Advice needed for adding FTA

[IowaStateFan]

I'm looking to add an FTA receiver to my old C-Band BUD. My wife would like to get Deutsche Welle and I see that it is available via C-Band MPEG2. My dish and LNB (C-Band only) are 12 years old, but the picture still seems as good as the day it was installed. I don't subscribe to anything on it, just use it for the wild feed sports. I saw Skyvision has FTA MPEG2 receivers ranging in price from $100 -$500. What are the differences, and what features should I be looking for in a receiver? Can I just buy a receiver and plug it in, or do I need anything else to set it up? I'd like to keep my cost down, and don't plan on upgrading to Ku band at this time.

Thanks for the advice.

[tdti1]

I'm looking to add an FTA receiver to my old C-Band BUD. My wife would like to get Deutsche Welle and I see that it is available via C-Band MPEG2. My dish and LNB (C-Band only) are 12 years old, but the picture still seems as good as the day it was installed. I don't subscribe to anything on it, just use it for the wild feed sports. I saw Skyvision has FTA MPEG2 receivers ranging in price from $100 -$500. What are the differences, and what features should I be looking for in a receiver? Can I just buy a receiver and plug it in, or do I need anything else to set it up? I'd like to keep my cost down, and don't plan on upgrading to Ku band at this time.

Thanks for the advice.

It would be good to get a small sub to atleast one channel, it will help keep the numbers up.

You can slave a free to air unit to what you have now like so:
http://www.dmsiusa.com/add_a_receiver.htm

4dtv and Ku-band are also a great addition to a big dish.

[Ray_Clum]

I'd suggesting getting a combo C/Ku feedhorn and getting a FTA DVB receiver. Then you'd get both the C & Ku band DVB free feeds. The important thing to remember is that a FTA DVB receiver cannot interpret Digicipher II signals, that your C-Band receiver can, so what you might want to do is throw an A-B switch as a splitter from the feedhorn to the C-Band box and FTA DVB box and that way you can use most of your existing wiring.

[IowaStateFan]

Thanks guys for the advice. I'm still wondering though what extra features you get with as you move up in price on the FTA receivers. Are there any must haves?

Thanks again.

[Fifty Caliber]

-Optical Digital and/or Coaxial digital outputs for conection to a home theater receiver
-Component video outputs for better picture quality
-Blind Scan
-(Not sure on this one but it would be logical) UHF Remote control

[FTA Michael]

One man's necessity is another man's requirement. My advice is to Google the receivers you're considering to learn everything you can about them.

Blind scan is the closest thing I can think of as a requirement, but it looks like all the Skyvision receivers have it. That funky SPDIF connector is required for AC3 audio. If I had a BUD, I'd take a long look at 4DTV, and the combo C/Ku feedhorn seems like it would be a no-brainer. But you know what you like much better than I do. :)

[IowaStateFan]

One man's necessity is another man's requirement. My advice is to Google the receivers you're considering to learn everything you can about them.

Blind scan is the closest thing I can think of as a requirement, but it looks like all the Skyvision receivers have it. That funky SPDIF connector is required for AC3 audio. If I had a BUD, I'd take a long look at 4DTV, and the combo C/Ku feedhorn seems like it would be a no-brainer. But you know what you like much better than I do. :)

Thanks. If you've seen the a la carte discussion in the dish network forum, you know I am considering 4DTV. (That's how I found out Deutsche Welle was available FTA. I was thinking about adding it on Dish, but this is much cheaper :)) . For me, it's just a lot of money to invest in the hardware (KU feedhorn/LNB, FTA receiver, 4DTV receiver, HDD200, Tivo type DVR). That would easily add up to $1200+. It's a lot of money for tv. Yeah the PQ would be much better, and programming cheaper but for the moment Dish is much easier.

[tdti1]

Thanks. If you've seen the a la carte discussion in the dish network forum, you know I am considering 4DTV. (That's how I found out Deutsche Welle was available FTA. I was thinking about adding it on Dish, but this is much cheaper :)) . For me, it's just a lot of money to invest in the hardware (KU feedhorn/LNB, FTA receiver, 4DTV receiver, HDD200, Tivo type DVR). That would easily add up to $1200+. It's a lot of money for tv. Yeah the PQ would be much better, and programming cheaper but for the moment Dish is much easier.

You can always grab a 4dtv and a fta receiver for now, and if you like it then later on upgrade to c/ku HD and whatever else, you lnb should work if it works good with your analog.

[sadoun]

IowaStateFan

It is excellent idea to add an MPEG2 receiver to your setup. Since you only have C-band lnbf, the setup is really easy.

All you have to do is unplug the coaxial from the back of your current receiver. Plug it into the IF Input on the new receiver. Then run a short coaxial cable between the new receiver's "LOOP OUT" and your older receiver.

Your older receiver will continue to have control over the LNB's polarity and dish movement.

I recommend a FORTEC STAR CLASSIC NA (http://sadoun.com/Sat/Order/Satellite-Receivers.htm) as your MPEG2 BLIND SEARCH receiver of choice. The price is right and the quality is outstanding.