Move from Dish to Bell ExpressVu?

[episcopus]

I just recently realized one can have access to Canadian satellite TV even when residing in the US. I am beginning to learn about what the requirements are to set this up as I have an intense interest in getting set up with this so I can watch hockey come playoff time!

On some threads I got the sense that the Dish and BEV systems / satellites were quite similar technically. My question is, given a working Dish installation, is it possible to convert that to a working BEV installation?

Are the satellite dishes compatible/interchangeable? Can Dish receivers be used against BEV? Or do you have to tear everything down to start with the BEV specific dishes and receivers?

I have a Dish SD subscription with a special Chinese package (Great Wall), would like to turn that into a BEV HD subscription with a Chinese add-on but with extra French / sports packages. Any special considerations here? I think I am already pointing at two satellites because of the intl channels. What do I need to be concerned about here?

Thanks!

 

[Mr Tony]

Welcome to Satelliteguys

I just recently realized one can have access to Canadian satellite TV even when residing in the US. I am beginning to learn about what the requirements are to set this up as I have an intense interest in getting set up with this so I can watch hockey come playoff time!

best reason to have it in my opinion. HOCKEY

On some threads I got the sense that the Dish and BEV systems / satellites were quite similar technically. My question is, given a working Dish installation, is it possible to convert that to a working BEV installation?

sort of. I'll explain more later

Are the satellite dishes compatible/interchangeable?

yes

Can Dish receivers be used against BEV?

no

Or do you have to tear everything down to start with the BEV specific dishes and receivers?

receivers yes...dishes no

I have a Dish SD subscription with a special Chinese package (Great Wall), would like to turn that into a BEV HD subscription with a Chinese add-on but with extra French / sports packages. Any special considerations here? I think I am already pointing at two satellites because of the intl channels. What do I need to be concerned about here?

Thanks!

What dish do you have right now? Great Wall Package (if I remember right) is on 121 & 118.7 mainly. Do you have a Superdish?

But back to the task at hand. The Dish can be reaimed at Bell. Dish main satellites are 119 & 110. Bell is at 91 (main) and 82 (French/Ethnic and HD)
The receiver will not work. Yes Dish makes the boxes but Bell has their own software in it and will only authorize a Bell box (tried to activate a Dish 301 on Bell...nada)

So other than getting a new receiver, you can easily reaim the dish from Dish to Bell and enjoy ExpressVu

 

[episcopus]

Welcome to Satelliteguys

What dish do you have right now? Great Wall Package (if I remember right) is on 121 & 118.7 mainly. Do you have a Superdish?

But back to the task at hand. The Dish can be reaimed at Bell. Dish main satellites are 119 & 110. Bell is at 91 (main) and 82 (French/Ethnic and HD)
The receiver will not work. Yes Dish makes the boxes but Bell has their own software in it and will only authorize a Bell box (tried to activate a Dish 301 on Bell...nada)

So other than getting a new receiver, you can easily reaim the dish from Dish to Bell and enjoy ExpressVu

Thanks for the welcome and brisk response! I don't know anything about dish equipment and such so I thought I would take some pictures as you know better.

It looks like my dish is a "Plus" model. There are two components at the end of it, with three cables total coming down to a switch. Then, two cables enter the house.

Does that look like a setup that could be adapted to the BEV w/ French and HD? In my current setup, I have two receivers in the house. I heard this is a non starter for BEV in the US because of the need to plug in through the phone line. Fact or fiction?

This is in Seattle, WA. Any reception / coverage issues?

A friend of mine similarly getting BEV was working through kusat.com as an intermediary. I have relatives in Canada so billing will not be an issue. I am thinking of contacting these guys as well to get the receiver. From what you are saying it sounds like I will not need anything else correct?

Finally, a slightly more technical question. The dish guy who originally installed everything wired it so that he is using the house's cable / coax wiring to connect the second TV (upstairs). On that TV I tune channel 60 and then I am set to go. Now, assuming I want my PVR / HD receiver to be in that same room upstairs, can I leverage the house's coax wiring to do so? Or will two coax inputs be necessary?

Thanks for your patience and for helping the newbie!

 

[Mr Tony]

Does that look like a setup that could be adapted to the BEV w/ French and HD? In my current setup, I have two receivers in the house. I heard this is a non starter for BEV in the US because of the need to plug in through the phone line. Fact or fiction?

you have a Dish1000+ that gets 110, 118.7 (where the Great Wall Package is), 119 & 129. it should work for 82/91 (I havent worked with the Dish1000+ so I dont know since that one LNB covers both 119 & 118.7). I assume it would work

This is in Seattle, WA. Any reception / coverage issues?

nope. Too close to Canada to have reception issues. Cali has issues

A friend of mine similarly getting BEV was working through kusat.com as an intermediary. I have relatives in Canada so billing will not be an issue. I am thinking of contacting these guys as well to get the receiver. From what you are saying it sounds like I will not need anything else correct?

I bought my setup through kusat.com great people
All you need is the receiver. The dish/cables will work fine.

Finally, a slightly more technical question. The dish guy who originally installed everything wired it so that he is using the house's cable / coax wiring to connect the second TV (upstairs). On that TV I tune channel 60 and then I am set to go. Now, assuming I want my PVR / HD receiver to be in that same room upstairs, can I leverage the house's coax wiring to do so? Or will two coax inputs be necessary?

Thanks for your patience and for helping the newbie!

There is a box with ExpressVu that works the same way where you can view two programs on 2 different rooms. The 9242 is the same setup (concept) of a Dish 622 box

 

[episcopus]

Thanks for the help Iceberg. I have placed my order with kusat.com. Interestingly they mentioned my existing setup might not work because of differences in LNB's. I guess we'll find out.

 

[Mr Tony]

it will work. ExpressvU receivers (except for the older boxes) will work with Dishpro setups

 

[Corrado]

This is interesting, I wasn't aware we could sub to Canadian providers. I was just reading at Kusat how ExpressVu has theme packs. Sort of like AlaCarte. But how exactly does this work if we live in the U.S.?

 

[DJ Rob]

This is interesting, I wasn't aware we could sub to Canadian providers. I was just reading at Kusat how ExpressVu has theme packs. Sort of like AlaCarte. But how exactly does this work if we live in the U.S.?

If you haven't already, read other posts and the sticky posts at the top of this forum.

 

[episcopus]

I thought I would post back, now that I have more to report.

In short, everything went as planned, and I am now enjoying Canadian satellite TV from WA in the USA!

Kusat.com arranged everything and shipped a HD DVR and dish equipment to me. They also took care of the activation for me. That latter step was done quickly (they were able to turn it around in less than a day). I am using a Canadian relative's address for the billing address.

The gentleman who set up my system said that I wouldn't be able to use my existing Dish equipment after all. I don't recall clearly his explanation but he did seem very knowledgeable so I took his word for it. He set up the Bell system and calibrated the dishes from the roof. The signal strength was exceeding 90%.

I am tuning both Nimiq 1 and 2 and getting French and HD channels. The picture quality is awesome tuning into HD programming such as hockey. I am connected via HDMI from the receiver to my TV, and using the digital sound output.

In short I am one happy camper!

If you are looking for an installer around Seattle I would recommend
the following folks:
Home Satellite Sales & Service
1-800-WHY-HOME

Thanks to again to the community (especially Iceberg) for the help!