Which dish im i suppose to get "5 lnb Slimline" or Triple LNB DIRECTV dish??

Are they even still installing the old Phase-3 dishes? I would guess the 5 LNB so that you are future ready if you were to ever upgrade to HD or the R22 which is an MPEG-4 capable SD dvr.

 

Since you didn't get HD, you weren't required to have a Slimline dish. The 3LNB Phase III dish works for you.

 

I assume whatever is cheapest / easiest for the installer is what they are going to get (to fit their order).

 

Most likely.

However it should be noted that the Slimline 5 LNB dish actually only has 3 physical LNBs, one of them is a "3-in-1" LNB, thus it's actually 5. But only looks like it has 3. So it can be confusing.

Also of note there is the Slimline 3 which has just 99/101/103 and is installed in markets that don't have locals on 119 and the customer doesn't need international.

But being as he's SD only the installer may have brought an old Phase III dish since that was all that's needed and it's cheaper for him.

 

And easier to install, and cheaper for D*.
There are countless installs done daily with either 18" or PhaseIII dishes. Not sure where people get the notion that it's only slimline dishes out there now.

 

I'm not quite sure what you're asking. Did you end up getting an slimline5 dish? This would be the dish similar to the one on the DBSTalk logo... it is silkscreened with the word "Slimline" and has a very wide head. There is also, as noted, a slimline3, which is becoming common for people who don't need access to the other two satellite locations.

The old Phase III dish is still in use all over the place. I personally haven't seen one installed for a long time but that doesn't mean they're not out there. For most parts of the country, the Phase III is just fine for standard definition. If you upgrade to HD, they'll usually upgrade the dish for free.

If you got a slimline dish, there's no problem with using it for SD either.

 

I would also think that the Slimline SL3 (3 LNBs in one assembly) would be just as easy to install as the Phase III.

 

You'd be very mistaken.

The Phase III dish is 18x20", only weighs a couple of pounds, and fits on a standard small mast with no support arms.

The Slimline is a 30" dish with a massive steel fine-tuning adjustment assembly that brings the weight to almost 24 pounds. It requires a much larger mast assembly and two support struts. It is no longer allowed to be mounted on fascia boards or other places that the smaller dishes fit on easily. It typically takes 2-3 times as long to put up a Slimline compared to one of the smaller dishes.

In general, DirecTV is going to install the minimum dish necessary to provide the content you are subscribed to. No HD, no Slimline, unless you're in one of the few DMAs where locals are only available on Ka/MPEG4, most of which are or were 72.5 markets.

 

for reference, I can take the 4 peices of the tripplesat, or 18X20 dish, assemble, cable, install and peak in about 5-10 mins.

OTOH, the 8 peices of the KAKU dish take upwards of 30 mins to assemble, cable, install, and peak. if it's a 2 story, and you have to haul that 24 pound monstrosity up your ladder it takes even longer.

 

:nono2::nono::nono2::nono::nono2::nono::nono2:

 

How about on an under-eave mount on a 2-story eave? Where you get to lean back away from the wall/ladder to get the dish on the mount. At least an hour with the dish there. And unfortunately, that was a common occurance in my area. Cement-tile roofs, styrofoam stucco walls, and no yard space for a pole.

 

Let's not forget the peach a HD and international install is. 2 hour minimum just mounting the dishes

 

No difference really. Both are great if properly installed and peaked. I had a Phase III for 5 years and it was no worse then any other dish I've ever had.

 

I was thinking more from an alignment standpoint.

 

Alignment procedure for Phase III - 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

Alignment procedure for Slimline (which requires about 10x more aiming precision) - 5 to 10+ minutes


Big difference.