I currently use Time Warner and use their SE 8300HD box with my new HDTV. I have used them for years and have never been pleased with their reception quality and am even less impressed now that I have a 50" HD plasma. The SD analog channels look horrendous and even a few of the HD channels aren't up to par (I assume they are too compressed). I am pondering switching to Dish Network or Direct TV but my wife, whom used to work for Direct TV 6 years ago, swears up and down that the reception gets choppy and even cuts out completely during thunder and snow storms. I live in Wisconsin so storms are just a common part of life around here. So my main question is, have things changed in the 6 years since my wife sold dishes, or is reception still greatly effected by the whether? We watch a lot of prime time shows all through out the year, many which we tape using TW's HD DVR, so we don't want to miss any because a storm knocked out reception. Is it worth getting a dish, and can anyone comment on how the SD channels look, specifically FSN (Fox Sports Network...I watch every broad casted Brewer game)?

I apologize if this has already been beaten to death.

Thanks!

I have used D* for over 10 years and weather fade events happen 3 - 4 times a year and only last for a few minutes. I use D* music channels at work for background music so it is monitored 10 hours a day, 6 days a week plus evenings at home.

I do have 2 qualify that 2 ways, first you are farther north than I am so your dish elevation is lower which means storms on the horizon can have a greater effect, and as I receive my locals OTA I have not yet upgraded to a slimline dish. The KA signals may react differently to weather.

Perhaps more beating of a dead horse, but here goes:

I lost reception of ESPN-HD's BB game just this evening during a TS and switched to SD which was not good at all PQ-wise. But the signal came back in a few minutes and this is really no problem to me. After nearly 4 yrs. of D*, I've lost the D* signal perhaps a total of 10 times during the summers and perhaps once or twice from snowstorms.

But this is not a problem! The real problem is the bad PQ sometimes with SD and HD Lite -- need I say more. But I have MPEG2, so who knows whether D* will get PQ religion when it comes to transitioning big time to MPEG4 and stop this compressing and bit starving madness!

I live relatively close to longrider but I have E*. I've had it about 8 years and do have the MPEG 4 receivers. I do not recollect any outages due to cloud cover during this time but I may have had some early on. I certainly haven't experienced any in the last couple of years. I have had a couple outages due to snow sticking to the dish. I've remedied that by spraying Pam on the dish before it snows. There are also a couple of outages a year that typically occur during mid-day, when the sun lines up directly with the signal from the satellites (spring and fall). These outages are usually announced and do not affect prime-time viewing.

My sister lives in Rochester, NY, probably a similar latitude as yours with probably similar weather. I know she has had outages due to heavy cloud cover but they apparently aren't that frequent as she still has E*. Maybe the clouds are a little thicker up north than they are in Colorado sometimes and combining that with a lower angle to catch the satellite signals may result in more frequent outages.

I'm not sure how often cable goes out but since you have it, I guess you would know.

Fact!!

But in about nine years of Dish service I may have had 20 or so incidents, usually lasting somewhere between a few minutes and an hour.
It takes a heavy rainstorm for this to occur!

If you're concerned that everytime a cloud goes by, you'll lose reception - don't be. It takes the thunderstorm type clouds to take out DBS reception when the installation is done correctly.

Snow - again, during the event of snowfall, you would need the thunderstorm-type clouds. Also, sufficient snow buildup on your dish can stop reception - this is why it is reccomended that your dish be where you can get to it to knock the snow off.

Weather events is also why I also maintain my OTA antenna - whe the dish goes out, I can still receive news and information - including in HDTV for free ! The number of events is usually under 5, and once the weather passes, your reception is back as good as ever.

Thanks for the replies all, I appreciate it. It sounds like dishes go out about as much as cable. cable also has 5-10 outages a year, sometimes for hours at a time because the weather has knocked out a line or whatever. Dish sounds like it has better PQ as well, so I think I feel confident now moving to it.

I assume D* is Dish Network and E* is Direct TV?

Do both services currently use mpeg 4? I read that Direct TV is moving to all mpeg 4 and that they will have around 100 HD channels by the end of the year. This may be the deciding factor, as I want as many HD channels as possible, but I would prefer good quality feeds, of course. Either way, I think either provider would provide better PQ than Time Warner, especially the SD channels (Time Warner isn't all digital either even though their service is called "Digital Cable").

Scooper, how expensive is a quality OTA antenna?

Thanks all!

"I assume D* is Dish Network and E* is Direct TV?"

Nope.
D* stands for DirecTV, or "Deathstar" as the Cable industry used to call it.
E* stands for Echostar, the parent company of DISH Network.

Also, BEV is Bell ExpressVU (Canada), (I don't know if we have an acronym for StarChoice Canada).

OTA is for "Over-the-Air", except on weekend days, when it stands for "Only the Ads" ;) .

Nuance - it isn't that simple.

First, you need to get an idea of WHAT KIND of antenna you need - based on your location, terrain, buildings / trees, etc.

Check out www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com - these sites can give you an idea of what you need.

Then you can go shopping for an antenna.

By the way - don't let any HOA tell you that you cannot erect an antenna on your house. Read the links

"I assume D* is Dish Network and E* is Direct TV?"

Nope.
D* stands for DirecTV, or "Deathstar" as the Cable industry used to call it.
E* stands for Echostar, the parent company of DISH Network.

Also, BEV is Bell ExpressVU (Canada), (I don't know if we have an acronym for StarChoice Canada).

OTA is for "Over-the-Air", except on weekend days, when it stands for "Only the Ads" ;) .

Wow, thanks; I had that totally backwards. :D I have been exclusively using cable since, well, all my life, so I had no idea. Thank you, though.

Nuance - it isn't that simple.

First, you need to get an idea of WHAT KIND of antenna you need - based on your location, terrain, buildings / trees, etc.

Check out www.antennaweb.org and www.tvfool.com - these sites can give you an idea of what you need.

Then you can go shopping for an antenna.

By the way - don't let any HOA tell you that you cannot erect an antenna on your house. Read the links

I will certainly read the links after my daughter goes to bed. Thank you guys for your help. I am knew to this dish stuff so this has all been a big help!

When my Dish Network dish was originally installed the installers got a 80% on the best channel and said good enough (it was 50% on the worst). I would get rain outages 4-6 times a year. That was because during rain the 50% and 80% would go to 30% and 60%. After 4 years I went out and followed the instructions and reaimed the Dish. It took 30 minutes including getting the ladder. After reaiming the dish I got 120% on the best channel and 80% on the worst. For the two years I had that dish I got one 20 minute outage (2" of rain in one hour but the reception was ont for only 20 minutes). That was during the second greatest rainfall year in Southern California history too.

A year ago Dish replaced the dish for their new dish 1000 for the new MPEG4 HD channels and I have yet to experience a rain outage with that dish. However this has been the least rainfall year in all of Southern California history.

The bottom line. If the dish is aimed properly the rain outages are very rare and brief. When I had cable it would go out for the weekend once an year.

Rick R

Thanks for the replies all, I appreciate it. It sounds like dishes go out about as much as cable. cable also has 5-10 outages a year, sometimes for hours at a time because the weather has knocked out a line or whatever. Dish sounds like it has better PQ as well, so I think I feel confident now moving to it.This is highly dependent on the quality of your local cableco's cable plant. I have Comcast in the ATL and while they may suck for service if you need it, their reliability and PQ are outstanding. If it goes out once a year, that's a lot.

My in-laws have D* and E* (separate families) and they live in an open area, no trees around, but every time it rains hard the signal goes out, and that's not uncommon in the summer with thunderstorms.

Plus as numerous other threads have mentioned, dish HD PQ does not compare with most cable HD. Variety is better, yes, but not quality. If you want dish, great, but I would only do it if you want some channels or features that your local cableco can't provide, and/or your local cable quality sucks.

Nope.
D* stands for DirecTV, or "Deathstar" as the Cable industry used to call it.
I thought D* stood for both DirecTV AND DishNetwork, meaning basically all satellite TV....???

Nope - in the DBS forums - D* is universally used by the veterans to mean DirectTv, E* for Echostar / Dishnetwork, and you use the acronym DBS when refering to DBS service in general.

I've had D* for 7 years. I'd say I average 3 outages a year. And those are hard storms. For the most part it get past everything.

The most important part is to make sure the installer get a good strong signal. At least 95% avg.. That's were many have issues if the average signal is low. (Bellow 75% you have issues during any cloud cover or storms..

And make sure the dish is solid. And won't move. I've seens some dishs attached to just the plywood. Making it move in wind.

But D* is changing to MPeg4 how long this will take is unknown. But they have a few sats up that primarily brodcast HD locals and sporting events.

I had Dish Network for 4+ years and my wife and I really liked it. When we had a clear line of sight, we only lost signal to storms maybe 3-4 times a year here, just South of Cleveland. Then we moved into a new house this past November, when there were no leaves on the trees. Signal was good, and we only had a couple outages.

Then the leaves grew in :(

The dish's line of sight was *just* down the side of some trees in the neighbors yard. Now that the leaves came in, however, whenever the wind blows we lose signal due to the branches obscuring LOS. I've gotten up on the roof and verified it wasn't loose....the dish didn't budge at all, and by using their aiming instructions and sighting through the LNB I could see where it was being obscured.

Anyways, since we couldn't do anything about the trees, and had no other place to put the dish, we reluctantly cancelled last month, and switched over to Armstrong cable. I have to say, I am very pleased!!! SD channels look as good as Dish's, their VOD features simply crush' E*'s offerings, finally got a two tuner DVR (even though the interface is not as good as E*'s), and finally have HD. Plus I was able to hook up additional sets in the house without running more wire, upgrading switches, leasing another STB, etc.

I dropped dish like a bad habit. When I was still using it though the worthless thing would go out every time there was a moderate rain storm. Those claiming it went out only 2-3 times a year are lucky, mine went out at least once a month.

I wouldn't go back to Dish if they paid *me*.

You had a poor installation. A properly done installation is at least as reliable as cable....

You had a poor installation. A properly done installation is at least as reliable as cable....Really? I've lost cable once over the past six years..........during a hurricane. My neighbors have D* and they lose their signal during heavy thunderstorms.

You had a poor installation. A properly done installation is at least as reliable as cable....No way, not with a decently-run cable system. Sat is well-known for rain/snow fade no matter how well you have it aimed.

Wow, we are getting some mixed opinions now. And I was ready to move to the dish...

I think I would stay with cable if Verizon offered fios here or there was a better alternative than Time Warner. TW's DVR boxes crap out all the time; I think I am on my 7th or 8th box in the past 2-3 years. Their SD looks like garbage no matter what TV I am watching on, but it especially looks bad on screens larger than 36 inches (especially plasma and LCDs of around 50").

Basically I do watch a decent amount of SD programming and I watch it on a 50 inch Pioneer plasma. I watch every televised Brewer game and unless it is broadcast in HD (maybe 12 times a year) it looks like crap through my service provider (or maybe it is Fox Sports Network -FSN). I want to be able to actually see the darn ball when it is hit and where it is on the field. Does anyone else watch baseball on FSN, and if so, how does it look in SD and who is your cable provider?

To sum up, I want the best HD and SD service I can get. Who would you vote for:
- Dish Network
- Direct VT
- or stay with Time Warner cable

Oh, and I live in Wisconsin just north of Milwaukee. I think those are the only three providers around.

You might have Charter as an option too, not sure.

I went with Dish Network HD in August of 2000 because they had the most HD then (They had HBO and SHO while DirecTV just had HBO). Dish Network has consistently had more HD than anyone elso. Their picture quality is pretty good. Their equipment is some of the best. Their HD DVR the 622 is considered one of the best in the business. They have had a couple of lemons equipment wise but today what they offer is great.

My experience with rain fade is that if your dish is aimed well it is rare and brief.

When I went with Dish Network I doubled my number of SD channels and added HBO and SHO yet my bill only went up $5 over my previous cable bill.

Just my $.02.

Rick R

Dish goes out on average for me maybe about once a month, or even less. And I'm aimed properly. It does rain out here pretty hard at times, though. I don't think it's gone out more than once because of snow or ice in 2 1/2 years, but it does go out in really heavy downpours, and it has gone out on occasion from extremely heavy cloud cover - like right before a storm. But it usually doesn't stay out long. The longer periods are basically during long, heavy downpours, usually equivalent to when I had Comcast - but the cable signal would usually be out much longer (up to an hour, compared to minutes for Dish - as the heaviest part of the downpour relented).

The shorter, occasional outs are more than an accepted tradeoff for the less channels for more money part with cable, at least in my case. I only have one SD "dual-tuner" to 2 TV's, and don't pay anything but the package price - and that includes no taxes. It would cost me probably $20.00/mo. or more for something comparable through Comcast here. But YMMV according to what your needs are.

You might have Charter as an option too, not sure.

You are right, I might. If you use them, how do you like them? How are their HD and SD broadcasts?

Thanks for your opinions guys. If I can get better picture quality/quality of broadcasts on SD and HD channels, I will surely move to the dish. Dish Network (AT&T) offers a very competitive package here in WI. Loosing the broadcast every once in a while is a trade off I am willing to make IF the picture quality is better than Time Warner Cable, especially Fox Sports Network (I wish ESPN would air the Brewer games). I wish there was a way to directly compare the two...

Yeah, you would need to visually compare. With Comcast, it's generally better, but with TWC, you can't just say.

I pick up the Brewer's games here sometimes when they're (rarely) on 58.2 OTA. I know they appear REALLY "soft" on there, so if they use the same signal on any other, lesser source, I can imagine how bad it must look, as I'd imagine that's what they're sending out to all the other providers, too.

Direct has some of the RSN's in HD - have you checked for any opinions about the quality and the amount of HD games shown on any of your local area HD threads? As I understand it, Dish doesn't have any RSN's in HD yet. Are there TWC or Charter threads in that forum you could also check out?

Posted by Rammitinski:
Direct has some of the RSN's in HD - have you checked for any opinions about the quality and the amount of HD games shown on any of your local area HD threads? Dish doesn't have any in HD yet.

Dish Network DOES carry regional RSN's in HD. I get Fox Rocky Mountain (watched the Rockies-Mets game last night) and Altitude (Nuggets/Avalanche) has been announced to start in the fall when Bball/Puck hitting begins.

I wasn't aware that they finally did add some. That's good to know. You don't know anything about Comcast Sports Net in Chicago offhand, do you?

A properly installed and calibrated dish should be extremely resistant to rain fade. I live in Seattle, and while I do get some fade during extremely heavy rain, it's only once or twice a year, and only during the heaviest parts (lasting just a few minutes). Would be enough to get me to drop it if I wasn't moving.

Yeah, you would need to visually compare. With Comcast, it's generally better, but with TWC, you can't just say.

I pick up the Brewer's games here sometimes when they're (rarely) on 58.2 OTA. I know they appear REALLY "soft" on there, so if they use the same signal on any other, lesser source, I can imagine how bad it must look, as I'd imagine that's what they're sending out to all the other providers, too.

Direct has some of the RSN's in HD - have you checked for any opinions about the quality and the amount of HD games shown on any of your local area HD threads? As I understand it, Dish doesn't have any RSN's in HD yet. Are there TWC or Charter threads in that forum you could also check out?

Sorry for the ignorance, but what are RSN's? Regional Sports Network?

Sorry for the ignorance, but what are RSN's? Regional Sports Network?Yes.

About my occasional outages: I'm pretty sure my alignment is good, because my signal strength reads strong, but I sometimes wonder if the multiswitch being out in the open, being strapped to the dish arm, is having an issue with water getting in the connections.

That and I don't think it's properly grounded, either. I don't know if that would have an effect, though.

Thanks. Also, are these the local HD threads you were talking about?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=34

I think you're looking for this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45

Posted by Ramitinski:
About my occasional outages: I'm pretty sure my alignment is good, because my signal strength reads strong, but I sometimes wonder if the multiswitch being out in the open, being strapped to the dish arm, is having an issue with water getting in the connections.

I moved my multiswitch from the side of my house to indoors in a small crawl space under my family room a couple of years ago. Before I moved it, I did have a problem with one feed from the switch going to a TV I don't watch much (SD) getting wet. Problem went away.

I think you're looking for this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=45
Yup, that's it. Thank you sir!

I've had DishNetwork for approx. 6-7 years (and had the same DVR and second low-end receiver for the entire time), and I just upgraded to the new HD DVR a few weeks ago. I would usually only have a few short outages per year during extremely heavy thunderstorms...as others have said. I had Charter Cable for a year or two before that, and their service would drop for no apparent reason (maybe a guy breaking the line on a backhoe down the street) several times more a year than that. Funny though, I still use Charter's internet access...and might have one or two short outages per year. I compared Dish's HD offerings to Charter's before upgrading a few weeks back, and Dish just had so much more to offer for the price. I have heard of some friends having good experiences in other geographic areas with both Digital cable and Verizon FIOS. I think it's highly dependent upon your location, and how good the other services are. You might want to ask your neighbors what they have, and see how it's working out for them.

You might want to ask your neighbors what they have, and see how it's working out for them.

That also crossed my mind. Good idea!

Thanks!

I went with Dish Network HD in August of 2000 because they had the most HD then (They had HBO and SHO while DirecTV just had HBO). Dish Network has consistently had more HD than anyone elso. Their picture quality is pretty good. Their equipment is some of the best. Their HD DVR the 622 is considered one of the best in the business. They have had a couple of lemons equipment wise but today what they offer is great.

My experience with rain fade is that if your dish is aimed well it is rare and brief.

When I went with Dish Network I doubled my number of SD channels and added HBO and SHO yet my bill only went up $5 over my previous cable bill.

Just my $.02.

Rick R

I just upgraded to the DISH 622 receiver and have had nothing but problems. It won't hold satellite lock. It'll lose signal reception when I change the channel. I have to do switch tests about once a day.

I may have a bad switch box out by my dish and/or the dish may not be aimed properly.

I wasn't aware that they finally did add some. That's good to know. You don't know anything about Comcast Sports Net in Chicago offhand, do you?

No, unfortunately E* doesn't have an HD feed for Chicago's CSN. But they do have an HD feed for FSN. I live in S. Illinois so we get the FoxMidwest feed which plays St. Louis Cardinals games. They have all Cardinals games in HD on FSNMidwestHD. Pretty impressive picture quality too. Cool to see the games in 16x9 too.

I just upgraded to the DISH 622 receiver and have had nothing but problems. It won't hold satellite lock. It'll lose signal reception when I change the channel. I have to do switch tests about once a day.

I may have a bad switch box out by my dish and/or the dish may not be aimed properly.
Sounds like you should call Dish and have them fix your installation.

Rick R

No, unfortunately E* doesn't have an HD feed for Chicago's CSN. But they do have an HD feed for FSN. I live in S. Illinois so we get the FoxMidwest feed which plays St. Louis Cardinals games. They have all Cardinals games in HD on FSNMidwestHD. Pretty impressive picture quality too. Cool to see the games in 16x9 too.

FSN is in HD? So would the Brewer games be in HD for me if I went with E* since I live in Milwaukee? I have Time Warner cable and FSN looks like utter garbage in SD, and they only broadcast 12 games or so in HD each year...what a joke.

I thought D* stood for both DirecTV AND DishNetwork, meaning basically all satellite TV....???

I thought D* stood for "Dickhead", named for the moron who started this particular abbreviation routine. :mad:

[QUOTE=slowbiscuit]No way, not with a decently-run cable system. Sat is well-known for rain/snow fade no matter how well you have it aimed.[/QUOTE

I would guess the majority of cable systems are mediocre at best, in terms of quality. Rain/snow fade problems are known issues with KU satellite, less so with big C band dishes, and the solution, if you're really concerned about the few odd times a year you're likely to experience fade is to:

Use a strip heater wire on the dish to heat it in winter and/or a snow cover if you live in a heavy snow area

Go with a larger dish..they are available. A 24 inch dish boosts signal 50% over an 18". A 30 or 36" dish (the limit that you can get away with under the protection of FCC rules and home owners associations) pretty much solves any rain fade issue.

[QUOTE=slowbiscuit]No way, not with a decently-run cable system. Sat is well-known for rain/snow fade no matter how well you have it aimed.[/QUOTE

I would guess the majority of cable systems are mediocre at best, in terms of quality. Rain/snow fade problems are known issues with KU satellite, less so with big C band dishes, and the solution, if you're really concerned about the few odd times a year you're likely to experience fade is to:

Use a strip heater wire on the dish to heat it in winter and/or a snow cover if you live in a heavy snow area

Go with a larger dish..they are available. A 24 inch dish boosts signal 50% over an 18". A 30 or 36" dish (the limit that you can get away with under the protection of FCC rules and home owners associations) pretty much solves any rain fade issue.
Excellent ideas. However, will I have a choice in what size the dish is if I go through someone like Dish Network?

Not really.

[QUOTE=slowbiscuit]

Use a strip heater wire on the dish to heat it in winter and/or a snow cover if you live in a heavy snow area

.

Well I took the plunge and got Dish and have mixed feelings about it. The statement above really struck me, because right now as I type I am getting signal issues due to the snow storm we are having. What is a strip wire heater and how would I go about installing that?

Snow cover? That wouldn't effect the signal?

I'll do anything to prevent signal loss every time I have a snow storm; it's a common thing during the Wisconsin winters.

I thought D* stood for both DirecTV AND DishNetwork, meaning basically all satellite TV....???

Read the FAQ / Glossary.

What is a strip wire heater and how would I go about installing that?
I think it's just a cable that heats up. They make some that go on the edge of rooftops to melt the ice and prevent damage, others exist to keep pipes from freezing. All this does is keep the junk off the dish itself, it won't bring back lost signal due to white out conditions.

I think it's just a cable that heats up. They make some that go on the edge of rooftops to melt the ice and prevent damage, others exist to keep pipes from freezing. All this does is keep the junk off the dish itself, it won't bring back lost signal due to white out conditions.

Cool, thanks. I don't usually get signal loss due to white out conditions, I am more concerned about getting a loss of signal due to the dish being snow covered. Once I wipe off the dish, it works great.

Thanks for the tips.

Cool, thanks. I don't usually get signal loss due to white out conditions, I am more concerned about getting a loss of signal due to the dish being snow covered. Once I wipe off the dish, it works great.

Thanks for the tips.

Some have reported good results using Rain-X on their dish surfaces, the same stuff used on auto windshields. I suppose a silicone spray might work as well to minimize snow loading.

Dana

^ thanks, dr - Another good suggestion.

Snow cover? That wouldn't effect the signal?
No. It's essentially a loose weave nylon bag. The transmission signal goes right through it.

The enemy is heavy concentrations of water, such as cloud cover, wet leaves and rain. Snow is less of an issue because it's more poreous than straight water, especially the light powder.

As far as my experience, I live in New England where storms involve horizontal precipitation. Literally, when it rains, it pours - sideways. When it snows, it snows in the form of ice crystals - sideways. The name "New England" fits because it's often overcast around here. We don't see sunshine for weeks at a time. Even worse, we get to aim our dishes through the crud NYC pumps into the air.

However, I lose my signal maybe 10 minutes A YEAR over the course of a handful of small interuptions of no more than a minute or two at a time. I also have perfectly clear line of sight and great signal strength.

With cable, I only lost my service a few times a year, but it was always for several hours at a time.

It's a tradeoff. You can have more short little interuptions now and then with satellite that only occur during bad storms or you can fewer, longer interuptions with cable. On satellite, you get your signal back in minutes. With cable, it's usually a line issue and means waiting for a repair.

I'll take the few short interuptions I get.

One piece of advice that seems to work for me: every spring and fall I clean my dish. I get rid of the bird crap and other gunk that collects on it. Then I give it a spray of original Pam cooking spray and wipe it clean. The rain beads nicely without changing the reflectivity and snow slides right off. Also, a clean dish makes for better signals.

Some have reported good results using Rain-X on their dish surfaces, the same stuff used on auto windshields. I suppose a silicone spray might work as well to minimize snow loading.

Dana
Be careful with Rain-X. That stuff can change the surface of the dish and affect the reflectivity (it's the same case for not waxing your dish, either). It's also pretty evil stuff. It eats certain types of paint and it's really bad for plastics (like the LNB heads).

I use Pam cooking spray (it's mostly alcohol and vegitable oils). It eventually washes away, so I apply it twice a year (Spring and Fall) and wipe it clean each time. It also won't stain anything like your roof when it eventually washes away.

I think it's just a cable that heats up.
It's usually a circular or oval pad the sticks to the surface of the dish. Essentially, it becomes the new reflector. I'm not sure if the electrical stuff affects the new frequencies used for the MPEG4 stuff on D* though.

Interference would be my biggest concern with those things.

Hello all. I just discovered this thread. I'm thinking of going dish, but we get quite a few summer storms here in north florida. Does anyone have any experience with Dish reception in this region? Are any new technologies out that mitigate this problem?

Thanks.

Despite what anyone says, you will get rain fade. Ka is 3x worse than Ku for rainfade. At this time only D* uses Ka band. This does not mean that E* is superior overall either.

You might be like others in this thread that never see the issue if you are not watching a program at the time of the storm, however its the same as "does a tree falling in the forest make a sound if no one is around."

If you have a good storm over your area, probably all signals will be out, but if the storm is 5+ miles away, it could only be a problem on a few of the channels that come through certain satellites.

As you would use the E* satellite at 61.5W for most of your HD programming, that could be more of an issue as you have more atmosphere to shoot through than from D* at 99W and 103W - but the Ka band will negate some of these advantages.

So the bottom line is yes, you will get rain fade. If you notice it or not, depends on when it happens and what you are watching. You can have rain fade on 500 channels and not worry about it if the 1 channel you want to watch doesn't have it at the time.

Thanks for the info beach Comber. Does E* = Dish.

Yes. Stands for Echostar, more precisely.

When it storms heavy in the South, the dish's will go out. It's a fact. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Is it that big of a deal? Who knows. I know my cable rarely goes out, but on occasion it does. I have a good friend that lives nearby with DirectTV, his goes MUCH more often than my Comcast. But I don't think either is worthy of a consideration of which service to pick.

Which is better for the South East? D* or E*? And why do you use those symbols

Ancient history on D* and E* - deal with it. If you try to change nobody will know what you're talking about.

As far as weather related outages with either DBS provider - a PROPERLY installed system won't go out much if any more than a properly installed cable. In some cases, DBS can be more reliable than cable ( again - this is a locally determinded variable - there are some cable companies/areas that do a good job ).

How about a little history lesson? I looked for the FAQ but apparently couldnt find the appropriate FAQ.

How about a little history lesson? I looked for the FAQ but apparently couldnt find the appropriate FAQ.

It's in the Glossary.

D* = DirecTV

E* = Echostar = Dish

DTV = Digital television

They are just abbreviations to save everyone from keyboarding these words over and over.

My take on the thread topic is that while both satcasters may have brief, occasional weather-related interruptions, cable is vulnerable to utility power outages. We have a whole house generator and when utility power was out for nearly five days last year due to a strong storm, I had TV the entire time thanks to D* including local stations. My neighbors with cable had no TV.

Dana

Thanks

My brother just dropped Charter Cable and got the E* satellite system. He doesnt have HDTV.