QAM Receivers

Anyone else out there using the 3750 QAM receiver?

I'm looking for feedback on system performance and reliability.

[Steve Mehs]

I havent seen much mention of the 3750 here, but you may wanna contact the orginal poster of this thread at AVSForums

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=113763&highlight=QAM

I was not aware that Echostar has such a product, but I have been aware of a similar product manufactured by Motorola that WSNet was been marketing to enable cable TV-style distribution (54-750Mz) of Digicipher2 signals (HITS and its own).

Apparently, there are QAM converters that compress a satellite QPSK transponder into 6Mz of bandwidth, propagated at frequencies that are more conveniently distributed through traditional cable TV wiring. According to an article in the April 2002 edition of Broadband Properties, the entire 32 transponder, 1 G content of a single DBS satellite can be compressed into 192Mz and distributed through existing MATV distribution systems.

I'm not sure where Echostar fits into this scheme of distribution. It is my understanding that DISH and DirecTV cannot legally sell programming for resale, which is to say, they cannot sell it to a private cable operator who then repackages it and marks it up for resale to his customers. I use DirecTV and DISH network programming in some private cable systems that I service, but the DBS signal is just a "transport" vehicle for program brokers who can legally resell, like WSNet, 4COM, and SMS.

DISH may want apartment complexes to have access to this technology to assure the availability of its programming to all of the units in MDUs, and may consider this system architecture favorable to L-band (950-1450mz) distribution, but I just don't see the economics of this working out for very many MDUs. A headend for one 32 transponder satellite would cost about $15,000 just for the QAM conversion. Even if the rest of the infrastructure already existed and only had to be maintained, I can't imagine that the subscribers would be so lucrative as to justify this additional expense.

DirecTV MDU L-band system operators bite the dust frequently because they cannot profitably run systems that are much less capital intensive. This system probably has much lower maintenance cost than would L-band distribution, however, and better supports multiple receiver households.

Would Mr. ECHO_QAM please tell us how many units are serviced by his headend, and whether franchised cable is available as an option?

Does his system have more than one satellite's worth of programming available? Does it make available the extensive Spanish Programming and pay-per-view from the 110 degree satellite, and foreign language and HDTV programming from the 61.5 degree satellites as well?

Does he pay the same rates for programming that direct reception customers pay, and are payments made directly to DISH network or to a programming broker?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[SeanKelly]

In the MDU where I live, we've got access to two birds with two very large dishes (pointed at 110 and 119). I don't know the exact make-up of the equipment at the head-end, but I do know it's not reliable at all. An entire transponder's worth of programming is offline quite often. That's caused me to drop extra packages and ask for refunds on PPV movies, and that means lost revenue for Dish.

Who gets the money? Residents pay $11.95/month for basic cable, getting access to the analog programming also on the MATV net. We pay $6.50/month to rent the model 3750 receiver. This money goes to the complex's QAM operator.

We then get a separate bill for Dish programming, which right now, is only America's Top 50 for me, since I don't trust the QAM operators to keep enough transponders online for all the other programming that would normally be available. No HDTV. Dish could and should be rightly upset by this, but I have no idea what's in their contract with the QAM operator at our complex.

Tech support is a nightmare, too.

I'll often call a CSR at Dish and will be transferred multiple times until I finally get someone who knows what the QAM system is all about. In the end, the CSR will determine the problem's with the QAM operator, and I need to call them. Often, that's fruitless, since they "already know there's a problem," and a "fix is on the way, please be patient."

I've given up.