Not really new to TVRO, but kinda am.

Introduce yourself here and let us know your TVRO background.
Post Reply
hoofum
New Member
New Member
Articles: 0
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:50 pm

Not really new to TVRO, but kinda am.

Post by hoofum » Sat Nov 23, 2019 12:27 pm

Hi. I’m not new to TVRO since I did have a 10 ft mesh dish for C and ku band reception back in 2000-2005. Then I moved and didn’t take the dish with me.

My interest in TVRO came about in seeing all the signals not available to plain consumer TV watchers. I don’t even watch much TV honestly, but I was fascinated by the hobbiest aspect of it. And I’m not going to lie: I mainly wanted it for the old “international syndication” feeds of first run shows to Canada before they even aired in the USA, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” being my main show. And others too back in the day such as CSI and Friends.

When I got into the hobby, analog was still highly prevalent, but digital was beginning to transition. The first receiver I got was a Satcruiser brand (forgot exactly which model) since it acted both as an analog and DVB QPSK receiver and could also move my dish.

I was able to get the feeds from the major distributors: analog for Fox (my “Buffy” and “24” and such), and CBS distributed shows like CSI. Warner Bros was already digital at the time, but I was able to receive the first run feeds of Friends digitally on my Satcruiser for a short time before those feeds became a format that receiver couldn’t handle.

My Satcruiser couldn’t get VCII signals nor the increasingly popular DCII signals, so the next receiver I got was 4DTV. I was able to get some analog subscriptions from it such as Disney Channel. Many of the cable channels then were sill analog. I couldn’t get much though since there were a sky wall of big trees in my yard, so I couldn’t get much of the satellites on the western end of the arc where most cable channels were. But I was okay with that since I primarily wanted the network distribution feeds. I was able to get NBC feeds on my Satcruiser as well as CTV feeds for a time until they also changed their digital format. My slightly younger USA friends were jealous I could see Degrassi the Next Generation on CTV before they had to wait to see it on The N in the USA. With my 4DTV, I could get PBS feeds using the generic satellite settings, as PBS then was DCII ITC.

I moved in 2005 from that home to another state and didn’t take my dish with me. I haven’t had TVRO, and always missed the hobby. I want to get back into it because it’s all still interesting to me. Almost everything is digital now, so I’ll need different methods of receiving. I was thinking about PC Card tuning and receiver for the DVB side of things since I think all formats can be received via that method including 4:2:2 (from what I understand). I also notice that DCII is still used although in a “higher” format than what 4DTV could do. PC tuners can’t do DCII right? I’d need a commercial type DSR DCII model receiver to get potential unencrypted DCII feeds, right? Just trying to get as much signals as I can. I also see a plethora of radio signals too that I never focused on back when I was in the hobby that I’d like to try to get too.

I’ve been reading Rick’s board for a while and just found this one not that long ago. Another question: as far as satellite charts, Lyngsat and this website seem to be good sources. But back in the day I was into TVRO, there was a “special” website called Espee for those to share feeds they didn’t want exposed too much and was highly reliable. Is there such a place for that today or not really?

Nice being here!

jess76
TVRO Guru
TVRO Guru
Articles: 0
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2014 12:43 pm
Location: Ceres, California

Re: Not really new to TVRO, but kinda am.

Post by jess76 » Sat Nov 23, 2019 10:17 pm

I also had[ still have] a Satcruiser anl/dig/mover receiver. That was my first dig receiver. I started with a Radio shack [Tandy] 9' mesh and a Memorex receiver,, and as things changed, moved on to the 4Dtv receivers and other digital receivers including an AZ box for 4:2:2. That was fun! Two years ago my wife and I sold our home and moved into a Cal vet home in Fresno, California. All I have now is an OTA receiver and a Linkbox 9000i local which will do OTA also. I am still on forums; Ricks, Hypers and this one. This site offers a selection of dishes for the hobbist at a reasonable price. Good luck getting back into this hobby. Jess out in Fresno, California
9' mesh with c/ku feed horn,lnb's w/polorotor. Recievers hooked up: AZ prem hd., Pansat9500,and Manhattan. I have a few others in my colection including an old Satcruiser and a Captiveworks3000.

User avatar
tvroadmin
TVRO Administrator
TVRO Administrator
Articles: 1
Posts: 902
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:00 am
Has thanked: 13 times
Been thanked: 56 times

Re: Not really new to TVRO, but kinda am.

Post by tvroadmin » Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:22 pm

Welcome to TVROSat!

:welcomesign:
Administrator
([email protected])

User avatar
fatso
TVRO Guru
TVRO Guru
Articles: 0
Posts: 1368
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 7:46 pm
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 197 times

Re: Not really new to TVRO, but kinda am.

Post by fatso » Wed Nov 27, 2019 2:21 pm

Been at tvro since '83. :eek2

Everything has gone digital. VCII, 4DTV are all history. The main satellite standard used today is DVB-S2 / 8PSK. Get yourself an Enigma2 UHD box. You won't regret it. Digicipher is still around but all programmers are upgrading to DVB-S2 and nobody makes a DCII stb anymore. You will also need a minimum 10 foot dish. I got two 12 footers myself.

There is a LOT of content up there and about half of it is FTA. There is at least 10x more good programming available on C band today than there was back in the 80s. People just don't know about because big cable wants to keep it quiet and they put pressure on the big box stores to not sell C band equipment. :frown No big deal though because online stores like Tek2000 sell everything you need. :bigsmile

I don't think there are any hidden forums for posting feeds these days. Just about everyone in this hobby has a satellite receiver that can blind scan, so news feeds and backhauls are posted very quickly. This forum, Ricks, Hyper and few others post everything in the open. It is completely legal. Some forums like satelliteguys (dish owned) have restrictions because Charlie Ergen doesn't want the public to know you can cut out middle men like him by owning your own big dish. :lol: The other strategy they often employ is to try and ignore C band and make it seem like obsolete technology to the public. The DTV owned forum dbstalk uses this trick. :roll: Lastly, there are all the streaming buffoons who just arrived on the scene and are busy promoting cord cutting. When you stop to think about it, all the programming originates from C band which is the backbone of the TV industry. Thanks to a mostly gullible public, there are quite a few jokers out there if you ask me. :noidea:

Hope you get your C band dish up and running soon and enjoy your stay here. There are lots of knowledgeable people here willing to help.
12ft Mesh Dish
C-Band Enthusiast since 1983

Post Reply

Return to “New Members”