Dishnetwork, dish me out some channels I like
Written: Nov 19 '00 (Updated Nov 21 '00)
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Pros: clear picture, great sound, installation was easy
Cons: pay for local channels, too many crappy channels
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| boeingman1's Full Review: EchoStar 4700 |
Well after living on a boat for over two years with only about 4 t.v. stations, with poor reception, I opted for satellite t.v. Cable is not available at my marina.
If you live in an apartment or condominium etc. You are still allowed to use a satellite dish as long as it is installed in a space only inhabited by you. There are some complex rules but basically most everyone can have a satellite dish. You cannot be required to get a permit to set up a mini-dish either. It is against the law for homeowner's associations to prevent you from erecting a dish. For the complete list of rules and laws goto www.fcc.gov and search for satellite
There are basically only two satellite t.v. providers available that I am aware of as far as the mini-dish systems go. Primestar and echostar are merged into DirectTV and Dishnetwork. WWW.dishnetwork.com
I studied the opinions on the internet and talked to several people I worked with before going with Dishnetwork.
I installed the dish myself with no problems. I had not installed any other dishes.
Since I do live in the Seattle area I have experienced a downpouring of rain and constant clouds since I have installed this system. My power has gone out once (I have a 6.5k generator though) but my signal has not been lost from the rain or clouds. Perhaps it is because I had a strong signal originally and a straight line of sight to the S/Se 155degrees on the compass to the satellites. Contrary to the other Dishnetwork naysayer on this opinion site the dish points in the southernly direction not the northernly direction. Perhaps that is why he had so much trouble. ;) Exact compass headings are sent with the dish depending on where you live exactly. They are also available on the www.dishnetwork.com site.
I bought the 4922 system from www.satellitewholesalers.com I paid a total of $49.95 for all of the new equipment, shipping from Florida to Seattle, and an installation kit. There are so many kickbacks in the form of rebates available to the dealers that they are able to offer these products at this cheap price. The real money comes in the monthly payment you make to dishnetwork.
This system normally sells for about $280 without the installation kit, plus tax on top of the $280. This might get a little confusing here for you. In order for me to get this price on the dish, I had to agree to 12 months of programming with dish network for at least one year at $40 a month. In a few weeks I will get a $199 rebate check from dishnetwork for signing up. I also get three months of 28 movies channels for free which is about $39 a month. $50 original cost plus -$199 rebate, about $100 of free movies. So I will receive $150 cash back plus I get about $100 of free movies for about three months.
Right now I am getting about 180 channels, of which approximately 40 or so are audio channels of crystal clear CD quality music. I also have local channels which cost about $5 a month. Package prices start at about twenty bucks, thirty, forty and then all the extras. Package prices vary quite a bit when you consider all the little extras like foreign language programming, 4 different Porn channels, local channels, 20 Fox affiliate sports channels, etc. All is shown at dishnetwork.com. All programming is Digital so the picture is crystal clear.
I use an s-video cable from my box to my t.v. which gives a little better picture than using rca or coaxial cable alone. The cable was included. Coaxial cables were also included. Everything I needed was included. I have my Surround sound hooked up to it also which really sounds nice with the subwoofer action going. This is displayed on my RCA 27" which I have written an epinion about.
My first bill did not have any errors on it, no extra taxes or hidden activation fees.
The 4922 has an infra-red/uhf remote control so that it can be operated out of the line of site of the sat box. For example if you were listening to music during a dinner party or something and you wanted to change the satellite music station from outside, you would be able to do that.
The sat box has a unique feature where you can very easily goto a menu on screen and setup an automatic time at which the sat box sends out a very powerful infrared beam that reflects off of surrounding furniture to your vcr at a predetermined time and date set by you in which to begin recording. This activates your vcr to begin recording, assuming you put in a video tape to record on and have your vcr on. The event timer in the sat box can be set to record every day at 2pm or once a week or just one time. It is a very cool feature.
The event timer also can act as an event reminder or autotuner. For example, if there is a show on a few hours from now and you don't want to forget about it or miss it, then you set up the auto remind feature where it will start blinking a reminder on the screen at a certain period of time before the show starts. You can adjust the reminder time from 1 minute before the show starts or five minutes, etc. Or given the same scenario above you can choose autotune instead of autoremind and instead of blinking to remind you on the screen it will automatically just tune to the show at the correct time and channel when it is time to do so.
It has on screen programming that you just scroll through and when you see a show you want to watch you just click select and your watching the show. You can click the info box for any show and it will tell you what the show or movie is about with all the movie ratings and what kind of content is located in the show. You can even scroll through listings while your watching tv in a little box. There is so much to say about this that I can't really type it all.
Even though I have so many channels,, there still aint jack squat on when I come home after work.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.95
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Epinions.com ID:
boeingman1
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Location: somewhere, washington
Reviews written: 19
Trusted by: 2 members
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