Help a new guy please.

[Andrew]

I am switching from cable to Dish Network in order to save a few bucks a year. A couple of questions still bother me.

First, I live in Michigan and my install is scheduled for next Saturday. Of course trees have no leaves in winter in Michigan. My worry is that when the leaves start to appear, my satellite signal will start to degrade. The company assures me that it will be OK, but I am still concerned. Are there any options if a formerly good line of sight turns bad due to foliage growth?

Second, they are offering either a HD box, or a non HD one with recording ability. Presently, I don't own a HD TV, and would probably be better served w/ the box w/ recording. Should I be looking down the road for when HD becomes the standard. Is this 942 HD box I've been reading about on this forum the one that Dish is offering with the install, or is this something special? What are the differences?

Any other pointers anyone could offer would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[nsafreak]

Foilage can degrade the signal. How much it degrades the signal depends on how thick the foilage is on the trees. It may also be possible that they will simply shoot over the trees but it's hard to say without knowing how close to the trees your house is (as in surrounded or if they're far out) and where the dish will be mounted.

Insofar as the boxes are concerned you are probably best off with going with the recording box option without the HD features. Getting a 942 now would add another $250 to the cost of it now which would just be for a lease and is not what Dish is going to be installing. They'll likely be installing either a 522 or 625 receiver which are pretty much the same thing except the 625 has Movies on demand. Dish has already said that future HD programming will likely be released in MPEG4 which the 942 does not support. So I'd wait till you have an HDTV and see what the currrent HD enviroment is at Dish before you invest in one.