What to do..want HD can't see 129 or 61

[bxl4]

I seek your ideas. I have a HDTV but no atsc receiver and cannot get 129 (without some gigantic dish) or 61 (too low).

Currently on the Famine Pack with Seattle locals and it suits us just fine...if only I had those locals in HD. OTA is going to be dicey with hills and trees in the way and broadcast towers scattered around the compass from me. OTA might work but I'll have pretty much spent all the dough to find out and Dish still doesn't have Fox under contract for HD.

Antenna web says it's possible but our currently poor OTA SD reception makes me nervous.

I've been a DISH customer since 1997 and like our 510 and service otherwise but is there another solution beside calling DirectTV?

 

[digiblur]

You already listed them. That's the only options I can think of...

 

[harshness]

I've been a DISH customer since 1997 and like our 510 and service otherwise but is there another solution beside calling DirectTV?

Not unless you have access to cable.

 

[Scott6760]

Put up the big dish

 

[Miner]

bxl4,

The dish you need for 129 isn't that big. Its like 24" diameter which is like 4" larger than the current dish. It's not that big a deal. I actually think you'd get the Seattle locals even without 129 as I believe they are broadcast through the 110 bird. Only komo, king and komo are carried through the dish in HD. From BI you should be able to receive the locals with an over the air antenna. I live in Silverdale and signal is typically easier in BI.

Miner

 

[vegassatellite]

I seek your ideas. I have a HDTV but no atsc receiver and cannot get 129 (without some gigantic dish) or 61 (too low).

Currently on the Famine Pack with Seattle locals and it suits us just fine...if only I had those locals in HD. OTA is going to be dicey with hills and trees in the way and broadcast towers scattered around the compass from me. OTA might work but I'll have pretty much spent all the dough to find out and Dish still doesn't have Fox under contract for HD.

Antenna web says it's possible but our currently poor OTA SD reception makes me nervous.

I've been a DISH customer since 1997 and like our 510 and service otherwise but is there another solution beside calling DirectTV?

You can overcome 61.5 and also your local TV tree problem by erecting a tower on your site. Find someone who installs ham radio antennas and they can put it up.

 

[ncted]

If 129, 61.5, and OTA are out of the question, I would definitely consider DirecTV. I could have gone either way when I moved to DISH. The superior DVR is what swayed me, but the differences are minor in the big scheme of things.

Ted

 

[alk753]

Seattle HD Locals are on 110W/TP4

Currently on the Famine Pack with Seattle locals and it suits us just fine...if only I had those locals in HD

Reiterating a previous post... Seattle HD Locals are on 110W/TP4. Currently available are KOMO, KIRO and KING. KCPQ not available at this time.

No need for either 61W or 129W unless you are seeking other channels.

 

[Miner]

You can overcome 61.5 and also your local TV tree problem by erecting a tower on your site. Find someone who installs ham radio antennas and they can put it up.

Vegas,

61.5's elevation out here is 9 degrees and between the mountains and trees here a tower makes almost no difference. I was able to get 61.5 at my house by shooting through a gap in the trees. Getting over them would have needed a 75' tower. As bad as 129 is up here, it is much more workable, and with the 24" dish dropout of signal is almost eliminated.

When east coast folks talk about how hard it is to get 129 and its 25 degree elevation, I laugh, but can sympathize.

Miner

 

[bxl4]

Thanks for the thoughts

Thanks guys. That's about how I though it would shake out. I still don't know what I'll do but will probably look at my DirectTV options.

I've been a Dish customer for a long time and made some nice coin on Echostar stock (bought on the post-ipo dip and held for a few years). I guess I have some emotional attachment to them.

 

[bradleys]

I'll agree with the suggestion to install a dish for 129 if you want HD. While it's true that 129 isn't useful in (for example) Bellingham, you should be fine at Bainbridge/Seattle latitude. I've had a 36 inch dish for 129 in Seattle for as long as 129 has been available. I've never had a dropout. I could have tried a 24 or 30 inch dish, but I don't care about the size, so I didn't try to fine tune my dish size.

 

[goldengoose]

Fortunately for many in the Northwest ---Portland HD are on 110/119
big footprint and DMA serving much of the State of Oregon and some of Washington State

Hope they don't move it to 129 or 61

 

[vegassatellite]

I can see them possibly moving it to 129 after a replacement bird is sent up there. The current bird was originally intended to provide conus coverage from a different location so its footprint isn't ideal for the 129 location. It is also a crippled bird. When a new bird intended for 129 comes out, the signal levels should be great for that satellite location.

 

[Miner]

Thanks guys. That's about how I though it would shake out. I still don't know what I'll do but will probably look at my DirectTV options.

I've been a Dish customer for a long time and made some nice coin on Echostar stock (bought on the post-ipo dip and held for a few years). I guess I have some emotional attachment to them.

Bxl4,

I'll be back home in Silverdale this weekend. I'd be happy to swing over to the island and take a look at your setup and see if I can give some (amatuer) suggestions.

Miner

 

[bxl4]

New idea

If I can get an hd-dvr cheaply enough, I might stick with Dish. My ota reception of Fox is decent and the rest of the hd networks that I care about, I can get off of 110/119.

What is the smartest way to get such a dvr for self-install? It seems like I'm going to get to pay lots of niggling fees: HD enabling, second dvr, etc.

Finally will my old 500Twin lnbs be a problem?

Thanks, again.

 

[jwfgeol]

Currently on the Famine Pack with Seattle locals and it suits us just fine...

You will probably have more sustenance if you upgrade from the Famine Pack :

 

[Cameron3395]

If 129, 61.5, and OTA are out of the question, I would definitely consider DirecTV. I could have gone either way when I moved to DISH. The superior DVR is what swayed me, but the differences are minor in the big scheme of things.

Ted

The DirecTV dish with 5 lnb's is bigger than the Dish1000.2 for 129. If you think the dish1000.2 is to big then you definately don't want to switch to DirectTV. 1000.2 is just slightly bigger than 500.

 

[Miner]

If I can get an hd-dvr cheaply enough, I might stick with Dish. My ota reception of Fox is decent and the rest of the hd networks that I care about, I can get off of 110/119.

What is the smartest way to get such a dvr for self-install? It seems like I'm going to get to pay lots of niggling fees: HD enabling, second dvr, etc.

Finally will my old 500Twin lnbs be a problem?

Thanks, again.

If you have only 1 receiver currently and want to replace it with a 622 or 722 DVR your old 500 Twin shouldn't be a problem, but you will need to run 2 coax cables to the receiver.

I resisted switching over to the HD DVR a year and half about abou the installation, but Dish took very good care of me. I already had a dish for 129 right next to the 500, and the installer put up the 24" dish in its place, ran the new cables into the attic where the DPP multiswitch is located and set up my new 622. After the 10 months of $10 discout, my upgrade was $50. I think the cost is still the same, or even less. My HD bill did go up from $10 to $20 a month, but that is part of the game. As you point out, there are some fees you can avoid. If you add the $10 or $20 a month HD package, there is no enabling fee, and if you have the receiver connected to a phone line or computer broadband network, the second receiver fee is waived. I'm very happy with my setup, and while Directv has more at the moment, HD content is now more important that channel count and both are fairly close. CNN HD is meaningless to me so Directv having it makes no difference.

Miner