Orby TV Satellite Launches in USA

[tvroadmin]

A new direct-broadcast satellite provider has launched in the USA today. The company is called Orby TV and contrary to DirecTV and Dish, they are doing everything on the cheap, cheap, cheap and passing the savings on to consumers.


Cheap Satellite Receiver

Only $100 and available at Best Buy stores across the USA. For a few extra bucks you can buy their DVR. They are using the DVB-S2 standard with hevc (h.265) codec.

Cheap Subscriptions

Their packages start at $40 per month for about 40 channels. No contracts or hidden fees. No internet required. Locals available from an off-air antenna. Premium content like Epix Movies and Starz is available for an additional $6 and $9 per month respectively.

Cheap Satellite Downlink

The service originates on a couple of transponders on satellite 116.8w Eutelsat 117 ku band. They are using hevc (h.265) compression to minimize costs. Their SD channels clock in at a respectable bit rate of 750kbps (hevc) and their HD channels at almost 2.0Mbps (hevc). Compare this to Dish SD channel bit rates of 700kbps (mpeg4) and 3.0Mbps (mpeg4) for HD. Since the hevc codec is known to be almost twice as good when it comes to compression, Orby TV's SD channels probably look better than Dish's and their HD picture quality is probably about the same. The use of the hevc codec is definitely a game changer.

Cheap Dish

You'll probably need a 1.0m dish to receive their signal. The EIRP levels across most of the USA for 116.8w are about 50dB, while Dish/DirecTV put out close to 55dB. So although a bigger dish will in theory be needed, you are only looking at a single satellite, so it shouldn't be too bad. They are also transmitting using linear polarization, which means most FTA equipment that people already have will work fine with this service. If you have a C-band dish, just swap your C-band LNBF with a C/Ku combo LNBF and you will be good to go.

These guys have cut expenses to the bone. If you are paying thousands of dollars per year for cable, Dish or DirecTV, you may want to look into this service. The ideal setup for our forum members would probably be an 8ft or 10ft C-band dish. This will give you hundreds of excellent FTA channels, locals from an off-air antenna, Pluto TV from a streaming app and if you want to subscribe to a few premium pay TV channels, just drive your dish to 116.8w and Orby T!

The folks at Rainier Satellite sure are quiet as a mouse about all this. A $100 receiver? Up to 70+ channels? A working EPG and DVR? What? Who would have thought this was all possible? Just the other day they were gloating about being the only satellite provider left for rural Americans after DirecTV and Dish shutdown their services. I guess they were wrong, but I'm sure the conspiracy theories about who is behind this new service will begin any minute now...

Good luck to Orby TV and you can post about this service in our new forum dedicated to this new satellite service!

More info at: Orby TV

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[Arion]

If they have enough backing to pay the bills for awhile including all the satellite receivers and dishes they need to make I think it will be a winner. No contract, a very reasonably priced receiver and a 'decent' program package. For people that are willing to pay $40 or $50 a month for TV I think they will get enough business to turn a profit.

More and more are going to streaming and IPTV of course but out in rural America where high speed internet is rare I think they will siphon a lot more subscribers from Charlie and Dave. Good for them!! I don't really need more TV but if they let you self install and use your own dish [don't see why not] it would be really easy to integrate that into the existing system. I'd prefer an a-la-carte type package and it would be nice if they look into that. If people buy the equipment outright it won't cost them any more and they would get some additional revenue from those that only want 5 or 10 specific channels. I'd buy the receiver and maybe pay $15 or $20 a month for the discovery/history/science type channels only.

And yeah, Rainer eat your heart out. A $100 receiver and a 1M dish with a 'decent' package that people want at an attractive price point. You can't do any of that.

[dishcrank]

Apparently this service is for real because brian from titanium has already subbed. They are targeting cord cutters in the boonies who don't have access to broadband.

[dishcrank]

Channels and pricing similar to the Dish flex pack, but Orby works with your fta dish whereas Dish does not.

[Arion]

I'd like to see some specs on the receiver. Might be HEVC but looks pretty barebones and I'm guessing won't do better than 1080i but at the bitrate of their 'HD' channels I'm guessing it's 720p. Waiting to see some more posts of his to see how good/bad the picture looks.

[rusty]

I wonder if it was these guys who were testing those super compressed HEVC freebies on 97 west about a year ago?

The receiver looks like a generic $20 made in china fta type with a nagra smart card if that is what they are using. This smells like Charlie...

[HappySatellite]

I don’t think I will bite and I cant get this in Canada! We can get more channels with C band and Over the air LOL

My offers is stiil up to the Cable and Satellite company’s $5 a month for everything. (IS MY MONEY NO GOOD)



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[tek2000]

All,

If anyone wants to try this new service, we have some solutions.

If you have an 8', 10', 12' or 13.5' C-band dish, all you need is a C/Ku LNBF like this one:

C/Ku Combo LNBF

If you don't have a big dish, you can always use our 1.2m offset dish:

1.2m Offset Dish

We also have a motorized package:

1.2m Motorized Offset Dish

If you are going for the small dish, I highly recommend getting the motorized package with both c/ku LNBF and quad output ku LNBF. In addition to the subscription service, you will be able to pickup dozens of quality FTA channels like the PBS feeds on 125°W, NBC feeds, RT, NHK, CGTN on 103°W, Infowars and Fox/CBS Feeds on 99°W, ethnics on 97°W, 95°W and 30°W, ABC News Feeds on 91°W, CNN/LPB feeds on 87°W and ku-band wild feeds across the arc.

Also our 1.2m offset dish is a heavy-duty actuator driven polar mount. It is not an hh-motor type. Those hh-motors can't drive a large/heavy offset dish like the 1.2m and will eventually break down. Something to keep in mind.

All these products have been tested with the new subscription transponders on 116.8°W so you won't have any issues.

[beeman8]

I would try it if I could get it in canada

[dishon]

This smells like Charlie...

You may be right though it is not Charlie Ergon. The financial backer of Orby TV is likely Ergon's former nemesis Charlie F. Dolan. Dolan owned Cablevision and the Voom HD networks. The employees at Orby all come from these two companies. In 2005, Dolan and Ergon entered into a 15 year carriage agreement to distribute the Voom HD channels which were quite popular at the time. In 2008, Ergon screwed Dolan and dropped Voom. Ergon then proceeded to destroy all contractual evidence with Voom to frustrate Dolan's attempt at litigation for damages. Dolan eventually won a legal settlement but it was fraction of what he would have made with the carriage agreement.

Orby TV is likely pay back for what Ergon did in 2008.

Regards,
dishon