Charlotte, NC HD signal

[smitzzz24]

There seems to be quite a few people in here from the Charlotte and surrounding areas with Dish HD. How would you compare it to Time Warner Cable HD? I currently have TWC and am happy with the quality, just not the rates/# of HD channels.

I am considering signing with the Dish special to get the VIP622. Is there anything I need to recommend to get along with it (ie. certain satellite dish, cable line, switch, etc)? I am wanting it to run my HD tv downstairs and my SD tv upstairs. Also, is there a certain installer you would recommend in the area? Thanks alot!

[ClaytonD]

Hi, well I'm not in Charlotte... but the Raleigh area. I had TWC and switched (back) to Dish in Oct. The one thing that I liked about TWC's rcvr's was that they had native passthrough. Meaning they just pass through the HD signal as they receive it... no upconverting / down converting. To me that was a little better. Dish's rcvr's (for now) don't do that. So if you set it to 1080i, it upconverts everthing before sending it to the TV. Depending on the TV, that could be good or bad. You'll get a mixed bag of opinions on that one. But I know lots of people are ranting about wanting that feature and hopefully it shows up (via software) later this year.

I think the Dish rcvrs (622 and 211) are good. I'm using both (2 211's) and HDMI on all with no issues... well, one 211 is component.

You'll read about the sometimes glitchy audio on HD channels with DD 5.1 For me it's usually just a quick blip when I change to a channel and it's OK after that. But some others see it more often.

Just like TWC, on Dish it's about content too. ESPN is 720 on both... not all HD is true HD... just upconverted content from the provider... or letterboxed. But on an HD channel it will always look better... to me it does. I personally like the HD content on dish. My fav channels are Discovery HD, Equator HD, National Geographic HD, ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, and RAVE. My kids love the Game channel. HDNet is there too just like TWC. Not much on the Food Network, but others love it. To me the channels I listed generally have the best quality HD content. But you will find a lot of replay... but that's because as a whole, there's still not a lot of new HD content being made... not nearly at the rate of SD content. If you an afford it, the HD movie channels are good too.. HBO, Showtime.

Well, that's my 2 cents...

[chuckf1]

Hi, well I'm not in Charlotte... but the Raleigh area. I had TWC and switched (back) to Dish in Oct. The one thing that I liked about TWC's rcvr's was that they had native passthrough. Meaning they just pass through the HD signal as they receive it... no upconverting / down converting. To me that was a little better. Dish's rcvr's (for now) don't do that. So if you set it to 1080i, it upconverts everthing before sending it to the TV. Depending on the TV, that could be good or bad. You'll get a mixed bag of opinions on that one. But I know lots of people are ranting about wanting that feature and hopefully it shows up (via software) later this year.

I think the Dish rcvrs (622 and 211) are good. I'm using both (2 211's) and HDMI on all with no issues... well, one 211 is component.

You'll read about the sometimes glitchy audio on HD channels with DD 5.1 For me it's usually just a quick blip when I change to a channel and it's OK after that. But some others see it more often.

Just like TWC, on Dish it's about content too. ESPN is 720 on both... not all HD is true HD... just upconverted content from the provider... or letterboxed. But on an HD channel it will always look better... to me it does. I personally like the HD content on dish. My fav channels are Discovery HD, Equator HD, National Geographic HD, ESPNHD, ESPN2HD, and RAVE. My kids love the Game channel. HDNet is there too just like TWC. Not much on the Food Network, but others love it. To me the channels I listed generally have the best quality HD content. But you will find a lot of replay... but that's because as a whole, there's still not a lot of new HD content being made... not nearly at the rate of SD content. If you an afford it, the HD movie channels are good too.. HBO, Showtime.

Well, that's my 2 cents...

Although I'm not the person who asked the question, I'm in the same boat they are, live in Charlotte, have TWC and thinking about DISH and I appreciate the thoroughness of your answer.

[david803sc]

DISH now offers ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX from Charlotte in HD, but you need a DISH 1000+ and a DP44 switch to get them, if you are signing up I would ensure you are getting a DISH 1000+ the Charlotte locals in HD are on the satellite at 118.75, the HD local channel numbers for Charlotte are 6483, 6484, 6485, and 6486.

If you get just a regular Dish 1000 you will only get Charlotte locals in SD.

David

[Stewart Vernon]

I have Dish with HD and a ViP622... I have a relative locally with TWC cable in Raleigh, so I do compares now and then.

I have a 65" HDTV, they have a 57" HDTV... so sometimes I have to remind myself to sit at the right viewing distance to make proper comparisons.

To be honest, I think TWC is comparable quality on the HD channels for the ones that they have in common with Dish. In other words, I don't think ESPNHD for instance, is any better or worse noticably from TWC to Dish. But Dish has ESPN2HD while cable does not.

Cable has MTVHD and InHD... otherwise Dish has much more and everything else except all the locals. In Charlotte you have the big four as noted above in HD via satellite but still an OTA antenna is recommended for better quality picture on your locals in HD plus more flexibility in watching/recording if you get a ViP622.

In Raleigh, we only have ABC and NBC on Dish in HD right now... but I get everything fine OTA anyway so that is a wash with me vs cable.

Last, and by no means least, I almost hate Time Warner cable with a passion for various reasons... not the least of which was when I moved into my new home and scheduled a cable installation appointment I was given a date a couple of weeks out... then never told that I was really placed on a 6-10 month waiting list since they hadn't run cable to my part of the development yet! So luckily I got Dish instead and have been a happy camper ever since!

[ClaytonD]

DISH now offers ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX from Charlotte in HD, but you need a DISH 1000+ and a DP44 switch to get them, if you are signing up I would ensure you are getting a DISH 1000+ the Charlotte locals in HD are on the satellite at 118.75, the HD local channel numbers for Charlotte are 6483, 6484, 6485, and 6486.

If you get just a regular Dish 1000 you will only get Charlotte locals in SD.

David

I'm in the process of setting up an OTA antenna for locals in HD. The quality of locals in HD is better with OTA vs. Dish. Don't know why, but it just seems better.
All the other stuff said by others is true... they're close, but I give the edge to Dish for now.

Oh yeah... one more thing: Go Heels!

[Jim5506]

OTA will always be better that satellite or cable, because satellite and cable compress the OTA signal and loose data in the process.

[david803sc]

I have OTA antenna for HD locals as well as the SAT locals in HD which really don't look bad at all, here is why I have both, with just the OTA connection to the 622 you can only record 1 local channel at a time, I needed to record 2 at a time, so when two of my favorite programs is on I record one from OTA and one from Sat HD local.

I'm in the process of setting up an OTA antenna for locals in HD. The quality of locals in HD is better with OTA vs. Dish. Don't know why, but it just seems better.
All the other stuff said by others is true... they're close, but I give the edge to Dish for now.

Oh yeah... one more thing: Go Heels!

[smitzzz24]

I really appreciate all the responses so far! The only thing I am really concerned with at this point is the actual HD picture quality with Dish as compared to Time Warner. Any one have any comments? Good/bad?

[charlesh]

I have the Charlotte HD channels on Dish. Only 18 and 36 are coming through. Channels 3 & 9 are not in. Anyone else have this problem or know why?

[ClaytonD]

I have the Charlotte HD channels on Dish. Only 18 and 36 are coming through. Channels 3 & 9 are not in. Anyone else have this problem or know why?

I don't know the Charlotte channels because I'm in Raleigh, but if 3 and 9 are CBS and FOX affiliates, then that's the same as in Raleigh. Dish can't seem to make an agreement with the local CBS/FOX affiliate(s).. here it's just one company that has both. Not sure about Char...
But I'm going for the OTA solution because it's just so much better quality... Dish is compressing the locals too much ... even on SD.

[Gargy]

I have the Charlotte HD channels on Dish. Only 18 and 36 are coming through. Channels 3 & 9 are not in. Anyone else have this problem or know why?

Go through the point dish menus and check your signal strengths on Transponders 21 and 8 on Sat 118. When I had my original dish upgraded a while back they did an initial poor job on pointing it due to busted signal meter. Had to explain to the tech that I need signal on both TPs for the channels to work. I originally had a weak signal on TP 21 and TP 8 would not even lock in causing me to miss two channels not sure if they are the same ones.

[Andy Smith]

I actually had a 1000+ installed a few weeks ago. I have been blown away by how good the Charlotte locals look. I can see all 4 channels NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX. The signal strength is a tad low on these. I think mine is in the mid/high 50s. However, I have not seen any dropouts or real problems. They seem to have fixed most of the strange artifacts that where popping up.

I couldn't be happier with my setup currently.

[david803sc]

I have the Charlotte HD channels on Dish. Only 18 and 36 are coming through. Channels 3 & 9 are not in. Anyone else have this problem or know why?

3 and 9 are on Transpnder 8 and 18 and 36 are on transponder 21 when my DISH 1000+ was installed I had a signal in the 90's on thetranspnder 21 on the other one I had a signal in the 40's my guess is you like me are not getting a usable signal on transponder 8 which does seem to be weaker in this area, and if you don't have the DISH pointed just right you will have little to no signal on this transponder, I wish DISH would just put all 4 locals on the 21 transponder.

I went and tweaked the dish with the help of a neighbor and we were able to get transponder 8 in the 80's and keep 21 in the 90's but I will add that was after I had two separate techs on two different days try to point the DISH and both had a weak signal on transponder 8 less than 50% when they aimed it using their bird dog meters.

After tweaking my 110 and 119 signal strengths are anywhere from 100 to 115 and 129 is at 95 to 105, they were not affected to much either way another words those are close to the numbers I had before I tweaked for the 118.7 satellite.

David

[fsquid]

STill can't get these feckers out there to install the new dish. They keep calling me and tell me they are out of the new dish.

[charlesh]

3 and 9 are on Transpnder 8 and 18 and 36 are on transponder 21 when my DISH 1000+ was installed I had a signal in the 90's on thetranspnder 21 on the other one I had a signal in the 40's my guess is you like me are not getting a usable signal on transponder 8 which does seem to be weaker in this area, and if you don't have the DISH pointed just right you will have little to no signal on this transponder, I wish DISH would just put all 4 locals on the 21 transponder.

I went and tweaked the dish with the help of a neighbor and we were able to get transponder 8 in the 80's and keep 21 in the 90's but I will add that was after I had two separate techs on two different days try to point the DISH and both had a weak signal on transponder 8 less than 50% when they aimed it using their bird dog meters.

After tweaking my 110 and 119 signal strengths are anywhere from 100 to 115 and 129 is at 95 to 105, they were not affected to much either way another words those are close to the numbers I had before I tweaked for the 118.7 satellite.

David

You are exactly right. The tech came out, said they just took a class on how to properly align the dish. He had it fixed in about 5 minutes. The picture on all channels is now amazing.

[Jeff McClellan]

In answer to the orginal question, the HD locals from Dish are alot better then the ones from TWC. TWC has alot of issues with blocking in fast action shots. That is when they are up and running. My neighbor has them, same TV as I, and they stink. I also have a OTA and to be perfectly frank, they are as good as it. Thinking about taking the old lightning rod down now that Dish has my locals in HD.

[dave4100]

I have a general question on signal strength. I get only around 65 on sat 119 and mid 90's on 61.5. Should I be getting stronger signals than that? ABC local HD was pixelating like crazy last night. Should I get the tech back out and re-align the dish's again? When I do the signal test, all three sats show green.

[smitzzz24]

In answer to the orginal question, the HD locals from Dish are alot better then the ones from TWC. TWC has alot of issues with blocking in fast action shots. That is when they are up and running. My neighbor has them, same TV as I, and they stink. I also have a OTA and to be perfectly frank, they are as good as it. Thinking about taking the old lightning rod down now that Dish has my locals in HD.


Thanks for everyone's replys! I upgraded to DISH network this past weekend and couldnt be happier. There is a beautiful picture, more HD channels (NFL NETWORK HD!!!) The VIP622 is great as well. Anyone considering making the switch, let me tell ya, its well worth it!

[fsquid]

Looks like I will finally be getting this new dish today. Finally I can have both OTA and over the Sat HD.

[chuckf1]

My Dish installer is coming out this Sunday, I'll also be able to get Sat HD and OTA and I appreciate the comments of my fellow Charlotteans who have posted to this forum!