No, the title is not a typo. This is a biased review of satellite TV versus cable. This has to do with the fact that I am a happy satellite TV subscriber, and must admit, it was a smart move on my part. After spending exorbitant amounts of money on cable, one day I decided I would give it up and start looking for alternatives. I admit, I was seduced into getting cable by their low introductory price which was only $29 per month, including the premium channels.

Of course, this lasted only 3 months, after which I was expected to pay the full price of $89 per month. Like everyone else, I put up with this and quickly realized what I had gotten myself into. I knew that with my tight budget, this luxury couldn’t last. I knew I would have to give up my HBO (I love HBO–”Sopranos” anyone?).

However, even after I got rid of the premium channels I was still paying $69 per month!

There had to be another way. Unfortunately, cable companies tend to monopolize whatever area they get their grubby hands on, and I knew it would be difficult to find an alternative. The only other option for me was whipping out that old TV antenna, and getting my wife to stand next to the TV while moving the antenna around until we got a good signal. I can tell you right now, my wife wasn’t going to go for that one.

I knew that even joking about it would lead to the single life.

The alternative came to me when I heard from a friend who just happened to have satellite TV. He told me about how much he loved his Dish Network, and that the TV commercials where they show the people losing the signal all the time, and having to go to the roof to adjust the antenna was a bunch of “hog wash.”

In the year that he had his Dish Network, he hadn’t had one problem with it. He loved his Dish Network, and he was only paying $42.99 per month for it while getting over 100 channels, including HBO.

I wanted in. I inquired about how I could get my own Dish Network system, but was a bit hesitant. Although the monthly price was cheap, what about all the equipment I would have to buy?

My friend just laughed at me. He told me that all the equipment was free.

How could hundreds of dollars worth of equipment be free? That included a satellite antenna, receivers for up to 4 rooms, a Digital Video Recorder, and even a High Definition receiver. It couldn’t all be free. There had to be some sort of catch.

I decided to investigate this a bit further. After all, I was about to give up a reliable, albeit expensive, source of entertainment–my cable.

I checked out the website my friend recommended, www.vmcDishNetwork.net, and it turns out that Dish Network was indeed offering free installation, free equipment, and to top it off, even the first month free. That’s a lot of free stuff and I love free stuff.

I jumped on it. I cancelled my cable, and scheduled my install. I couldn’t get the installer in here fast enough.

Out of all the programs offered by vmcDishNetwork, decided on the 120 channels, including HBO (YAY!) and Cinemax, plus local channels and even includes 65 channels of SIRIUS satellite radio (I just happen to have a SIRIUS radio receiver–go Howard Stern!).

If someone were to ask me whether or not switching to satellite TV was a good move on my part, I’d have to say, “Absolutely, YES!”

If they were to ask me if they should give up their cable for satellite TV, I would tell them, “Do it as soon as you can, and stop paying ungodly amounts of money per month when satellite TV offer so much more, for so much less.”
About the Author

About the author: Erick Charles is a proud owner of a new satellite TV system from Dish Network. He endorses http://vmcDishNewtork.net for their great customer service, low prices, and all the free stuff they offer.

Written By: Erick Charles

Even if you watch your satellite television 5 hours a day, I bet you can’t tell what a satellite TV system really is.

Satellite television is TV broadcast delivered by way of orbiting communications satellites located 22,300 miles above the earth’s surface. Satellite TV system, like other communications relayed by satellite, starts with a transmitting satellite antenna located at an uplink facility. Uplink satellite dishes are directed toward the satellite that its signals will be transmitted to, and are very large, as much as 9 to 12 meters (30 to 40 feet) in diameter.

There are mainly two types of satellite TV systems: TVRO and DBS. TVRO system, aka Television Receive Only, is the first satellite system available for home satellite viewing system. While the DBS system, Direct Broadcast Satellite is available later. These two satellite systems work in different band (C-band and Ku-band) and their working system specifications are quite a different.

Television Receive Only (TVRO) systems

TVRO systems in United States are often referred as Big Dish TV, C-Band Satellite TV or BUD (Big Ugly Dish). It was the first satellite TV system being commercialized and brought into the U.S. families.

Viewing TVRO broadcast requires a big and movable dish – which is why it is well known as big dish TV. The TVRO dish’s diameter ranged from 3 to 6 feet. It works in C-Band with frequencies of around 4 GHz. As news companies normally transmit their materials to their headquarters using a C-Band satellite; and as many of these types of feeds are not scrambled, chances to unedited news are great. Besides with TVRO systems, you can also receive free channels and independent feeds from for instance news companies.

Ever wonder why do we need such a big dish to receive TVRO signals? It’s because of TVRO’s wave length of these frequencies is longer than in Ku-Band which requires a much smaller dish of about 18 inches. Ku-Band, which is used by DBS, is at 12 to 14 G Hertz.

Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) system

Satellite TV services were popular only after Direct Broadcast Satellite system is introduced. DBS is meant for everyone with a simple, low cost installation of the system. Small dish, maintenance-free, and stable signals receptions — all these makes the satellite TV system a good commercial product.

Satellite broadcast via DBS system is done in the Ku-Band. These satellites work on higher frequencies and can transmit higher power signals. This is why smaller dishes can be used to receive satellite signal for DBS systems.

As you might know, a small TV dish of 18 inches is already good enough to receive all satellite TV signals by Satellite companies. This makes it possible to have satellite TV from an apartment on the 10th floor, if you have a clear line of sight to the south. Once installed the dish needs no maintenance since it is aimed at just one satellite. Some dishes actually have 2 or more feeds, which makes it possible to receive the signals from more than 1 satellite.

Unfortunately, there are no free channels available on DBS satellites broadcast. DBS broadcasting are often owned and used by the satellite TV provider (for example, Dish Network and DirecTV) it self. Often the installation is for free as it really is very easy to do. The only thing that is needed is a bit of knowledge of where to find the satellite thus a qualified installer will find the satellite and point it to maximum reception within minutes.

Currently in United States, Dish Network and DirecTV are the major DBS systems provides. As satellite TV services are the latecomer in home TV broadcasting services, they are now fighting hard to win the market segments with extremely low prices. Free satellite TV systems, free DVR systems, free DVD players, free shipping, free installations, free HD upgrades, free home protection plans they give free things as much as possible! All you need to be to qualify the deals condition is you must commit on the satellite TV deals for one year and you must be a first-time customer. With extremely low start up cost, online satellite TV retailers are now offering some very lucrative offers. To review more about these online satellite TV retailers: http://www.satellitetvissue.com/FreeSatelliteTV/SatelliteTVDealers.htm and if you would like to compare Dish Network and DirecTV, this page is suggested: http://www.satellitetvissue.com/DirecTVvsDISH%20Network.htm

About The Author

Teddy LC.– experienced writter on consumer products reviews. Check out his latest satellite TV related website and get recommendations on DirecTV or Dish Network deals.

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Written By: Teddy LC