Total newbie needs helping buying the correct equipment.

[masteryin]

Greetings experts,

I'm a n00b at this stuff so please forgive my ignorance. I was fascinated by the fact of free to air satellite and I would like to try this and see how it works for myself. So here goes my questions and the goals I am trying to accomplish.

My goal:
I would like to watch FTA HDTV satellite where available in N. America, also the "premium channels" and I would also like to receive Chinese channels as well.

Questions:
1. What type of dish should I get and how big?

2. How many LNBs should I get/need?

3. Should I invest in a device to automatically point my dish to different locations, if needed to satisfy my goal?

4. Should I be doing all the decoding using a dedicated computer or use a receiver? If using a computer can someone recommend a pci card that will work with Windows Media Center. (I have a 3GHz PC with 1gb of RAM that can act as my dedicate decoder)

5. And finally recommend the product names, model numbers if any, and a site that sells all this equipment.

Oh yeah I will be using this in FL if that matters...

Thanks a lot!

[FTA Michael]

First, about your bold, quoted premium channels mention: The way to watch premium channels is to pay for a subscription. Simple, eh?

If you want information about legitimate equipment, go here: http://www.global-cm.net/mpeg2central.html If you still have questions after you read all that, let us know.

[tdti1]

There is not much HDTV in the clear, and most is on C-band so your best bet would be to get a 10' with a dual band feed and lnb's, also a dvb pci card or box and a 4dtv, a 24" motor will be good to hit all the satellites, you will get some free HDTV on both the dvb and DCII side though with the 4dtv you will be able to subscribe to the movie channels for a much lower cost than cable or small dish, there is many Chinese channels on both C and ku-band.

You can look around your area and most probably find a big dish free or real cheap, get nothing smaller than 10', make sure the dish is in good shape and has tight mesh holes.

If you find a dish on your own and want to do it yourself:
http://boresight.ripco.com/ (click first link Tracking Made Easy)
http://www.geo-orbit.org/sizepgs/tuningp2.html

If you need a local dealer you may find one here:
http://onsat.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=12

For parts:
http://www.rpssat.com/
http://www.global-cm.net/
http://mechtech.satforums.com/

Best deals on 4dtv:
http://www.callnps.com/4dtv.htm (great deal for 4dtv with programming)
http://skyvision.com/store/399_4dtv.html (great deal for 4dtv with the HDD 200)

Programming sellers:
http://www.callnps.com/ (great people honest)
http://www.programming-center.net/ (very good place)
http://www.superstar.com/index.asp (very bad owned by dish network. they lie and scam)

Good luck!