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Digital Cable vs. Satellite

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 8:53 pm
by LFITQ
Thought I would start this thread over here instead of cluttering up the Roar room with non-football issues (ok directly non-football as yes TV can be considered a football topic - you all know what I am getting at!!)

A question about satellite and if it is a viable option:

I have 4 TV's in my house. With cable I have a digital box connected to 2 of those TV's and the other 2 get just basic regular old cable. For the most part I just don't get the movie channels or some of the "specialty" channels that I pay extra for on the 2 TV's that are not on a digital box, which is just fine. The TV in the toy room only needs to get Family channel or treehouse TV at this stage of my girl's life. the TV in my bedroom doesn't get the movie channels but that is fine as it does have a DVD player. So I'm not worried about not getting those "extra" channels. I get all 4 TV's working fine with the channels I need and I only pay the price of 1 cable. In other words I get 4 TV's working for the price of 1.

If I were to move to satellite, would I need to get a satellite box for each TV, even for what I consider to be "basic" cable?

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:17 pm
by Rammer
Yes you would need a receiver for each TV, but you have varying grades on those and the basic subscription is cheaper for each level you like.

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:34 pm
by Sir Purrcival
Don't you also need to provide 4 feeds. Do they have an LNB that provides 4 feeds or would you need to do 2 dishes with 2 feed LNB's.

Posted: Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:38 pm
by Rammer
Sir Purrcival wrote:Don't you also need to provide 4 feeds. Do they have an LNB that provides 4 feeds or would you need to do 2 dishes with 2 feed LNB's.
ONe dish, with a double LNB then to a splitter box that gives a boost as well, around $70.

Posted: Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:07 am
by joesports
That only depends on the provider. Starchoice has a dish with a quad LNB so you dont need anything but a receiver for each TV. Of course, depending on the existing wiring in the house, you may need to have extra lines run. The only time this is a problem is if you want to have a PVR to record. These boxes need 2 feeds as they allow you to watch one channel while recording another.

And at times, this can be cheaper than cable for more channels and easier access to HD content. :rockin:

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:18 am
by Sir Purrcival
Rammer wrote:
Sir Purrcival wrote:Don't you also need to provide 4 feeds. Do they have an LNB that provides 4 feeds or would you need to do 2 dishes with 2 feed LNB's.
ONe dish, with a double LNB then to a splitter box that gives a boost as well, around $70.
Can you watch separate channels on different sets at the same time with a split feed?

Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 7:47 am
by joesports
Yeah as long as each TV has a receiver. If you have one receiver powering two TV's they have to watch the same thing.