Who has Dream Satellite? Have questions about their service

[fingolfin]

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hullo...........what is their channel line up if i might ask thanks.......

[LytSlpr]

DISADVANTAGES of Satellite TV:

1] ECLIPSES - Earth blocks the sun from the satellite's solar panels (88 times per year, 65 minutes duration on each occasion). Resolved by the satellites on-board batteries.

2] SUN TRANSIT OUTAGES - Can occur when the sun in a direct line with the satellite and the dish (10 minute duration, twice per year for 5 consecutive days). No resolution.

3] SATELLITE MTBF - Satellite failure - In Orbit Failures of Communication Satellites are exceedingly rare. No resolution.

4] RAIN - Heavy rain or even heavy clouds can adversely affect satellite services. Images on your TV will pixelate.

5] SIGNAL INTERFERRENCE - Caused by a more powerful frequency or other signals that may interefere with the service.


Of course, 4 & 5 can vary from one user location to another.

The bottomline is, satellite TV is best only in remote places when you don't have any choice or alternative. Contrary to popular belief, satellite is not clearer than cable. The best service would still be cable TV with fiber optic connection which unfortunately is still not used by the local provider. Just set-up the cables in your homes properly & bug the cable guy of any signal distortions, weak signals, etc. & your cable service should be clearer than satellite. Personally, it is uncool to have satellite dishes in homes that have cable service in their area.

The next thing to be excited about is the Tivo

[yen]

fingolfin, go to their website - dream.com.ph - for their latest channel line up.

LytSlpr, did your English teachers ever tell you to state the positive before the negative when talking about something?

I once did a theme paper before where I did the negative points first. Had to do it all over again because the proper way to go was to state the positive points first.

Anyway, just in case you think I got Dream Sat to be cool --- Not at all. It took me a long long time to decide to finally get Dream Sat. SkyCable's latest signal disruptions were just too much to take.

CSI Miami - finale - I watched the last episode twice & both times, the signal was terrible.

It was either start buying copies of CSI or get Dream Sat.

I would have gotten Dream Sat earlier if they had Discovery Channel. (sighs) Yes, I would consider worth it to pay extra for Discovery Channel. If SkyCable had offered DC as a premium channel before, I would have chosen DC over all their other premium channels.

(hopes Dream Sat will have DC)

Anyway, please read through my posts. You'll find I haven't even mentioned if I wanted to get Dream Sat because it was clearer than Sky. I wanted to get Dream Sat because their signal wasn't as disrupted as Sky's has been lately.

Having superior video & audio quality is good but I'm primarily concerned with just being able to see & hear the program in the first place.

[darkwing]

yen, how is the video and audio quality? And I was wondering what the difference was between the Nokia unit and the non-Nokia unit, what receiver unit did you get BTW?

[yen]

I got the DigitAll System so I don't know about the Nokia unit.

The video & audio quality is clear. I only want to actually be able to see & hear the programs. If you've watched Sky's AXN broadcasts the past three weeks to a month, you'll know what I mean.

However, Dream does have signal disruptions also. I don't know about other users but last night on my set --- channels 25 to 38 were disrupted. They were so bad I couldn't follow the shows. Fortunately, AXN, BBC & Animax were not included.

According to my cousin, Dream's signal is crystal clear in the mountains or on higher elevations so maybe other users did not get the signal disruptions that my set got last night.

[yen]

><;; Dream is having signal problems again. It's still the channel 25 to 38 range. This isn't good. Unfortunately, this time - there was interesting a movie starring Bette Davies on TCM (Turner Classic Movies).

[darkwing]

BTW were they the ones who installed the dish and everything? how long was the signal problem?

[yen]

We did the installation ourselves so we saved on the cost.

Length of signal problem varies. About 3-4 days ago, it only lasted 5 minutes. About 2 days ago, more than half an hour. Yesterday, also more than half an hour.

Yesterday's signal problem wasn't so bad. You could still follow the shows, but two days ago, it was really bad. Couldn't hear or see anything clearly.

This is just on my set. Maybe the problem is localized. I'm not in an elevated area. Perhaps I'm the only one who had the signal problems.

Also, so far, it's only in the channel 25 to 38 range. The other channels are fine.

[LytSlpr]

We did the installation ourselves so we saved on the cost.

is it possible to "self-install" the dish? coz i've seen dishes installed in the U.S. & they have this some sort of gadget to determine how to precisely mount & where to accurately beam the dish. just curious... :

[yen]

Those kind of satellite dishes have a motor. The motorized mechanism pinpoints the locations of the satellites.

This is practical if you've installed the satellite on a boat as the satellite dish needs constant adjustment OR you have more than one satellite to choose from. This is the case especially if you are in international waters.

Unfortunately, we in the Philippines, only have one satellite.

We got the non-motorized version, of course.