c-band (1 Viewer)

[DannyL]

i'll be moving to a new home with no home owners association, and i'm considering c-band. currently i am using echostar. what are the benefits of c-band vs dss in terms of programming and price. also can c-band receive hdtv? thanks.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Danny, welcome to the forum

Do you know what C-band is? Basically way back when, (mostly) people who lived in rural areas would use C-Band to intercept the signals directly off of satellite. That's right, you're getting the raw transmissions that are going to your TV station. Now you can see many shows early this way (example, Buffy is transmitted late on Sunday to Canadian affiliates), but you have to get a schedual. Also, many channels, especially cable channels are now encrypted.

Not only that, but the dishes cost thousands, especially if you use the (basically required) motor that lets you tune to different satellites.

You're much better off sticking with Dish Network (Echostar)

 

[Art Morales]

I'm have to agree with Jeff on this. I still have my 10' dish hooked up and use it from time to time but ever since all the programing that I wanted jumped off c-band and having invested alot of money in the system I decided not to upgrade to a 4dtv receiver a new feed horn and dishmover. I couldn't pass up Dish Networks willingness to give me a sat system basically for free. But if your interested I've got a c-band system I'll sell you. :p)

 

[Scooter]

I have had C-Band since the early 80's and I would NEVER be without it!!!!! The picture blows mini dish away..and you can find a LOT of interesting stuff up there if you nose around! I get ABC HDTV as well as feeds of TV shows before they air. With the 4DTV reciever and sidecar, you can also get subscription channels in HD too.

That being said...the minidish is a LOT more convenient.The video is far too compressed to even come up to cable quality in most cases, but the scope of programming is significant. Also...with a slightly better system and an extra reciever you can watch two different channels at the same time..a feat VERY expensive to achieve with C-Band.

 

[Keith Smith]

I'm using a Pioneer Elite 710HD in my home theater, and my 10' antenna and multiple receivers fed by it are at the heart of my system. The C Band antenna gives you access to lots and lots of video signals. Look at http://www.lyngsat.com/ to get an idea of what's on the many satellites.
For cable type programming, your big dish can get the same feeds that a cable company or small dish company receives at the head end, before they reprocess the signal and retransmit it to subscribers. For me this best video quality is important. I have a good digital cable system with better picture quality than from the little dish systems, but my big dish video is the best of all.
I'm a movie fan, and on the 26 HBO-Cimemax digital channels that I get with my 4dtv receiver, the picture quality is very close to that of good non-anamorphic DVDs. The 28 Showtime channels also look good. Unfortunately, most of the Starz! Multiplex channels are highly compressed. I can also get Classic Arts Showcase in stereo and other unscramble analog feeds and backhauls.
For high def, with my 4dtv receiver I get two HBO and two Showtime channels, both east and west feeds. With another receiver, I get the high def feeds from NBC, ABC and PBS. (For CBS-HDTV, I use digital cable.)
With yet another receiver fed by my big dish, I get about 1,000 other video and audio channels from around the world.
Do I have small dish systems, as well? Yes, I have a Dish receiver stored in my basement and a DirecTV receiver that I use at the office where I don't have cable. At home, I use small dishes for a subscription package from Spain and subscription packages from our neighbor to the north.
But, most of what I watch comes via my big dish. It's my favorite toy and gives me the best picture quality and the biggest variety of things I can choose to watch.
Also, with careful shopping, it can be very inexpensive nowadays to assemble a system similar to what I have.

 

[DannyL]

thanks you all for the advice. i guess i'll have to think this one over>

 

[Greg Bright]

It's important to remember that without the 4DTV sidecar (to a standard IRD) or a 4DTV receiver, C-Band content is subsantially less than DSS. Wild feeds aren't even what they used to be since many have gone MPEG, requiring yet another receiver. Yes the picture quality is better than DSS, but at what cost? You're looking at a thousand bucks minimum just to get started. Then the maintenance and upkeep. I still rely solely on C-Band, but someone jumping in right now should REALLY want a superior picture, be willing to pay for it, and expect declining content as time goes by.

Greg