Old SD - DTV Equipment Starting To Fail

Well, I think the time is near for me to upgrade to HD equipment. I think the LNB on my 12 year old 18" dish is starting to act up. I replaced it once about 6 years ago. I recently noticed my signal strength has dropped to around 76%. I tried to realign the dish with no better out come than 76% on both tuners. I've been able to maintain around 96 to 98% since I first installed it back in '97. I have also lost channels I used to get, DIY, TLC, and a couple others. They are so pixulated you can not watch them. Both receivers experience the same issues. Tried straight runs from the LNB to each tuner, same issues. Has DTV changed compression on some of their channels?

Anyway all my equipment is owned and self installed and I don't want to throw money into old technology to trouble shoot. ( Even though a new dual LNB is only about $15 online ) I'll call DTV soon and see what the current subscriber offer is to take the HD plunge.

Any one have suggestions as to the best TV to get in the $1500 range? I'd like one in the 52" to 55" size range if possible. Any heads up on BlackFriday deals this year?

I know this may not be the place for this post, but the UTV'ers here have been a great wealth of advise over the years.

Thanks

In my case I bypassed the multi switch by running a back-up, on hand closet stored cable from the LNB through the back door & windows directly to the two turners on my two UTV's with no change to my troubles. Aligning a SD dish yourself is no problem at all. I'm sure my LNB is the culprit. Or, can extreme fading on the finish of the dish itself cause signal issues? I tried to clean the front of the LNB with a shot of windex along with the face of the dish. Pulled a lot of grey finish onto a wad of paper towels.

Side note: guess I may need to up my budget a bit for a new TV. Any thoughts on the Vizio XVT VF551XVT LED 240Hz ? The whole back lit LED panel that brightens the LCD panel, not side lit, seems to produce a fantastic picture. So a couple hours of internet searching reveals. A $2000 price point may be the ticket. The 120Hz .vs 240Hz refresh rates seem to be a wash as far as picture quality goes. Your eyes and broadcast content don't seem to need the extra refresh rate. But if you can get it why not? I need to find one of these locally and see if they will let me hook up my own media to judge the overall quality.

Any other TV suggestions?

First contact with DTV for HD upgrade.... They offered 1 free HD DVR and one free HD receiver, free install of the 5 LNB dish to two rooms and $10 credit for 12 months to cover the HD programming. What I will loose is the SD feed of the East and West Coast network channels I now receive, as they stated the FCC only allows for the local network channels to be received in HD by local sources. ( The local channels I can get are all 60 to 100 miles away in every direction! Errr.. not very local in my opinion. ) I like the East and West Coast channels due to being able and recording network and cable channels at the same time at different times during the day. I'll need more than one HD DVR to cover my past viewing habits.

If they can cover two HD DVR's on the next call, I may take the plunge. May need to state I wish to cancel to get this though.. Well see. I don't want free movie channels, etc. A second free HD DVR will do.

Well, finally pulled the trigger and have DTV coming to install the 5 LNB Dish this Saturday. They could do it tomorrow, but I want to be there to make sure the installer drops off the HR23 HD-DVR and not something else. The sales rep did not know which receiver model I would get. It depends on the installers stock. Bla, Bla, Bla.. Looks like you can just plug in an external esata hard drive and whalla, more room for HD shows.

Got the $10 credit for 12 months, but had to fork over $99 for the HD-DVR. Was told over the last two calls to DTV that the first guy I spoke to was way wrong in what he offered me. They do not offer free HD-Dvr's to existing customers at my programming level. ( I don't get the movie packages ) Oh well... DTV has provided me trouble free service since 1997. They have never goofed up a bill or called me to upgrade anything over the phone.

I also just picked up a Vizio VF551XVT 55" LED-LCD set from Sam's over the weekend. It's dying for an HD signal....

Already a done deal. $99 for the latest HD-DVR isn't so bad. I live in the sticks, cable stops about 10 miles away. Thanks for the tip though.

The HD upgrade is the way to go. I'm glad I waited for led backlit lcd panels to arrive on the scene. The Vizio 551 is a fantastic display. Blacks are black. The screen is incredibly bright and crystal clear when viewing 1080P content. I threw in a Blu-Ray player too. Man the Dark Knight looks good on Blu-Ray.

The HR22/HR23 HD-DVR's operate very similar the UTV. It will take some time to get used to the GUI change, but I can see I made the right choice in upgrading to HD vs. fixing up the old SD system.

Anyone on the HD fence should go ahead and take the plunge.