Yesterday, we tried to have DISH tv installed and could only get a weak signal. Does anyone know if we will have better luck with Directv? I really wanted Dish because they have BBC America and Eastenders. Maggie was also looking forward to some of her favorites.

Does anyone know how to get around our problem? The installer said it was due to the number of trees.

Andi, we had Dish before and the installer had to check all over our tree filled yard until he found a good spot.
The installer said the final option was to install it up in a tree, if all else failed.

Of course, I didn't want the dish where you could actually see it and eventually, we found a spot that was out of the way with clear line to the satellite.

I really don't know how this stuff works but if Direct TV uses a different satellite, maybe you would get a better siganl?
I always thought satellites orbited the earth and don't really understand how you can "point" to one when it moves about.

We've had both Dish and DirecTV and their satellites are in two different places. The DirecTV satellite had to be installed in our back yard and the Dish in our front, so unless you are completely surrounded by trees everywhere, you may be able to get DirecTV to work.

Also the first time the DirecTV installer came out he said he couldn't get a signal and I was so distraught (long story - something about being poor and deprived of cable tv for years and years) that Mary walked all around the house and figured out on her own a totally different place where it would work. So don't give up hope :)

For what it's worth, we switched to Dish from DirecTV because they offered us a DVR in two rooms which was comparable to what we were paying for DirecTV in one room. However, we've found that the signal isn't as good with Dish and the DVR works terribly on live sports events, so we are planning to switch back to DirecTV when our contract is over. I'm 99% sure DirecTV also has BBC America.

Lis

I just do cable, but all I can think about when I read this thread is all those (cable)ads on TV about the dish and the difficulties. Direct TV is not in my vocabulary. Good luck, Andi, I guess after living in Europe you get attached to those shows!

DirecTV definitely has BBC America (I just confirmed it on their website: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/learn/Packages_TotalChoice_Plus.dsp)

I also much prefer the DVR for DirecTV (Tivo!) compared to DISH.

Masaki

Yes, but BBC America dropped Eastenders...Aagh

To get clear satellite reception, you need a clear line of sight. Trees will attenuate the signal, particularly after they leaf out. There may be other spots on the roof that give the dish a "clear shot" at the satellite.

For Karen, geosynchronous satellites or geostationary satellites orbit the earth at 22,300 miles above sea level and are positioned over the equator. This is why dishes in the northern hemisphere need to point south. Their orbit's period is exactly the same as the earth's so they "hover" over the same spot all the time. If they didn't, your dish would have to move precisely to "track" the satellite.

What stations you get is dependent on what content is carried on each transponder (there are many on every TV satellite). A transponder is like an electonic mirror. Service providers beam the programming content up to the satellite and the transponders "bounce" it back down to be picked up by our dishes. The area that receives a particular signal is called its "footprint". The most common footprint for us in the US is known as CONUS, or continental U.S. So a satellite that would serve us would not serve Masaki.

Probably more than you wanted to know...

Bill

Wow, Bill! That explains it, I think ;)

Andi's problem (Sedona) is very simple"

We have cable. It works.

The Sat providers have dropped "Eastenders". a brit soap opera which has run for more years than I can recall and is quite enjoyable.

DISH has offered a subscription service where for about $10 a month you get last month's brit shows...4 a week

My love misses her show.
Dish walked away from our home.

Suggestions are more than welcome.
Trust me .. the show is habit forming.

Doug

Bill - that's why our selection DirecTV here in Hawaii is so limited ... :)

Doug and Andi - is there somewhere else on your property that you might be able to put up a DISH antenna so you could get clear line of sight to the satellite? You could always put up a 30 foot pole and put the antenna on top of it ... :D

Masaki

Masaki:

Andi was in NYC the day the Dish man came... and a good thing, too!
I had very clear instructions about where was acceptable and not for dish placement.
She would have freaked when he pulled out the tripod to raise the dish up even higher on our roof!(but that didn't work)
Can you even think about what she would have said to me had he installed the dish on the pole you suggested or a tree (with the various wires running to the house)!

'tis a pity


Doug

Thanks to everyone...especially my loving hubby. What would have really freaked me was not going through the attic and running wires down the walls. Free installation did not clarify that it would be ugly.

Doug - you are a wise man.

I remember when they installed cable in our new to us house about 20 years ago. I was not home. They did not lift the newly installed carpet to run the wire - not part of the free installation.

They did run BLACK co-ax cable completely over the top of the baseboard and around some cabinets very visible and stapled to the interior walls of the living room, dining room and the hallways.

When I got home, the cable company immediately sent someone to my house after hours to remove the black co-ax as well as everything else when I got done with them. My husband was furious with me that he was going to do without cable tv after that episode. Eventually, they did come back with white coax that went under the carpet and I did not pay for the installation either, although it was an item they were supposed to charge for.

Doug/Andi - yes, the free installation has to be ugly. I mean, there has to be some way to distinguish the upgraded installation from the free version. :) I remember when I was pricing DirecTV for our new house and the satellite installation company (recommended by the best stores in Hawaii) quoted me $1000+ for the install ... quickly soured me on the possibility (though I'm sure it would have been a VERY nice installation)

Masaki

When I had the house wired for Dish I had a much different "free installation" experience. The guy buried the wires from the dish to the house and of course I made him put the dish where I couldn't see it. When he was done installing the cable, I couldn't tell that he had just wired 9 rooms for reception. I even had him put 2 connections in the family room, in case I wanted change the furniture around and move the tv.

The next year, we had to switch to cable because the local channels that we got with Dish were out of Youngstown instead of Pittsburgh and showed only Cleveland Browns games :eek:

Kathy: Thank you. They say that "sometimes" age brings wisdom. I can only say..."perhaps"

Masaki: For that kind of money it &%($# well better be a 'nice' install.

But regardless, the installer was a nice russian guy from Brooklyn (where else?). He spoke Polish. We bonded as I am 1/2 Pole. He tried. I bet a few bucks in a handshake would have gotten us the attic install.
But mean mister signal was a fault here.
Guess my baby will just have to rely on her European friends to mail video tapes of her soaps.

BTW, if any of you have a PBS station that runs Eastenders or any of the Brit soaps, watch a couple of episodes. Once you get past the accents, you will get hooked. They are much more fun than the US soaps. Nothing ever goes right for anybody! and they move much faster than our soaps.

Doug

Doug - very true ... :D

Masaki

He used to just ignore them and go off to his office on the computer...then, he had no place to go and no computer or office (for that matter) in Basel and he found out that they are a hoot and done quite tongue and cheek. Look up ITV and read Corrie updates.