If you can get a Birdview by all means go for it. These are great dishes. I have one I got from a friend at work, but I don't have it up yet. Anyway, it's a very nice dish and built like a tank. They tell me these work great on both C and Ku band and since they are solid aluminum as opposed to mesh they work fantastic for Ku.
You probably are going to have to do conversions to it to make it work for FTA, and it might cost more than $50, but based on what I've heard it's likely going to be well worth it. One thing you'll need to do is get a new feedhorn and LNBs. My understanding is that the original birview LNB uses an odd LO frequency and produces an IF output that's only good for the old birdview recievers. I may be wrong about that but you'll likely want to replace the feedhorn anyway with one that has both C and Ku capabilities like a Corotor II or something similar. There are a couple of ways you can do this. One is by having the hole in the original scaler ring machine out a tiny bit so that a newer feedhorn will fit into it. Then drilling some holes through the side of the ring for set screws to hold it. This might be bit more complicated and involve a bit of engineering on your part. The easiest way is to simply purchase an adapter plate. Skyvision sells such a plate.
Also, you'll need a magnetic wheel and reed switch conversion kit for the motor if you plan on using it with any other reciever than the original one. This kit can also be purchased from Skyvision. Basically, it's just a magnetic wheel and a reed switch. It's overpriced and you could probably make one yourself cheaper, but the hard part would be finding the magnetic wheel.