Trees blocking HD satellite - what to do?

[splitlevelbradymom]

Trying to figure out how to hang on to our Dish Network service. Here's the story:

DH got a 40" Dynex LCD HDTV @ BestBuy. Turns out we don't have a clear line to the HD satellite without cutting down trees. Many, many trees. The technician said try DirectTV. I chatted w/someone on the DishNetwork website tonight who said that there was nothing to do about the trees/HD issue. The chat online tech said that we could still swap out the DVR with the next model up - he said there would "probably" be better resolution than the SD 480i picture we are seeing right now (which is really a bad pic)...but he wasn't really sure.

Is there anything else we can do, beside call DirectTV? We really like Dish and won't want to switch, but now we have this big, fancy TV and don't really want to watch stuff in 480i on it because it looks so bad. I like Dish so much, and my beloved DVR that I'm really hoping we can reach some sort of compromise!

DH went out and bought an antenna tonight to simply test the HD pic - and we get 22 channels on that - all in 1080i HD - wow - what a difference! I see somewhere on this site that we can plug in the antenna to the DVR and it'll show up in the menu. Are there any settings we can change on our exisiting DVR to up the resolution? Or is that all we're seeing because it's being broadcast in 480i?

It's all very confusing....learning as we go along.
Thanks!
Kara

 

[whatchel1]

Check to see

Trying to figure out how to hang on to our Dish Network service. Here's the story:

DH got a 40" Dynex LCD HDTV @ BestBuy. Turns out we don't have a clear line to the HD satellite without cutting down trees. Many, many trees. The technician said try DirectTV. I chatted w/someone on the DishNetwork website tonight who said that there was nothing to do about the trees/HD issue. The chat online tech said that we could still swap out the DVR with the next model up - he said there would "probably" be better resolution than the SD 480i picture we are seeing right now (which is really a bad pic)...but he wasn't really sure.

It's all very confusing....learning as we go along.
Thanks!
Kara

There is a tab on top to check and see if you can get the 61.5 sat from your area. The tab is DishPointer.com. The tech maybe right but just to make you feel better see if it looks like the trees are in the way. Since it shows that our are in New England very unlikely that you can get 129 the western HD bird.

 

[JimP]

Are you saying that you have trees in the way regardless of western arc or eastern arc ?

If that's the case, you've got a problem that can't be fixed.

 

[ercjncpr]

Ironic, because trees blocking HD was one of the reasons that I switched from DirecTV to Dish. Dish also seems to handle the rare southern California rain fade a lot better as well.

 

[stogie5150]

If that's the case, you've got a problem that can't be fixed.

um.....I know she said she didn't want to but....

 

[JimP]

.....lol, maybe I should have said can't be fixed without removal of the trees.

 

[Pepper]

As long as you don't care about having multiple dish antennae, there's likely some spot on your property with clear line of sight to either 61.5 or 129.

 

[bgothard72]

for satellite service, i would cut down anything in the way!

 

[JimK2]

Satellite Finder / Dish Pointing Calculator with Google Maps | DishPointer.com

It depends on how high and how for away the trees are. If your a long time Dish subscriber
your probably using 110 and 119 which will be very low (~14.0 Elevation) in the sky from new england while the Eastern Arc would be about 40 degrees elevation. I have a clear shot at 110 and 119 but 129 is blocked by trees about 60-70 feet away so I have a second dish about 20 feet form the other and shoot through the small gap in the trees that 110 and 119 use.

Eastern Arc 61.5, 72.7 and 77.0 Degrees Longitude
Western Arc 110, 119 and 129 Degrees Longitude

 

[splitlevelbradymom]

Thanks everyone! The trees surround our house - and are old and very tall - we're in a valley - so there is no spot in the yard that is conducive for this HD satellite.

The trees are here to stay. The only open spot is where the current dish is facing - and yes, I think we are using 110 and 119. Not sure what the Eastern and Western Arcs are - have seen mention of them here before. Maybe I should put another call into Dish. The technician basically told us to call DirectTV...we were surprised - and had no idea that it would be a hassle. We figured he was being honest. Said he could even swap out the DVR - mentioned that the resolution would be better, but wasn't really specific.

I think this will force us away from Dish. A shame, really, as we've been with them going on 5 years I think....

Kara

 

[Pepper]

If you have a hole in the trees that the current dish can see through for 110 and 119, then in theory another dish located slightly to the northeast of the existing one could see 129 through that same hole.

In practice however, the elevation for 129 may be so low that it's just not possible.

 

[whatchel1]

2 arcs

Thanks everyone! The trees surround our house - and are old and very tall - we're in a valley - so there is no spot in the yard that is conducive for this HD satellite.

The trees are here to stay. The only open spot is where the current dish is facing - and yes, I think we are using 110 and 119. Not sure what the Eastern and Western Arcs are - have seen mention of them here before. Maybe I should put another call into Dish. The technician basically told us to call DirectTV...we were surprised - and had no idea that it would be a hassle. We figured he was being honest. Said he could even swap out the DVR - mentioned that the resolution would be better, but wasn't really specific.

I think this will force us away from Dish. A shame, really, as we've been with them going on 5 years I think....

Kara

The EA uses 3 sats to the SE of you. 61.5, 72.7, & 77. WA is 110, 119, 129. My guess is the installer may have only looked at 129 and said he could get it. Where are you located in New England? If you want to private message me and I will run the dishpointer to see what sats you can get from you location.

 

[splitlevelbradymom]

Update: After more reading, I got a phone number for Dish Retention and called 'em yesterday to give them one more chance. The tech that came out Tuesday was here about 10 mins, and he was right, there is no line of sight to one of the HD satellites (61.5 i think) - BUT he never mentioned another option....

My DH went out and bought an antenna - and we have been looking at the locals in HD thru that. The Dish guy yesterday confirmed what I read here: that we could run the antenna thru the DVR, point to the OTHER HD satellite and have a combination of things: HD locals thru our own antenna, and the rest of the HD programming thru the other satellite (maybe 129?) - said it was near the satellite that our current dish is pointing to. Does that make sense?

They are sending out a field supervisor and another technician tomorrow morning to look at our situation again. They were very interested that this other tech was here for 10 mins and told us to call DirectTV. He was being honest about the trees - but not really thinking outside the box to solve our problem. We are willing to get our local HDs thru an antenna - especially if it can be hooked up thru our DVR and would appear on the guide and be able to be paused, taped, etc - just like the rest of the channels.

So tomorrow we'll see. Would be so much easier to stay with Dish - much cheaper than the alternatives and I love my DVR....we're getting the HD DVR tomorrow (hopefully). Is there a downside to this?

Any words of advice about what to say to these guys tomorrow? I assume they know what they are doing..we're keeping our fingers crossed....

Kara

 

[patsfan72]

where in new england are you located,here in western mass there is now way to use the 129 bird,it is just to low on the horizon.I have one dish on roof for the 110 and 119 sats and one in the corner of my yard for the 61.5 sat.i had to "move" to get locals but that is not really a problem because i get all my locals OTA and "moved" to NYC to get a ton of options.I would be really surprised if you were able to get the 129 sat here in new england.

 

[david_jr]

My 61.5 wing dish had to be placed a ways away from the other (110/119) dish due to trees in the line of sight. 61.5 is pretty much due south from here (180 azimuth on compass). Should be same general direction for you. You only need to be able to peek through a fairly small hole in the trees to see it. You can't point at the trees though or you will have signal problems and rain and snow and wind fade like crazy. Good luck.

 

[ab187]

Pray for a Hurricane

When we had Dish first installed there was a large pine tree completely blocking 129. Ike rolls along, and the tree falls right on our neighbor's house. I hooked up the receiver to a generator the next morning and what do you know we had a perfect signal for 129. At least one good thing came from the storm. :up

 

[UnSat]

you could use a longer pole to get above the tress .Sat 129 for HD sits 240 degrees SW at 33 degrees elev. A 1000.2 dish will get you HD.
'Sometimes standard mounts won' get the results you need and thinking outside the box is required. even if it means coming out of your own pocket to get the results you want.

 

[splitlevelbradymom]

update on my update:

it seems the guy on the phone the other day was confused. the tech that came out today said that wouldn't work, and the satellite the guy on the phone was talking about was accessible to people in the west - we're on the south shore of massachusetts.

so he left us with a VIP622 DVR, hooked up our OTA antenna - so we get local HD channels from our own antenna, and have the rest of the regular non-HD stuff from Dish. No additional charge because he didn't change the dish on the roof. (the trees, by the way, are 80' tall).

he did mention that Dish was sending up a new satellite in the spring which we might be able to get from here. now we're deciding whether to just keep things the way they are, or switch to DirectTV. i think we might keep Dish for a bit - willing to wait if there really is another satellite going up.

two things you all might know: the pic is not filling the screen now - even though it says "wide" - we are unable to change that. some of the HD locals fill the screen, but the regular dish stuff (food, hgtv, etc) don't. it also says HDMI 1080 although it doesn't look like that on channels we know we shouldn't be getting in HD.

so complicated......!

k

 

[goaliebob99]

Try hitting the star button on the remote to change resolutions on the channels that dont fill the screen

 

[splitlevelbradymom]

just figured that out. thanks!