Some really basic questions before I buy...

[Backwoods Montana]

OK , I'm new at this and I've tried to make sense out of all of the jargon and abbreviations, types and bands, azimuths and etc.

I'm disgusted with Dish Network, don't much care for most of the commercial network stuff anyway, so I want to get rid of it and get FTA. Since I watch Montana PBS most of the time, and since it's available FTA, I guess this is a good way to go. Just in case my wife wants to watch something different, it's probably a good idea to get something to switch to a different satellite. We like the ability to record, skip back on live TV, and watch HDTV. For the record, I'm in rural western Montana, and have a pretty good view of the southern sky within 50 ft and a better view within 400 ft.

From what I can tell, everything we would want is on AMC 21, Galaxy 18 and maybe AMC 9.

Here's the package that I'm looking at. I don't know if its overkill or not enough, good or crummy, so I would appreciate ANY input anyone has.

"Viewsat Max HD STATIONARY FTA System #3" from GO Satellite.com
(sorry can't post url)

so you don't have to have something that physically moves the dish to another satellite?

Also, will any hard drive work, like the Western Digital that I use for my computer back-ups?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[BNUMM]

OK , I'm new at this and I've tried to make sense out of all of the jargon and abbreviations, types and bands, azimuths and etc.

I'm disgusted with Dish Network, don't much care for most of the commercial network stuff anyway, so I want to get rid of it and get FTA. Since I watch Montana PBS most of the time, and since it's available FTA, I guess this is a good way to go. Just in case my wife wants to watch something different, it's probably a good idea to get something to switch to a different satellite. We like the ability to record, skip back on live TV, and watch HDTV. For the record, I'm in rural western Montana, and have a pretty good view of the southern sky within 50 ft and a better view within 400 ft.

From what I can tell, everything we would want is on AMC 21, Galaxy 18 and maybe AMC 9.

Here's the package that I'm looking at. I don't know if its overkill or not enough, good or crummy, so I would appreciate ANY input anyone has.

"Viewsat Max HD STATIONARY FTA System #3" from GO Satellite.com
(sorry can't post url)

so you don't have to have something that physically moves the dish to another satellite?

Also, will any hard drive work, like the Western Digital that I use for my computer back-ups?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
You will not be able to get AMC-9 on the same dish as the other two satellites because the dish will not cover that wide of a spread. You might want to contact GO Satellite and see what kind of help they will give you. I personally have never set up a dish to get any of these satellites so I can not give you reliable info. other than you cannot get that wide of a spread.

[FTA Michael]

Your choices are to move the dish to change satellites or to use more than one dish plus a switch. The advantage of multiple dishes is that changing from one satellite to another is as fast as changing a Dish channel. With the motor, there's a delay of a few seconds between satellites.

And I have no experience with the Viewsat Max, but my current primary FTA receiver is the Pansat 9200 HD. If you're used to the easy, painless, reliable operation of a Dish DVR, you'll hate the Pansat 9200. I can't pause live TV. I get software crashes way too often. Even fast-forwarding recorded shows is a bit painful. It's not much better than a VCR.

I'd recommend that, to do the kind of DVR (pause, rewind live TV, etc.) tricks that you're used to, you should consider getting an HD TiVo. Then you could use the TiVo for OTA HD channels and plug in the output from an HD FTA receiver for manual storage. It's kludgy, but my experience with the Pansat HD has been no better.

Good luck, and let us know if you have more questions.

[Davenlr]

Go Satellite will not allow you to return or exchange a receiver, even if its defective upon arrival (I ordered a Pansat from them, and it was broke. Had to send a brand new receiver back to Pansat to get it fixed). I would recommend Ricks Satellite at http://gofastmotorsports.com for better service.

That said, if you want HD, and you want a DVR, you are going to be disappointed. The system I use, is a Windows XP computer, into which I have plugged a Hauppauge HDPVR, which gets its input from the Pansat 9200HD. For DVR software I use SageTV. Its a very good working system, EXCEPT it often fails to change the channel on the satellite receiver, however ,there is a USB channel changing box you can buy to remedy that. SageTV will also let you plug in multiple cheap USB HD tuner stick, so you can record 2, three or more channels at once.

For PBS Montana (or PBS-HD) you will need at least a 1.2M dish. Ive used the 90cm dishes, and they just dont cut it if its cloudy or raining. If you want ABC, MY Network, or most other HD channels, you will need a minimum of a 6' C band dish. Almost all HD is on C Band. 6' would be minimum. If you want Nascar feeds, and sports uplinks, you will need a 10'. The good thing, is there are a LOT of no longer used C band dishes out in the country, previously used for 4DTV, so perhaps you can find the dish for free.

Check out the Forum on Ricks website mentioned above. Its where people post the wild feeds they come across, and compare signal levels across different platforms.

To turn a 1.2M dish, you will need a HH Motor. To turn a C band dish, you will need an actuator, and a Gbox interface (it accepts the commands from your receiver, and converts it to the reed switch counter the C band dishes use).

Also, be aware that PBS is in the process of changing to a totally new computerized distribution method, and there is no telling how long they will actually be available on satellite in an FTA format. There are no guarantees whats there today, will be there tomorrow.

Good luck.