Dish vs Direct TV

[teofff]

I have been having a very tough time locking on to a signal with Dish....I understand that's because Dish has to lock on to two sat's, and Direct only usues one, and the process is much easier.
What experience have you all had with either one and is Direct that much better????

[teofff]

I have been having a very tough time locking on to a signal with Dish....I understand that's because Dish has to lock on to two sat's, and Direct only usues one, and the process is much easier.
What experience have you all had with either one and is Direct that much better????

[rvtips]

Direct has always been easier than Dish.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by teofff:
I have been having a very tough time locking on to a signal with Dish....I understand that's because Dish has to lock on to two sat's, and Direct only usues one, and the process is much easier.
What experience have you all had with either one and is Direct that much better???? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Diplomat Don]

teoff.....I may have this wrong, but Dish is the one with just one sat. My understanding is that it is also lower in the horizon which makes it more difficult to acquire depending on where you're located.

I believe DirecTv now has three sats flying for their HD programming. If you only want digital TV, DirecTv is still broadcasting that from one sat.

Part of the HD issue is that the dome antennas can only look at one sat at a time. For them to view HD they have to move back and forth as you change channels. They can tilt up and down and turn toward a sat, but they have to be able to skew (sp) or twist at an angle to see multiple sats at a time. The Motosat (non dome) antennas can see the sats all at once, but obviously can't be used while underway.

I'm holding off on purchasing an HD sat antenna because I think the technology is going to change a lot in the next couple of years.

[MonacoMama]

Bruce...I'm glad to see you are back on the forum!
I can only tell you about my experience with DirecTv..
I have never had a problem locking on to Direct. My problems had always been with the satellite itself. It would lose signal depending on weather.
When we changed the dish - everything became PERFECT!!

MM

[FLYTYER]

I would recommend that you read the posts that appear in our Technology: Internet, TV, Satellite, Cell Phones forum, where you will find many (too many to list here) discussions and solutions to your questions.

Pay particular attention to posts by Bill Adams as he is our best Satellite TV source of correct info.

[Bill Adams]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I have been having a very tough time locking on to a signal with Dish....I understand that's because Dish has to lock on to two sat's, and Direct only uses one, and the process is much easier.
What experience have you all had with either one and is Direct that much better???? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

In responding here I will also respond to a couple of posts below.
First, DirecTV uses 5 satellites (99, 101,103, 110,119) for their programming but only 1 is required if you do not want the HD programming. Dish Network uses 4 satellites (61.5, 110, 119, 129) with 61.5 and 129 duplicating programming. You again only need a satellite to pick up the majority of Dish Network non-HD programming. All of the satellites are located 22,300 miles above the Earth directly above the Equator but their relative elevation is based upon their longitudinal location. The Dish Network main satellite at 119 will be higher in the sky from the West coast than the DTV satellite at 101. On the East coast the opposite would be true.
You should really have no more trouble locking onto the one Dish satellite (119) than you would the one DirecTV satellite (101). Many Dish users want to be able to utilize the Dish 500 service which requires a second satellite (110) as well. This is a bit trickier and requires either a manual tripod mounted antenna or one of the new automatic roof mounted open face antennas to get both satellites at the same time. Some of the dome antennas can also utilize this service but they can only see one satellite at a time and the dome must either manually or automatically switch between the 2 which causes a bit of a delay and prevents 2 receivers from being on different channels on different satellites.
More directly to your question, the signal from the Dish and Direct satellites should be just about the same when trying to lock on. Are you using a manually pointed antenna? Does it have 1 or 2 LNB's? If it's an automatic, what kind?
If you are wanting the HD signals from either of these providers things get quite difficult if you want to use a manual antenna and Dish Network has problems in general if you travel into the NW.

[teofff]

Bill:
Thanks for the explanation...I have a winegard dome....with a flip of the switch, it is suppossed to lock on automatically. Of late, it has taken 30 minutes or more of trying, and going through the switch check repeatedly to eventually find the sat, and sometimes it just won't. We don't have HD...it's a 2001 Monaco with the old 19" TV....the Direct people are trying hard to convince me that the lock on is much easier because it is only searching for the one sat, as oppossed to Dish trying to lock onto the 110 and 119. It is, of course, very frustrating!!!

[Bill Adams]

It is true that it is easier to work with DTV and a dome. However, the problem is more likely with your dome. Winegard is a BIG Dish Network supporter and their domes are designed specifically to work well with DN. You may find that all you really need is the one main DN satellite at 119. Try setting your receiver to Dish 300 and see if you can just lock onto 119. If so, are you really missing many channels? If not, then you should be able to lock onto that one satellite just as easily as you would DTV's 101.
If that doesn't work well you should be in touch with Winegard or one of their service centers to see what's wrong with your dome.
If you are now in N. AZ the signal should be quite strong for either service. Remember that dew or rain will attenuate the signal dramatically but a clear dry day should make locking on a piece of cake.
By the way, the dome does not lock onto 110 and 119. It locks onto either 110 or 119 and then switches between the 2 satellites when you change to a channel that is located on the other satellite. If either satellite is blocked by a tree, light pole, twig, power line, etc. you will have serious problems.

[LindaH]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bill Adams:
Winegard is a BIG Dish Network supporter and their domes are designed specifically to work well with DN. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I'm surprised to hear that, Bill, because the Winegard Movin' View dome we have says that it comes preset for DirecTV receivers!

[Bill Adams]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm surprised to hear that, Bill, because the Winegard Movin' View dome we have says that it comes preset for DirecTV receivers! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, you've got to pre-set them for something!

[FlyingDiver]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bill Adams:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm surprised to hear that, Bill, because the Winegard Movin' View dome we have says that it comes preset for DirecTV receivers! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Well, you've got to pre-set them for something! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And I think DirecTV still has the larger market share, so it's more likely to be correct if they preset it for DirecTV.

joe

[buck62]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">teofff </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I had a Winegard dome and it would lock onto both Dish satellites within a few minutes after turning it on. There are dip switches inside your dome, are they set correctly? If you are looking for HD then Dish is the way to go since they are still going to use the KU band and Direct has moved to the KA band which requires a new 5 LNB dish. KVH was always recommending Direct TV but, now has changed to recommending Dish due to the availability of HD reception with their domes. The KVH web site has two great technical papers explaining the HD differece between Direct TV and Dish. If you are not interested in HD then Direct should be easier to lock on since there is only one satellite to lock on instead of the two or three that Dish uses.

[teofff]

buck....no it's not HD, and in the past I could usually lock on without a great deal of trouble...I talked to winegard and thre recommendation was to take it to an authorized repair facility, it could be the receiver or something in the sat dome....it happens to be at an authorized dealer now getting some body work done (another sad story of MH meets brick post!!), so I have asked them to look at it.