Length of Cable to HD Dish?

[glkaiser]

Hey all - I'm looking for some advice on getting a DirectTV HD dish installed. I've had it with my cable company (Broadstripe in Seattle) and am once again looking at a dish.

I set up an appointment for installation about a year ago. I live in a ground floor condo, and we have to put dishes up on the roof. It would probably be a length of about 50 to 75 feet from a dish (on a tripod) to my receiver/TV.

When the technician got there and saw the layout, he told me that HD dishes have to be powered/plugged in and the cord shouldn't be longer than about 40 feet in order for the receiver to function correctly. He said that a non-powered/non-HD receiver would be just fine at that length, but not HD. I decided to stick with cable at that point since I wanted the HD to work...

At this point, I wanted to ask others for their opinions and see if there is any way around the length issue? Better quality cables, etc...?

 

[kilon]

He lied. Most likely he didn't want to get out his ladder, climb up on the roof, and run multiple coax lines down the side of a 2 story building into your condo. Most contractors don't get paid enough for an install to do an extra 2 hours of work like that.

My advice is to set up another appointment and hope you get a tech that will go the extra mile. Tip him very well.

 

[glkaiser]

He lied. Most likely he didn't want to get out his ladder, climb up on the roof, and run multiple coax lines down the side of a 2 story building into your condo. Most contractors don't get paid enough for an install to do an extra 2 hours of work like that.

My advice is to set up another appointment and hope you get a tech that will go the extra mile. Tip him very well.

Wow - thanks for the info...that is incredibly sad.