Is getting *C worth it?

[drew2005]

Hi, I was wondering if those who have *C think that it is really worth the money and "broker" fees? I have always been fond of Canada & Canadian programming. I'm just wondering if you get your money's worth. Is there anything that's better about it than say, E*? Thanx to those who reply! I'm looking into it trying to find what packages I would want. Another thing is that I have never self-installed a dish, and have no knowledge of lat, lon, azuimuth, & elevation. *C is KU which (as i hear) is not that strong, will it be hard for me to install the dish?

 

[ComcastOgre]

If you are referring to Canadian DBS, there are 2 providers. Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu, but it seems like the majority get Bell ExpressVu. It certainly looks like ExpressVu is the better of the 2 providers. I don't know a whole lot other than that.

 

[drew2005]

By saying *C i am reffering to Star Choice, that's the only thing I can get, Bell ExpressVu isn't avaliable in my area

 

[localnet]

Drew,

I've had *C for roughly 4-5 years, my wife and I like it better then D* or E*, which I have had. Dropped D* due to crummy service, went to E*, switched from E* to Voom for more HD, we all know what happened there. Probably going back to E*, once Voom is toast. You could say that StarChoice is our satellite of choice.

And, I have no complaints with *C. Their DSR500 was a bit buggy at first, but those problems seem to have been corrected. The content is good, decent movie selection and HD. If you are big football fan like myself, *C is the way to go. Now I live outside of Detroit, so I get my locals (Detroit and Seatlle) via *C. The original reason for my going to *C, was for the local channel reception.

As far as price, I have everything turned on programming wise, less the french stuff. It runs me roughly $85 a month US (includes fees). It is the most watched system that I have, the wife would kill me if I got rid of it. I use KVM as my broker out of Ont., www.kusat.com has all of the broker info and needed equipment. And stay away from Freeway Support for brokering, been there, done that.

Set up and aiming of the dish was easy. I used the Windsor Ont. settings included in the manual, and a small compass. The wife sat in the house and watched the TV for signal strength as I adjusted the dish outside. I have it mounted on a 4x4 post in the backyard. We used our wireless telephone with the intercom to communicate. I caught the signal fine once the skew of the dish was adjusted properly (read the instructions). And make sure you get the newer eliptical dish, this will allow HD feeds, and grabs the signal better then the older round/oval dish (which I had), at least in my area. If you have problems with install, you might want to call a local sat dealer. They can install your *C dish in short order, all of the posistioning numbers are in your *C manual. Some of the better install instructions for a sat system that I have seen.

Hope this helps!

Mike

 

[Mr Tony]

By saying *C i am reffering to Star Choice, that's the only thing I can get, Bell ExpressVu isn't avaliable in my area

ExpressVu is available in the CONUS (48 states). However, one of the satellites with 8 transponders doesnt reach the coasts of cali, az, nm, texas, etc

If you arent in one of those areas, it will work.

Check out the comparison I did a month or so ago
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=35225

I had ExpressVu for a year and a half and SC since November. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. I got Canadian satellite for a couple reasons
-hockey (too bad there isnt much now)
-Red Green show

I personally like SC because the picture is clearer than ExpressVu (EVu crams 10-12 per TP where SC only does around 8). Dont get me wrong, SC has some picture issues on a couple channels, but they are few.
Another thing I like with SC is the audio is the same on all channels..nice and loud
EVu has some channels audio so low you can barely hear it and then some are so loud your neighbors can hear it.

EVu has more HD...when it is in HD..Otherwise its just upconverted.

I have the most basic package with SC. Until hockey comes back, I have no reason to expand my package. With the broker fee and conversion, its about 23.00 a month (my package is $20 CAD a month).

All I have on Dish is the locals (for UMD hockey)

 

[localnet]

I'll second what iceberg said. The *C picture is just as good, and in some cases, much better then what I was receiving over my tuned Cband system with a 10' dish and 4dtv on the digital side.

Mike

 

[charper1]

in some cases, much better then what I was receiving over my tuned Cband system with a 10' dish and 4dtv on the digital side. Mike

WOW! That's a bold statement.

You aren't comparing HD to just digital Cband right?

Can a compressed, digital, non-HD signal REALLY compare to a non-compressed, digital non-HD signal?

 

[tdti1]

I'll second what iceberg said. The *C picture is just as good, and in some cases, much better then what I was receiving over my tuned Cband system with a 10' dish and 4dtv on the digital side.

Mike

There must be something wrong with your display, I have not seen anything on SC better than the 4d, well I don't like the hits channels, but other than that I see a much higher quality from the 4d, the SD is compressed on SC more than on the digital C-band and the analog channels look great, I admit some SC channels where close in quality but many are bad. The HD on the bud is also more sharp and clear.

 

[mikekohl]

For an primer about everything that is available on Star Choice, see the CANADIAN SOLUTION section of the Global website (mine) at
www.global-cm.net

We have been educating the public on the distinct differences (and higher quality programming as well as picture quality) of Star Choice versus the competition (on both sides of the border) for over seven years. It is not a stretch to say that the quality is at a similar level to C-band, considering that this is the same Digicipher 2 system used for 4DTV, and compression ratios are much lower than DBS services. Less channels in use per transponder equals a much better result in picture quality.

Even with the rise in the Canadian dollar versus our currency, programming remains a bargain, considering that Star Choice has a form of Ala Carte packaging once you take their basic package. 13 English language "Speciality" groups, each with typically 5 to 8 channels apiece. Some individual channels can be purchased ala carte by themselves, although if you do the math, it is usually a much better value to take a Specialty package rather than a single channel.

Mike

 

[Mr Tony]

There must be something wrong with your display, I have not seen anything on SC better than the 4d, well I don't like the hits channels, but other than that I see a much higher quality from the 4d, the SD is compressed on SC more than on the digital C-band and the analog channels look great, I admit some SC channels where close in quality but many are bad. The HD on the bud is also more sharp and clear.

C-Band analog is 1:1
one channel per TP...so it better be a clearer picture

 

[tdti1]

C-Band analog is 1:1
one channel per TP...so it better be a clearer picture

Yes, and the digital channels are compressed less than the SC channels are, and the bit rate is higher making the channels look more clear and sharp, SC does look the best out of all the small dish systems, but saying it is the same or even better than a well working and tuned big dish system is untrue.

Well depending on the size of your screen. On a smaller screen 27" C-band and SC look the same to me, but on a 72" screen the big dish looks much better. And since many people can't put up a big dish I would go to SC for quality, I had it for a while and was pleased.

 

[charper1]

I run mine on a 65" and say the same thing. c-band at 1:1 just can't be touched; unless it really isn't setup correctly.

 

[Donny Brook]

I run mine on a 65" and say the same thing. c-band at 1:1 just can't be touched; unless it really isn't setup correctly.

I've had a BUD since 1985. The hey days were certainly in the late 80's and early 90's. Unfortunately since then', it's been a case of disappearing programming. But I'll keep mine until HBO and Showtime turn off the last C Band transponders available to consumers.

First got SC when CBC left C Band - using a HDD200 split between the 2 services. I can tell you that the US nets HD on SC are a lot better PQ than the Denver SD nets on C Band.

For sure HBO HD is better PQ than TMN on SC. Of course a 34Mgz C Band transponder allows better bit rates than a 27Mgz Ku band.

In our case, it just is that SC is less of a step down from BUD than the other pizza dish options.