Directv raising rates AGAIN!

[pilesoflaundry]

We used to have dish network. They are much cheaper but there is a reason for that. You get half the channels and really crappy customer service so you get what you pay for.

We will stick with direcTV. If it weren't for football though I would dump all of it and go to netflix only. Dh is a football nut so it's not going anywhere.

 

[bicker]

I am very happy and won't leave the provider because of it. However, I may leave Directv if I can't get better rates. THAT was my point.

Yup, I understood that that was what you were saying your own intention was.

I was pointing out why subscription television providers are no longer engaging in aggressive price competition as much as they have in the past, nor as much as cell phone service providers do.

 

[sam_gordon]

on the antenna note..... I was thinking of this,even tho our tv service is only 36.00 per month.... do you hook the roof antenna using the same lines that now attach from the dish to our tv, would we just run the wire up thru the same routes? I'm going to go read that link on antennas.....tv isn't important enough to us to pay more than we currently pay....

Yes, you can use the lines that go from the dish to the receiver, but DON'T hook it up to the DirecTV/Dish Network receiver.

 

[DawnM]

I have done this, but I wonder if it is a general recommendation rather than particular to MY house, you know? For example, my neighbors DO NOT HAVE a tree line blocking their view/area, but we do....we have TONS of trees and they are tall....it is a mini-forest back there. And we live on a hill and the house is down from the treeline. So, it is a problem.

Our attic faces the opposite direction of the TV signals. Our walk in attic. The other attic isn't tall enough.

This is the antenna I have used/tried:

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Amplifie...XZB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294890080&sr=8-1

Dawn

I can help you on this. First there's really no such thing as a "nice" set of rabbit ears. Here's what I recommend you do...

Go to http://www.tvfool.com/. Follow the prompts to 'Check your address for free tv'. You put in your address, it will give you a chart showing what channels are available, what kind of antenna you need to receive that channel, and where to point the antenna.

Now that you know what kind of antenna (they vary by strength), you can price them.

I got a directional antenna when we moved into our new house and put it in the attic. Then you take the line from the antenna and split it to feed the various TVs (you might need to amplify the signal depending on how long the cable is and how many splits you need).

I got my house done (feeding three TVs right now) for ~$100. But I did all the wiring and hookups.

 

[DawnM]

Dish came out and said they can't give us signal because of our tree line.

Dawn

try dish,it's WAY cheaper around here..... they do get you with the hd stuff.....

 

[bicker]

I have done this, but I wonder if it is a general recommendation rather than particular to MY house, you know?

Regular antennas are much less affected by trees, and such, but also not completely unaffected. More often, though, what gets in the way of regular antennas (besides the obvious: distance; and/or direct obstruction due to hillsides/mountainsides and/or buildings in the way, including the building the antenna is in/on) is mutipath. Multipath happens when there are objects, off the direct path from the transmitter to the antenna, for the signal to bounce off of (such as anything that would obstruct the signal, if they were actually in the way). Sometimes, that bounce actually helps, when it is the only way the signal reaches you. But generally, there are multiple objects for the signal to bounce off of, and in that case, you end up with multiple instances of the signal reaching your antenna slightly off from each other, interfering with each other. Without a link to the plot provided to you by tvfool.com, that's a reasonable guess for what's wrong in your case.

This is the antenna I have used/tried:

http://www.amazon.com/Terk-Amplifie...XZB2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294890080&sr=8-1

I use that antenna. It works great. However:

(1) All the television stations in Boston have their transmitters in the same place, up on the Needham flats. That's important, because the Terk HDTVa is directional; it works best pointed at the transmitter you're trying to receive signal from. There are other, omni-directional antennas, but they generally don't work as well as a similarly-priced directional antenna; in other words, there is a significant performance cost for providing omni-directionality.

(2) I am 13.5 miles, as the crow flies, from the antenna farm in Needham, and there are no hills or other topological obstructions - I have direct "line-of-sight". (On a very clear day, with very strong binoculars, theoretically I should be able to see the little needles of the antenna farm.)

If the transmitters in your city aren't grouped together, or are significantly further from your home, or if there are hills in between the transmitters and your home, you probably won't do as well as I do with an indoor antenna.

Dish came out and said they can't give us signal because of our tree line.

And indeed it is possible that your property can be fine for DirecTV and be unsuitable for Dish Network.

 

[DawnM]

Yes, something about the position of the satellites for DTV allows the aim to not be affected by the trees.

I will say that we stuck the below antenna out the window of our house and were able to receive all channels. Since it is COLD outside, we didn't do it for long.....we brought it back in, and tried it indoors and it would go out several times. So, we don't know if that is because it was then indoors or because it would do that even if it were outside.

It might be worth a shot to try an attic or rooftop antenna if I knew I could return it were it not to work. Costco might be an option for this???

We are 25 miles driving miles to the city of Charlotte.....don't know about the crow flying....I would imagine around 18???? I know we also picked up a couple of Columbia, SC stations when we stuck the antenna outside.

Dawn

Regular antennas are much less affected by trees, and such, but also not completely unaffected. More often, though, what gets in the way of regular antennas (besides the obvious: distance; and/or direct obstruction due to hillsides/mountainsides and/or buildings in the way, including the building the antenna is in/on) is mutipath. Multipath happens when there are objects, off the direct path from the transmitter to the antenna, for the signal to bounce off of (such as anything that would obstruct the signal, if they were actually in the way). Sometimes, that bounce actually helps, when it is the only way the signal reaches you. But generally, there are multiple objects for the signal to bounce off of, and in that case, you end up with multiple instances of the signal reaching your antenna slightly off from each other, interfering with each other. Without a link to the plot provided to you by tvfool.com, that's a reasonable guess for what's wrong in your case.

I use that antenna. It works great. However:

(1) All the television stations in Boston have their transmitters in the same place, up on the Needham flats. That's important, because the Terk HDTVa is directional; it works best pointed at the transmitter you're trying to receive signal from. There are other, omni-directional antennas, but they generally don't work as well as a similarly-priced directional antenna; in other words, there is a significant performance cost for providing omni-directionality.

(2) I am 13.5 miles, as the crow flies, from the antenna farm in Needham, and there are no hills or other topological obstructions - I have direct "line-of-sight". (On a very clear day, with very strong binoculars, theoretically I should be able to see the little needles of the antenna farm.)

If the transmitters in your city aren't grouped together, or are significantly further from your home, or if there are hills in between the transmitters and your home, you probably won't do as well as I do with an indoor antenna.

And indeed it is possible that your property can be fine for DirecTV and be unsuitable for Dish Network.

 

[bicker]

Yes, something about the position of the satellites for DTV allows the aim to not be affected by the trees.

I forget which is which, but one company's satellite is over the mid-west, and the other company's satellite is over the Atlantic (at least for us, here, for the service level we were looking at).

I will say that we stuck the below antenna out the window of our house and were able to receive all channels. Since it is COLD outside, we didn't do it for long.....we brought it back in, and tried it indoors and it would go out several times. So, we don't know if that is because it was then indoors or because it would do that even if it were outside.

Yeah it is hard to say. Again, since it is directional, even how you were pointing it, when holding it out the window, would matter.

It might be worth a shot to try an attic or rooftop antenna if I knew I could return it were it not to work.

If you get almost-decent reception with the Terk HDTVa, I cannot imagine that you would not get excellent reception with a properly-sized, correctly-oriented rooftop antenna.

 

[eeyorethegreat]

Yes, something about the position of the satellites for DTV allows the aim to not be affected by the trees.

We had to loose a treee on the edge of our woods as it had grown too tall and totally blocked the signal.
Been following this thread as our contract is up and DTV has raised our prices as well. hinking of switching to cable at a similar price as phone internet and tv would all be bundled and it would be just one bill to pay. If DTV can give me a deal. The trick is I have one of the old plans back form oh 2001 or so. I might have to loose that plan and get a new one if they agree to work a discount.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't know about DirecTV, but Dish network has two satellite groupings... one is to the east (called the Eastern Arc) of the US, and the other is in the midwest (Western Arc). With the exception of local broadcast signals, all signals are available on both groups.

Dawn... did you try going to http://www.tvfool.com yet? It will tell you how far away and in what direction the towers are.

The antenna you showed I would not expect to work for any great distance, and then at the bottom of a hill. The fact that putting the antenna outside allowed you to get signals bodes well for being able to receive OTA signals.

 

[DawnM]

Yes, we have been to that site before we even bought our indoor antenna.....We would have to play with the antenna a bit more to see if the outdoors trick would work longer than a minute or two....we just stuck it outside and flipped through the channels to see so far.....no telling what trying to watch a full show would be like.....since indoors it would look great and then wham, go out.

Here are the results of TV Fool for us:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=3cf4ab670e67d6

Hmmm.....the Dish guy was pointing towards the midwest.....could he have pointed the other way? The only place we don't have trees is pointing SouthEast. The rest of the area is woodsy and fairly dense. Trees are far above our roofline.

I do like having some of the extended channels, but honestly, when I look at what our DVR has on it, over 80% of the shows are network TV.

Dawn

THIS is the part that had me thinking that this was just a general report and not specific to MY house:

Please understand that this is a simulation and can only be treated as a rough approximation. Reception at your location is affected by many factors such as multipath, antenna gain, receiver sensitivity, buildings, and trees - which are not taken into account. Your mileage may vary.

I don't know about DirecTV, but Dish network has two satellite groupings... one is to the east (called the Eastern Arc) of the US, and the other is in the midwest (Western Arc). With the exception of local broadcast signals, all signals are available on both groups.

Dawn... did you try going to http://www.tvfool.com yet? It will tell you how far away and in what direction the towers are.

The antenna you showed I would not expect to work for any great distance, and then at the bottom of a hill. The fact that putting the antenna outside allowed you to get signals bodes well for being able to receive OTA signals.

 

[bicker]

I don't know about DirecTV, but Dish network has two satellite groupings... one is to the east (called the Eastern Arc) of the US, and the other is in the midwest (Western Arc). With the exception of local broadcast signals, all signals are available on both groups.

DirectTV has two groupings as well, but not in the same locations in the sky as Dish Network, accounting for why some folks can get one satellite service but cannot get the other.

The antenna you showed I would not expect to work for any great distance, and then at the bottom of a hill.

Don't sell the Terk HDTVa short. It's a remarkable little antenna. The only indoor antenna (and I use the term "indoor" loosely in this case) that does a better job for the money, IMHO, is the Antennas Direct DB2. It is even omni-directional.

 

[bicker]

Here are the results of TV Fool for us:

Hmm.... the good news is that you've got a lot of line-of-sight; the bad news is that half of it is split between NNE and NW. You could try pointing a directional antenna between the two; that sometimes works well enough. Regardless, a rooftop antenna should work superbly. Even that aforementioned DB2 is probably good enough for your location, if the Terk is not.

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id=3cf4ab670e67d6

Hmmm.....the Dish guy was pointing towards the midwest.....could he have pointed the other way?

The groupings are not as interchangeable as Sam indicated. Local channels are not carried in both groupings, as far as I know.

THIS is the part that had me thinking that this was just a general report and not specific to MY house:

Please understand that this is a simulation and can only be treated as a rough approximation. Reception at your location is affected by many factors such as multipath, antenna gain, receiver sensitivity, buildings, and trees - which are not taken into account. Your mileage may vary.

It is a standard disclaimer. I noticed that you said your antenna was up on the third level of your home (25 feet, ~12 feet per level , so that would put it on the floor of the third level). Is that accurate? That could make a bigger difference than the trees (though the trees could definitely have some minor impact).

 

[DawnM]

Yes, from the front of our house, it is on the 3rd floor.....we have a basement, first floor, and 2nd floor. The house is on a hill so the back of the house only has 2 floors as the basement is underground, but the front of the house has the basement level at the ground level (or 1st floor level.) if that makes sense.

We will see what we can do....if I can get this working I may just pay to quit DTV early ($20 per month fee.)

I still will want a Tivo or some way to record TV though.

Dawn

It is a standard disclaimer. I noticed that you said your antenna was up on the third level of your home (25 feet, ~12 feet per level , so that would put it on the floor of the third level). Is that accurate? That could make a bigger difference than the trees (though the trees could definitely have some minor impact).

 

[sam_gordon]

Don't sell the Terk HDTVa short. It's a remarkable little antenna. The only indoor antenna (and I use the term "indoor" loosely in this case) that does a better job for the money, IMHO, is the Antennas Direct DB2. It is even omni-directional.

I wouldn't expect that antenna to pick up (especially indoors at the bottom of a hill) a broadcast that's 30+ miles away (which TVfool shows the NBC and CBS are).

The groupings are not as interchangeable as Sam indicated. Local channels are not carried in both groupings, as far as I know.

Of course, I *DID* say "with the exception of local broadcast signals". So the groupings ARE as interchangeable as I indicated. Some locals ARE available on both groupings, but you might not get HD from both groupings.

Dawn-

I think you can get solid OTA reception, you just need the correct antenna. I'd find a directional that will handle 50+ miles and try it in the attic (yes, you can put it outside for all but guaranteed reception, but I like a "clean" look if I can do it).

ETA: I'd try pointing the antenna due north for reception. Look at the chart from TV fool.

 

[DawnM]

Thanks guys.

In looking at the DBSTalk forum, it looks like anything further than 20-30 miles they are recommending an outdoor antenna over an attic antenna. Are most antennas made to do either? Or would I need a specific one for each?

I am still debating if I want to lose DVR and all the channels, but I would like to find out if we can get signal and try OTA for a while.

Dawn

 

[sam_gordon]

Thanks guys.

In looking at the DBSTalk forum, it looks like anything further than 20-30 miles they are recommending an outdoor antenna over an attic antenna. Are most antennas made to do either? Or would I need a specific one for each?

An outdoor antenna is more "weather proof" than an indoor antenna. There is no problem using an outdoor antenna indoor (including in an attic), but I wouldn't use an indoor antenna outdoor.

An outdoor antenna will get you more coverage, but it is subjected to weather (ie: mounting, connections, etc). Any antenna put indoors (even in an attic) will lose some range because of the need to "get through" walls. Whether that makes enough of a difference in your situation would take experimentation.

I am still debating if I want to lose DVR and all the channels, but I would like to find out if we can get signal and try OTA for a while.
Dawn

I think you've got the right idea.

Something to keep in mind... no matter where you put your antenna (outside or inside), the more cable between the antenna and the receiver, the less signal you'll get (the amount you lose will depend on the type of the cable and the length). If you split the feed (to feed two or more receivers) you cut the signal. This signal level can often be made up via amplifiers. But too much amplification can cause issues also.

Another web resource... http://www.avsforum.com/. Do a search for your city of license and there's probably a forum dedicated to off air reception specific to your area.

 

[bicker]

I wouldn't expect that antenna to pick up (especially indoors at the bottom of a hill) a broadcast that's 30+ miles away (which TVfool shows the NBC and CBS are).

With LOS, the HDTVa might manage a signal lock, though probably not reliably enough for our purposes.

Of course, I *DID* say "with the exception of local broadcast signals". So the groupings ARE as interchangeable as I indicated.

Oops... you're right. Still, not interchangeable enough for most HD customers' needs.