The snow has now melted and I can finally get at my parent's BUD. Before I spend a bunch of money buying receivers and what not, how much life is left for C-Band? Also, I'd like to get sub channels like Fox Sports, VS., HGTV, etc. Am I better off with getting a little guy from Dish or Direct? I'd hate to spend a bunch of money in equipment only to find I can't get the channels I want or that C-Band is going away. Your thought??
How much life is left for C-Band??
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As for C band, it is going to be around for a long time, there is more to C band than 4Dtv.
As for paid programming who knows, I am not sure if Fox Sports is up there or not for subs on 4Dtv, but I do believe the other two are, if I where looking for another alternative I would probably not go with a little dish, mainly because the quality is not there, they over sell, so they have to over compress to get the channels up there, there are deals that come along with 4Dtv receivers, you might want to keep an eye out for those.
Terry
As for paid programming who knows, I am not sure if Fox Sports is up there or not for subs on 4Dtv, but I do believe the other two are, if I where looking for another alternative I would probably not go with a little dish, mainly because the quality is not there, they over sell, so they have to over compress to get the channels up there, there are deals that come along with 4Dtv receivers, you might want to keep an eye out for those.
Terry
C-band is not going anywhere, but in my opinion C-band subscription packages (4DTV) will not be around forever.
I don't think some/all channels you mentioned are available on satellite anywhere besides DirecTv or Dish.
That being said there is still a lot of stuff available FTA on C-band, but it takes some effort to get it, it's not plug-and-play.
If you are interested in that angle you have come to the right place, there are guys here that have forgotten more about this stuff than you and me will ever know, and they are more than happy to share that knowledge.
I don't think some/all channels you mentioned are available on satellite anywhere besides DirecTv or Dish.
That being said there is still a lot of stuff available FTA on C-band, but it takes some effort to get it, it's not plug-and-play.
If you are interested in that angle you have come to the right place, there are guys here that have forgotten more about this stuff than you and me will ever know, and they are more than happy to share that knowledge.
I don't subscribe to anything on C Band since I have no 4DTV and since VC2 subscriptions are no longer active, yet there is still a bunch of stuff, especially sports that are FTA, but like the folks above me said, you will need to be patient and be willing to spend a lot of time on this hobby. I still subscribe to cable though, but C Band FTA gives me a bunch of options that are not available for me anywhere down here in Mexico.
Just as an example, tonight I was able to watch the Braves game in HD, the White Sox game in SD, the Philadelphia Flyers game in HD, the Portland vs Suns game in SD,
Just as an example, tonight I was able to watch the Braves game in HD, the White Sox game in SD, the Philadelphia Flyers game in HD, the Portland vs Suns game in SD,
dozens of freebies around here...i had two piled up in the back yard (not in use) and gave them to my cousin.
Well I hope true FTA C-band stays around, but that's only because I have my system in place and am enjoying it right now. But if you look at the economics of it, the cost to design and build satellites, launch them, and maintain them in position in the Clarke Belt, and you compare that to the miniscule cost of internet TV, you have to wonder if satellite TV in any form can survive.
More and more I find myself watching online movies, some of them fairly recent.
More and more I find myself watching online movies, some of them fairly recent.
I just want to be able to watch my sports. Fox Sports is a must have for me. So if I cannot get that with the BUD (cable is not an option where I live), then I will probably just jump onto the small dish wagon. It's gonna cost a bit of $$ from what I can tell to get my parents BUD up and running (anywhere from $300-$500, depending on what receivers I get, and it sounds like I need 2 of them, one for 4dtv and an HD receiver).
Since I work in the broadcast industry, my speculation is that it will not be internet that replaces satellite, at least not directly, but fiber optic cable will. Fiber is going in all over and has tremendous capacity. There is a company in my area getting ready to put in "fiber to the home" in a massive rural area all paid for by the government stimulus money. Most point to point communications will probably move off satellite including television distribution.
Yes I agree. I now have dsl in my rural locations, but the promotions for fiber optic come in the mail weekly, with plans for "tv, internet,phone" . It really is the next stage of the internet. I don't know how you are going to get much faster than fiber. It is a perfect medium for sending video.
Who will want to design and launch satellites? Then maintain them in orbit? Then replace them? Silly when you have the capacity on the ground and in place, maintained by someone else.
I think it is the end of antennas and dishes for the most part.
satellite is too flexible for quick deployment and rural applications...fiber can never replace satellite completely. it won't happen until fiber is laying underground every square mile of land on the planet.
Its a rock and a hard spot. Just like the traditional land line telephone companies have found out, the ability to uplink from anywhere is why satellite is unlikely to go away. For preplanned events and television distribution to all but remote places that is when fiber optics make since.
I was talking with a guy a couple of weeks ago, he lives in a small subdivision, there is cable a quarter mile away from where he lives, cable co. told them they would probibly never run cable to that area because the numbers are to low, I think fiber optic for TV would have a similar opinion.
Terry
Satellite is really the cheapest method for point to multipoint one way distribution. Fiber is very expensive right now. Anyone, including ourselves, can receive television signals that most people will never see in their whole lives, because of just how good of a job satellite distribution does at distributing signals that can reach every single person in a large geographic area such as North America. Think of the initial cost of a fiber or coax deployment as well as maintenance costs that can reach the same region as satellite. Satellite technology is really awesome.
I remember back in the early to mid 90's, when we started to lose some signals to fiber, people were saying that TVRO was nearing it's end, because everything would be sent by fiber. Now, we have much more available via satellite, even events from big cities that were the signals that we first started losing. I think both satellite and fiber have their advantages, and both will be around when the next generation of technology comes around.
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