# Satellite Firsts: Stray Thoughts



## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

I was musing recently and I may or may not be right on these firsts with reference to satellite TV

DirecTV, first DBS provider with some assistance. USSB? and ?Some rural co-op?
DirecTV, Only succesful Satellite company merger, Primestar.
First Satellite TV DVR = Echostar
First Dual Tuner DVR = DirecTV. Ultimate TV or Tivo?
First MPEG4 DVR = Echostar ?
First Dual tuner feeding two TV sets with different programming = Echostar
First to use Statmuxing = ??
First Dual Satellite tuner + single OTA tuner = Dishnetwork
DirecTV first to dedicate one satellite to HD.
I may be wrong on the above firsts......

I do remember getting bills for DirecTV and USSB services. Since I first had Satellite TV I've seen tremendous growth in channels and the addition of HD. When I first looked at DirecTV and Echostar the only reason I looked was that my local cable company was running advertisements knocking DBS. So I decided to see what they were afraid of.

That is the same reason I've been looking at FIOS now. When I see News12 saying only one cable. Not on the Phone company TV where they used say and never on sattelite I wonder what they are afraid of now.

Jusr from curiousity why did you choose sattelite TV? I changed when research showed me the difference in price was large enough to make the payback period after buying the receivers was a reasonable period.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

This ECHOSTAR TIMELINE has many Dish-claimed firsts, though many are little more than new channel announcements.

One that's not on there is the Dish/JVC DSR-100 D-VHS receiver was the first consumer device able to record AC-3, now Dolby Digital.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

TBoneit said:


> DirecTV, Only succesful Satellite company merger, Primestar.


E* was better with buyouts of bandwidth. 
Echostar as a DBS company is a combination of their original 11 transponders on 119° plus ...
* DirectSat's 10 transponders at 119° and one transponders at 110°
* DBSC's 11 transponders at 61.5°
* MCI's auction purchased 28 transponders at 110°
* Echostar's later auction purchase of 24 transponders at 148°
* Echostar's original west allocation of 8 transponders at 148°
Plus the more recent purchase of:
* Rainbow DBS' 11 transponders at 61.5°
* Dominion's 8 transponders at 61.5°

DirecTV (on the other hand) had an initial assignment of 27 transponders on 101° and eventually absorbed USSB's 5 transponders at 101° and three transponders at 110° into their system. Tempo's 11 transponders at 119° were also added to D*'s DBS bandwidth.

Initially when DBS providers requested transponders from the FCC they were given an equal number of "east" and "west" transponders. (They expected that providers would serve half of the country from each side and not be able to serve the entire country from the central "east" locations.) Most of the "west" transponders were abandoned - DirecTV (27 transponders at 157°), Rainbow DBS (11 transponders at 166°), Dominion (8 transponders at 166°), DBSC (11 transponders at 175°), DirectSat (11 transponders at 175°), Tempo (11 transponders at 166°) and USSB (8 transponders at 148°) - but that leads to another "only" for E*.

E* is the ONLY DBS company not to forfeit all of their "west" transponders. (They forfeited three of their eight "west" transponders, eventually assigned to 157°. They DID use those transponders - not for customer use but enough to protect them - until E4 was moved to 77° to protect the future use of that Mexican slot.)



> Jusr from curiousity why did you choose sattelite TV? I changed when research showed me the difference in price was large enough to make the payback period after buying the receivers was a reasonable period.


I wanted satellite since the late 80's. I even bought a C Band dish before I had a house to install it at. Then scrambling came, technology changed and the market changed as well. I finally got satellite when I bought my most recent home a few years back ... cable cost too much anyways. I am not disappointed with my choice.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

I had forgotten the D-VHS...

True it does look like E* did better with their bandwidth purchases...
Did D* ever do anything with their purchase of Primestar beyond the customer base?

As I read the above D* did have an advantage of bandwidth from one sat location 101 degrees.

I can not remember was E* the first to get into LIL big time?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

All they got with Primestar was a customer base. Primestar wasn't using DBS bandwidth and they were on leased satellites so there was nothing to gain there other than contracts and customer lists.

Echostar was first with LOL and Directv was draged into LOL kicking and screaming all the way.


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Richard King said:


> Echostar was first with LOL...


I seem to recall D* being first with HBO Comedy.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

LOL = LIL (local into local network TV)?

D* had HBO Comedy before cable? Or are we drifting into the channels E* doesn't have vs the channels D* doesn't have?


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## BobaBird (Mar 31, 2002)

Drifting just far enough to still be within the topic of satellite firsts, though not technological, while having a little fun with what was obviously intended to be LIL.

LIL = local into local, LOL = laugh out loud, LOL is a frequent result of comedy, there is a channel called HBO Comedy, E* got it before D* which still doesn't. (I got D* wrong, E* has it. Remembered the wrong D* premium channel the E* subs keep clamoring for.)

Now you've gone and made me over-explain the humor.

:backtotop

First single cable installation of a dual-tuner receiver = Echostar using DishPro Plus


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

First multi-satellite multi-receiver feed on a single cable - D*


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

James Long said:


> First multi-satellite multi-receiver feed on a single cable - D*


Is that the SWM they're slowly rolling out?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

First RF Remote control. = Echostar. Of course, they were first with this in the cband market so it made sense that they would use similar technology in the DBS market. :lol:, not LIL


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

TBoneit said:


> Is that the SWM they're slowly rolling out?


Correct: Single Wire Multiswitch --- I think it would be cooler if E* had it.


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

I guess I misunderstood the SWM. It was my impression that it was something similar to the what E* DP equipment can use with the DPP switches to feed two tuners from one feed. I've got one wire to my 721 and another to my VIP 622 using a seperator at both locations. A third wire feeds a Dishplayer 7100 w/40gb. Using the DPP44 switch I now have a fourth wire free. 

If you only need to run one wire into the house with the SWM that must make for a somewhat easier install. I would think that a SWM would need some sort of switch/combiner to feed the 5 satellite locations into one wire and then another device to break the one wire into however many receivers.

Cheers


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

TBoneit said:


> I would think that a SWM would need some sort of switch/combiner to feed the 5 satellite locations into one wire and then another device to break the one wire into however many receivers.


There are limits to the system, but basically yes. There is a "head end" switch that combines all the satellite signals and provides combined outputs. One run from the switch can go to many receivers on normal wiring. You can have more than one run from the switch.

First Look: Single Wire Multiswitch (FTM)


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