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Wireless microwave Digital TV with 6" dish. www.look.ca (1 Viewer)

Eugene Hsieh

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
550
Does anyone have experience with Look TV?
I've just ordered it but I don't know anybody else with it. The reason I ordered it is because I like the channel packages better and their price was better. Plus I'm in direct line of sight to the transmission tower. The fact the dish is only 6" wide is also a little bonus.
They use an RCA receiver, but I don't know which one, except that it does NOT have DD5.1 or Hi-Def.
Does anyone have more info about the hardware, or some picture links?
By the way, they also have wireless internet access, but in my area two-way transmissions are not supported yet. Only downloads, and uploads are dialup. Yecch! What's the point of that?
 

JohnnyG

Screenwriter
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Messages
1,522
Eugene, I used to be an authorised Look reseller, in the time before they nearly went bankrupt. I still have and use their TV and internet service here in the store...this message will go out via Look. Yes, the uplink is via analog modem, but for regular web surfing and email, it works extremely well and I have no latency complaints. Naturally, uploading large files and playing net games isn't something you're going to want to do with it though.

Most TV channels seem to be more heavily compressed than you'll generally find on satellite or digital cable, but it's not THAT bad. I think they're supposed to have access to more bandwidth soon though, so perhaps they'll be able to relax the compression a bit.
 

Eugene Hsieh

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
550
Most TV channels seem to be more heavily compressed than you'll generally find on satellite or digital cable, but it's not THAT bad.
Uh oh. That really worries me. I'll be watching with my 34" widescreen TV, and using a DVD-RAM/-R set top recorder for timeshifting. It seems odd to be using such higher end equipment with a heavily compressed TV video stream. And the install guy comes tomorrow.

I guess we'll see.

I'm hoping the dish is small enough so that I can mount it on my main level near the TV (outside). If not that will mean on the roof, and lots of cable being laid down, since I have no wiring for this up there. I guess the option would have been Rogers digital cable, but it was kinda pricey for the packages I wanted.

For internet access I've just ordered Sympatico DSL instead.
 

Eugene Hsieh

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 30, 1997
Messages
550
Thanks for all the help, but it's all moot now.

They do not provide the 6" dishes anymore. The install guys says they use a grill, which I believe he said is about 18" or something. That's kinda big for my setup, and unfortunately will irk my condo board. You can't even get them even if you request it specifically.

Plus, the wiring would be a big pain. (The 6" dish could have been mounted in a number of places, but the big grill can only be mounted on the roof at my place.)

So I simply cancelled it. That's too bad, since I'd have the same problem with StarChoice and ExpressVu, and the options with Rogers digital cable aren't as enticing since the basic channels are analogue cable.

Too bad TV over the phone lines doesn't exist here. That would go well with the Bell Sympatico DSL I've ordered.

One thing though: Look TV is relaunching next month apparently. Who knows what deals will appear then. (The installation is currently $200.)
 

JohnnyG

Screenwriter
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Messages
1,522
Interesting info. I switched back to Rogers in December after 4 years with Star Choice. Thankfully, my analog picture quality is very good to excellent. Still, we tend to stick the HD channels almost exclusively - whether they're showing true HD or upconverts.
 

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