Dish TV equipment

Other than TV set, there are only two other main pieces of equipment needed for the reception of DBS service - satellite, or "dish" TV - in your home. They are: (1) dish antenna and (2) receiver. Together with some connecting/mounting hardware, they are the basis of a satellite TV digital home system. A complete system usually includes additional one or more receivers, and a second dish antenna is sometimes used for special programming.

DBS mini-dish antennas vary somewhat in size, but the standard type is around 20" in diameter. Larger sizes of up to 30", and larger, are intended mainly for areas on the periphery of the satellite "footprint", where the TV signal weakens. Dish assembly collects and amplifies signal coming from the satellite, using special digital converter, called LNB (low-noise block down-converter). The LNB unit can receive signal only from a single satellite. Thus, newer mini-dish types come with multiple (up to five)  LNB units - so called multi-satellite dish - allowing for the signal reception from more than a single satellite. This translates into more programming available.

From the LNB unit, the signal is sent to the hearth of the satellite TV setup: the receiver. It looks pretty much like an ordinary VCR or DVD player, but it is this little box that decides how conveniently and efficiently you can use available programming. It determines whether or not you have features like recording, how many hours of recording available, independent viewing and recording with two or more TV sets, features like "pause" live TV, picture-in-picture viewing, high-definition viewing or interactive (on-demand) TV, search programming, and others.

Both satellite TV service providers offer a line of several receiver models. When getting satellite TV receiver, take your time and make sure it has what it takes to fit your needs. Some wiring and a few pieces of hardware added, make for a complete working home satellite TV system.

    Satellite TV System Installation

Although you can opt to do it yourself, most people prefer to seat back and let satellite TV provider or retailer do it for you, for free. With the term commitment, both, DirecTV and Dish Network will install for free satellite TV systems for up to 4 rooms. They'll provide the equipment - satellite dish, up to four satellite TV receivers w/remote controls, wiring and hardware. Customer doesn't pay nothing up front, except for the shipping fee with DirecTV (depending on your credit history, you may be asked to make a deposit, credited back to you with your first monthly bill). Receivers beyond one are leased for a small monthly fee.

Actual installation is most often done by a local subcontractor, sent by your service provider to your home to do all that's needed to have a complete system set up: mount and position the dish, run the wire, connect and configure receivers and TV sets... It usually takes up to a couple of hours. After that, you need to activate receivers, and the system is turned on.

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