Does anyone work for a satellite tv installer or could recommended someone who I can pay to do a site survey before I order service? Dish or DTV either is fine with me.
I know quite a bit about satellites.. What exactly do you mean by site survey? Are you concerned trees may be in the way?
yes, trees. We had to cancel our DTV service last year when we moved to a new house on a wooded lot. They couldn't get a line of site. Well we just got a new neighbor and guess what - they have just got satellite installed. I just want to get an independant opinion. I called Dish but you basically have to sign up before they will come out.
Well believe me, they won't lie to you since they want your business. Dish Network has what is called an "Eastern Arc" dish which allow them to point dishes to both the SW and SE. Perhaps they are utilizing the SE positioning not offered by DTV. DTV only points SW. Are you at the same house DTV told you couldn get a signal? If so, and assuming you haven't removed any trees, you are likely still out of luck. Even still, I can't imagine someone would require a setup before coming out to find a signal. Call DirecTV and see what they say.
thanks, I will call Dish and ask about the eastern dish. SE would be better than SW. Yes, I am in the same house but the neighbor with similar tree setup got a signal. Dish wants an order placed. I went through this with both companies until my head was spinning around last year. We had DTV when we moved and had to cancel after several failed install attempts. Dish tried harder than DTV for us to get a signal but I am not sure if they were trying the dish you just told me about so I will cal them again. Thank you very much for the info!
No problem. Tell them you think you have line of sight to the SE and heard about the Eastern Arc setup. All the channels will be the same. Is your neighbor's Dish Network dish pointing SE? How long ago did Dish come out to your house? Surely the installer knew of the Eastern Arc option if it was within the last two years.
I think the neighbors dish is pointing SW. They don't have quite as many obstructions as we do but still wooded. They also put their dish on the front (on the corner behind a tall bush) and I would be ok with that location for us to. I would have to fight for HOA approval but after a year of crappy service from TWC I don't care. It was August of last year when both providers came out. Another problem was our roof goes up 3 stories and we got the impression they didn't want to climb up that high. It was just a major hassel to say the least. We had nice new equipment from DTV with hours of our favorite shows that we lost. TWC costs more and the equipment they have provided us to total garbage. I would do just about anything to go back to satellite. I don't care which one. Who ever can get it working
ok a bit off topic but considering now whether to stay with TWC or switch to DTV or Dish and wondering if you still have to have a land line like we did 10 years ago when we had DTV?
thanks and one more and yes i know i am clueless about this but is it wireless through your home or do they use cables of some type? i would need it on 5 different TVs. Also, how does it work with the wireless internet i have?
You need a receiver for each TV but DTV has a program called Multi-Room Viewing (MRV) tied through your internet that allows you to access your DVR with any HD receiver throughout your crib. You can't do this wirelessly (to my knowledge) so you'll need a coax jack in each room you have a TV.
thanks so much, just trying to understand all the different choices and make a decision, tired of TWC just going up on prices and the crappy equipment they use - their own tech told me they use the cheapest equipment on the market.
Dish Network has a two tuner DVR that you might like. It will be connected to one TV (say your living room) but will play on a second TV (say the master bedroom) via a tiny antenna that will plug into the back of master bedroom TV. This way you only have one receiver but it controls two tvs and yes both can be watching something different at the same time and can access what is on the DVR. Before anyone asks, I'm not in the satellite biz but I've had all three (DTV, Dish and TWC). TWC is by FAR the worst out there. I currently have DTV and like it more than Dish only because it has more sports channels. Also, I am a self proclaimed professional tailgater so I take my dish to races, campouts and football games. DTV is a lot easier to find in the sky compared to Dish....but I know that won't mean anything to most people.
