Options to Receive New HD Channels

[R0ss]

Since the new HD channels were announced I have been trying to decide what is the best option for "upgrading" so we can receive them. After much reading here and talking with my local retailer I have come up with the following:

1. Go EA and get rid of the 110/119/61.5 set up. This has a couple of negatives, first I have always had loss of signal on the 61.5 bird during storms. Only during the heaviest rain or snow do we also loose the 110/119. I would imagine that the signal strength on the 1000.4 would be lower than the dish 500 pointed at 61.5 I have now so LOS would be even more pronounced. I would also have to upgrade receiver 2 to a 222K as the 322 won't work with the MPEG4. The positive is just one dish on the roof.

2. Add a dish for 129 along with a sw44 to receive the new programming. 129 is too low on the horizon for my location so this is out. besides I don't really want a third dish on the roof, and not so sure my wife would like it either.

3. Instead of a 1000.4 add a third dish for 72.7 and a SW44 to connect everything up (I don't think there is anything currently on 77 that isn't already on 110/119). This would eliminate the need to upgrade receiver 2 and presumably have stronger signals on the individual 61.5 and 72.7 dish's than with a 1000.4, However we still have the three dish issue.

4. Then I thought of this as a possibility: Put up a 1000.4 but only connect the 61.5 and 72.7 sats creating a 110/119/61.5/72.7 using a sw44. I beleive there is nothing on 77 that isn't on 110/119 so I don't loose any programing. I don't have three dish's and I don't need to upgrade receiver 2. I am also set to go EA in the future if I choose to upgrade receiver 2. This may be way off but if I was tweaking the 1000.4 for 2 sats instead of three would i not have better signal strength for the 61.5 and 72.7 than with all three or since the 61.5 and 72.7 are so close it doesn't mater? I don't even know if this will work, although with my limited knowledge I don't see why not.

Before I go on, I want to say I'm not trying to have my cake and eat it too. At least I don't think so. I don't want a dish farm on my roof, I want to receive the programing I am paying for, and if I was to upgrade receiver 2 we would need to run more RG6 as the original set up for receiver 2 was TV 1 downstairs and TV 2 in my sons room upstairs. He now has an HD TV in his room so if we upgraded the receiver tv 1 would need to be in his room and we would need to run cable back down stairs for TV 2. Doable but a pain. I realize that if I am to receive the programing I am paying for I may have to settle for things I don't want.

Again I am just trying to find the best way for ME to receive the programming I'm paying for, I may have to settle for three dish's so we have the strongest possible signals from 61.5 and 72.7 or we may have to ugrade the 322 and go EA, I just want to be sure that we have touched on all the options and make the best choice!

So the $64k question is, will option 4 work? If so what are the negatives and if not why not ( just for my education).

Thanks

Ross

 

[navychop]

I have a similar setup. I wanted to keep the 110/119 with an EA setup, so I could keep my 508 and get better reception also. I lost 61.5 a lot in the recent snow storms. Always kept 110/119.

I believe I will be forced into an EA only option, unless I want to pay extra and do the work myself or get an installer on the side. Plus, since Dish does not want to do any more 110/119/EA installs, and says there may be "issues" with such installs, it's probably not a good idea. What works today may not work in a year or two. I'd say such would also apply to your counting on getting content from 110/119 that you "should" be getting from 77 in the future. Dish can always eliminate support for hybrid options. So option 4 is a risk.

I will probably end up with a single dish, a 1000.4, on my roof. To which I will have to add heaters and a temperature switch.

 

[SatboyZ]

I too am in the same boat...

as was discussed in another thread here, I get a crappy signal level on HD locals on 61.5 so I have a 20" dish there. The best solution that was suggested to me is to replace my dish 500 on 110/119 with a 1000.2 at 129 also. I need to be able to switch to sd locals on 110 if need be. It has an input for 61.5 so no switch is required. You would not have to replace your sd receiver as I am pretty sure it is dp compatible.

Hope this helps
Steve

 

[chg]

I am in a similar situation, and looking for a solution.

So what about people that are getting the distants from all american? I believe the HD are on 110 and the SD are on 119. I have 110/119 and 61.5 and would like to keep 110/119. I have not been able to get the 129 signal. I was thinking of going with the eastern arc and adding the 110 to the eastern arc LNB. I would still lose 119, though.

 

[navychop]

Dish requires all EA installs to be MPEG-4 capable, which the 322 isn't. That's why the 322 might have to go, depending upon choices made.

 

[Albiondon]

i have the 722/301/311 recievers so EA was out, i told the installer all i wanted was a dish pointed at 72.7, he said no problem, so i have the 110/119/61.5/72.7, 3 dishes and a dpp44 and everything works fine and dish billed me the 15.00 on next months bill

 

[R0ss]

as was discussed in another thread here, I get a crappy signal level on HD locals on 61.5 so I have a 20" dish there. The best solution that was suggested to me is to replace my dish 500 on 110/119 with a 1000.2 at 129 also. I need to be able to switch to sd locals on 110 if need be. It has an input for 61.5 so no switch is required. You would not have to replace your sd receiver as I am pretty sure it is dp compatible.

Hope this helps
Steve

Well it would except I can't see 129 as it is too low on the horizon for my location.

Thanks

Ross

 

[R0ss]

Dish requires all EA installs to be MPEG-4 capable, which the 322 isn't. That's why the 322 might have to go, depending upon choices made.

Thanks. I knew that going in to my quest for a solution. Putting in a 222 would require relocating the receiver for TV1 and running cable for TV2 which is doable but I'd rather not if I don't really have too.

Ross

 

[R0ss]

I have a similar setup. I wanted to keep the 110/119 with an EA setup, so I could keep my 508 and get better reception also. I lost 61.5 a lot in the recent snow storms. Always kept 110/119.

This is why I don't want to gove up the 110/119 until i absolutely have too. We always loose the 61.5 dish first either becuasse it cathces all the snow (It is reachable to clean off) or because of the location of the storms. We do loose 110/119 but only in the worst weather (rain or snow)

I believe I will be forced into an EA only option, unless I want to pay extra and do the work myself or get an installer on the side. Plus, since Dish does not want to do any more 110/119/EA installs, and says there may be "issues" with such installs, it's probably not a good idea.

In all honesty I would not believe what Dish tells me unless it has either been verified here or by a retailer or Tech that you trust. I know that "new customers" are supposed to receive the EA setup, but reading here I find that existing customers are often given a third dish instead of being changed over to EA so I wonder what the issues are and if they actually exist? Of course I would thnk it is actually less costly to put up the 1000.4 or 1000.2 than to add a third dish and a SW44 to connect everything together. But while i may know more than some dish CSR's about these things, oops I forgot that doesn't take much, there is probably some logical if only to dish reason for doing it that way (the third dish).

What works today may not work in a year or two. I'd say such would also apply to your counting on getting content from 110/119 that you "should" be getting from 77 in the future. Dish can always eliminate support for hybrid options. So option 4 is a risk.

Sure that could happen but will it? Who knows. However the reason I am hoping that option 4 will work (the hybrid solution of a 110/119 and 61.5/72.7) is that should Dish decide to put things on 77 that aren't available on 110/119 It would be very easy to pull the sw44 out of the mix attach cables to the 1000.4 and run check switch and in theory I would then have all three sats from the one dish and could then remove the 110/119 dish from the house (I would still have to upgrade receiver 2 also but I could do all of this with out a service call). As far as dish eliminating support for hybrid options they aren't given me any support now for the hybrid option they installed. If they were I would already have the new HD's instead of trying to arrive at the best solution my self

I will probably end up with a single dish, a 1000.4, on my roof. To which I will have to add heaters and a temperature switch.

Tell me more about the heaters and temp switch. If I do go EA I might want it put up higher on the house and that would put it out of reach for my long handled broom! Thanks for your thoughts

Ross

 

[R0ss]

i have the 722/301/311 recievers so EA was out, i told the installer all i wanted was a dish pointed at 72.7, he said no problem, so i have the 110/119/61.5/72.7, 3 dishes and a dpp44 and everything works fine and dish billed me the 15.00 on next months bill

Good to know

Thanks

Ross

 

[snowboardernh]

I have searched but haven't found...
How about a 722 and 311 receiver with a 119/110 and Easter Arc ( to replace 61.5 wing).... how would that work and what's required.?
Can't go full Eastern Arc because of Mpeg4.
Would like to stay with a 2 dish install..

Oh yeah the existing Dish 500 is a DPP twin.

 

[sundude90]

I have searched but haven't found...
How about a 722 and 311 receiver with a 119/110 and Easter Arc ( to replace 61.5 wing).... how would that work and what's required.?
Can't go full Eastern Arc because of Mpeg4.
Would like to stay with a 2 dish install..

They don't like to do this type of setup, because sometimes the LNB on Easter Arc dish causes either the LNB or DP44 switch to burn out. The tech refused to do that here, because of that.

So now I have a 3 Dish setup, but am fighting Dish network to come up with another solution. One solution which might happen is for them to switch core HD Channels that are on 61.5 over to 72.7.

Josh

 

[chg]

They don't like to do this type of setup, because sometimes the LNB on Easter Arc dish causes either the LNB or DP44 switch to burn out. The tech refused to do that here, because of that.

So now I have a 3 Dish setup, but am fighting Dish network to come up with another solution. One solution which might happen is for them to switch core HD Channels that are on 61.5 over to 72.7.

Josh

So, does this mean I would not be able to install the eastern arc and add the 110 to the input of the LNB on the eastern arc? This would give me the new and existing channels, and I would be able to keep the HD distant nets. I would still lose the SD distants.

 

[TheKrell]

As far as dish eliminating support for hybrid options they aren't given me any support now for the hybrid option they installed. If they were I would already have the new HD's instead of trying to arrive at the best solution my self.

:up Most excellent point, Ross. :up

 

[megamike]

So, does this mean I would not be able to install the eastern arc and add the 110 to the input of the LNB on the eastern arc? This would give me the new and existing channels, and I would be able to keep the HD distant nets. I would still lose the SD distants.

I have SD locals on 110 (Baltimore) with the 1K4, works great so far, installed Friday.

 

[Jim5506]

How about keep your old D500 for your SD receivers and a D1000.4 for your HD receivers.

Two dishes but a split system, one for SD one for HD.

 

[snowboardernh]

Funny you suggested this. I thought this same thing this morning, the only issue Boston Locals are not all in HD, so I am thinking that we would lose SD of CW, PBS and 38, etc. on the Eastern Arc HD system.

How about keep your old D500 for your SD receivers and a D1000.4 for your HD receivers.

Two dishes but a split system, one for SD one for HD.

 

[wkomorow]

I thought Dish got into some sort of legal trouble not having all locals from a DMA on a single dish. In fact by installing EA and excluding CW and PBS that might be on 110 are they not going against an FCC directive that if they offer channels from the DMA they can not exclude channels by having them on a different satellite.

 

[snowboardernh]

Upon further review THIS CAN BE DONE.. Thanks guys you are AWESOME.
I printed out the list of channels and checked them both off at 61.5 and 110/119

 

[pajer]

I too have a 2 dish setup. Originally i had a dish 1000+ to pick up 110,119,118{129 too low in sky and causes los problems and can't get a signal) and i had 61.5 dish for hd. they are taking pittsburgh hd locals off of 118 and have them on 129 which i cant get so i moved to buffalo for hd locals which are on 61.5 spot beam (also got cw in hd as a bonus) i changed out the dish 500 that was pointing at 61.5 and now have eastern arc dish 1000.4 getting 61 and 72. also getting signal for 77 but i dont have it hooked up,i disconnected the 118 from the dish 1000+ and now have 110,119,61,and 72 going into dpp44 and have no problems. Now last week the Pittsburgh hd locals were uplinked to 77 but are not yet available, once they are live i could hook up the 77 and "move" back to pittsburgh. But the wifey watches alot of cw so may stay with buffalo. MORAL OF THIS STORY IS two ishes are better then one as you never know when DISH is going to move programming around so this gives you much more options