More C-band questions

[Conjuror]

Reading posts on this forum made me really interested in having C-band but I still have to learn more first:
1. What is the main difference between lets say 3' and 8' dishes? How many channels I wouldn't get with the smaller dish? What is recommended dish size? Is there any web site wich shows channel line up difference between smaller and larger dishes?
2. I see few maybe 10+ years old BUDs in peoples backyards. Would they still work with newer receivers? I was going to ask one of them to get their BUD if they don't use it, to save some money. Is that good way to go?
3. What is the HD channel lineup? What kind of equipment (receiver and dish) is recommended for HD and SD channels?

 

[tdti1]

1. Don't get any dish under 10'
2. Yes if they are 15-20 years old, you may need to upgrade the whole feed, but if its 5-10 it should be good. This is the best thing to do, look for one with the smallest mesh holes, and make sure it is in good shape, not banged up or warped.
3. Subs: Starz east + west, HBO east + west, Showtime west, Discovery.
Free: Wealth TV, NETV PBS HDTV.
There should be more soon, if we get more people to sub

The best setup, 10'-12' mesh dish or 8.5'-10' solid steel, c/ku band feedhorn and lnbs, a 4dtv dsr 922 with the hdd 200, and a DVB box slaved for more free TV, you can get a HD dvb for more HD, but not much, really nice pics though. You will also need a VCII+ board to sub to analog channels, this board slides into the 4dtv, if you grab a dish with a old box, you may get one in there.

The big dish is the best for high quality feeds, lower sub cost and freedom of choice, but it is better if you like to play around with stuff and are a do it yourselfer, since there are not to many dealers around to help any more. We can help you set the bud up no prob, the biggest pain in the ass is digging the hole hope you find a old bud and bring it back to life good luck!

You can look around bars houses and go ask if you can have a look at the dish, if its in good shape see if they will give it to you free, if not offer $50-$100 but go around and see, you may get one free...

 

[Conjuror]

Thanks tdti1 for the response. However, I'd still like to know what is the main difference between 5' still dish and 10' mesh one. You said for better PQ I should get at least 10' but that makes sense to me only for analog channels, not digital, right? Another thing I don't understand is how dish size matters so much if the dish has to moved each time when you want to watch programs from different satellite? If pizza dish can get good signal why can't properly aligned still 5' c-band? Isn't proper dish alignment more important than size?
Sorry, but I am still very confused about all this. Browsing web pages on skynet.com I saw that they have two separate sections for c-band/k-band and MPEG-2/FTA. Does it mean that I wouldn't ne able to watch MPEG-2/FTA channels with c-band/k-band equipments?
Also, shouldn't an HDTV receiver be capable of working with SD c-band and k-band? You mentioned that I should get hdd 200 and 4dtv dsr separately? I am completely newbie in this matter so please be patient with me .
Thanks a lot.

 

[drhydro]

I have to agree with everything TDTI1 had to say, esp about finding free BUDs. I see free BUDs all the time in the local classifieds. By far the hardest part of setting up a BUD is digging the hole and making sure the pole is perfectly plumb, the rest is pretty easy. Here is a site you should look at http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizepgs/tuningp2.html
Good Luck

 

[tdti1]

There are many satellites up there at the moment, and they are being placed at a 2 degree spacing apart, a easy way to explain, is the bigger the dish the less of the sky it sees, the smaller the dish the more of the sky it sees, so to stop adjacent satellite interference the reflector must be, atleast 8.5'.

The 4dtv will get you both analog and digital feeds, this unit has everthing built in, a analog tuner for free analog feeds, dish positioner, DCII fta capable and DCII subscription, If you want to subscribe to analog you must get a VCII+ board, this board slides into the 4dtv, and is not another box taking up room, now if you want HD, then you must get the HDD 200, and this decoder connects to the 4dtv, to produce the picture, star chioce and many cable companies used the HDD 200 also , but most places have come out with a all in one unit now. The 4dtv will give you many free channels, but most are analog wildfeeds, some in the DCII format, but for those ones you must sub to something for them to be open, if you want more free programming from around the world, you can get a cheap DVB unit like a Pansat 2500a, or a high price unit that can catch some HD feeds, like a INT912, these boxes will work as a slave to the 4dtv, you will move the dish and polarity with the 4d and change channels and scan with the DVB box.

 

[tonyc]

Check ebay for dishes, that's where I found mine. Before you go to pick it up make sure it doesn't have hail damage.. (learned that the hard way).