Review Of Sky Angel Iptv

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Interesting article recently from CNET discussed using a wireless modem tied to a solar panel on the roof to connect a WiFi network to the internet.

Though only in an infancy stage and not quite broadband speed just yet, I'm reasonably sure, this technology "might" before long address some of those rural & remote concerns.

 

[hankh]

Thanks,

I always find it encouraging when I find like minded Christians. It is one of the proofs to me that the Holy Spirit is working within the Body. My demographics are: I make bottle resin and polyester by operating a chemical process by trade—25 years with DuPont before we were sold 6 years ago. I spent 4 years in the Air Force, Degreed in Chemical with a minor in Nuclear Engineering. I Lived in Washington State before being raised in Indiana and I now live in South Carolinian-since 1971. I am Southern Baptist, Bible teacher, conservative, lean towards Reformed Theology, 56 years old, married 34 years and. I love to discuss Creation science with people as an introduction for presenting the Gospel. I was raised Methodist and have been an Episcopalian and in the Christian Church (non Disciples of Christ but still Campbellites) Left that for the SBC since they don’t adhere to Eternal Security and I did not want to be in conflict with their teachings. I have found like minded Christians in most denominations. The reason I posted this was to encourage you in your walk. Back when I was posting on the Baptist Board on Yahoo I was encouraged by the remnant that was dispersed across the USA. Have seen the downside of the Charismatic emotionalism and how mass Evangelistic rallies can lead to false conversions. Worked as a Councilor and saw behind the carnival atmosphere of Carman concerts. I was also a lifetime SA member and I am not bitter towards them. I try do no what Paul encourages us to do – forgetting that which lies behind I press on towards the goal in Christ Jesus.

In Christ’s Grace and Radically saved!

Great testimony!

 

[lumpkin666]

Interesting article recently from CNET discussed using a wireless modem tied to a solar panel on the roof to connect a WiFi network to the internet.

Though only in an infancy stage and not quite broadband speed just yet, I'm reasonably sure, this technology "might" before long address some of those rural & remote concerns.

I'm not sure how this is "infancy stage" at this point, unless they are talking about wrapping the wifi with solar panels as being something "new"... which is silly since solar panels are just another power source that has been around for years.

We've been running highspeed wifi connections for many years now. The company I work for staggers its towers so that there are at least 2-3 towers within 7 miles of any home in our coverage area. 7 miles is easily attainable with marginal equipment and decent line of site. You can easily get further away than that. And yes, that is not quite the same speed as the fiberoptic network that we run, but it's very fast and reliable, and reaches the most unreachable clients with highspeed networking pretty well.

 

[jashobeam]

Not likely, as there are large rural sections in every state that for reasons of being too far away from the cable company or physical plant of their local phone company, cannot get broadband internet. These folks will have dial up for many years to come. Some depend on HughesNet which many or not be compatible with IPTV.

That's a theory, but I'm noticing very rural areas trying to get broadband to every home in their county. One area I know of is miles of nothing with a few houses sprinkled in. They are getting broadband to every house thanks to two counties banding together to make it so. If that area, still with outhouses, can have broadband to every home almost any rural area can.

 

[familyupnorth]

we live in such an area

We live in such an area and have had DSL for 5 years already. Nearest gas station - 25 miles.
Nearest town - 25 miles.
No mail delivery where we live.... but yet we have DSL.

We have a local phone company that is a co-op and have better service then some people I know in larger towns.

We've had the IPTV for a few weeks now, and no problem. In fact, we like it so much my mom just subscribed!

 

[lsylvain]

This is a technical thread and needs to be kept that way so folks can find the information they are *looking* for, which in the case of this thread is a comparison of quality between SA satellite and SA IPTV.

Maybe you should go ahead create a thread for the complaints so folks have somewhere to vent so they won't have to clutter up threads that others are searching for information they need with off-topic posts...

 

[skitheberks]

My only complaints with the box:

1. The annoying beeping sound when changing channels. Can it be disabled?
2. The amount of time it takes to go from channel to channel.
3. The time is in military. Can that be changed?

The Pros:

1. Unbelievable picture & audio quality.
2. Happy that have Discovery, Fox Business and Animal Planet.

 

[catkoko]

While technically broadband is being made "available" in rural areas the cost is too high to justify using it. also you have to be careful as the gov't definition of broadband is substantially lower that that needed to operate IPTV.

As you can see there is some disagreement as to what high speed is:

he FCC definition of broadband is 200 kbit/s (0.2 Mbit/s) in one direction, and advanced broadband is at least 200 kbit/s in both directions. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s in at least one direction and this bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world.

 

[kevinbct]

While technically broadband is being made "available" in rural areas the cost is too high to justify using it. also you have to be careful as the gov't definition of broadband is substantially lower that that needed to operate IPTV.

As you can see there is some disagreement as to what high speed is:

he FCC definition of broadband is 200 kbit/s (0.2 Mbit/s) in one direction, and advanced broadband is at least 200 kbit/s in both directions. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s in at least one direction and this bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world.

Catkoko,

It is interesting that you brought this up.....

Some in Congress have been very angry about this also and they are working on modernizing the definition of broadband right now. Some are proposing to make the minimum threshold 1.5 mbps or 2.0 mbps. Did you notice that in the past year AT&T DSL has introduced a 768 kbps package and they've also increased all of their DSL prices by 5 bucks a month .... except for the $10 package at 256 kbps they were mandated to offer as a condition of the ATT / SBC merger?

 

[familyupnorth]

I think the question of the cost being too high, depends greatly on where you live and what service is being offered. Where we live, there is no cell phone towers. Every call used to be some form of long distance on the home line. Then about 2 years ago our local co-op came out with a package for 1.5 mpbs which included unlimited calling to anyone in US and Canada. We switched way before Sky Angel launched IPTV because we ended up saving $40 a month on our phone bill. The DSL was just a bonus.

That being said, I agree that it differs greatly with the companies and what they are offering.

 

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Catkoko,

It is interesting that you brought this up.....

Some in Congress have been very angry about this also and they are working on modernizing the definition of broadband right now. Some are proposing to make the minimum threshold 1.5 mbps or 2.0 mbps. Did you notice that in the past year AT&T DSL has introduced a 768 kbps package and they've also increased all of their DSL prices by 5 bucks a month .... except for the $10 package at 256 kbps they were mandated to offer as a condition of the ATT / SBC merger?

There's a $10 package?

Mom has the basic for $15. I was clearing out a bunch of old emails from that account just yesterday and it seems like that has increased $5 for new subs to $19.99. I'm not sure if it was 768k or 256k. I wasn't looking closely because if it goes to $20 mom will drop it anyway, I think.

I think mom would prefer the $10 sub if it's available because she is penny pinching, as are we all anymore. After years of trying to get her computer literate I finally found the 1 thing she can use her PC for when I'm not there. She pulls up my security cam feeds to look at my neighbor's cats playing.

 

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I went to the AT&T website to confirm: DSL Residential Service—AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet

Looks like you were right! I started searching the site and found the information for that lesser known package.

AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Basic Promotion

AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Basic DSL

$10.00 per month offer is available for customers who:

• Have not subscribed to high-speed Internet service within the past 12 months - This offer is available to new residential high-speed Internet service customers only. Offer available where AT&T offers high-speed Internet service.
• Order service online - This offer is not available by calling AT&T.
• Agree to a 12-month term commitment - An early termination fee of $50.00 will apply to customers who do not complete a 12-month term commitment. Offer available until 12/29/09 after which time the monthly rate will revert to the market price for this speed tier plan.
• Have AT&T home phone service - Rates for local home phone service vary by state and are in addition to this high-speed Internet offer.
• Agree to pay additional charges - Applicable taxes and a shipping and handling fee for customer self-install orders are extra.

 

[kevinbct]

Got my receiver yesterday

My receiver arrived yesterday. The USPS delivered it and it was shipped via DHL. DHL has a partnership with the USPS for residential deliveries.


..... it took all of about 15 minutes to set up. I'm still under DSL contract with a local provider (not the phone co.) and i subscribed to Comcast cable internet and their 19.99 for 6 month offer to use with S.A. Before the 6 months is up, my DSL contract will be over..... I can cancel it and just use the cable exclusively.

My initial plan to hook up the receiver directly to the cable modem did not work, even though the set up guide said it would. No big deal. I moved my router about 2 ft away from my IPTV receiver - and everything was all set. We do more than average internet usage in my house, so a 1.5 mbps DSL connection wasn't going to cut it for me.

I noticed some buffering on Fox Business Channel last night .... and I noticed that some of the radio channels would suddenly STOP after one song. However, even in the first 24 hours, i got a lot of enjoyable viewing in the first 24 hours.

I called up SA customer service to change billing to my Visa card and I was able to confirm that billing was on the 1st of the month...and for the first month my bill would be about 32.00, including the last few days of March.

Changing channels only takes about 3 seconds or less. The EPG (on screen programming guide) scrolls left to right, not up and down ......that's different for me coming from DirecTV and Comcast Digital cable where you scroll up and down. SA does list all of the upcoming programs when you scroll horizontally so that helps to make up for the unfamiliarity of the guide setup.

I hate the popping sound effect that the guide makes when you scroll. I'm very familiar with Moody Radio , so that is a nice addition. My local FM Christian station here in CT gets nearly all of its non-local Christian programs from the Moody Network.

So for right now, I have Limited Basic Cable from Comcast, gets me my locals and a few other stations for $15 bucks and SA IPTV. I'm feeling this all to a 27 inch flat Sony CRT TV.

 

[kevinbct]

I went to the AT&T website to confirm: DSL Residential Service—AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet

Looks like you were right! I started searching the site and found the information for that lesser known package.

AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Basic Promotion

AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Basic DSL

$10.00 per month offer is available for customers who:

• Have not subscribed to high-speed Internet service within the past 12 months - This offer is available to new residential high-speed Internet service customers only. Offer available where AT&T offers high-speed Internet service.
• Order service online - This offer is not available by calling AT&T.
• Agree to a 12-month term commitment - An early termination fee of $50.00 will apply to customers who do not complete a 12-month term commitment. Offer available until 12/29/09 after which time the monthly rate will revert to the market price for this speed tier plan.
• Have AT&T home phone service - Rates for local home phone service vary by state and are in addition to this high-speed Internet offer.
• Agree to pay additional charges - Applicable taxes and a shipping and handling fee for customer self-install orders are extra.

All true...and the speed is 256 k / 128 k 768 kbps is moving to $20 a month, 1.5 is moving to $25 / mo, 3.0 is moving to $30 and 6.0 is staying at $35 . People under contract or with bundled packages won't see their prices change until their current deals expire.

 

[anmend43]

So I got the box yesterday. And am dissapointed in the quality. I have a dynex 32" LCD HDTV and every channel appears washed out. As if painted in watercolors. Sometimes it is decent for what I'm watching but not good. I wish I could post a screenshot.
I traded out the composite cables it came with even with component cables but saw very little difference.
I have high speed internet so it isn't a problem with that. It is a problem with the resolution that they are sending over the internet. It just isn't good enough. Perhaps it is good enough for people with those big box cathode ray tube tvs but for those with HD you will be very dissapointed. I will most likely be cancelling before the month is up as I would not want to be locked into a 2 year contract for this kind of quality for 2 years or 18 months of service. It is not worth the $25 per month I paid to get some radio channels, christian tv and animal planet and discovery chanel.
I can get the radio channels via my computer, not the same ones, but ones that play various contemporary christian music for cheap. And most of the christian tv channels stream better quality than sky angel does over the browser. That leaves me with paying $25 per month for 18 months for animal and discovery in very poor quality.
I'd glady pay 3x that to directv and get 200+ channels, amazing quality, HD and DVR, along with many of the same christian channels included, and some christian radio stations as well.

 

[bangostrobe]

ANMEND43
Thank you for the information. This is the reason I have not signed up yet. I was waiting for the verification that it would not work well with the new TVs. I had sent a Email to SA months ago asking them why the would start a service that would not have HDTV capability when almost every TV in America would eventually be one on the close horizon. I still have an old projection TV but it will not be very long before it is replaced and all the choices are HDTVs. It really does not make sense to me to start into a new technology business and not supply to the capabilities that the demographics of the people who would have broadband. I would expect those with the disposable money to afford broadband would also tend to be the same people that own HDTV sets. To not have that capability seems extremely short sighted of SA since HDTV IPTV technology exists. Look at their competing markets of satellite and cable. What do they advertise—who has the most HDTV programming! When SA goes HDTV I will reconsider them. Until then I think they have a seriously flawed business plan. This really makes me sad that Christian programming would allow itself to be inferior to the secular media.

 

[jegrant]

I do think one problem with the idea of a Christian TV service offering HD is that there is precious little Christian TV made in HD. The only network I'm even aware of is TBN HD. I also know that TVU Music Television is talking about going HD soon (hopefully sooner than the Dish Network "soon").

But two channels doesn't sound that great compared to the many other providers that can boast 20, 30, 40 HD channels.

 

[kevinbct]

So I got the box yesterday. And am dissapointed in the quality. I have a dynex 32" LCD HDTV and every channel appears washed out. As if painted in watercolors. Sometimes it is decent for what I'm watching but not good. I wish I could post a screenshot.
I traded out the composite cables it came with even with component cables but saw very little difference.
I have high speed internet so it isn't a problem with that. It is a problem with the resolution that they are sending over the internet. It just isn't good enough. Perhaps it is good enough for people with those big box cathode ray tube tvs but for those with HD you will be very dissapointed. I will most likely be cancelling before the month is up as I would not want to be locked into a 2 year contract for this kind of quality for 2 years or 18 months of service. It is not worth the $25 per month I paid to get some radio channels, christian tv and animal planet and discovery chanel.
I can get the radio channels via my computer, not the same ones, but ones that play various contemporary christian music for cheap. And most of the christian tv channels stream better quality than sky angel does over the browser. That leaves me with paying $25 per month for 18 months for animal and discovery in very poor quality.
I'd glady pay 3x that to directv and get 200+ channels, amazing quality, HD and DVR, along with many of the same christian channels included, and some christian radio stations as well.

When you have non HD programming on an HD TV, do not set your TV controls to force the picture into stretch mode.

It should look a lot better. Even if you use cable or satellite , not all of your programs will EVER be in HD. Forcing SD programming into widescreen distorts the picture.

 

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Forcing SD programming into widescreen distorts the picture.

Funny thing about that I've noticed. Since so many actresses are so darned skinny the distortion make them almost look normal.

 

[kevinbct]

Forcing SD programming into widescreen distorts the picture.

Funny thing about that I've noticed. Since so many actresses are so darned skinny the distortion make them almost look normal.

LOL!!! Great point.