for that fact alone

yeah, some of the raw video I have seen at times is quite shocking.

 

[moseley]

Once I got the analog reciever I started thinking about dropping the dishnetwork. My kid sure watchs Noggin alot, and I am kinda addicted to battlestar galactica. But now that I don't seem to need Fullcourt, I suppose it is only a matter of time.

Maybe I'll get a spindle of RW DVDs to record enough kids programmimg for 5 or 6 years.

 

[icstephen]

I have started buying allot of tv shows on dvd (now that the prices are starting to fall) and I can use those to fill the gaps or catch a show on a channel that I will no longer get after the switch.

 

[Davage]

If I was a single guy, I'd be happy with what I could pick up on FTA and using an over-the-air antenna. Just keep your hands off of my XM radio subscription though! My wife is the tv addict in the house, so that's why we have an ExpressVu subscription. I had a basic DirecTV subscription years ago, but I cancelled it because I found the same thing that you are running into, just like the Bruce Springsteen song says -> 57 channels and nothing on. I like the ability to timeshift through ExpressVu as well as the PVR function. Over time I really don't think you'll miss it. At first not having the US basic cable channels seemed a little wierd, but I've gotten over it. I do miss VH1 though, but that's about it. The Free-To-Air setup definately has some neat stuff not available on cable or Dish/DirecTV/ExpressVu/Starchoice.

 

[techno935]

If I was a single guy, I'd be happy with what I could pick up on FTA and using an over-the-air antenna.

Thats me! Plus, when KB4YXT (local ham) gets that repeater back up, I can watch some amatuer TV. That's a whole other ballpark of television.


By the way, just for the hell of it, here's a fun test. If amateur television is prominent in your area, tune (with your outdoor OTA antenna) to cable channel 57 and see if you have a signal.

The common repeater output channel for ATV (Amatuer television) just so happens to fall on cable channel 57. (421.250 Mhz)

 

[Tron]

Thats me! Plus, when KB4YXT (local ham) gets that repeater back up, I can watch some amatuer TV. That's a whole other ballpark of television.


By the way, just for the hell of it, here's a fun test. If amateur television is prominent in your area, tune (with your outdoor OTA antenna) to cable channel 57 and see if you have a signal.

The common repeater output channel for ATV (Amatuer television) just so happens to fall on cable channel 57. (421.250 Mhz)

An engineer friend of mine operates an ATV repeater. Someday I'm going to get into ATV...

 

[icstephen]

Thats me! Plus, when KB4YXT (local ham) gets that repeater back up, I can watch some amatuer TV. That's a whole other ballpark of television.


By the way, just for the hell of it, here's a fun test. If amateur television is prominent in your area, tune (with your outdoor OTA antenna) to cable channel 57 and see if you have a signal.

The common repeater output channel for ATV (Amatuer television) just so happens to fall on cable channel 57. (421.250 Mhz)

We have a local repeater here that used to (not sure if they still do) have a net on thursday night...the rest of the time they showed NASA. The funny thing with that is that I made a huge yagi for the repeater frequency and when playing with it if I aimed the antenna at the cable box it had enough gain to pick up cable leakage and I could get several channels including Showtime (yea it was about 10 years ago when premiums where still analog). I may try to do this again I have a box at the front of my property and the local cable PQ is pretty poor and I bet there is quite some leakage. Funny thing about this is that I got the idea from a telecomfrence to cable operators on my BUD in the early 90's....they where explaining how the cable company could look for poor connections, leaks or something like that by driving down the street and using a yagi antenna. The antenna does need to be of some gain because the signal is very week and some channels will have some sparkles on it.

 

[mastermesh]

Back when I lived in an apartment a few years back, I had no cable, but some others in the building did. I plugged in the coax coming in through the wall to the tv just to see what would happen. Surprisingly, there was some religious channel that came in on what I think was channel 57... so yes, I think that is an analog channel.

 

[icstephen]

I have the Fortec classic NA and am using multiple dishes through a switch and the reciever has a great function that I put all the channels I want in favorites across all the different satellites and it switches automatically...its one of the benifits of having multiple dishes.

 

[dashaund]

I love FTA but I don't think I could drop D*. Gotta have ESPN and ESPNHD. If I was on my own, yeah, I'd drop it...but since I have someone to split the bill with, I'm keeping it. Still can't beat what you can get with an old rooftop antenna. People that say $50/month for their local channels are freakin' crazy.

 

[dashaund]

I'd also like to add that quite frankly I'm surprised that the number of hams on here and in FTA. I'm a ham myself, KI4ABS. No ATV action here locally. We've had IRLP around here for a number of years, but that's about as "high-tech" as we've gotten. We have a great net that means every night on our "main" two meter repeater on 146.61, but no other real serious activity. But I guess it's up to someone to start it, right? I don't think it's that no one is interested, it's just that "well, I'm going to put all of this effort into it, and no one else is going to jump in with me." Man, I need to fire up that HF rig, it's been awhile.

 

[kymics]

I had ExpressVu for several years and ditched it earlier this year for cable because I felt it was too expensive to get what I wanted. I got a deal for the first half a year, but now my deal is running out and I need to decide what to do next.

I've been thinking of going strictly FTA but to me, the issue is HDTV. A subscription can give me dedicated high-def programming, whereas FTA is only PBS and any HD wild feeds I find. Unfortunately when it comes to sports, I'm not the kind of guy who can watch any game just because it's on, I like to watch specific teams (mostly referring to NFL).

I don't see FTA expanding HDTV offerings any time soon because of bandwidth costs. I might go with SC because a basic package includes most HD channels and some other decent stuff. Hopefully that won't kill my desire to watch stuff on FTA.

It would sure be nice if we didn't have to pay providers exhorbitant amounts of money each month, just to have companies advertise their products to us every few minutes.

 

[icstephen]

I dont have hd so this may be dumb but what about ota? I got an antenna installed for my dad and the PQ puts D*'s to shame. I hope to get a new tv next year and I after seeing what my dads looked like I would not give D* 2 cents for there hd PQ & line up when I can get better from an antenna...I don't watch much sports though (that would change if they had a winter sports channel) so I don't have to worry about missing out on sports.

As for the ham stuff...I would love to get a nice hf beam...I have a closet full oh hf gear (radios, Amps, keys & mic's) that have been collecting dust for years...I keep threatening to sell my hf amp. my problem is that I get bored with my hobbies, I have a full ham set up (in closet), a full 16mm projection outfit (in closet)...heck if I sold the ham and movie outfits I could probably get a nice HD tv....oh well a fool and his money...

 

[N5XZS]

If I ever have the time to do ham-TV stuff it will be pretty cool stuff to do but never have the time to do it!

I found out how much it cost to buy the AM video TV transmitter at 10 watts out for a $400.00 dollars and up.

Oh well, maybe after I buy a new car then I will buy a new toy to play with.:

 

[icstephen]

yea the tv stuff has always been pricy...I think because it is niche like amsat. The bottom has dropped out of vhf, uhf and multiband radios the last couple of years...I really would like to get a tri-bander for the car...I'm just too lazy to install it.