Remember early DSS!

[Gregg Lengling]

It's been awhile and I don't really recall how long I've had DSS for my viewing pleasure.  But do you people remember back then when you bought a RCA Box you had your choice of 2 different companies to choose your programming from.  I realize that they finally became one which is now known as Directv, but my foggy/old/arcane memory can't recall the facts anymore.   However on a good note, I do remember my wife's birthday, our anniversary and my parents and siblings birthdays and anniversarys.

[gparris]

It was about 10 years ago a small concern called Directv emerged, offering a round of cable-type channels and the premiums like HBO and Sho were offered by USSB. You could get both from the same 18 inch dish, but you had 2 bills to mail every month. I know this because I got sick and tired of my friends laughing at me with my current cable provider, Jones Intercable not offering me at very least the Sci-Fi Channel they enjoyed with TCI in Racine.  Without the ability to get TCI and this channel, I had some choice, now, at least, to get satellite and leave them behind.
My setup cost total was about $750 or so for 2 RCA boxes, dish and installation to the family and master bedrooms.  Now I had not only a clearer picture from the channels I used to get, but my beloved Sci-Fi Channel, among others. Even the sound was better, in a digital sort of way, and in stereo. I fed their signal into my receivers in both rooms with Pro-Logic processing and it was quite an upgrade for the mid-90s'. I kept the very basic cable package for locals as we had antenna restrictions in the area I lived in and the struggle really was to get my Chicago stations I missed when I moved from there to begin with and the basic cable gave them to me, anyway. A simple push of the RCA remote brought them in as I switched to cable input mode.:p

Yes, I remember all to well what was state-of-the-art in those days and I try to remember it when I wonder why the next HD channel that came out isn't available, yet.
We are luckier now: Widescreen TV, DVDs (no Laserdiscs), HDTV. Dolby Digital in 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 flavors...hard to believe in just 10 years from where we were.  

Makes me wonder where we will be at the end of this decade with TV technology? :cool:

[Todd Wiedemann]

Well, sure Gregg, I do. I was an early adopter as well.

The "other" company was USSB. They carried MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick at Nite's TV Land, Lifetime, Comedy Central, All News Channel, HBO, CineMAX, Movie Channel, Showtime, FLiX and Sundance.

It was a pain to have "two" satellite bills back then ...

[Matt Heebner]

I was an early adoptor as well. I've had satellite for 7, maybe 8 years now. My friend was a Directv dealer/installer, so of course for a mere 2 year commitment, I got one whole room free. My friend and I installed it ourselves, so the cost there was a twelve pack of Miller.

I remember when I paid $150 for a RCA satellite box that passed a Dolby Digital signal. Back then only HBO, and a 5.1 demo channel were the only things that had a Dolby Digital signal. (Just to put this in perspective, at the same time I also bought my first DVD player, a Pioneer DV525, for a whopping $450....AFTER a $50  mail-in-rebate and two free DVD's.....And I bought a Sony Dolby Digital Receiver to replace my Denon Pro-Logic receiver for like $700. It was a total piece of junk being Sony's bottom of the line receiver, but the technology was so new, and so awesome sounding.)

And yes, I remember getting a letter from Directv telling us about how USSB had merged with Directv, so there would be only one bill.

Does anyone remeber when Directv started offering local channels, and their customer service numbers were busy like 24 hours a day for like about two months ? I could only get a hold of someone going in through a "Directv For Business" 1-800 number. Man, what a nightmare.

I remember first getting a dual LNB to add that second room. Equipment prices before that were insane....about $400 for two rooms, and like $750 for three rooms. (This was back in like 1997).

And of course, when I got my big oval dish, that I paid $150 for, from Radioshack. It must have taken me 4 hours to aim that baby correctly to maximize my signal.

To think of what they give away now for a measly 1 year commitment. HD boxes, TIVo's, 3 rooms INSTALLED, etc.



:cool:

Matt

[borghe]

I wasn't that early of an adopter.. 1998..

I can't tell you how much I paid for my system.. I want to say it was $300 for my dish (dual lnb round) and a 2nd gen RCA receiver (2nd gen 4 years later?? yikes!!) though I could be entirely wrong on the price.

I installed it myself at my mom's house at the top of a second story window pane (a HUGE accomplishment for a serious acrophobe). My now-wife was in the basement with a phone telling me the signal strength on the screen.. ended up with around a 96 signal strength.

When we turned on and the receiver defaulted to channel 100, speechless was the only word to describe it. Both my then-girlfriend and myself exclaimed how much better than cable it looked.. she said (I kid you not) that it looked just as good as my laserdiscs or DVDs. Granted this was on a 27" Mitsubishi TV, so between the smaller screen and the better picture, you can imagine how much that jumped out at us.

I do remember a year later paying $299 (100% positive on that price) for the 3rd gen RCA box with dolby digital output. DirecTV actually started Dolby Digital PPV broadcasts shortly after I bought the system in '98 but it was '99 when Starz began broadcasting and DirecTV put up the Dolby Digital demo channel on 500-something (can't remember the exact number). The channel ran all of the Dolby Digital demos as well as current movie trailers.. It was VERY cool.

And yes, that was channel 500 something.. at the time I do remember USSB and DirecTV. USSB had all of the movie channels which IIRC were in the 800's.. They also had all Viacom networks if I remember, but those were mixed in with the other channels.. It was only after DirecTV bought USSB that they moved the movie channels down to the 500's...

wow.. this thread is really bringing me back.. I can only imagine you guys who had the unit 4 years previous to me.. those really were the glory days.. even without locals....