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Message # 19580.1.1

Subject: Re: Re: Question for MK or ?? - Free-to-Air Satellite?

Date: Tue 29/11/05 21:15:48 GMT

Name: Desert Hawk

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Aah, the topic of satellite tv. Back in the early 80's I wanted a satellite dish really bad. Everything was free then after buying the dish. Of course dishes cost several thousand dollars, and I was a teenager then. We had crappy cable with only 18 channels. My plan was to buy a dish as soon as I started working and earned the money to buy a dish. Then HBO and other premium channels begas scrambling. I understood premium pay channels' need to scramble their signals. Then the advertiser supported basic channels started scrambling. That totally sucked! Then the cable expanded to 40 channels (basic), and the need for a dish went out the window. Now that I spend hours on the internet, I don't watch much tv.

In reply to Message (19580.1)

Re: Question for MK or ?? - Free-to-Air Satellite?

By MK - wamtec@compuserve.com Tue 29/11/05 17:03:01 GMT

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I do not have one of those Free to Air systems....I just have 400 Digital Cable channels, a Dish Network system and all their channels, and a Direct TV dish and all their channels....so my monthly subscriptions to all these services is Gi-Normous. My monthly bills to all these services are over $300 a month.....but for me...thats a saving....cos in the 1980's I used to waste a lot more money than that each month by renting hundreds of tapes from 30+ video rental stores each month. I used to cart home hundreds of tapes each month....just to scan them for wet scenes and then return them. It would have been cheaper for me just to BUY a video store...ha ha

In the 1980's (before Digital TV and dishes), I used to have a 12 foot C and KU band rotating dish at my ranch...and in the 1980's EVERYTHING was "in the clear" (not scrambled)...so I used to be able to get 400+ channels for free on my C/Ku band analog "big dish" system. However...all that changed in the early 1990's, when more and more channels were being scrambled...and by 1998 I got rid of my big dish system cos the new mini dish systems were better, and all the old free to air channels were scrambled and almost nothing interesting was "free to air" any more (not unless you like to watch evangelists begging for money 24hrs a day).

I would be wary of buying one of these new Free to Air systems....cos I checked their channel line up, and most appear to either be audio channels only...or channel that are already scrambled....but there are some channels that are probably worth checking out. At least your investment these days is very small....i.e. only $300 to buy one of these systems....back in the 1980's, my 12 foot C/Ku Band rotating dish system cost me over $4000 back then....and now these days you can get a DVR + 4 receivers + dish for "FREE"...when you subcrible for 1 year of programming (I just moved into a new house last week, and DirectTV are installing a new dish system at my new house...a DVR + 4 receivers + minidish...installed in 5 rooms...and all I have to do is pay $300 for 1 year of programming services).

As for whether having a dish yields you more wetlook.....to some extent it can....especially with the foreign language channels.

The BEST thing about having access to the Free to Air systems is that you can see things "live" being uplinked from the ground....as opposed to what actually goes out over the commercial airwaves.....i.e. this is what they call "Wild Feeds". A good example of what I mean is....take NFL Football games for example....you almost NEVER see the half time show being broadcast over the air (unless it is the Superbowl)...they always cut away from the half time show and the commentators talk for 15 mins instead. Well....back in 1998 I was able to tape an awesome half time show for The Orange Bowl game...being uplinked from the stadium....and it was pouring with rain and all the half time show dancers were getting soaked. The commercial stations cut away from that and only showed the commentators talking and all the commercial breaks....but with my dish system I do not see the commercials or the commentators....I got a live feed from a cameraman on the ground...who was taping all the dancers in the rain. So...for wild feeds....free to air or off-air transmissions are great.

Anyway...I do not have the system you mention....so go ahead and try it...and then let us know whether it yields anything worthwhile.

In reply to Message (19580)

Question for MK or ?? - Free-to-Air Satellite?

By WetDesertRat - Tue 29/11/05 13:16:04 GMT

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I've been reading up and getting intrigued by the relatively new phenomenon of free-to-air (FTA) digital satellite - those third-party boxes with oversized 30-inch "small dishes" and antenna rotators that let you receive hundreds of digital satellite channels that are unscrambled and available to the public. I have heard that there are a lot of international channels on certain satellites. MK (for one), I imagine you have one of these setups by now. How much wetlook programming comes across these international channels? Just curious; debating whether to fork over $300-400 for one of these rigs.

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