StarChoice in Dallas, Texas

[qwerty9900]

Hello,

I live in the Dallas area and I have StarChoice. It works well, but the only thing is that it’s slow. When I change channel, it can take to 2 second. Is this normal for StarChoice or is it because my setup is wrong or could it be the antenna alignment? Before I had a FTA pointed on BEV and it was responding pretty fast, but StarChoice is really slow.

Also, would someone know when the new StarChoice PVR supposed to come out? I don’t want to purchase the current StarChoice PVR (HDPVR 530) because the reviewes are not very good. I’ve tried Tivo; it works, but it makes changing channels ridiculously long.

Thanks,
Mic

 

[QCK]

The lastest word for the 605 and 630 release is September, but as we all know Shaw Direct is brutal with making any timeline. Channel changes should not be that long. What model receiver are you using and what is your signal strength (Ecb). Your SD channels should be over 8.0 and your HD channels should be over 6.0.

 

[qwerty9900]

Hello,

My receiver is DSR 317 and I have a 75cm antenna. On a hot Texas day (ie: no clouds), I typically have a signal strength at ~65. The maximum I ever got by playing with the antenna angles was about 75. If I remember correctly, I'm using the following angles:

Azimut 197.7
Elevation 49.2
Skew 102

Thanks,
Mic

 

[QCK]

The 317 is a fast enough receiver, and your setup looks correct. You should have better readings from your signal though, 65 is low. Beside the the number you are reading is an Ecb number which will give you a more accurate strength of the channel you are on. Are you using RG6 cable, and have you checked the cable connections?

 

[zbroke]

In Fort Worth... When I had a 75cm antenna, I had a dcb of around 3.5 on RDSHD (channel240). I don't know maybe there was a way to tweek it better but I ran out of patience and got fed up of losing signal during the hockey games so I installed 2 hot dish 90, each pointing at a specific bird. I now get a db reading in the 7.x so basically doubled it without much effort.

I have 2 dsr530 and they respond like they should.

Whatever your setup, the db reading will vary alot from channel to channel. Wihtout being an expert, I think it has something to do with which satellite sends the signal, which transponder and which slot on the transponder...

 

[qwerty9900]

Hello,

Thanks you guys for your comments. I think that it must be something with the antenna. On channel 760 (LCN), I get a ecb of 6.0 and I don’t get channel 240. It’s pretty windy and cloudy tonight, so if the antenna is not properly aligned, then it might be the reason why I don’t get channel 240. I’ll try again in the morning. Can you give me more details on the 2 hot dish 90? Basically, where can I purchase those dish and how do I set them up? Would you know the angles for the North-Dallas area? Do I connect both LNB to a Y-connector and run one coax to the receiver? Is there a tutorial on a similar setup somewhere?

Thanks,
Mic

 

[Frenchophile]

Hello,

Thanks you guys for your comments. I think that it must be something with the antenna. On channel 760 (LCN), I get a ecb of 6.0 and I don’t get channel 240. It’s pretty windy and cloudy tonight, so if the antenna is not properly aligned, then it might be the reason why I don’t get channel 240. I’ll try again in the morning. Can you give me more details on the 2 hot dish 90? Basically, where can I purchase those dish and how do I set them up? Would you know the angles for the North-Dallas area? Do I connect both LNB to a Y-connector and run one coax to the receiver? Is there a tutorial on a similar setup somewhere?

Thanks,
Mic

You would have each antenna pointed at one sat (107 and 111). You would then need a 2x1 switch (not a splitter/combiner) with line to your receiver. finally, you would need to call shaw direct to have your receiver swtiched from stacked to non-stacked (or vice-versa, I cant remember which)