New E* Satellites

[RVD420]

Those orbital slots just suck for NW (and probably mountain zone) folks. 97 might be ok, as it's pretty close to 110 (well, roughly speaking), but 86.5 is behind a huge hill covered with tall trees from my location. Why don't they (E*) just replace 110/119 with those two new sats and de-orbit 129?

Sheesh...

Dish will never de-orbit 129.

E4 is a crippled piece of space junk. (cue Sanford and Son theme song)

But it is still in use at 77w for a Mexican provider (leased)

 

[gadgtfreek]

If they truely make it so that new HD channels are only going to be on the 2 new locations they are going to have to do free (or at least almost free) repoints. The fact of the matter is most people that have satellite tv either don't know how or don't want to try to repoint their dishes themselves. If E* doesn't make it easy, then people will jump ship. Plain and simple.

Scott said it would be duplicate programming, so current customers would not notice.

 

[lakebum431]

Yes, it will duplicate current programing, but as channels are added customers will expect to get those as well (especially with all the claims by all the providers of x number of HD channels). And what I'm saying is people are going to pay to receive the new channels again (many have already done this with the ViP changeover.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I guess only HD customers would be affected in the beginning and would need a repoint. New HD customers it would not effect, and people who upgrade later would have to pay an upgrade fee.

 

[kstuart]

I guess only HD customers would be affected in the beginning and would need a repoint. New HD customers it would not effect, and people who upgrade later would have to pay an upgrade fee.

At this point, the number of people who only have HD using pre-ViP (non-MPEG4) receivers are a tiny fraction of the overall 12 million customers. In fact, I don't know why E* doesn't replace those few receivers, in order to recover the additional bandwidth required for MPEG2 HD.
Perhaps they are waiting for enough new HD channels to be launched to actually require the space.
They have always tried to keep old channels available to old equipment (IIRC the AT100 is still all on a Dish300 pointed at 119), probably because they realize that a big segment of the population never update anything. (For example, my brother still uses the same 1980's analog cable setup - even though digital cable is availble, and refused a free TiVo with lifetime subscription as a present from me. He and my in-laws both only have DVD players becaused I personally installed them in both their houses, otherwise they would both still be renting VHS movies).

 

[jpeckinp]

Well if E* does use 87.5 and 97 and add the new content to those they have just lost me as a customer and I just got them one week ago today. The reason I switched from D* was because I can't get the 99 sat because of my balcony over hang.

 

[DISH_NC]

If I read the previous discussions around the new satellites, it was my impression (and those can be wrong) that all the channels (MPEG-4) would be provided from a SINGLE orbital location allowing customers to use a single LNB dish to receive all MPEG4 programming.

This would simplify installation in a big way. If they had the available capacity, they could have 2 different orbital slots, one east and one west, both with the same programming. This would open up programming to more customers with visibility issues to the Southwest and simplify installs since it would reduce complex switch installs for many subs.

Would surely simplify my installation (DISH1000+/DPP44) with 4 orbital slots needed.

 

[lakebum431]

If I read the previous discussions around the new satellites, it was my impression (and those can be wrong) that all the channels (MPEG-4) would be provided from a SINGLE orbital location allowing customers to use a single LNB dish to receive all MPEG4 programming.

This would simplify installation in a big way. If they had the available capacity, they could have 2 different orbital slots, one east and one west, both with the same programming. This would open up programming to more customers with visibility issues to the Southwest and simplify installs since it would reduce complex switch installs for many subs.

Would surely simplify my installation (DISH1000+/DPP44) with 4 orbital slots needed.

That isn't what they said. It was announced that it would be on a single 18 inch Dish. That may be just 1 combo LNB or it could potentially be two. Either way it was stated that it would need to be able to receive 2 satellite locations.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Yeah, the way I took it was you'd only need a D500 to recieve two orbital slots to get ALL the mpeg4 programming.

 

[rocatman]

I believe that one can use an 18" dish to receive signals from two satellites if the satellites are using the "Reverse DBS" frequencies recently approved by the FCC.
The "Reverse DBS" allows satellite spacing of 4 degrees as opposed to nominally 9 degree for regular DBS. I believe Charlie Ergen's statement about a new MPEG-4 service will use these frequencies. In terms of location, the following post has a detailed discussion about possible satellite locations for "Reverse DBS" and the satellites that Dish has under construction that could be launched by the end of 2007.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=907055#post907055

 

[RandallA]

"I believe that one can use an 18" dish to receive signals from two satellites if the satellites are using the "Reverse DBS" frequencies recently approved by the FCC. "

Thank you for this information. That clears up some of my questions.

 

[MikeD-C05]

But will we be able to receive the reverse sats with our existing Dishes if we repoint them towards the new sats? This is what I am wondering. I would hate to have to buy new lnbs and dishes AGAIN to get everything .

 

[long_time_DNC]

May be a stupid question...

Anyone have a simple explaination of what a "reverse sat" is? Never heard the term until this thread. Thanks.

 

[navychop]

Well if E* does use 87.5 and 97 and add the new content to those they have just lost me as a customer and I just got them one week ago today. The reason I switched from D* was because I can't get the 99 sat because of my balcony over hang.

And then you'd move to, what, cable? Don't worry- the current satellites will be working for years. I doubt much will be added to just the new sats (not available on current ones), anytime soon.

 

[mike123abc]

May be a stupid question...

Anyone have a simple explaination of what a "reverse sat" is? Never heard the term until this thread. Thanks.

The reverse sat is really just a different frequency band. The satellites broadcast on the frequencies that the uplink use to talk to the existing satellites. In theory the satellite antennas point down so by broadcasting on the uplink freqencies they should not interfere with nearby satellites receiving the uplink signals.

But will we be able to receive the reverse sats with our existing Dishes if we repoint them towards the new sats? This is what I am wondering. I would hate to have to buy new lnbs and dishes AGAIN to get everything

You will probably need a new dish since the spacing between satellites is not the same, but who knows, Dish might just have a different LNB assembly that you can put on an existing dish. You will have to get new LNBs if they do not use existing DBS frequencies.

The main question is what satellite locations and frequencies is Dish going to use for their new system. They might use foreign slots of the current DBS system, thereby allowing the same LNBs to be used. They could be using new frequencies such as the new DBS band (reverse DBS), or even Ku-AUX (requiring new LNBs). Dish has a lot of licenses and is building a lot of satellites (6 under construction, plus 2 by other companies).

Only way to use an existing Dish 500 for the new system is if they manage to get 2 new DBS slots 9 degrees apart using the current DBS frequencies. If the spacing changes they will need a new bracket, if the frequency changes they will need a new LNB.

 

[jpeckinp]

And then you'd move to, what, cable? Don't worry- the current satellites will be working for years. I doubt much will be added to just the new sats (not available on current ones), anytime soon.

Cable HA! What we have here is mom and pop cable I don't remember the name but the quality sucks and they have 0 HD channels.

We have been getting a lot of action from at&t lately they have been installing new cable and laid concrete pads for new boxes in front of all the units in my complex. It is very possible that we could be getting U-Verse since we are the old world HQ for Ameritech.
If that is what is being installed then I might have to give them a try if the new sats carry the new HD content with Dish.

 

[long_time_DNC]

Interesting. Thanks, Mike!