Switching to "DIRECTV"

[bklass]

On monday the 23rd, I'm dropping Dish Network and subscribing to DIRECTV.  I'm going to be getting their HD tier thru a Hughes E-86 platinum box hooked into my home theater with a HD ready MITS WS65311.  Does anyone have any warnings, tips, suggestions or whatever for me regarding DIRECTV.  I will also have 2 additional DIRECTV boxes receiving their feed and distributing them throughout the house thru modulators on channels 14 & 32.  I'm hoping to do this right the first time.  Victor from Sound Investments will be doing the conversion for me.

Thanks:
Barry Klass

[Timgb]

Are you going to be able to receive the  networks over the air?

[Tom Snyder]

Hi Barry!

The guys at Sound Investments are pretty good.  Just make sure that they do the oval dish with a triple LNB so  you can subscribe to the new HD channels coming on July 1.

You have a rooftop antenna for the HD locals already, right?

[jeffbyk]

You may also want to make sure that the E86 is not in a confined space; that is, has sufficient air to cool in.  There is no internal fan and it runs very hot.  I am on my third box :bang:, and with the third decided to locate it in open air outside of the cabinet that houses the rest of my components.  I even added a homemade cooling unit that I had heard of through the AVS forum.  Haven't had a problem with this third unit in over a year.

Hopefully, the product has been through some improvements related to the heat problems, but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

Jeff

[bklass]

Thanks guys.....Larry from Kemmer was out a couple months ago and tweaked my antenna setup.  Also I'll have the Hughes box as the upper most componenet in an "open" cabinet, hopefully that will provide plenty of ventilation.

[AndrewP]

I will wait with the switch until the football season.
Maybe ESPN HD will be on Dish at that time.
Moreover, I read a lot complaints about HD PQ at Directv
during Star Wars movie.

Andrew

[bigcheeshead]

I have had DTV and E86 for almost a year now. My only gripe besides the heat is the sound. I've noticed that Showtime and sometimes HBO have a problem where the sound is a second or so behind the picture. Gets kinda annoying at times. Other then that it's well worth it. As for the picture quality complaints it's not really DTV it's the way some of the movies are upconverted regardless of who is providing the feed.

P.S. I'm watching Ice Age on HBO right now and the picture is breathtaking.

[borghe]

you shouldn't eve really see a sound problem on HBO.. Showtime is a whole different story.. That channel is plagued with audio synch problems so much so that I would say over 50% of HD movies end up going out of synch. Most people say they notice the same problems on Echostar and cable, so apparently it's a Showtime thing.

HBO I have never noticed it once.

So you should have it by now then huh? What do you think so far?

[AndrewP]

Showtime HD on DishNetwork is 100% perfect. What I don't like they don't have a good selection and most of Showtime originals are in SD now. But sound - no problem here.

Andrew