Question: Is Satellite TV, Such as Dish Network, Really Better Than Cable?

As the war in video entertainment continues, one thing is for sure: satellite television is here to stay.

When the satellite distributors first began marketing to consumers, the cable industry didn’t give their new opponent much thought. Dishes were expensive, they were bulky and their program offerings weren’t all that impressive. Cable on the other hand had been around for more than a decade and offered a familiar and reliable solution to home entertainment.

But oh how things have changed.

The satellite industry quickly replaced those bulky dishes with sleeker, smaller systems that could be mounted just about anywhere. Prices dropped, programming grew and pretty soon, switching from cable to satellite TV wasn’t such a far-fetched idea after all.

Today, the Satellite TV industry and providers, such as Dish Network, enjoy a steady and continued growth in subscribers and services, gradually closing the gap in video entertainment market share. Where the cable industry has reported an annual growth between 10 to 15 percent, top satellite companies, such as Direct TV, boast a market share increase of just under 30% according to a study from The Media Audit.

So is satellite and providers such as Dish Network really better than cable?

Satellite TV customers seem to think so. Studies show that satellite customers pay an average of $10 less per month than their cable counterparts. Satellite programming is also all-digital, meaning the reception and picture quality is much better than that of traditional analog cable. Cable subscribers do have the option of upgrading to digital but this incurs an additional monthly cost and doesn’t guarantee all the channels will be included in the upgrade. And, with the healthy dose of competition in the satellite industry, consumers can be assured of continued competitive pricing. Your cable provider doesn’t have any competition. Do you suppose that affects your rate increases?

Satellite TV subscribers also tout a higher satisfaction rating with customer service issues, one of the primary reasons cited for making the move from cable.

For details, visit dish-network-satellite-tv.ws

Written By: Frank Johnson

Well if you like to listen to music the answer is yes!

But you probably already have a radio that works quite nicely and are wondering why you might want to switch, right?

Satellite radio is a paid subscription – it works via a satellite feed so you can listen to the radio anywhere you want and there is no range restrictions so your favorite song won’t become garbled with static as you drive down the road out of range. It works like satellite television, except it can travel with you. A satellite radio can go in your home, your car or you can carry it around with you. It provides crystal clear digital sound no matter where you are and is commercial free.

Satellite radio can really open up the range and choices of music. With satellite radio subscriptions, you typically have access to several music channels, which reach all genres and subgenres of music. The best providers will also provide you dozens of channels for the latest news, talk radio, and information, along with local traffic and weather forecasts and all the sports events you could want.

XM Radio is rapidly growing and services over 2 million listeners providing 68 music channels. With this satellite radio, you can get country, rap, classical, bluegrass, rock, reggae and most anything else you can imagine. IN addition, there are over 30 channels just for news , sports, talks shows and other entertainment programs that don’t include music. And if that’s not enough there is another couple of dozen channels that provide weather and traffic for most major cities.

If you want satellite radio you will need a reciever and antennae to pick up the satellite feed. This equipment is state of the art, and the best subscription services also offer AM and FM as well as CD accessibility. Satellite radio can be set up to work with your existing home entertainment system, in your car or as a portable that you can bring with you.

Some of the new satellite radios and receivers are quite small and lightweight and good for carrying around. All satellite receivers will conveniently display the channel, song title, and artist name. If it’s a sporting event, they abbreviations for each team will be shown so you can find that game you are looking for instantly instead of having to wait until the announcer mentions one of the teams.

Of course, satellite radio is perfect for listening to in the car since you won’t have to fiddle with tuning knobs or try to find a new station as you drive out or range of what you are listening. Conveniently, many new cars are coming equipped with satellite radio service and even offer it free for 30 days. Don’t worry, though if you don’t want to pay for the service after your trial is up, your radio receiver will still work with the usual AM and FM channels.

About the author:

Lee Dobbins writes for a2z-satellite where you can find more about satellite services including satellite tv, radio and internet.

Written By: Lee Dobbins

Important Steps in Installing a Satellite Dish
With the recent breakthroughs in the communication world, DSL connection has already become a household term. It has already been launched in various areas across the world; however, obtaining a high-speed access to the Internet via satellite is a technology that is still unavailable to many television users because of lack of facilities. At present, the solution to this limitation can now be achieved through the satellite dish network. Whether you live in an area with DSL access or not, you can now utilize DSL technology to the extreme.
If you intend to use satellite dish for your homes or offices, you must receive transmitted signals through a clear view of the southern hemisphere. You must ensure that your chosen location is free from any obstruction like trees, buildings and other structures that can alter your signal and in effect, cause poor reception. If your site is free from any obstruction, it is not necessary to locate the co-ordinates until later when you decide to install the dish system. When you live within these areas, you can install your dish on a galvanized pole that is cemented in the ground or by positioning it no further than 100 ft. from your area.
To give you a better idea regarding this, here are some steps to install a satellite dish successfully and get it authorized:
First, you must know the satellite service in your location. Say, if you live in Europe, you can choose between AFN and Direct to Sailor (DTS). The former has a greater number of channels available but doesnt have worldwide service while the latter has worldwide coverage but has fewer program channels.

Next, you must find the technical information on the satellite that will be used in the whole process. Then, you have to search for the look angle this is the direction in which the satellite dish has to be pointed to get the signal.

Finally, set up the system all together by assembling and pointing the satellite dish, connecting and programming the decoder. After selecting the proper location, you have to distinguish where to mount the dish. To get the best reception possible, it is advisable that you mount the dish outside your home or office such as in surfaces like roofs, decks, chimneys, etc. Most areas will be pre-wired with the correct RG-6 coaxial cable used in both satellite TV and cable services. You must also pre-install external outlets in each room where the televisions are situated. Take note that you must always install RG-6 cable and not any other type of cable.
In addition, you can also place a satellite receiver at the vicinity of the cable outlet in your home or office depending on the number of televisions connected to the satellite system. The said receivers are like a smaller version of a VCR that actually processes the signal from the satellite dish to your TV for sharp, stunning, digital quality pictures.
If the location that you have chosen is questionable and you are planning to install the satellite dish yourself, you might need a compass and position yourself towards the southern hemisphere. You will first need to know the correct azimuth the horizontal direction of your dish and the direction of the communications satellites in orbit and your elevation co-ordinance. You have to expect these elements to differ by geographical location.
Furthermore, major satellite TV providers namely: DirecTV and Dish Network have satellite dish pointing basics on their sites that are established by your zip code. And if you intend to make use of terrestrial DSL, the variant via satellite will perfectly suit you. With it, you will benefit both by saving your charges and valuable time. While you pay the low fees for the channels you receive, you can also find service providers that provide you with hundreds of dollars of satellite TV equipment including dish, receivers, etc. for free.
chris Joseph is the founder of http://www.satellite-tv-choice.com and informational web site that teaches you all about getting a free satellite tv

Written By: Chris Joseph

Hurricanes and Satellite TV By Marianne McEachern If you are like me, you believed bad weather would kill the reception on Satellite TV, so I was content to keep my cable and watch my favorites. I still had memories of those giant dishes and how unattractive they used to look on roofs and in yards.

Last year, here in southeast Florida where I live; Francis and Jeanne, two not so friendly hurricanes, visited me. I think I should tell you that hurricanes and the Big Bad Wolf are at the top of my “Scare Me to Death” list. Francis was first, and my cable went off before the power. I called for repair but was told everyone had gone home in the local area to get ready for the storm. I guess they turned everything off with the lights when they left. I lost power for two weeks not to mention that half of my belongings were blown into the next county, and when the first lights flickered back on – WOW – civilization was returning so I turned on the TV. No Cable! This is not good, I thought! My neighbor invited us over to watch theirs; yes, they had satellite!! The dish is so small and hidden on the back of their roof I never even knew they had it…and amazingly enough it didn’t get blown into the next county like my stuff.

Thinking I had a lot of time to shop services, Jeanne was on the scene and I was too late, but I figured the cable had just been repaired and would withstand the portion of the storm we were going to get. Not so, it was a repeat of the last round. Then I had to fight with the cable company for credits on my bills for all the days of no service and it took three billing cycles to get any adjustment.

I started making phone calls, not something I’m fond of doing, when my neighbor mentioned to me that they had found their service online. You can compare rates and free offers without having to talk to sales people and wonder if they are giving you a line to reel you into their service. Isn’t the Internet GRAND??? How convenient!

I also found out that shopping for satellite TV online offers so many more discounts and freebies than calling local suppliers. Online sellers work so hard to make you a customer. They not only offer free equipment and installation but also offer free receivers for extra rooms (up to four) as opposed to the one digital box I had on ONE TV from my cable service, and you can watch a different channel in every room which was contrary to what I had believed about satellite TV. The professional installation they schedule for you insures the maximum benefit from the system and is one of the best freebies offered.

Needless to say, I am happy with my service. Our squalls and incredible thunderstorms haven’t bothered my television experience and I no longer have to worry about lines going down or over-all-area cable outages. I can even get my high speed Internet service on satellite. Technology is a wonderful thing!

I am curious if your experiences are anything like mine. Does snow bother your television viewing? It’s not something I have to deal with here in Florida. I’d love to hear from you to know more about weather effects on your own television systems. Send me an email and let me know how you like your own cable or satellite system. I have a free gift for you that you will simply love if you write to me.

Mmceach@time4me.com

I would encourage everyone to investigate satellite TV in his or her own area. It has been such an improvement and cost savings for me that I highly recommend it. Shopping for it online is a pleasurable experience; here are a few of the sites I found to be the best when I did my research:

http://tinyurl.com/d8eay

http://tinyurl.com/cjz4p

http://tinyurl.com/byg3f

You can compare costs easily, and look for the pricing on the service that fits your needs. If you want only great TV you can see what they have and what current freebies are available, and if you are looking for high speed Internet I am sure you will find what you are looking for too. Mother Nature just got friendlier; I am no longer afraid of the Big Bad Wolf or losing my television reception to hurricanes…well maybe the Big Bad Wolf.
About the Author

Marianne McEachern has 30 years of experience as a Management Accountant and 10 years of experience (mostly hard knocks) in Internet Businesses.

Written By: Marianne McEachern

Lets face it, Internet readers, most of us are guys. And as red-blooded American guys, we all have mens desires, mens needs. Dont play coy. You know what Im talking about. We want it faster, more creative, more imaginative, and not to put too fine a point on it, slimmer. We know well have to pay for it eventually we always dobut wed rather not break the bank just for a little nighttime fun. Theres a wide variety out there to choose from, so point us in the right direction and well happily engage in the hunt. But why do they make us work so hard to get it? Sure, were tech-savvy geeks, even nerds, but does that mean everything has to be some huge intellectual puzzle? Is there a way to make these people give up the goods with a bare minimum of confusion? Im talking, of course, about home consumer electronics, specifically satellite television systems.

Look, Im sorry if I led you on, but I hope Ive provided a more interesting introduction to the world of home satellite equipment than most industry vendors have. Take a look, for example if you dare at RapidSatellite.com, a one-stop Internet shopping point for satellite TV. A recent search turned up the following entries:

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Triple LNB Dish & Standard Installation

DIRECTV 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR System w/ TiVo (2) TiVo Receivers (1) Hughes Director Receiver with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

DIRECTV 3-Room System (1) HR10-250 200 Hour (STD) 35 Hour (HDTV) DIRECTV High Definition DVR w/ TiVo (2) DIRECTV Receiver System with Triple LNB Dish & Standard Installation

A little help here? Those ads are about as welcoming as a brick wall, and they present us with more acronyms than the U.S. military. For pure reading pleasure, they rank somewhere between Finnegans Wake and the book of Leviticus. Am I buying satellite TV service, or naming robots for science fantasy sequels?

Relax, Luke Skywalker. Scanning through orbital space may not be like dusting crops, but well work our way through this thing together. Lets start with the first ad.

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

Okay, first things first. DirecTV is a national satellite TV subscription service owned by Hughes Electronics and, in large part, Fox Entertainment. In order to watch DirecTV programming, one must first by a dish to collect the signals beamed to Earth by the satellite. Then one must buy a set-top box to decode those signals. Lastly, one must have a TV of some kind to display the imagery represented by those signals. The first ad is trying to sell us a hardware package thatll allow us to watch DirecTV, but it adds a few nifty bells and whistles. For example, this package includes another device called a DVR80. And what exactly is that? It looks like a license plate.

Good guess! No, a DVR80 is a brand of receiver manufactured and sold by RCA. To be more precise, it receives DirecTV signals as well as TiVo interactions. TiVo is a kind of DVR, or Digital Video Recorder, manufactured by the TiVo company. A Digital Video Recorder does exactly what it claims to do: It records video, not on tape as a VHS video recorder would, but as digital data in a dedicated hard drive. The DVR80 is capable of recording up to seventy hours of digital material, just as promised obliquely in the ad. What the ad doesnt make clear is that the amount of material the hard drive can store depends on how detailed the information is. Just as a VHS tape can hold anywhere from two to six hours of material, depending on the image quality, so do DVR image recordings suffer when recorded at the seventy-hour setting. The DVR80 has Dolby Digital sound capability and comes with a universal infrared remote control. When sold separately, it retails for anywhere between $100 and $150.

The comparison to VHS tends to minimize what TiVo can do. The hardware and allows for instant replays of live TV, plus the ability to skip through commercials while a program is airing. The Season Pass feature tracks the users favorite shows, even if they change network time slots, and records them each week automatically. Its even capable of predicting which unfamiliar shows the user might like, based on his or her previous recordings. Simply put, TiVo is neato.

But what in blue blazes is a D10? Isnt that Eminems Detroit rap posse? No, that would be D12, Slim Shady. A D10 is nothing more than the set-top box that receives DirecTV signals. It features an Advanced Program Guide interface, and is capable of receiving signals from several DirecTV satellites to the tune of over 225 channels. The box itself costs about $50 retail. A multi-switch is, well, a switch designed to allow more than one set-top box to receive information from the same satellite dish receiver. Some models feature built-in amplification. The model offered with this package has three different outputs to send video to TVs in three different areas of a house. Other multi-switches are designed to allow one satellite dish receiver to provide video to more than one home. As might be easily guessed, DirecTV does not encourage the sharing of its video offerings by entire neighborhoods of houses. It does, however, promise to install these devices for you, at a combined package cost of only $47.95. What a bargain! Its a good thing RapidSatellite doesnt charge by the acronym.

The second ad presents only one new complication, the Triple LNB Dish. A Triple LNB Dish, also known in DirecTV parlance as a Phase III Mulitsatellite Dish, is an 18 by 20 dish receiver that collects broadcast signals from three different satellites. Customers with high-definition TV sets will definitely want to upgrade to Triple LNB, because without it, its impossible to receive satellite broadcasts in HDTV. LNB stands for low-noise block. Its the device that hangs off the arm of the satellite dish and looks sort of like a flashlight. So what does it do? To find out, we first have to crane our necks and stare up into orbit. The DirecTV satellite at 101 degrees has 32 transponders, numbered 1 to 32 for some reason, each of which sends a group of channels. Back on Earth, an LNB converter responds to changes in the voltage transmitted by the DirecTV receiver by looking at either the odd- or even-numbered channels. A Triple LNB Dish, not too surprisingly, includes three LNB converters, each operating independently of the other two. That way, three different DirecTV receivers can look at three different stations on three different transponders. Long story short, it means Mom can watch HGTV while Dad checks out Sports Center. Meanwhile, their progeny have gathered around a third TV set to enjoy Aqua Teen Hunger Force, all at the same time. Thanks to DVR and TiVo technology, its entirely possible that all three programs were recorded weeks ago.

As for the third ad, a Hughes Director is the standard receiver offered with basic DirecTV packages. How standard? Many DirecTV vendors are now offering the device free with purchase of a dish receiver. Still, its a perfectly adequate receiver, with many of the features offered by the snazzier DVR80. While it cant record video, it does offer a WatchWord search feature that scans through DirecTV program menus and alerts the user when favorite shows are about to come on.

The HR10-250 receiver is a much pricier alternative, cashing in at somewhere around a thousand bucks. Still, as Ferris Bueller once noted, It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. It contains four tuners and a built-in DVR with TiVo. These four tuners allow for two HD shows to be recorded at once, even as the user watches a third prerecorded show. The 250 gigabyte hard drive holds about 30 hours of HDTV, or as many as 200 hours of non-high-def video (at 480 lines of pixels). PCWorld critic Cathy Lus review of the HR10-250 decided, Cost aside, the DirecTV HD DVR is the best way that I’ve found to watch and record HD. She gave it four and a half stars out of five. Thats pretty good for a machine whose profoundly uninspired name makes it sound like a tax form.
About the Author

Sarah Gustafson is a freelance writer and contributing author to http://www.dishtvreview.com, a site that provides satellite TV news and consumer buying advice.

Written By: Sarah Gustafson

It’s undeniable – shopping for a new satellite tv system can be tough. Take a look, for exampleif you dareat RapidSatellite.com, a one-stop Internet shopping point for satellite TV. A recent search turned up the following entries:

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Triple LNB Dish & Standard Installation

DIRECTV 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR System w/ TiVo (2) TiVo Receivers (1) Hughes Director Receiver with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

DIRECTV 3-Room System (1) HR10-250 200 Hour (STD) 35 Hour (HDTV) DIRECTV High Definition DVR w/ TiVo (2) DIRECTV Receiver System with Triple LNB Dish & Standard Installation

A little help here? Those ads are about as welcoming as a brick wall, and they present us with more acronyms than the U.S. military. For pure reading pleasure, they rank somewhere between Finnegans Wake and the book of Leviticus. Am I buying satellite TV service, or naming robots for science fantasy sequels?
Relax, Luke Skywalker. Scanning through orbital space may not be like dusting crops, but well work our way through this thing together. Lets start with the first ad.

DIRECTV DVR80 3-Room 70 Hour DIRECTV DVR Satellite TV System w/ TiVo (1) DVR80 (2) D10 with Standard Dish, Multi-Switch & Standard Installation

Okay, first things first. DirecTV is a national satellite TV subscription service owned by Hughes Electronics and, in large part, Fox Entertainment. In order to watch DirecTV programming, one must first by a dish to collect the signals beamed to Earth by the satellite. Then one must buy a set-top box to decode those signals. Lastly, one must have a TV of some kind to display the imagery represented by those signals. The first ad is trying to sell us a hardware package thatll allow us to watch DirecTV, but it adds a few nifty bells and whistles. For example, this package includes another device called a DVR80. And what exactly is that? It looks like a license plate.

Good guess! No, a DVR80 is a brand of receiver manufactured and sold by RCA. To be more precise, it receives DirecTV signals as well as TiVo interactions. TiVo is a kind of DVR, or Digital Video Recorder, manufactured by the TiVo company. A Digital Video Recorder does exactly what it claims to do: It records video, not on tape as a VHS video recorder would, but as digital data in a dedicated hard drive. The DVR80 is capable of recording up to seventy hours of digital material, just as promised obliquely in the ad. What the ad doesnt make clear is that the amount of material the hard drive can store depends on how detailed the information is. Just as a VHS tape can hold anywhere from two to six hours of material, depending on the image quality, so do DVR image recordings suffer when recorded at the seventy-hour setting. The DVR80 has Dolby Digital sound capability and comes with a universal infrared remote control. When sold separately, it retails for anywhere between $100 and $150.

The comparison to VHS tends to minimize what TiVo can do. The hardware and allows for instant replays of live TV, plus the ability to skip through commercials while a program is airing. The Season Pass feature tracks the users favorite shows, even if they change network time slots, and records them each week automatically. Its even capable of predicting which unfamiliar shows the user might like, based on his or her previous recordings. Simply put, TiVo is neato.

But what in blue blazes is a D10? Isnt that Eminems Detroit rap posse? No, that would be D12, Slim Shady. A D10 is nothing more than the set-top box that receives DirecTV signals. It features an Advanced Program Guide interface, and is capable of receiving signals from several DirecTV satellites to the tune of over 225 channels. The box itself costs about $50 retail. A multi-switch is, well, a switch designed to allow more than one set-top box to receive information from the same satellite dish receiver. Some models feature built-in amplification. The model offered with this package has three different outputs to send video to TVs in three different areas of a house. Other multi-switches are designed to allow one satellite dish receiver to provide video to more than one home. As might be easily guessed, DirecTV does not encourage the sharing of its video offerings by entire neighborhoods of houses. It does, however, promise to install these devices for you, at a combined package cost of only $47.95. What a bargain! Its a good thing RapidSatellite doesnt charge by the acronym.

The second ad presents only one new complication, the Triple LNB Dish. A Triple LNB Dish, also known in DirecTV parlance as a Phase III Mulitsatellite Dish, is an 18 by 20 dish receiver that collects broadcast signals from three different satellites. Customers with high-definition TV sets will definitely want to upgrade to Triple LNB, because without it, its impossible to receive satellite broadcasts in HDTV. LNB stands for low-noise block. Its the device that hangs off the arm of the satellite dish and looks sort of like a flashlight. So what does it do? To find out, we first have to crane our necks and stare up into orbit. The DirecTV satellite at 101 degrees has 32 transponders, numbered 1 to 32 for some reason, each of which sends a group of channels. Back on Earth, an LNB converter responds to changes in the voltage transmitted by the DirecTV receiver by looking at either the odd- or even-numbered channels. A Triple LNB Dish, not too surprisingly, includes three LNB converters, each operating independently of the other two. That way, three different DirecTV receivers can look at three different stations on three different transponders. Long story short, it means Mom can watch HGTV while Dad checks out Sports Center. Meanwhile, their progeny have gathered around a third TV set to enjoy Aqua Teen Hunger Force, all at the same time. Thanks to DVR and TiVo technology, its entirely possible that all three programs were recorded weeks ago.

As for the third ad, a Hughes Director is the standard receiver offered with basic DirecTV packages. How standard? Many DirecTV vendors are now offering the device free with purchase of a dish receiver. Still, its a perfectly adequate receiver, with many of the features offered by the snazzier DVR80. While it cant record video, it does offer a WatchWord search feature that scans through DirecTV program menus and alerts the user when favorite shows are about to come on.

The HR10-250 receiver is a much pricier alternative, cashing in at somewhere around a thousand bucks. Still, as Ferris Bueller once noted, It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. It contains four tuners and a built-in DVR with TiVo. These four tuners allow for two HD shows to be recorded at once, even as the user watches a third prerecorded show. The 250 gigabyte hard drive holds about 30 hours of HDTV, or as many as 200 hours of non-high-def video (at 480 lines of pixels). PCWorld critic Cathy Lus review of the HR10-250 decided, Cost aside, the DirecTV HD DVR is the best way that I’ve found to watch and record HD. She gave it four and a half stars out of five. Thats pretty good for a machine whose profoundly uninspired name makes it sound like a tax form.

About the Author:
Sarah Gustafson is a freelance writer and contributing author to http://www.dishtvreview.com – a site that provides satellite TV news and consumer buying advice.
Written By: Adam Short