
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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