OT. Satellite Direct ?

LOU from WI · Dec 3, 2010

Was looking at the internet and came across a ad for Satellite Direct, I was wondering if any of you good people have heard or tried this.I have Direct Tv,but their pricing and programs are just getting annoying, to much money for junk kiddy shows, and repeated daily,then extra for movie channels which repeat over and over.I am looking at this but, it seems like another scam,but figured someone might have tried it before me.Figure I won"t be the guinnea pig.LOL Just curious.
Thanks,LOU

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

It costs a ton of bucks to stick a satellite into geo-stationary orbit, so you can watch TV bouncing off of it. I doubt there is any cheap ways to get it anymore.

Back in the days when one big dish scanned the sky and fed off many satellites with partial TV on each, there were cheap ways to view. Back then they came in vertical and horizontal signals -so if you flipped your amp over, you got twice the dhannels. I built my own dish with wood 2"X6"s and chicken wire. It was 14 feet diamter. I scanned 14 different satellites. No more.

Now, you have a fixed dish pointing at just one satellite, and it is pretty much dedicated to TV programming. Big money.

I got rid of my TV dish and put up an over-the-air antenna system. Due to the huge improvement when all got changed to digital signals, I now get over 30 channels - most in HD - with just antennas. Back before the digital change, I could only get one channel and it was pretty snowy. I'm getting TV from transmitters 60-80 miles away, and many mountain tops inbetween. I did the same in a flatter area of Michigan and get TV from 120 miles away.

Fawteen · Dec 3, 2010

I dumped all but the minimum package on DirecTV and get all my movies via Netflix. For $9.99 a month, you can't beat it with a stick.

Mike (WA) · Dec 3, 2010

jdemaris or others, is there any kind of television from the "big dishes" anymore? When we bought our place 20 years ago, it had a big dish- but between the time we bought, and when we moved in, the mechanism that moves the dish broke. Looked briefly into fixing it, but pretty spendy, so just put up an antenna. Then along came cable, had that awhile, now Dish Network. So never followed up on the big dish. Are any of those still in use? If so, how does service and cost compare with Dish Network?

thurlow · Dec 3, 2010

Hey Mike........had a big dish (C-band) for 20-25 years; gave it up in July. There are still some folks offering packages (I used National Programming Services) and an internet search will turn up others. Neither rain nor sleet or gloom of night would kick it off and the picture quality was EXCELLENT. I finally gave it up...for Dish Network......because everytime I paid the (quarterly) bill, they had dropped another few channels and rumors kept swirling around that eventually programming would not be offered. I'm well satisifed with DN, but it's been off the air in 5 months due to the weather more than the big dish was in all the years I owned it. Gotta have an EXPENSIVE receiver (I've got 2 boxed up, the older analog and the later digital, but they're virtually worthlesss); programming costs are similar to Dish or Direct.

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

Exactly what deal did you buy? I just called Direct TV a few days ago in my daugher's behalf. The cheapest deal they have right now - at least here in NY - comes to $50 per month when you figure it all out.

They give a 1/2 price rebate for 12 months IF you sign up for 24 months. So that first 12 months is $30 per month plus extra fees and tax. Second 12 months is over $60 per month. That's is their minimum package with no movie channels.

I just emailed live-help at Direct TV and they said they don't offer a $9.99 deal anwhere.

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

Yes, but it's almost all scrambled now. When I built my dish, everything was free. Of course, equipment expense added up. Seems something would fail every few months. A low-noise-amp, or dish rotator servo, receiver, amp-polarizer, etc. It was worth buying equipment when the programming was free, but no more. My dish was wood-framed with tuning-wires. So, every once in awhile, I had to go out and "tune" the parabolic curve of my dish with the many turnbuckles.

I own all the electronics for my Internet satellite uplink and downlink equipment. Two years now and so far, no failures.

S2710 · Dec 3, 2010

I just paid my direct TV bill and it was 31.49 for the basic package with the local channels. I am from Wi. the LaCrosse area. Bob

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

I'm trying to figure out exactly what you mean. Maybe I misunderstood?

We use Netflix here also, with the "two at at time" deal that is $9.99 right now, but going up next month. Great service.

Can't "beat with a stick" is for what? Netflix of minimum Direct TV? Not clear to me as written.

Lou from Wi. · Dec 3, 2010

Here"s the link, and the system I was asking about.Do any of you guys have it, or heard of it?
Thanks, LOU
Untitled URL Link

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

Do you have a high-speed Internet connection with unlimited download allowance? I'm sure that's what that is all about.

Lou, as far as I can tell, that has nothing to do with you having access to any satellites. It's stuff fed to you via your Internet connection. Just about all TV is bounced of a satellite to somewhere - and sounds like they are just telling you one of the ways to get it through the Net and into your computer.

I know I could never use anything like that, because it requires a high-speed Internet connection with unlimited download allowance. I could get free movies from Netflix that way If I had such a connection, but I don't.

Mike (WA) · Dec 3, 2010

Thanks for the info- I figured that was about how it had gone.

My big dish is aluminum mesh with aluminum ribs- would be worth recycling, if I'd just get the time to do it. Lots of rusty 1/4 inch bolts to twist off!

Biggest reception problem I have with Dish Network is snow- so I have a broom with long enough handle to go out on the garage apron, reach up, and brush the snow out when necessary.

Mike (WA) · Dec 3, 2010

I think what he meant was that Direct TV minimum package + $9.99 per month Netflix is a better deal than upgrading Direct TV to include the premium movie packages. I agree that you can't even get a test pattern from Direct (or Dish) for 10 bucks a month.

thurlow · Dec 3, 2010

The EXPENSIVE receiver sounds kinda ignerent; they USED to be expensive; almost worthless now.

Fawteen · Dec 3, 2010

Sorry for the confusion.

When I dumped all my premium channels and went to basic DirecTV, my bill dropped from $110/month to $55/month.

I replaced the $55/month premium movie channels with a $10/month Netflix subscription. That subscription rate includes one DVD at a time, and unlimited "streaming" of movies over my internet connection. I choose which movies I want instead of being limited to what DTV offers, no repeats and 1/5th the price. How can ya beat that?

Fawteen · Dec 3, 2010

Exactly.

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

I didn't know snow was even possible with a digital signal - but I guess I don't know what they are using with Dish Network.

With over-the-air, snow isn't possible with the digital channels. It's an all or nothing sort of thing. Perfect picture, or no picture.

We get better picture now with antennas then we ever did with Direct TV - but we never paid the exta bucks for their HD signal.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 3, 2010

jdemaris, you are a duffus, ain't ya? First you can't understand what Fawteen is talking about and now you don' tknow what frozen precipitation is...

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

Yes, but I'm dumb enough not to notice my own stupidity, so it doesn't bother me at all.

Mike (WA) · Dec 3, 2010

No, Jd, not "snow" as in reception interferance, I mean "snow" as in "snow"- white stuff you make a snowman out of, etc. Thought my reference to a broom to brush it out would be sufficient.

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

We've been doing the same with Netflix. Great deal and great service. We can't use the download service, but even with just the DVDs in the mail, it's well worth it. We get a lot of old TV series that way, besides movies.

As to Direct TV, we never had any movie channels, no HD service, and no local channels and it was still $60 a month. I put up my antenna-farm and it's worked out great. We no longer pay that money and get HD TV from 60-70 miles away, even though the mountains are in the way.

JDemaris · Dec 3, 2010

Yeah, I see that now (I missed that last sentence about the broom). It also had me thinking about our Direct TV setup just before we cancelled. It got all full of snow (on the screen) which isn't supposed to happen with a digital signal. Ended up it was a reciever problem of some sort. We didn't fix it, just canceled.

But yeah as to real snow outside. My Internet dish fills up with ice and snow a lot. More so then the TV dish ever did.

OT. Satellite Direct ?

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