weather vs satellite HDTV

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
It has been unseasonably rainy.
Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def and
none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
available.
Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
weather?
This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Digital cable is fine if the stations you are watching are sent from the
cable company digitally. Time Warner sends everything less then channel 80
(?) as analog. For those stations, I think satellite has a better picture.
However, for HDTV, maybe you are better off switching to cable. I have
cable and dislike the delivery of analog channels. I no longer subscribe to
digital cable just because most everything we watch is on the analog
channels. I might consider upgrading to get a few of the HD channels, but I
already get every major network OTA from two cities which is better than the
couple of local stations rebroadcast by Time Warner.

Jeff


"bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:7V_Dd.9562$5R.3441@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
> It has been unseasonably rainy.
> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def
> and none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
> available.
> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
> weather?
> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

bmoag wrote:

> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
> It has been unseasonably rainy.
> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def and
> none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
> available.
> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
> weather?
> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.

I'm in Northern California -- Santa Rosa. In a heavy rain there may be some
transient pixelation, and occasionally there's a "Searching for Signal"
blackout for a while, but nothing like what you're describing.
-S-
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 00:28:51 GMT, "bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net>
wrote:

>In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
>It has been unseasonably rainy.
>Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def and
>none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
>available.
>Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
>weather?
>This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>


If your using the Dish Network make sure you using the Dish 500 setup.
Its a larger dish mainly for HDTV. The company changed mine out for
free. It increased the signal about 15%. I used to have dropped
signals due to rain but don't seem to anymore. I will say any
cloudburst the dish signal is so distorted you won't get a picture
till it lets us.

Any possibility if your dish is ground mounted, the dirt sometimes
shifts.

Even with a off-air antenna enough rain can also cancel the digital
signals. That is unless you live in a larger city where the TV
stations are only 20 miles or less from your location.

hdtvfan
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Stuart Hofmann wrote:
> bmoag wrote:
>
>
>>In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
>>It has been unseasonably rainy.
>>Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def and
>>none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
>>available.
>>Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
>>weather?
>>This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>>year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>
>
> I'm in Northern California -- Santa Rosa. In a heavy rain there may be some
> transient pixelation, and occasionally there's a "Searching for Signal"
> blackout for a while, but nothing like what you're describing.
> -S-

When I used to have cable, many times the cable would go out when it
rained heavily as well. Remember, they are getting their feeds from
satellite also. They have much better equipment, but it seems like the
weather can effect them as well. I have seen the satellite signal
glitch on occasion (I'm in So. Cal. as well) , but much, much less then
when I had cable.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in
news:7V_Dd.9562$5R.3441@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com:

> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
> It has been unseasonably rainy.
> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi
> def and none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are
> again available.
> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in
> bad weather?
> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my
> one year sentence to satellite TV service is over.

I live in BC, in one of the rainiest parts of Canada. I occasionally
lose the satellite signal from Star Choice during really serious bad
weather. It was worse on the east coast due to severe thunderstorm
activity there in the spring (and occasionally midwinter), but in 13
months here, I've only lost signal about four times due to weather and
two of those were snow on the dish which a little visit to the balcony
with my "dish" towel cleared up. My HD channels are on the newest and
strongest satellite and don't seem to go down, though ANY channel can be
lost due to severe weather elsewhere if it's bad enough to affect the
uplink path.

In your case, the first thing I would do is repoint the dish so that it's
dead on the satellite for the HD channels. Is it an elliptical multi-
satellite dish or just one of the round single-sat jobs? (Mine is
elliptical).

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

A false witness is worse than no witness at all.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Upgrading your dish to a 40" model (1-meter) will very greatly improve on
this. The bigger dish is somewhat trickier to align and peak (much
narrower beamwidth) but once lined up, rain fade is almost a thing of the
past. Takes a real downpour to knock us out anymore and when it does the
signal comes back a lot sooner.


In article <41E07EA4.4AE0F14A@sonic.net> Stuart Hofmann <stuart@sonic.net>
writes:

>bmoag wrote:
>
>> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
>> It has been unseasonably rainy.
>> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def and
>> none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
>> available.
>> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
>> weather?
>> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>
>I'm in Northern California -- Santa Rosa. In a heavy rain there may be some
>transient pixelation, and occasionally there's a "Searching for Signal"
>blackout for a while, but nothing like what you're describing.
> -S-
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In article <mc_Ed.9898$hQ6.2132599@twister.southeast.rr.com>
"Hasenpfeffer" <hasenpfeffer@triad.rr.com> writes:

>Since I switched to cable last March, my service has been out more than
>DirecTV has been in the 10 years I had it. Thunderstorms, icestorms and
>drivers hitting poles are the culprit.

And I bet you also noticed it took the cable co a heck of a lot longer to
fix it than it ever did for the storm to blow through.

We more or less addressed 99% of our rain fade issues simply by replacing
the std 18" dish with a 1-meter (40") dish. The bigger dish is a little
harder to align because of the much narrower beamwidth, but when you get
it zeroed-in the signal is rock-solid, high 90's to full 100 on most
transponders. REALLY made a difference. I wouldn't recommend wasting money
on a 24" dish, as the slight difference in gain vs the standard dish won't
make much diff. If rain fade bothers you, the 40" dish is de rigueur.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Mr Fixit wrote:

> In article <mc_Ed.9898$hQ6.2132599@twister.southeast.rr.com>
> "Hasenpfeffer" <hasenpfeffer@triad.rr.com> writes:
>
>
>>Since I switched to cable last March, my service has been out more than
>>DirecTV has been in the 10 years I had it. Thunderstorms, icestorms and
>>drivers hitting poles are the culprit.
>
>
> And I bet you also noticed it took the cable co a heck of a lot longer to
> fix it than it ever did for the storm to blow through.
>
> We more or less addressed 99% of our rain fade issues simply by replacing
> the std 18" dish with a 1-meter (40") dish. The bigger dish is a little
> harder to align because of the much narrower beamwidth, but when you get
> it zeroed-in the signal is rock-solid, high 90's to full 100 on most
> transponders. REALLY made a difference. I wouldn't recommend wasting money
> on a 24" dish, as the slight difference in gain vs the standard dish won't
> make much diff. If rain fade bothers you, the 40" dish is de rigueur.
>

Are you the same Mr Fixit that claimed that there was no effective
benefit to a 130" dish over a 18" dish because it only increased the
gain by 1.7dB?

For some reason, none of your posts appear in google (ITYKW), but you
are quoted in the replies so I'm pretty sure you are the same person who
scoffed at the idea of larger dishes.

Matthew

--
Thermodynamics and/or Golf for dummies: There is a game
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

"bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in message
news:7V_Dd.9562$5R.3441@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
> It has been unseasonably rainy.
> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def
and
> none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
> available.
> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
> weather?

Your dish isn't aligned as well as it could be, unless there's a tree
swaying in the wind or something.

About 2/3 of the way through the storms here in LA, I had my Dish 500
replaced with the Superdish. While there were a couple few second dropouts,
there was never a problem with loosing the signal entirely, with either
dish.

You may want to call them out, or try aligning the dish yourself for the
best signal. From what I've seen, the installers generally don't 'waste'
their time trying to get the best signal, only a usable signal at the time
of installation.

> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.

Waste of money and time. As another poster pointed out, the storm will be
over long before any cable company 'rushes' to fix their gear. There are
more idiot drivers out there than there are storms.

The cable companies help the satellite companies more than any advertising.
The poor service, rude employees, and general shitheadedness of the cable
companies, which oddly continues to this day despite real and serious
competition, is bringing more and more customers to *E and DTV.

Pagan
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

While on this particular subject. Does the use of the 40" Dish resolve the
problem of poor picture quality, such as digitizalitation, artifacting, and
pixilation due to the compression used in the handling of the signals?/ <
> These shortages have been viewed on Dish and Direct TV systems displaying
> both Low and High Resolution Television Signals in the Michigan Reception
> Area. Or is this indicative of satellite services universally?/
"Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in message
news:10uhe4gdtvvfr76@corp.supernews.com...
> "bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in message
> news:7V_Dd.9562$5R.3441@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
>> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
>> It has been unseasonably rainy.
>> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def
> and
>> none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
>> available.
>> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
>> weather?
>
> Your dish isn't aligned as well as it could be, unless there's a tree
> swaying in the wind or something.
>
> About 2/3 of the way through the storms here in LA, I had my Dish 500
> replaced with the Superdish. While there were a couple few second
> dropouts,
> there was never a problem with loosing the signal entirely, with either
> dish.
>
> You may want to call them out, or try aligning the dish yourself for the
> best signal. From what I've seen, the installers generally don't 'waste'
> their time trying to get the best signal, only a usable signal at the time
> of installation.
>
>> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>
> Waste of money and time. As another poster pointed out, the storm will be
> over long before any cable company 'rushes' to fix their gear. There are
> more idiot drivers out there than there are storms.
>
> The cable companies help the satellite companies more than any
> advertising.
> The poor service, rude employees, and general shitheadedness of the cable
> companies, which oddly continues to this day despite real and serious
> competition, is bringing more and more customers to *E and DTV.
>
> Pagan
>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Art wrote:

> While on this particular subject. Does the use of the 40" Dish resolve the
> problem of poor picture quality, such as digitizalitation, artifacting, and
> pixilation due to the compression used in the handling of the signals?/ <
>

No.

Matthew (GIGO afterall)

--
Thermodynamics and/or Golf for dummies: There is a game
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In article <10uhe4gdtvvfr76@corp.supernews.com> "Pagan"
<DirtySanchez@chonch.com> writes:

>Your dish isn't aligned as well as it could be, unless there's a tree
>swaying in the wind or something.

I completely agree.

If everyone had the trouble with their satellite service that you're
reporting, none of us would have satellite service, because we wouldn't
put up with it.

Therefore, you're absolutely justified for feeling the way that you do.
However, please trust me, the problem **IS** fixable. It's simply going to
take more than complaining about it to get it fixed. It's going to require
some action.

>About 2/3 of the way through the storms here in LA, I had my Dish 500
>replaced with the Superdish. While there were a couple few second dropouts,
>there was never a problem with loosing the signal entirely, with either
>dish.

There will always be rain fade with any system, but with a proper dish and
proper alignment, the frequency of occurrence and duration of the signal
outage is fairly minimal and tolerable.

>You may want to call them out, or try aligning the dish yourself for the
>best signal. From what I've seen, the installers generally don't 'waste'
>their time trying to get the best signal, only a usable signal at the time
>of installation.

Exactly! However, the little 18" dish has a fairly broad main lobe so
perfectly precise aiming normally isn't critical (but it DOES need to be
checked).

>> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.

>Waste of money and time. As another poster pointed out, the storm will be
>over long before any cable company 'rushes' to fix their gear. There are
>more idiot drivers out there than there are storms.

>The cable companies help the satellite companies more than any advertising.
>The poor service, rude employees, and general shitheadedness of the cable
>companies, which oddly continues to this day despite real and serious
>competition, is bringing more and more customers to *E and DTV.

Locally (Houston, TX) Time Warner Cable's service department (to report a
problem) is almost impossible to reach and their standard response time
for something affecting -just you- is 3 business days, minimum. For a
service I'm paying for, a 3-day response time is unacceptable unless
there's been a major storm pass through. If the neighbor accidentally
chewed up my cable wire while roto-tilling his garden, that should be
fixed within 24 hours without having to do it ourselves or hire a private
contractor. It also should not take almost 6 months to get the new cable
wire buried, but here with TWC it does. That too is unacceptable.

Cable TV "signal quality" might be acceptable and the service might be
competetively priced, but their service department is absolutely
atrocious! I am quite certain that TWC's service department costs them
more customers than for any other reason.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

In article <5sidnXVlOK1cn3TcRVn-pw@comcast.com> "Art"
<plotsligt@comcast.net> writes:

>While on this particular subject. Does the use of the 40" Dish resolve the
>problem of poor picture quality, such as digitizalitation, artifacting, and
>pixilation due to the compression used in the handling of the signals?

No. Remember the GIGO Effect? Garbage In = Garbage Out. However, with D*
I have to say that I have never experienced those problems on any of the
major newtworks. I've seen it on Court TV and occasionally on
Nickelodeon, but never on any of the premium networks nor on any of the
Pay Per View channels. I'm reasonably certain these anomalies you're
seeing has a lot to do with the amount of bandwidth being dedicated to the
programming/channel you're wanting to watch.

The 40" dish (under $100 self-installed and you can reuse your old LNB)
substantially SOLVED 99% of our rain fade problems. Realize too that
nothing will solve all of them, but the 40" performance is pretty darned
amazing compared to what we had with the 18" dish. The 6db gain
improvement equates to 4-times as much signal. That's a dramatic change.
The bigger dish is also substantially more difficult to aim and keep
"locked-on" the peak signal lobe while you're tightening down the clamps.
Realizing this, we finally over-corrected the peak signal point just a
skosh and then "pulled it back in" with the clamp tightening. Also, rather
than using a meter, we used a tone alignment device. The one we used
emitted a linear (gradual) tone frequency increase rather than a
staircased one (like that built into many receivers). The linear tone
device will tell you when you're *exactly* on the peak, where the
staircased generators won't. With the big dish your aim has got to be
within 3½ degrees




/ <
>> These shortages have been viewed on Dish and Direct TV systems displaying
>> both Low and High Resolution Television Signals in the Michigan Reception
>> Area. Or is this indicative of satellite services universally?/
>"Pagan" <DirtySanchez@chonch.com> wrote in message
>news:10uhe4gdtvvfr76@corp.supernews.com...
>> "bmoag" <apquilts@pacbell.net> wrote in message
>> news:7V_Dd.9562$5R.3441@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...
>>> In the area of California I live the weather is generally dry.
>>> It has been unseasonably rainy.
>>> Most satellite channels come through but virtually none that are hi def
>> and
>>> none of the HBO channels; when it dries up those channels are again
>>> available.
>>> Is this the achilles heel of satellite HDTV: essentially unusable in bad
>>> weather?
>>
>> Your dish isn't aligned as well as it could be, unless there's a tree
>> swaying in the wind or something.
>>
>> About 2/3 of the way through the storms here in LA, I had my Dish 500
>> replaced with the Superdish. While there were a couple few second
>> dropouts,
>> there was never a problem with loosing the signal entirely, with either
>> dish.
>>
>> You may want to call them out, or try aligning the dish yourself for the
>> best signal. From what I've seen, the installers generally don't 'waste'
>> their time trying to get the best signal, only a usable signal at the time
>> of installation.
>>
>>> This and other reasons sorely tempt me to go to digital cable when my one
>>> year sentence to satellite TV service is over.
>>
>> Waste of money and time. As another poster pointed out, the storm will be
>> over long before any cable company 'rushes' to fix their gear. There are
>> more idiot drivers out there than there are storms.
>>
>> The cable companies help the satellite companies more than any
>> advertising.
>> The poor service, rude employees, and general shitheadedness of the cable
>> companies, which oddly continues to this day despite real and serious
>> competition, is bringing more and more customers to *E and DTV.
>>
>> Pagan
>>
>>
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)

Mr Fixit (MrFixit@msn.com) wrote in alt.tv.tech.hdtv:
> In article <5sidnXVlOK1cn3TcRVn-pw@comcast.com> "Art"
> <plotsligt@comcast.net> writes:
>
> >While on this particular subject. Does the use of the 40" Dish resolve the
> >problem of poor picture quality, such as digitizalitation, artifacting, and
> >pixilation due to the compression used in the handling of the signals?
>
> No. Remember the GIGO Effect? Garbage In = Garbage Out. However, with D*
> I have to say that I have never experienced those problems on any of the
> major newtworks.

Define "major networks". I see MPEG artifacts on every single DirecTV
channel all the time. Some are less objectionable than others, but it's
all far more visible than all but the cheapest DVDs.

--
Jeff Rife |
| http://www.nabs.net/Cartoons/OverTheHedge/VelveetaAndRotel.gif