Q For FTA Owners

[picopir8]

My wife is nearly willing to let me to set up a FTA system using the old D* mount and wiring (now have uverse so coax is unused).

I have a few questions for those who have FTA though.

1) What sort of free international programming is available?  My wife has lived over seas and travelled all over Europe and South/Central America so international programming would be a huge selling point.

2) I understand that the network feeds are available, but what about sporting events? Are you able to receive blacked out or out of market games?

3) What pay programming is available for subscription if I get a box with a card reader?

4) Are motorized dishes still preferred over fixed mount/multiple LNB dishes?

5) Do motorized dishes still need to be aimed, or just mounted and then calibrated by finding a couple satellites?

That is it.  Thanks!

[tazman]

My wife is nearly willing to let me to set up a FTA system using the old D* mount and wiring (now have uverse so coax is unused).

I have a few questions for those who have FTA though.

1) What sort of free international programming is available?  My wife has lived over seas and travelled all over Europe and South/Central America so international programming would be a huge selling point.

2) I understand that the network feeds are available, but what about sporting events? Are you able to receive blacked out or out of market games?

3) What pay programming is available for subscription if I get a box with a card reader?

4) Are motorized dishes still preferred over fixed mount/multiple LNB dishes?

5) Do motorized dishes still need to be aimed, or just mounted and then calibrated by finding a couple satellites?

That is it.  Thanks!

I am only into this hobby mildly.  With that being said.  The best advice you can take from that statement is that this is a hobby.

Some of these questions I can answer for you and some I am not so certain about.  I will try to answer them to the best of my ability in the order you had asked them.  Please note I only have a Ku-band setup myself, which is all digital and allot is encrypted.  A C-band setup still has quite a bit more programming available to the hobbyist.  Both digital and analog.  Do your research.

1)  As far as the Ku-band.  Most programming is from the middle east and from Asia.

2)  This is something that a membership to a forum that is dedicated to these topics can better answer for you.  A receiver with blind search capability would help greatly.

3)  There are pay programming services available for both bands.  More so for C-band.  I am excluding the well known DirecTV and DishNet services which operate on the Ku-band.

4) Depends on your budget.  There are pro's and con's for going both ways.  Or you could do a combination of both.  Which obviously means having more than one dish.

5)  YES...  To the best of my knowlege, there are no computer controlled actuators like what you would think of in the Astronomy hobby.  Alignment is critical when tracking the Clark belt.

This is one extent that you could take your hobby to.  http://www.global-cm.net/ God forbid, your wife reads this post and follows this link.

Also look here to get an idea as to what is all up there.  http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html

Enjoy

[Jayflap]

Looking at the Lyngsat website, the dish 500 is part of the FTA offering. That cannot possibly be true. If we purchase a FTA setup we would get dish 500 for free?

[tazman]

Looking at the Lyngsat website, the dish 500 is part of the FTA offering. That cannot possibly be true. If we purchase a FTA setup we would get dish 500 for free?

You are correct.  That is not true, to a degree.  If you were to look closer at the chart and click on the corresponding satellite, it will take to the listing of all the channels on that bird.  Then you need to read the color bar chart to determine what is in the clear.  Also they state what type of encryption is used when those channels are encrypted.  Which you will see that all but the promo channels on that bird are encrypted with Nagravision-2.

[Jayflap]

Thanks Tazman.

My wife and I are looking for a way to ditch satellite and cable all together but still find a way to pay a minimal amount to get the few channels we actually watch. I wish you could just pay to get the programming you want.

[tazman]

Thanks Tazman.

My wife and I are looking for a way to ditch satellite and cable all together but still find a way to pay a minimal amount to get the few channels we actually watch. I wish you could just pay to get the programming you want.

I don't know how much you know about the various satellite systems that are out there.  A C-Band system would probably fit the bill.  Provided you have a site that can accommodate an 8 to 10 foot dish.  Take a look at this site to get some ideas.  http://www.bigdish.com/  Click in the menu on the left of that page where it says packages.  You are looking at some substantial up from costs in equipment to get involved in this.

[Robin1]

Thanks for the mention. The article itself shows that you put a great deal of care into your work.

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