# Stupid question about OTA HD reception and satellite receivers



## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

Hi. This may just be frequently asked information, but I've checked it in the usually suspected FAQs and didn't come up with an obvious answer. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious, and in that case please point me to the correct FAQ.

Do HD receivers from satellite companies (e.g. ViP 622 from DISH in the US, Motorola 500 from StarChoice in Canada) have built in OTA tuners in them as well? If it's possible, my objective is to receive local OTA HD channels over and above what DISH or StarChoice contain (or will contain in the future) in their local HD channel list. (I split my time between San Francisco Bay area and Vancouver, BC in Canada.) Will I still need to buy a standalone HD tuner e.g. a Humax HF100 and hook it to an HD capable antenna? (My TVs are little LCD HD capable monitors and have no OTA HD tuners in them.) Or is there some funky mechanism where I would fit a different kind of antenna on the dishes from StarChoice and DISH and use their receivers?

I don't want to spend money on an extra OTA HD tuner if it's likely to be redundant. If the satellite receivers have OTA tuners in them, are they generally very good? Will buying a standalone OTA HD tuner like Humax provide some better capabilities? I don't currently have any service from either DISH or StarChoice, so don't have the user manuals of their receivers. I looked at their manuals online, searched for the word OTA and found nothing. I'm in the research and planning stages, figuring out what minimal hardware I need to buy.

Once again, I apologize if I could find an obvious answer to this question elsewhere, and thank you very much for your help.


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

All the Dish HD tuners have ATSC (OTA) tuners. The new generation (411/211/622) do not have NTSC tuners. Guide data for digital stations is available only if you sub to locals or pay them $6 for guide data.

The latest gen are reported to lock onto stations faster and more tenaciously.

A separate STB (OTA tuner) would provide guide data from the PSIP data stream at no cost.


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

Thanks for the reply.



AcuraCL said:


> The new generation (411/211/622) do not have NTSC tuners.


Forgot to say in my original post: I have built in NTSC tuners already, and don't really care a whole lot about them.



> The latest gen are reported to lock onto stations faster and more tenaciously.


If I don't move the receivers around, this is supposed to be good, correct?



> A separate STB (OTA tuner) would provide guide data from the PSIP data stream at no cost.


This is good to know. Although it's something I could possibly live without, I suppose, if it saves me the extra money to buy a separate ATSC tuner.


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

Chandu said:


> ...
> If I don't move the receivers around, this is supposed to be good, correct?
> ...
> This is good to know. Although it's something I could possibly live without, I suppose, if it saves me the extra money to buy a separate ATSC tuner.


Yes, the previous generation of OTA tuners could bounce around from 0-49 on signal strength and take a long time to lock. There are virtually no reports of this happening with the new boxes.

The separate tuner of course would cost money to buy, but I can't see how it could become obsolete any time soon. So ultimately it would pay for itself if you didn't want to subscribe to locals just for the guide data.

I find that whole thing pretty annoying, I'm right now debating whether to go with a separate ATSC OTA tuner.


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## concord704 (Feb 19, 2006)

Note that you can't just use the Dish HD receiver as an OTA HD receiver without the sat dish connected and properly aligned. :eek2:


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

concord704 said:


> Note that you can't just use the Dish HD receiver as an OTA HD receiver without the sat dish connected and properly aligned. :eek2:


Yes, sure. If and when I was getting their service, I was planning on doing that anyway.

BTW, from whatever little research I've done on the StarChoice HD receiver in Canada, it doesn't appear they have built in ATSC tuners. So, it looks like I may have to buy a standalone OTA HD tuner anyway. If someone has more info on this, can you please post here? (There aren't many Canadian posters on this board, are there?)


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## concord704 (Feb 19, 2006)

Chandu said:


> BTW, from whatever little research I've done on the StarChoice HD receiver in Canada, it doesn't appear they have built in ATSC tuners.


Starchoice is using a motorola based box (DSR505/530), similar to what VOOM (DSR550) used for their sat service. The VOOM box has an additional module that plugs into it to give OTA HD. The DSR530 manual states that the ATSC 8 VSB is optional, so I would assume that the 505 is the same.


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## concord704 (Feb 19, 2006)

Here is a voom help website showing the module on the right side:
http://www.winnfreenet.com/voom-setup.html

And someones ebay ad for the module:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-dsr-55...869964501QQcategoryZ61396QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Starchoice has their manuals online, check the back of the HD receivers:
https://secure.starchoice.com/english/store/signup_hw.asp


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## Chandu (Oct 3, 2005)

Thank you, concord704! That's incredibly good help!!! Where would a layman be without forums like these?


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## Michael P (Oct 27, 2004)

> or pay them $6 for guide data


??? When was this option made available???
Unless you mean taking the LIL package at 5.99 to get guide data. Or are you referring to the $6 HD fee if you lease an HD receiver without subbing to one of the HD packs?


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## AcuraCL (Dec 12, 2005)

Michael P said:


> ??? When was this option made available???
> Unless you mean taking the LIL package at 5.99 to get guide data. Or are you referring to the $6 HD fee if you lease an HD receiver without subbing to one of the HD packs?


I saw this mentioned in another thread which I just searched for but couldn't find.

Maybe I misunderstood the poster and they were referring to getting the guide only when sub'ed to locals.

Either way, you don't get guide data without forking over $$.


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