New Equip for High Def?

[tsummerall]

I'm going to jump to hi def next year, probably after the 922 is released. Will I need to get a new dish antenna? The one I have is "Dish 500" compatible and I also used it for satellite internet for a while.

Also, will I need to schedule an installer or is it just a matter of swapping in a new DVR receiver?

Thanks for any info.

 

[TheKrell]

You will almost certainly require a 3rd satellite at 129 or 61.5, depending upon your locals.

 

[KAB]

You will almost certainly require a 3rd satellite at 129 or 61.5, depending upon your locals.

Nothing almost about it.

 

[whatchel1]

New dish. It will be much easier to put in a new dish than to try to retro-fit the one you have.

 

[DishSubLA]

The nice part is that Dish will do the upgrade and provide everything you need (all new reflector and LNBF's) so that you continue to receive the channels you do today, and all the HD relating to your package. You really don't have to worry about a thing. The Dish will be bigger but not too big, and it should be a single dish solution.

No, it is not as simple as just swapping-out your boxes. But they do all the work.

 

[satellitemike81]

They will set you up with either a 1000.2 or a 1000.4 dish depending on where you are located.

 

[tsummerall]

Thanks for all the info!

Can I be pretty confident that if I can see the SD satellites I'll also be able to see the HD ones?

Do they also find the local installer?

 

[KAB]

Thanks for all the info!

Can I be pretty confident that if I can see the SD satellites I'll also be able to see the HD ones?

Do they also find the local installer?

Both HD sats (129W and 61.5E) are lower to the horizon than the SD sats. Use the Sat angle calculator to see if you might have any LOS issues.
Satellite Angle Calculator - SatelliteGuys.US

 

[andyin137]

Welcome to HD universe !

I would like to say to the person who made this post,just as others have said ,Yes you will need new dish and receiver,but that wasnt to big of a Job at least at my house for Dish to switch over.
However I wish I had known alot more information about High defination before making the jump as soon as I did.Please realize once you see HD programming you will not like watching too much in SD,and depending on your Tv some SD will look really bad.Please note that even though a channel says HD version ,unless show was shot in HD or has been upconverted it will at least at first not look that great.And you may need to keep adjusting ratio from time to time.However HD channels programming even if not HD is significantlly clearer.
I wish I hadnt gotten rid of my SD TV as some shows I prefer to watch in that format and digital looks great on those old sets.But keeping all this in mind dont skimp on buying a new HDTV do your homework like I did and find a store that allows you to bring back if you get it home and dont like how it looks.I search high and low to find a good tv and decided to save 200 and I am now stuck with a piece of crud until I can go out and buy another HDTV.
To sum this up HD is great,but dont expect every show on every HD channel to be HD,sometimes only first showings of programs are in HD,then Future showing of same program is back to SD version.WGN is good about that one.
I am happy with HD but it still has a long way to come before everything is in crystal clear HD.

I know this problably wasnt information that the poster was asking for ,but any information is always helpful,whether they use the information to their benefit is up to them,just putting it out there.

 

[MikeInAlaska]

> Both HD sats (129W and 61.5E) are lower to the horizon than the SD sats.

Where I live, we use 110, 119 and 129. 110 is the lowest, 119 is next up, and 129 is the highest. Really depends on your longitude.

 

[tsummerall]

Yes I'm pretty annoyed at the chaotic state of HD right now, but I think I'm ready for the switch. Do I contact the installer or does dish? I want to have him come out and make sure I can actually see the birds before I get the process started.

 

[ts7]

Can I be pretty confident that if I can see the SD satellites I'll also be able to see the HD ones?

No. I had a 500 on my roof with no LOS problems. When I went to HD and had to add 129, I had to move the dish to the middle of the backyard about 70' from the house. This turned into a major project. The initial installer stuck a temporary mount in the yard and laid the cables on the ground and ran them up the corner of my house to the roof where the original dish was. Another installer came a few weeks later and installed a pole in the ground, but was just going to bury the cable left by the previous installer. That was, in my opinion, unacceptable as it was going to leave ugly cable going up the side of my house and draped across my roof. I volunteered to install conduit from the utility service entrance of my house to the new dish site and the installer came back to pull and terminate the cable (he was more than happy not to have to dig a trench!). At any rate, it ended up costing me an extra $100 or so and now I'm stuck with a dish in the yard that I have to mow around (plus it's been hit by a few stray soccer/footballs).

Sorry for going on so long... just wanted to let you know what you could be in for.