NYC HD on 61.5 or Chicago HD/SD on 129?

[nazz]

I'm currently getting NYC HD locals via 61.5 from Conus and am considering switching to Chicago via 129. I am in the Chicago spotbeam and am thinking about doing it to get the SD channels that come along with their locals. I'm still sort of on the fence since 61.5 is the preferred bird and I'd lose 61.5 without the switch for 4 sats. All of my HD channels would then come from 129. I do get a pretty acceptable signal from 129 here in the Great Lakes area though.

I'd appreciate any feedback on the pros and cons.

 

[garys]

Sounds like you already covered everything. Be aware if you have rsn's they would change as well.

 

[nazz]

I don't ever watch my RSN so that won't effect me. Does 61.5 give more bandwidth than 129 on any HD channels or is the PQ the same as long as you can get a strong signal?

 

[garys]

I haven't seen 129, people here have posted that pq on 61.5 is better.

 

[nazz]

Thanks. I thought I remembered reading that here some time ago. That leaves me still on the fence. I want the best PQ on my HD that I can get but there are some programs on those SD channels that I would watch. I especially want that one that's kind of like TVLand. I can't think of the name but I'd get it on the Chicago spot beam. I can't decide!

 

[mikenewy]

The PQ on 129 here on the East Coast is good, no problems. Why not move and if you don't like it, move back.

 

[ptech]

Nazz, where do you live? The bottom line is that everything off 61.5 is much better than 129. If you read around you will see a bunch of us trying to work around selection of the 61.5 bird over the 129 bird for just that reason. You may be better off just putting up an antenna depending where you are, those pictures would be much better than anything on Dish and I'm guessing your looking for CW and MY channels which would be in HD OTA instead of SD. Go here and click your DMA http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast.php and see how far you are from the towers. Remember, depending where you live, there may be other broadcasts other than Chicago.

 

[nazz]

I'm in Indiana about an hour and a half north of Indianapolis. The guy that installed my Dish system said he could install an antenna, booster and rotor for about $700 that would get Indy. I wasn't prepared to spend that much money which led me to 'moving' to NYC after a while.

My D1000 and D300 are on the roof which makes moving from 61.5 to 129 involve getting on the roof to swap cables. I HATE heights so getting up there is an adventure in nerves.

If the PQ and not just the signal strength of national HD channels is significantly better on 61.5 I think I'll stick with NYC. I don't want to buy the expensive 4 sat switch and then have the issue of which sat takes priority. I might as well leave well enough alone even though I'll be missing some SD channels that would be available for no extra cost per month.

 

[digiblur]

The national HD feeds on 61.5 and 129 are virtually identical at this point.