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Eastern Arc - Was it good for you?

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TalonDancer

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Jun 13, 2006
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'cause, as a current subscriber, it sure hasn't rocked my world :)

Seriously, if you are new subscriber with service via Dish's "Eastern Arc", please tell us how you like it. And if you happen to also be (or have been) a Dish subscriber, please tell us how the MPEG4 SD channels compare to the MPEG2 SD.

TIA - Talon Dancer
 
I have been watching both the MPEG2 and MPEG4 (Eastern Arc and Western Arc)

And I got to admit it while the Eastern Arc MPEG2 looks a little better at times it looks worse then the SD on the Western Arc.

If you ever looked at a SD channel from DirecTV and Dish Network side by side you would know what I mean. Its hard to explain the MPEG4 SD almost looks like you are looking through a screen door, I see that effect on the DirecTV SD channels as well so its hard for me to explain.

I see no compelling reason to upgrade to Eastern Arc from Western Arc, the only plus is some of the MPEG2 HD channels are in MPEG4 on EA, and there is a big difference in the quality of those HD channels. But since those channels are moving to MPEG4 in a few weeks, that different will be a moot point.
 
Scott Greczkowski said:
I got to admit it while the Eastern Arc MPEG2 looks a little better at times it looks worse then the SD on the Western Arc.
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I think you scrambled that thought a bit. As near as I can tell from the rest of the message, you're saying that most of the time the mpeg4 SD has lower PQ than the mpeg2 SD (presumably when viewed on a HDTV). Is that right?
 
It really depends on what your watching. Thats why its hard to say which one is better.

There is no really visible quality improvement, it doesn't necessarily look better, it just looks different, which is why it is hard to say which one looks better.

If you want EA for better PQ its not really going to be a noticable difference to make it worth making the investment.
 
Scott Greczkowski said:
If you want EA for better PQ its not really going to be a noticable difference to make it worth making the investment.
Click to expand...

Gee...and everyone was soooo excited that MPEG4 would bring a wonderful world of improvement in PQ to SD channels. No way that Dish would keep them at the same poor PQ with all that extra room to improve with MPEG4! ;)

Yet...Dish has apparently instead overcompressed that MPEG4 right down even with the already poor MPEG2 PQ. Imagine that. :rolleyes:
 
DWS44 said:
Gee...and everyone was soooo excited that MPEG4 would bring a wonderful world of improvement in PQ to SD channels. No way that Dish would keep them at the same poor PQ with all that extra room to improve with MPEG4! ;)

Yet...Dish has apparently instead overcompressed that MPEG4 right down even with the already poor MPEG2 PQ. Imagine that. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Well, most people think that MPEG4 automatically gives you better picture quality than MPEG2, when it's really all about bit rates.

And I haven't seen any SD picture quality that is noticeably better than Dish. I'd love to see FIOS or UVerse sometime but until that's possible Dish SD's seems about as good as cable and DirecTV to my eyes.
 
Scott Greczkowski said:
Yes the signal is lower, the highest signal I have been able to get is 72. However the avg signal range for me is 51 - 62.
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Scott I am in the Beaumont/Pt.Arthur , Texas about 100 miles east of Houston. I installed my eastern arc dish yesterday and messed with it till I got at least 45 - 48 on my signal strength on 72.7 sats. On the 61.5 I am getting comparable signals to my side sat dish for 61.5 plugged into my western arc 1000.2 sat dish . I tried slightly different elevations from the perscribed 48 and I got either weaker signals or none at all. So 48 is the only elevation that works for me on the eastern arc dish. I didn't try different skews than what they said to use- 58. I did try the different azimuith cam angles but I got my signal up a little more. I used a cheap $20.00 sat meter to make sure that the signal stayed strongest.

I also checked the signal strengths on the 110 and 119 sats. I noticed the 119 signals were in the 45 - 55 signal strengths, and the 110 was much stronger upto 68 on some transponders. I guess the new sat is really more powerful than I thought. So the signals are about the same area that the 119 sat is in , so I thought this was about right. DO you think that there is a way to get stronger signal on 72.7 or is it an area thing? I know you are up north, in Conneticut and I talked to a guy from New York today on this site, who is getting signals in the same level as you are. MAybe in Texas I am getting less signal because we are so far south? Maybe the footprint for this sat gets weaker as you move further south or further west ? Any thoughts?
 
JEFFinINDY said:
Well, most people think that MPEG4 automatically gives you better picture quality than MPEG2, when it's really all about bit rates.

And I haven't seen any SD picture quality that is noticeably better than Dish. I'd love to see FIOS or UVerse sometime but until that's possible Dish SD's seems about as good as cable and DirecTV to my eyes.
Click to expand...

I would think that having EVERYTHING in mpeg 4 would mean more room on your hard drive at least for recording purposes. I did notice today comparing the 101 channel off of 72.7 and the same channel in the other room on 119 , that the eastern arc channel looked clearer to me. I even zoomed the channel to fill the screen up with no black bars on the side or top or bottom and I didn't see the people's faces turn to smearing mess like on the 119 sat. So if that channel is my only guide to pq , I would say that mpeg 4 looked better to me. I don't have the smart card to use yet to really check all the channels yet. I am looking forward to getting them and really testing the pq.
 
DWS44 said:
Gee...and everyone was soooo excited that MPEG4 would bring a wonderful world of improvement in PQ to SD channels. No way that Dish would keep them at the same poor PQ with all that extra room to improve with MPEG4! ;)

Yet...Dish has apparently instead overcompressed that MPEG4 right down even with the already poor MPEG2 PQ. Imagine that. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
AMC 14's failure to reach usable orbit has left Dish implementing Eastern Arc - Plan B: recycling space junk, some of which has not even made it into place yet :eek:

IMHO after after all the hoopla about the Eastern Arc, the Western Arc is the one that is cooking! 110 now has great signal levels and 129's replacement is on the way (hopefully).

BTW Those of us with a dish 1000.2 and a wing dish for 61.5 will be siting in the cat bird's seat once Dish finally switches the handful of legacy MPEG2 HD channels to MPEG4. If 129 went dark tonight I wouldn't know until I read about it on SatelliteGuys :)

Talon Dancer
 
TalonDancer said:
AMC 14's failure to reach usable orbit has left Dish implementing Eastern Arc - Plan B: recycling space junk, some of which has not even made it into place yet :eek:

IMHO after after all the hoopla about the Eastern Arc, the Western Arc is the one that is cooking! 110 now has great signal levels and 129's replacement is on the way (hopefully).

BTW Those of us with a dish 1000.2 and a wing dish for 61.5 will be siting in the cat bird's seat once Dish finally switches the handful of legacy MPEG2 HD channels to MPEG4. If 129 went dark tonight I wouldn't know until I read about it on SatelliteGuys :)

Talon Dancer
Click to expand...

:up:up:up

Absolutely!! Totally agree with you.

I've mentioned it myself in other posts.

The WA has the spanking brand-new Echostar 11 at 110, will have the next satellite (knock on wood) at 129, and Echostar 7 at 119 has been real dependable.

I'll definitely keep the WA with the 2 newest satellites and a very dependable 3rd sat instead of switching to the EA and, as you said, its "space junk".
 
The signal reception drops on 72.7 as you move further south. I only get in the 45 - 48 range in southeast Texas. Up north in New York and Conneticut they are getting a 55- 62 strength range.
 
MikeD-C05 said:
The signal reception drops on 72.7 as you move further south. I only get in the 45 - 48 range in southeast Texas. Up north in New York and Conneticut they are getting a 55- 62 strength range.
Click to expand...

I am only getting signal in the 45-48 range on 72.7 here in western Wisconsin as well. Maybe it is more of a thing about the farther west you are, the lower the signal??
 
j25a said:
I am only getting signal in the 45-48 range on 72.7 here in western Wisconsin as well. Maybe it is more of a thing about the farther west you are, the lower the signal??
Click to expand...
Check this footprint map for 72.7 and you'll see that the signal does decrease as you go west. BUT it drops off like a rock in a well as you go south:( It's probably this steep roll off to the south that is hitting folks in south Texas like MikeD-C05.

Talon Dancer
 
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