Install complete: For Stone Cold and others who've helped me

[mcfehn]

Hey guys...you asked me to let you know when my installation was complete. Well it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is that I am blown away. Just finished telling my cable company to take a hike.

Installers arrived about 11:30am...within the 8-12 window. They were the nicest guys you could ever deal with....constantly telling me what they were doing and answering ALL of my questions. Line of sight was NOT EVEN CLOSE to being an issue. I got the slimline dish which i think is very stylish. Now for the receivers. I got 2 HR24's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for the really fun part. As part of my package, I ordered two standard receivers for the kids rooms. Those receivers were free. Come to find out...my city is what they call an "all HD" market. Only one of two cities with that designation. So even the free "standard" receivers are HD receivers. WOW. My kids will not know what to do with themselves when they find out they have HD in their rooms.

The guide is still updating itself and they said it could take up to 24 hours to finish downloading everything it needs. I hope not because I need to get all of my DVR programs set back up. I see NO sign of ANY compression at all.

They even tapped into my phoneline so that my caller id service will still appear on my TV like it did with my cable company. Unfortunately, they used the last of my router ports for the on demand stuff. Guess it's time for a new router with more ports.

I just don't know what else to day. I am soooo thrilled. Now I just have to learn all of the channel numbers. Thank god for their guides...which are already out of date on some of the channels from what I can tell.

I spent the 6 extra bucks a month for the protection plan. With as many receivers as I have it seemed to make sense. The only thing I want to do now is to get another phone line and splitter and run a line under the house so I can get caller id in the bedroom. Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

Right now, however I am going to get my Harmony One remote set up to operate the HR24.

Oh, LOVE the sports mix and the news mix. Now I just have to explain this all to my wife. That should be interesting.

Thanks again for all the advice over the past few days and I look forward to talking to you all again very soon as I'm not going anywhere. I love this forum!

Mike

 

[Poke]

Congrats! Welcome Aboard to the Empire glad things went well for you enjoy.

 

[dishrich]

Come to find out...my city is what they call an "all HD" market. Only one of two cities with that designation. So even the free "standard" receivers are HD receivers.

Actually, there are MANY more markets that are this way, including mine. (in IL alone, we actually have 4 such markets) They are actually called MPEG4 local markets, which REQUIRE all HD receivers & slimline dishes to pick up locals. There's at least over 2 dozen+ markets like this...

Yes, it is nice to be in one of these markets - FYI, if you ever decide to get another DVR, if you call D* to request one, just ask for an SD DVR, which is cheaper than an HD DVR. You'll actually wind up with an HD DVR anyway...

 

[thedamaja]

Unless you've been wanting a new router (good excuse to upgrade to N wireless) you really only need an inexpensive switch to add more ports to your existing router.

 

[ryotgz]

Ohhh.. Very nice to know. I could throw on an SD receiver before our install on the 11th and automatically get an HD receiver.

 

[markfp-1]

I'm in the Syracuse, NY market and we're only HD receivers here too. They've been contacting subscribers to update their receivers with no cost or commitment (other than returning them). I just got two last week so all my receivers are HD now. Don't have HD service yet, but I'm pretty sure we'll be going that route before the end of summer.

 

[Jimbo]

Glad to see it all went well :up

Jimbo

 

[goaliebob99]

What markets are all HD?

 

[Mr Tony]

Most new markets D* adds are HD only locals

but the examples above are MPEG4 only markets...markets where the locals use to be on 72.5 and D* moved them to 99 & 103 in either HD or SD. Customers who had MPEG2 equipment when the locals were on 72.5 get upgraded to HD equipment

If a customer has to add a receiver they add a SD receiver for 69 or 99 fort DVR and gets a HD version

 

[goaliebob99]

Most new markets D* adds are HD only locals

but the examples above are MPEG4 only markets...markets where the locals use to be on 72.5 and D* moved them to 99 & 103 in either HD or SD. Customers who had MPEG2 equipment when the locals were on 72.5 get upgraded to HD equipment

If a customer has to add a receiver they add a SD receiver for 69 or 99 fort DVR and gets a HD version

Bummer so Im assuming that the third largest dma isnt one of those....

 

[Mr Tony]

no

Most markets still have SD locals available

 

[goaliebob99]

no

Most markets still have SD locals available

Well that doesnt help me out any

 

[dishrich]

What markets are all HD?

I can tell you that in IL, the 4 DMA's are Rockford, Quad Cities, Peoria/Bloomington & Springfield/Decatur/Champaign.