Anyone here still have C-Band?

[Chris Blount]

I gave up my C-Band system 4 years ago in favor of DBS. I do miss having my big Dish but on the other hand it was a pain to maintain. I also didn't like waiting almost a minute to get from CNN to KTLA.

C-Band was great but I have to admit I'm enjoying DBS much better. Multiroom receivers with dual tuners is definitely a plus and would be very difficult to do with C-Band without costing an arm and a leg.

[JohnH]

Yeah, but when you have both you can get the best of both worlds. Free feeds when available and DBS when not. Also, can get GoodLife TV. :)

[Jacob S]

I think C-Band is mainly just for those that are a satellite nut in it for the hobby. C-Band has almost always been just for a hobby for the most part, although some got it for the entertainment purposes as well, but mainly to pick up free feeds.

[dfergie]

Still have my equipment, 2 dish's but have not used in a year or so, 2 recievers with vc2s . (have dish 501, 6000, and direct hughes and phillips recievers) 4 dbs dishes on house.

[Scott Greczkowski]

My C Band dish is behind my garage (I cant see the Arc so I never put it up after I moved) The GI-650 receiver is sitting in my basement, I plug it in every now and then to keep the batter ok on the Videocypher II+ module.

[JohnH]

The 650i is a nice receiver. Unfortunately they have elected to only make the 450i, wich does not have stereo capability other than VCII stereo.

I have a 450i and a Chaparal Monterey M100 in service and others in the closet.

[Doug E]

I have had C/Ku band since 1983. I live too far from San Francisco Bay Area to receive a decent signal OTA, so I basically wanted it for the network feeds (they were all in the clear then). Also, HBO and Showtime (and all the other premium movie channels that have long since disappeared) were in the clear. When D* put up the SF locals, I subbed to it, then switched to E*. Still have them all for various reasons. I have a question about the 4DTV receiver. Currently I do not sub to anything, and do not receive the program grid (EPG). Does anyone know how I might get the EPG without subs to anything?

Doug

[mike1002]

I too have kept my CBand/Ku TVRO system. I have a Uniden UST-4400 and a Pansat 300A DVB/FTA receiver. All hooked up to an 8 foot mesh dish. I got the Dish 508 for 2 reasons. My wife hated moving the dish from sat to sat and I wanted a PVR. As it has turned out we are now on our 2nd 508 because the devices are a little on the 'flaky' side. When ever something in the world pops up I swing my BUD into action to see what I can find up there. I gotta tell you I really miss the beautiful picture I get on my BUD. I wish I could find a system that would slave to my BUD and have a PVR that would drive the dish to the right bird when my programming from the cable-ghetto was set on a timer. Until that happens I'm stuck with a foot in each world.

Mike

[JohnH]

Originally posted by Doug E
I have had C/Ku band since 1983. I live too far from San Francisco Bay Area to receive a decent signal OTA, so I basically wanted it for the network feeds (they were all in the clear then). Also, HBO and Showtime (and all the other premium movie channels that have long since disappeared) were in the clear. When D* put up the SF locals, I subbed to it, then switched to E*. Still have them all for various reasons. I have a question about the 4DTV receiver. Currently I do not sub to anything, and do not receive the program grid (EPG). Does anyone know how I might get the EPG without subs to anything?

Doug

$49.00 a year for Court TV from Superstar.

[Mike]

Yeppers to c-band. 5 foot one now, but that's okay. 6 PrimeStar ku dishes where one will be converted to c-band use here very very very soon. HTS70, Uniden 9000 and Uniden 2200 receivers. Old ones, but they work fine. DMT1000 MPEG 4:2:0 receiver. Newest of the bunch, but that's my favorite now.

DirecTV for 6 receivers and Dish Network for one receiver now (have 3 of them).

Backyard which is small is just littered with dishes, but I get lots and lots of free stuff. I subscribe to TC and locals on DirecTV with the NY locals from all but FOX. I get the supers and locals on Dish with WSB, WCBS, WBBM, KUSA & WXIA as far distant locals.

C-band is the best, but for the Sunday Ticket and other sports packages, the little dishes are beter.

[KB]

Mike, you say you are going to convert one of your PrimeStar ku dishes to Cband? Is that really possible? I bought a 90cm ku dish last fall along with analog and fta receivers. Because I rent, a large dish is out of the question at this time but I would love to be able to watch c-band as well. Global Communications told me the law physics would not allow a small dish to receive c-band signals.

I recently bought a PrimeStar dish on ebay so please post a few details if this is possible (lnb noise levels, prime focus or offset, etc.). Thanks in advance.

By the way, like you, I love my ku system. I bought it to watch coverage of my college basketball team, really did not need the digital fta, but I enjoy it also.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I don't think you can convert a Primestar to a C band dish (ku YES but C Band no) The problem is the focal point is to short and the dish is to small to echo the low powered C Band signal.

[Mike123abc]

C-Band satellites are only 2 degrees apart across the arc. So, you have to have a much larger dish to focus in on a single one. Otherwise you will "see" more than one satellite and not be able to lock on to a single satellite.

6-7 foot is about the smallest C-Band dishes that I have seen in use, but you could probably get a tad bit smaller if you were in the hot spot for the satellite.

[KB]

Thanks guys, that is what I thought. Maybe by "convert" Mike means he going to replace one of his PrimeStar dishes.

[Mike]

That too someday. I'm going to put a LNBF on the PrimeStar dish. I don't care about sparklie free stuff. I just need a picture of something to watch the ballgames. I don't have room for another big c-band dish. 5 ft one works great, BTW. I can see from AMC 2 to AMC 7, but the trees block T6 east unless I put the dish on the patio and then I can't walk out to move it. Most of the time, it sits on G3, T5 or G4 or a combo of 2 if I place it right.

I've tested it with my lnbf I have now. It works okay. I get pictures, but it's not the best. I've lived with sparklies for years, so it's no big deal. I just take the ku lnbf off and put the c-band one in it's place. It's easier if you have a lnb holder where the cables are coming out from the bottom of the casing like I have in a few of mine.

[Jacob S]

I seen this site where they make these smaller dishes of arrays for c/ku band feeds even in which you pick them up with but cost a good little chunk of change. I am not sure if you had to rotate the dishes or not, probably do.

[djlong]

Chiming in here - had a C-band system for 10 years.

It still works - and I can catch an early Buffy or Angel feed when the stars align properly..

But it was the consumer features of DBS that won out (I have a Dishplayer) and made it trivially easy for my wife and kids to easily watch what they want.

[Jacob S]

Having the C-band dishes that automatically turn to the satellites of choice would make it much easier. The smaller arrays would make it even quicker and easier because it would move it faster due to the smaller size.

[John Walsh III]

I've had my c-band dish since 1992. I got it to watch the redskins games plus the local cable company here in N.C. was a joke. Anyway, upgraded to C/KU in 2001 to see more sports feeds and wwe that fed live on Monday and Tuesday night. WWE went mpeg in december so I can no longer get that but its still fun to watch college bball games with no commercials.

[Tim]

I have an old Primestar dish, an analog receiver, and an MPEG2 FTA receiver. Even though I can only get ku stuff it's still a hell of alot fun. I use the analog mostly for sports feeds, and the FTA receiver for newsfeeds and Abu Dhabi TV. :)

Thanks as always to our esteemed members Mike and JohnH posting feeds!

[Jacob S]

It would be even better if you could have it all translated to English.

[lee635]

I love my 8.5 ft dish and Fujitsu receiver. Only problem is that when moving from one end of the arc to the other, the dish is always off a bit and I have to jog it around, then reset the sat location on the receiver. I replaced the reed switch, but no luck.

Also, still troubleshooting a bad rotator that died about 2 weeks ago.

[texasclaw]

I have a 10' BUD that I have had for over 11 years. I get excellent analog (VideoCipher II) viewing (alacart) with my Motorola 450i receiver and Free To Air from my BEC DB 6600+ Digital receiver. I get Peurto Rico(ABC and UPN & FOX) and the American Virgin Islands(CBS and NBC), Columbia, SC(UPN) and Casper, Wyoming(NBC), as well as DW (German) TV on C-Band. I am in the process of putting up a 76cm Ku dish for my digital receiver and will triple my Free To Air viewing.

I am still a fan of the BUD (10') and think that C-Band programming is still "what's going on".

[JohnH]

I think you mean VideoCipher II.

Should probably invest in a C/Ku feed for the BUD. Get more analog that way.

[texasclaw]

You are right. I should invest in the C/Ku feed for the BUD, but it would tear up my wifes flower beds and she wouldn't like that. It would not be worth the fight since most of the channels I view are on the Digital receiver (got it when DW TV went digital). When they set up the original BUD, they only put in a cable for C-Band and I would need to lay another cable for the Ku-Band. Hey, you can only look at so much TV and with what I get now, plus the ones I will get with the 76cm Ku Dish, I will be in "Hog Heaven". Thanks for the advice though.

Have since added a C/Ku LNBF BSC 621-2 to my BUD, which solved the problem of having to add another coax. The Ku Dish is up and running, so all is well on the border of Texas.

[tdti1]

I think C-Band is mainly just for those that are a satellite nut in it for the hobby. C-Band has almost always been just for a hobby for the most part, although some got it for the entertainment purposes as well, but mainly to pick up free feeds.

I use my big dish because I love good picture and sound quality, I can't watch poor small dish picture it sucks, and I like the fact that I can watch TV in the big rain storms, and I pay about $300.00 a year for eveything I want, with pizza I would pay $80.00 a month, I love my HD off the big dish also, and I like all the free channels I get with both my 4dtv and DVB together, big dish is still the best system out there hands down.

Anyone who wants to upgrade to 4dtv here are the best deals:
http://www.callnps.com/4dtv.htm
http://skyvision.com/store/399_4dtv.html

If you only have C-band it is time to upgrade to c/ku these places have everything needed for the big dish:
http://www.rpssat.com
http://mechtech.satforums.com/
http://www.global-cm.net/


This is how to easily add a dvb for more free channels:
http://www.dmsiusa.com/add_a_receiver.htm

And here is why big dish has the best picture and sound:
http://satellitetheater.com/C-Band%20World.htm

I will be putting up another 10' next summer and getting another 4dtv, I save so much with all the saving on programming and with all the free stuff :)

Also with the 4dtv it is very easy to use the big dish.

[dmp101]

I've had a 10' BUD C/KU system for 19 years now. I upgraded to 4DTV 3 years ago and getting ready to add a Pansat 2700A FTA receiver. I've had cable in the past and have also seen the picture quality of the small dish and decided I will never surrender my BUD. What fries me the most :mad: is when Superstar uses their scare tactics on you to convert to small dish. They keep saying all of these channels are leaving C-Band and will be unavailable. What they don't tell you is they are moving to KU-Band and are still available with 4DTV. 2.5 million people have fallen for their scam already. There are only about 220,000 BUD subscribers left. They must not be making enough money off of us BUD users. :nono:

[stonecold]

I still have a 6 foot ku/C band dish that I still use on ocassion. I still sub only to USA network now as I like the picture the best with it and I love Monk and Monday Night Raw. I still keep it around for the freebie channels and I have upgraded to 4dtv

I wonder if I can do anything with the old primestar recivers a friend gave me when he was cleaning out his garage. I will probably just disect them to see how they built there Conditional Access Module and how the machine worked.

I love Caband but I just cant beat dish with my 3 remaining 7200s and my 721

[tdti1]

You should upgrade to a bigger dish, and grab a dvb box, I have my 4dtv an it is much better than the small dish, I will be putting up another 10' or 12' next year to :)

[bidger]

Have any of you folks still using the big dishes been able to rig up or build a digital video recorder that works with your services?

[tdti1]

Have any of you folks still using the big dishes been able to rig up or build a digital video recorder that works with your services?

http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/home.htm

[bidger]

Thanks, tdti1. Archive to DVHS option...nice!

[ItsJustMe]

Without sounding too unintelligent about sattelite, I am thinking of getting back into sattelite TV after being away for 8 years. I bought a GI 2400R in 1990 and upgraded to Videocipher II in 1992. I used it with a 10-foot dish C-Band until 1997. I never upgraded to Ku band. I moved in 1997 and left the 10-foot dish with the old house.

Now that cable prices are high, I am thinking about using satellite again. Free-to-Air TV looks good but I know nothing about it. I have 4 rooms in the house that I want to watch TV. Is Dish Network the way to go? Has C-Band and Ku-Band been outdated? What are my options for Satellite TV?

[Ken Howe]

what are you people going to do when monday night football with be on ESPN only in about a year or two?

[KyL416]

what are you people going to do when monday night football with be on ESPN only in about a year or two?
ESPN is available on C-Band.

[tdti1]

Without sounding too unintelligent about sattelite, I am thinking of getting back into sattelite TV after being away for 8 years. I bought a GI 2400R in 1990 and upgraded to Videocipher II in 1992. I used it with a 10-foot dish C-Band until 1997. I never upgraded to Ku band. I moved in 1997 and left the 10-foot dish with the old house.

Now that cable prices are high, I am thinking about using satellite again. Free-to-Air TV looks good but I know nothing about it. I have 4 rooms in the house that I want to watch TV. Is Dish Network the way to go? Has C-Band and Ku-Band been outdated? What are my options for Satellite TV?

Ku-band is what pizza dishes are, ther are Ku only systems, though they use circular polarity and most broadcast feeds that you get with Ku-band on a big dish are linear feeds, I get both types on my dish, though I never use the circular Ku-band.

Big dish is best for picture quality and low cost programming, though for multi rooms you may want cabe or pizza dish.

[tdti1]

what are you people going to do when monday night football with be on ESPN only in about a year or two?

Do you mean the HD feed? I get ESPN 1&2 (SD) though ESPN HD 1&2 are on Galaxy 10R Transponder 22 http://www.lyngsat.com/g10r.html these feeds are DCII but they are megapipe feeds and not compatible with the 4dtv.

[langlin]

I still use my BUD for college football when the networks "cut away" from the game I want to watch, but that is about all, but I do remember the high quality of non-compressed analog signals and I know I'm in the minority because I care about quality. Digital has not met it's potential and probably never will.

[tdti1]

I still use my BUD for college football when the networks "cut away" from the game I want to watch, but that is about all, but I do remember the high quality of non-compressed analog signals and I know I'm in the minority because I care about quality. Digital has not met it's potential and probably never will.


Digital on big dish blows away small dish hands down, the HD does to, the programming costs are lower, and all you really need is a 4dtv.

[KyL416]

There is one thing that I'm noticing with 4DTV, they are now beginning to give out more of the HITS Digital retransmissions on X4 instead of the master digital feeds for many channels, and from what I heard from some, the quality on HITS isn't that great compared to what they used to get with the master feeds, and that some of the HITS channels use the local inserts.

[tdti1]

There is one thing that I'm noticing with 4DTV, they are now beginning to give out more of the HITS Digital retransmissions on X4 instead of the master digital feeds for many channels, and from what I heard from some, the quality on HITS isn't that great compared to what they used to get with the master feeds, and that some of the HITS channels use the local inserts.

Few channels are from HITS, though they seem to be less compressed than DTV and dish channels, but yes the master feeds still kick ass :) we still have most master feeds in digital and analog.

[loulmco]

I have a C-Band Dish with HDTV Receiver and an HDTV receiver attached to my roof antenna that receives excellent reception from all of the Dallas/Fort Worth local stations. The C-Band programming that I am interested in is provided by SPS for less than $400.00 per year. What I have lost, however, is ESPN. I hope that they can be convinced to go back to C-Band (at the digital end where many stations have already migrated). If they go over to the KU Band (that I do not have) I will update my system to include KU. I probably do not have a diversity of interest on TV as others on the forum. I am rather limited to the History Channel, PBS, Discovery, Fox News, Food network, and the lost ESPN channels). Still, I really believe that I have more programming freedom than I ever will with cable, Dish or Direct TV.

[Deke Leonard]

Would not trade my C Band for anything. Between the 8ft dish, the 922, the Q TV 1080 and the Satworks 3618, if it's up there, I'm gettin' it.

[RussC42]

Yeah, but when you have both you can get the best of both worlds. Free feeds when available and DBS when not. Also, can get GoodLife TV. :)

Have tried a few times here and elsewhere on some advice on using my BUD with the 4DTV as the mover to view FTA programming. Have a Coolsat 5000 FTA receiver. Am able to view some FTA on a few sats but reception is very limited.
Do get a good picture of the NBC feeds on W4? but not sure if each sat has their own set up criteria like type of lnb, 22mhz on/off, etc. Any help you can offer me?

Thanks

[Chefwan]

im still useing c-band have programming with NPS right now. motorola DSR-922 4dtv receiver. i like how you can watch tv without rain fade at the end of your shows or when it has 20 minutes left and its getting god BAM its out with small dish's. buddy of mine has Directv and he has some weather cover he claims it helps rain fade but im not sure of that.

[JhelmoreII]

I am still a C-Bander at heart but with the loss of some of the channels to the small dish I had to add Dish network for my wife. I also use FTA via a DVB unit. Convenience is a big deal to the wife so Dish network works well for her. I kept all the movie subs on Big dish (97 channels) versus less than 20 on the small dish. Picture quality is better on the big dish also, so when we watch movies it is on the big dish over a 65 inch MITS TV. I am blending the systems together for maximum quality viewing while meeting her requests.

[Richard King]

I just made a short trip to Minnesnowta and it appears that the person who bought my house 11 years ago still has C-band. This was my first c-band installation and quite a test of my abilities.

[disneyjoe7]

Have any of you folks still using the big dishes been able to rig up or build a digital video recorder that works with your services?

checkout dvrblackbox.com