buying a budget hd receiver and need help :) - ABA DSS

Mucka · July 2nd, 2008

i'm somewhat new to this. I believe we test two dishes on bev and dn. the current box is a coolsat 4000. here are my questions/concerns about a box recommendation.

will my existing dishes/set up work with whatever hd box i plan on using?

what is the cheapest/most reliable hd box? I don't really need a dvr. i'm more concerned with it being hd and somewhat on the cheap side. a box that has good support and doesn't go down a lot is a huge plus. i'm looking to spend $150 for a receiver. hopefully closer to $100.

do i need a certain box to get both bev and dish?

basically, what i want is the same thing i have now, only with some hd capabilities. if i can get these questions/conerns answered and get things set up i'll end up buying a membership to this site.

**arboristman** · July 2nd, 2008

you can't get a high-def stb for that price yet buddy.they are still very new.heck that would be really be pushing it too even years down the road i wouldn't count on them being that low ever.
you can get a mpeg2 hd only stb.like what bev uses for now until they change over.but even still your looking at around $225-$250 or so for a captain 8000hd.

even basic lower end stbs go for slightly over a hundred bucks buddy.

complete setup mpeg4 capable pvr stbs go for around $550-600

Mucka · July 2nd, 2008

okay it looks like HD receivers are over 300 bucks. might be a little out of my price range for the time being. i'd still like to know what hd receiver best fits my needs though.

Mucka · July 2nd, 2008

wish i could edit my posts. oh well. so my existing set up would work with a captain 8000hd? are you also saying that mpeg2 wouldn't be worth it in the long run as mpeg4 is/will be the norm? i don't know anything about this mpeg stuff other than when it comes to computers.

**thegrudge28** · July 2nd, 2008

Yep, nobody know when the switch to mpeg 4 will be done, could be in 2 month like 2 years, but still if you get 6 month hd out its well worth it, and your box after the switch will be able to get sd signal or free to air mpeg2,

I own captain 8000HD and the picture quality is amazing even the sd signal is more then clear on some channel you almost cant tell if its hd or sd.

you have a lcd or plasma tv?

For low budget and quality of the picture its worth the 225$ or second hand for 150 to 175$

And on the top of that you have now IKS with that unit( dongle buy seperately), meaning, you are almost never down no more bin to load.

Mucka · July 2nd, 2008

ha ha right now the coolsat 4000 is hooked up to a projection hdtv via composite cables. you've been a great help so far and i appreciate it

is it as simple as just buying a captain 8000 and hooking it up to make it work? i won't need a new dish or to mess with anything like that, will i? can i hook the dish up with component cables? this tv has one dvi slot and a place for component cables. it doesn't have hdmi though.

**thegrudge28** · July 2nd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mucka

ha ha right now the coolsat 4000 is hooked up to a projection hdtv via composite cables. you've been a great help so far and i appreciate it

is it as simple as just buying a captain 8000 and hooking it up to make it work? i won't need a new dish or to mess with anything like that, will i? can i hook the dish up with component cables? this tv has one dvi slot and a place for component cables. it doesn't have hdmi though.

No, no need to change the full setup but if you want to hit the HD bird exemple you wil need a y bracket and another lnb around 20$ so you can hit 2 bird the hi def and regular one, also you will need a switch that is provided with the captain 8000HD
yes component will give you almost the same quality as hdmi!

The dish you have with 2 lnb on it, or the lnb you got there pointing on the hi def bird but on that bird you will only take out around 150 channel and 80 around are hi def...so its good to have 2 lnb, easy to setup and we will help you if you need any information on the setup

Mucka · July 2nd, 2008

great great. i think i'll hold off for a few months or so since i'll most likely be moving pretty soon. i doubt i have the money i'll need to get everything set up. hmm, i wish i knew someone offline who was into this stuff. i only know how to download bins and keys and keep the coolsat up. i know nothing about lnb's or how to aim the birds. oh well. i'll learn it all in time.

thanks for the help everyone. too bad i'll have to make due with the semi-unsupported coolsat 4000 for a little while longer.