[Vision2020] KAYU, Time Warner, DirecTV, & DISH

[Scott Dredge]

I've had DirecTV for a little over 7 years and have never had a problem with it.  I can't comment on whether Replay is better than TiVo because I've never had the opportunity to use Replay.  My experience with the Dish DVR has been frustrating probably because I'm so use to the very easy to navigate TiVo menus versus the torturous to navigate Dish menus.

I have a dual LNB DirecTV satellite dish (that I paid 1 cent for) which I believe is a common configuration.  It's been many years since I read up about LNBs - so don't quote me on this - but my recollection is that the receiver generated either 13.5 Volts or 17 Volts depending on vertical / horizontal polarization required to tune to a particular signal.  Each LNB has a coax feed so my particular dish could be used by 2 receivers which each receiver controlling one LNB.  The problem with my system was that I have 6 receivers (2 for a dual tuner DirecTIVO plus 2 feeds an additional dual tuner DirecTIVO plus 1 feed for a standalone TiVo and 1 feed for a plain vanilla satellite receiver).  Thus the need to split the signal.

It's a little trickier to split the DirecTV signal than non-HD cable but it is possible.  Again I'm rusty on this, but my recollection is that the old cable signal (and off air antenna reception) operated in a frequency range of around up to 1GHz whereas DirecTV operated somewhere between 1GHz and 2GHz.  In short, I split my 2 LNBs into 8 feeds using 2 high frequency DC splitters connected to 2 multiswitches.  Just doing a quick search, now it looks like the multiswitch technology has improved considerably and there are multiswitches which take in 2 LNB feeds and output 8 receiver feeds.  The following link is just for information only (the product has been discontinued) but it's a good illustration of what these beasts look like:

http://www.smarthome.com/77928.html

I haven't yet switched to HD because DirecTV does not offer an integrated TiVO with dual tuner receiver for HD and I'm uninterested in their own crappy DVR offering.

-Scott

----- Original Message ----
From: g. crabtree <jampot at roadrunner.com>
To: Saundra Lund <sslund at roadrunner.com>; vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Thursday, December 6, 2007 6:43:42 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] KAYU, Time Warner, DirecTV, & DISH


Following the KAYU dispute, my wife switched us to Dish and for the
 most 
part it's been OK. Picture quality has not been the crisp digital image
 that 
they advertise (we did not buy HD) but it's tolerable. Cable was
 better.
Channel line up is good. More history and science. Weather hasn't been
 too 
much of a problem. We lost signal once due to snow fall but a quick
 clearing 
off of the dish solved the problem. With that in mind I would be sure
 that 
the dish is installed somewhere you can reach with a broom. I can't
 imagine 
that there isn't someplace on your property that you can't get a line
 of 
sight on a patch of southern sky so the install should be doable. I
 don't 
know what RTV is but my wife very much likes the features of the 
receiver/DVR that came with the Dish system. I never use it myself. As
 to 
signal splitting, I believe you must be able to. We have a second TV
 slaved 
to one of the mains. Both sets have to view the same station. No
 hardship 
there. Hope something here helps.

g
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at roadrunner.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 11:57 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] KAYU, Time Warner, DirecTV, & DISH


> Visionaries:
>
> After losing KAYU about a year ago, I think I've been more than
 patient, 
> as
> Pat Kraut counseled waaayyyy back then.
>
> Time Warner has yet to be successful in their negotiations with KAYU.
  For
> their most recent platitudes (11/21/2007), check out:
> http://www.timewarnercable.com/Northwest/MoscowKAYU.html
> I'm not interested in placing blame because there are always at least
 two
> sides to every story.
>
> Coupled with their ongoing unacceptable intermittent delays and
 failures
> with email sending and receiving, I'm about ready to jump ship.
> Particularly since I figured out that if I jump to DirecTV or DISH,
 I'll 
> get
> all the programming I pay for on *every* TV without exorbitant
 additional
> monthly fees for each TV on top of already pretty steep monthly costs
 with
> Time Warner.
>
> I've reread the discussions here on the Viz regarding the DirecTV &
 DISH
> options we've got locally from back when KAYU and Time Warner reached
 
> their
> impasse, and I've contacted a person or two I know who use one option
 or 
> the
> other.  Since more people have made the jump since that original 
> discussion
> about a year ago, I'm wanting to revisit it, if anyone cares to share
 
> their
> thoughts & experiences.
>
> I've looked at the channel line-ups, so I'm fairly familiar with the
> differences between the two.  Music "channels" matter not a rip to
 me, 
> and,
> unfortunately for me (but luckily for my dh), neither DISH nor
 DirecTV
> offers a "sports free" package option <sigh>.  Maybe I can use
 parental
> controls to block the sports channels <g>.
>
> I am, however, very interested in local performance differences, if
 any,
> between the two.  One of my concerns about making the jump is that
 we've
> rarely experienced cable outages with Adelphia or Time Warner
 regardless 
> of
> weather.  How often do those of you using DISH or DirecTV experience 
> outages
> and how long do they typically last?  How was performance during our 
> recent
> heavy snows?
>
> I'm also unclear about locating the dish itself.  We live in a single
 
> family
> home in an older residential neighborhood with lots of trees -- are
 the
> trees likely to be a problem?
>
> I know this is a long shot, but if anyone uses ReplayTV (the
> better-than-TiVo-option) units, I'm particularly interested in any 
> comments
> about your experiences.
>
> I'm especially curious about the outputs on the standard receivers
 (we 
> have
> no need for DVR capabilities because we are die-hard RTV folks),
 something
> I'm not having a lot of luck finding out.  For instance, for one of
 our 
> TVs,
> the existing cable outlet services the TV and two separate RTV units 
> located
> there -- is that kind of set-up possible with the DIRECTV or DISH 
> receivers?
> Can the signal be "split" like cable can be split?
>
> I'll also be appreciative for any other comments folks care to share
 about
> their experiences with non-Time Warner TV service.  I was hoping
 against
> hope that perhaps FiOS has made it here since the last time I
 checked, but
> it hasn't . . . maybe in a decade or so <sigh>
>
>
> TIA,
> Saundra Lund
> Moscow, ID
>
> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people
 to do
> nothing.
> ~ Edmund Burke
>
> ***** Original material contained herein is Copyright 2007 through
 life 
> plus
> 70 years, Saundra Lund.  Do not copy, forward, excerpt, or reproduce 
> outside
> the Vision 2020 forum without the express written permission of the
> author.*****
>
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=======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================