Slimline 5 / Slimline 3

[ub1934]

What do you lose from 110 & 119 when you go to the slimline 3 dish ?

[Davenlr]

Your SD locals if they are on 119, and the mpeg2 versions of the HD channels in the 70's for those with old non-mpeg4 HD receivers.

[carl6]

And the Spanish language Para Todos channels if you subscribe to them.

[David MacLeod]

this is just an opinion, but if you have clear line of sight I've always figured why NOT use the sl5.

[dishrich]

And a couple freebie religious channels such as Hope Ch & Jewish Life TV.
Also, the Chinese prog pkg is on 119, if you sub.

this is just an opinion, but if you have clear line of sight I've always figured why NOT use the sl5.

Because if D* installs it, they do not give you the option of an SL5, unless you:
-live in one of the 119 SD markets
-pay for any extra prog (spanish or chinese) that requires 119
-pay extra for a SL5

Otherwise, the SL3 is considered the "standard" HD dish - it's also the standard dish for all new installs/upgrades in all 72.5 markets, (including SD only subs) since they all are in MPEG4 now.

[wilbur_the_goose]

Does guide info for a SL5 still come from 119? If so, why?

[henryld]

Does guide info for a SL5 still come from 119? If so, why?
+1

[Stuart Sweet]

...because it does. I don't have a better answer than that, but if you change to an SL3, you can get guide data very satisfactorily without 119.

[evan_s]

Does guide info for a SL5 still come from 119? If so, why?

Guide info still comes from 119 because anyone with an SL5 NEEDS it to becoming from there for it to work correctly. It is the same reason that you NEED to have an SL3 and set the receiver correctly to get guide info reliably with out LoS to 119 and just changing the setting on the receiver with out changing the lnb won't work.

The basic explanation is pretty simple. DirecTV uses a system where all guide data is sent together and you always have to be able to get that guide data. Back in the old days with a phase 3 that meant guide data on 101 and 119. When they added the Ka sats for national HD they just added them above and below the existing 101 and 119 and still relied on them for guide data because
a) it kept backwards compatibility
b) using the bbc's you aren't able to access Ka hi and ka low at the same time.

For the SL3 they simply replace the 110/119 with 101 so 101 is always available and are always able to get the guide data from it.

[BattleZone]

Does guide info for a SL5 still come from 119? If so, why?

Backwards compatibility. SD receivers see an SL5 LNB as being idential to a Triple-Sat LNB, and a Triple-Sat LNB was designed for the guide data to come from 119 whenever a channel on 110 or 119 was being viewed. And so, HD receivers also expect the same configuration, again, necessary for backwards compatiblity.

If that hadn't been done, upgrades for millions of customers with legacy receivers would have been a nightmare, or hugely expensive for DirecTV, who would have had to replace every old receiver. And lots of people do not want to give up their older receivers, especially SD Tivos and such.