EchoStar 2710 appeared in my apartment after I got a flyer saying that I would get free equipment and installation if I subscribe to 1 year of Dish Network programming.

At that time I was paying around $30 for Adelphia’s basic + expanded channels. The image quality was medium (noisy), the channel selection – not too rich.

I am glad that now I know what digital satellite television is. For the same price I paid for maybe 25 channels ($30) I can have 100 (well, 30 of them are CD quality sound channels).

And there is a 40-channel plan for $20 a month, that includes all the stuff that I like to have. Even regional Fox Sports channel is there.

There are two problems with digital satellite TV - no local channels (this started to change) and that some landlords (if you rent of course) does not allow to install the dish on the roof (but according to 1999 FCC ruling you can install it on your balcone).

I had to remove the dish from my roof, because my landlord didn't like its appearance. So I enjoyed my digital satellite TV for about two days. Another reason to buy a house.

EchoStar 2710 system has basic features, yet provides great sound and picture quality. The picture quality is just excellent – the system receives digital MPEG-compressed signal from the satellite. “Digital” in this case means “no noise” and high resolution.

The system itself does not have buttons (except power, channel up/down), everything is controlled through a remote. And it is the remote that annoyed me - it seems that you have to apply tons of pressure to make buttons on the remote work.

The installation was smooth, except the fact that dish has to face south, which required installing in on the roof. The setup was easy; the system downloaded the updated software and program guides from the satellite.

2710 has V-chip for parental control, and supports inbound electronic mail. To use pay-per-view features, you have to connect it to the phone outlet – it has built-in 2400 kbps modem, so you can order pay-per-view from your remote.

The system has S-VHS out and one set of A/V outs (3 RCA jacks – composite video, audio left channel and audio right channel). It also has an antenna input for local channels.

In contrast with DVD, there is no copy protection, so you can easily tape off-the-air programs and movies and get high quality recordings.

The system allows you to see the information on the program you are currently watching with a push of “info” button. You can also see the schedules for all channels and scroll both directions – channels and time. Additionally you can select to see programs by genre.

It's a nice starter system and it's much better than cable in terms of both quality and value (CD40 40 channel package costs $19.99), so dump your cable ASAP!


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): free