conquestkm - 6-3-2007 at 09:42 AM
Has any one bought and installed a VIEWSAT SATSystem.
Is it any good or are you better off using Direct TV or Dish Network for your TV viewing ??
Dave - 6-3-2007 at 10:56 AM
I know lots of folks with FTA.
Works great.
Tomorrow...who knows. Most have Dish or Direct as a backup.
Viewsat
bajaguy - 6-3-2007 at 01:08 PM
Just ordered my receiver last week, a VS 2000 Lite....I'll let you know
[Edited on 6-3-2007 by bajaguy]
Coming Attraction
MrBillM - 6-3-2007 at 01:49 PM
I ordered a motorized (Legal) FTA system last week ($300 inc shipping) and it should arrive Tuesday. I'll be installing it in Baja the week after
that. Adding one more antenna to my Half-Dozen others. I bought it more out of curiousity than anything else, but it should be fun playing around
with. One advantage to being (almost) on the waterfront is that you can get every satellite in the spectrum.
mexibob - 6-3-2007 at 03:27 PM
All FTA (Free to Air), receivers are legal when shipped. It is only when the purchaser changes the EEEPROM flash from factory .bin to a different
.bin written to receive a certain satellite TV provider.
Even being close to the water or in the water will not get you all of the satellites in the spectrum.
Viewsat has a good reputation for manufacturing quality receivers.
They are ready to use out of the box if you prefer to be a true FTAer, one that likes to scan the sky for free TV signals. It's not much different
than scanning the sky for free signals back in the C Band days.
losfrailes - 6-3-2007 at 03:46 PM
I have and am, successfully using four different Viewsat receivers.
The Lite, Platinum, Extreme and the Ultra. Updating the first three with the necessary information is just fine, requires a serial port on a computer
and a null serial cable. The process takes about 3-4 minutes. You can no longer find the Platinum unit, it has been replaced with the Lite.
The Ultra receiver is updated with a flash memory card which is updated via USB on your computer and then loaded to the receiver. Process takes ab
out 15 seconds.
I personally recommend the Ultra system for its ease of updating.
In Baja, at this very moment I have access to 256 channels of TV with over 100 channels of music. I am located in B C S, and it takes a minimum of a
1.2 meter dish here. 1.8 meter dish is much better.
The 1.8 meter dish is available from Guadalajara on the mainland and the manufacture will ship it to you in Baja.
Al G - 6-3-2007 at 04:05 PM
losfrailes
Can I have the contact or URL info for that 1.8 dish?
I will google the ViewSat...sounds good
losfrailes - 6-3-2007 at 04:34 PM
Al G
Check your u2u
On The Water
MrBillM - 6-3-2007 at 04:44 PM
My reference was to the Eastern Horizon allowing me to look at 61 deg West. Sadoun.com lists satellites with FTA content from 61 W to 123 W. I'm
sure there are others, but I'm looking from 61 to 148 now on Dish so I anticipate I can see whatever's above the Horizon.
mexibob - 6-3-2007 at 04:49 PM
We just wanted to keep you 99.99% correct.
Didn't want peeps to believe they could get the full spectrum of satellites sitting on the Baja.
Pescador - 6-5-2007 at 07:15 AM
I use the Viewsat Ultra in Colorado and we love it. We got really tired of paying Dishnetwork for service when we were gone or on the road. Since I
had been a customer for sufficient time, I own the dishes so it was easy to connect the Ultra to the existing dishes. Be really careful and buy only
from an authorized dealer as there are some knockoffs out there that look like the real thing but are basically junk and when you need warranty
service you find out you have a knockoff.
Check out.
http://www.f2atv.com
http://www.hashhu.com
http://www.purefta.com
http://www.totalfta.com
One of Those
MrBillM - 6-5-2007 at 09:08 AM
I take it that Pescador is paying someone else for the codes to watch Dish Network programming.
losfrailes - 6-5-2007 at 09:45 AM
Be really careful and buy only from an authorized dealer as there are some knockoffs out there that look like the real thing but are basically junk
and when you need warranty service you find out you have a knockoff.
More than that about the knockoffs, if you try to upgrade the receiver you will find that the receiver will be locked up and unusable if you are using
a knockoff.
Also beware of purchasing one on ebay. Many times people who have mishandled their receiver and caused a problem with a particular transistor inside
will sell their receiver as 'OK'. Taint so!
Get one from a certified dealer, and then read about how to activate it or to put 'code purchased from others' on it.