# What do I do...



## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

I have just moved into a new "planned community" (apartment complex) in beautiful Rancho Cucamonga California. The community is Pre-Wired for DISH network. They tell us that the cable company wanted too much money for the install. I call today and found out the real story.

The community is wired for SBC DISH and they did not wire for HD! SBC is in the process of upgrading their systems, but they have no ETA (we all know what that means).

SO… I will need to install a dish to get the service I want. I have a Samsung HD DLP TV and in the last place I lived I have Comcast Cable with the Motorola HD-DVR. My DISH equipment is the old 721 so I will need a new DVR.

Do I get the DISH 942 on the $250 lease?
Do I get the D* Tivo? I’m not sure what deals they have.
Or is there a better option that I don’t know about?
I hear that one of the local cable companies just came out with a HD-DVR but cable is not an option.


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## SimpleSimon (Jan 15, 2004)

There's NO difference in wiring for an HD satelltie receiver.

They may not have anything pointed to 61.5 for Voom, but the rest of E* HD is on the core birds (except for CBS-HD).

And what kind of community is this? It's near-impossible to share a dish between buildings that would be spread out in a community.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

The thing that sucks is that we are in a brand new community and they installed this crap. If I can't get a dish to work on the front porch, I don't think I can get a DVR at ALL.

http://sbche.com/sbche/main.nsf/apAMain?open&key=help

They tell me we have the SBC DISH service here. They have ran the cables to every unit in the complex (about 700) no clue how that works...

I have an appointment for DISH to come out next week and see if they can do the install.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

DISH is installed and working. I went with the 942 and we were able to get 93 on the signal with this 2 story building in the way  Now all I need is a way to get the local HD channels.

Is there any chance that DISH will get the local HD any time soon? I live in Rancho Cucamonga (91730) Southern California.


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Nightmare said:


> DISH is installed and working. I went with the 942 and we were able to get 93 on the signal with this 2 story building in the way  Now all I need is a way to get the local HD channels.
> 
> Is there any chance that DISH will get the local HD any time soon? I live in Rancho Cucamonga (91730) Southern California.


If you want to try an indoor antenna, I have had great success with the RadioShack 15-1880. With this, the 942 picks up all my local HD's from 30 miles with no problem.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

I'll give that a try. There is one at the "Shack" that is 2.1 miles from my location. Do you have yours pointed in a specific direction? I think most of the HD signals are exactly the WRONG way this unit is facing. :nono2:


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## LtMunst (Aug 24, 2005)

Nightmare said:


> I'll give that a try. There is one at the "Shack" that is 2.1 miles from my location. Do you have yours pointed in a specific direction? I think most of the HD signals are exactly the WRONG way this unit is facing. :nono2:


I used antennaweb.org to get the proper direction to point. This antenna is very directional. If it does not work at first, don't forget to try rotating the figure 8 in the center. It makes a big difference.


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## Nightmare (Nov 3, 2002)

I have 5 different antennas in my living room. I started with the Zenith Silver Sensor and I am getting up to 95 Signal strength. I still get pixilation on normal Digital, but not on the HD show I am watching right now.

I have some more questions, but I'll move it to the other forum

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=447489#post447489


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## zephyr (Jun 25, 2005)

Nightmare said:


> I have 5 different antennas in my living room. I started with the Zenith Silver Sensor and I am getting up to 95 Signal strength. I still get pixilation on normal Digital, but not on the HD show I am watching right now.
> 
> I have some more questions, but I'll move it to the other forum
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=447489#post447489


posted this answer on the other forum:

I went through nearly that many antennas the first time I installed an hd/digital receiver. A couple of observations:

What matters more than signal strength is signal quality. The 942 can lock on to a signal in the 60's, if it is good quality. It cannot lock on to a signal in the 90's if it is poor quality. The primary signal quality issues are multipath interference and electrical interference. You describe a complex of buildings. Multipath may be an issue, because of the signal bouncing off and through so many structures..

Electrical interference is also a problem. For example, just now I had the picture breaking up because of a lightning storm between me and the transmitter.

The pixelation happens on digital stations, whether or not the show being broadcast is HD or non-HD. There is no difference as far as the antenna is concerned between HD and SD for a given digital channel.


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