Forums > Specific Focus > Technical Mexico

Breadman

Apr 10, 2006, 8:06 PM

Post #1 of 14 (4729 views)

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High Definition Satellite Service

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I have searched the various threads regarding satellite TV service and have learned quite a bit, but nowhere have I seen any mention of high definition service. Is this because no one is interested or because none is currently offered on any of the star/Sky/Dish services available in Mexico; specifically Jalisco/Nayarit. And which of the services mentioned have to be married to a US or Canadian address and which can exist legitimately at a Mexican address?

johanson / Moderator

Apr 10, 2006, 9:19 PM

Post #2 of 14 (4723 views)

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Re: [cmh2148] High Definition Satellite Service

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Sadly most folks down here are not interested in HD, it is only now beginning to catch on.Maybe 10 of us in the Ajijic-Chapala area have it. Because I maintain residences in the US and Canada, I am legally able to subscribe to both Dish and Star Choice. And when I come South for the winter, there is no problem when I bring a receiver from either system with me

Remember that it is in violation of the CRTC and/or FCC for Canadian and/or US programming service providers to sell programming outside the country of origin.

That said it appears not to be in violation for me, a snowbird, to watch programming connected to my home North of the Border (NoB) when I am down south for the Winter, as long as I maintain a residence NoB

The Canadian Star Choice system has the strongest HD signals in your area. All you need is the 36 inch by 26 inch 75E dish and LNB and you can pick up all of the Star Choice signals offered to include channels 280 thru 293 which are in HD. Go to www.starchoice.com to see what the programs are.

With DISH you need two satellite dishes one about 1.4 meters in diameter and the other about 2 meters in diameter and you would get maybe 6 HD channels, With a much larger third dish pointed at a third satellite (129 W) you might be able to get ten more HD channels (the old Zoom channels) go to www.dishnetwork.com/ to check out the HD options.

Even if you are not from Canada, consider Star Choice, most of the HD programming is from the US to include the US networks including PBS.

I also get HD programming on my digital 4DTV receiver that I have connected to my C band dish.

(This post was edited by johanson on Apr 13, 2006, 8:13 PM)

Breadman

Apr 11, 2006, 5:05 AM

Post #3 of 14 (4712 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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Thanks for the info, but I'm still a bit confused. 1st, I've read that recently DirecTV (which I currently use in US- haven't moved to Mexico yet- next year) has sold its' service to SkyTV. I find nothing on the internet about SkyTV's Mexican services.

2nd, short of renting your tool shed in Canada and using that as the subscription address, it sounds like Star is not an option for me.

Finally, if we sell our home in the US (rather than maintain & lease it) will I be able to subscribe to Dish as an exclusively Mexican service? I'm familiar with Dish and the recently acquired ZOOM channels. I dislike the actual equipment (I'm in the custom home electronics design/sales/installation industry) as it is not easily controlled by devices other than the propriety remote, but that's not a big deal.

Since I have your attention, may I also inquire; am I getting the correct impression that Sirius does not work well SoB (again-Nayarit/Jalisco) whereas XM seems to do OK?

Thanks,
Landon in STL

johanson / Moderator

Apr 11, 2006, 8:55 PM

Post #4 of 14 (4683 views)

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Re: [cmh2148] High Definition Satellite Service

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DirecTV did sell a latin American package to Mexico only. They no longer do so. The do sell to other latin American countries. Mexican Sky is somewhere out there. It is meant for the Spanish speaking person, with some English language programming.

Dealers down here offer to provide addresses for you in which ever country you choose for a fee should you not have a home or a relative with a home whose address you can use.

To the best of my knowledge, both Xm and Sirius radio work this far south. I need the larger XM radio antenna though

RickS

Apr 12, 2006, 8:25 PM

Post #5 of 14 (4661 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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I don't want to start a rumor, but.....

It was my understanding from a while ago that Sirus did NOT work very far away from the border and definitely not in the Guadalajara area. Maybe that has changed in the last year.

XM, I can attest, does work around Lakeside.... or at least pretty well. The smaller vehicle antenna that comes with XM does work around Ajijic but reception is not available on some of the channels (different satellite probably) and spotty (drops out when one drives under a tree or bridge) on others. But for the most part it works fine 'out in the open' or in your house if you have proper line-of-sight.

I think it was Johanson (or someone) who said he 'taped' the larger in-home antenna to his car and it worked perfectly... i.e. not spotty like the smaller one.

johanson / Moderator

Apr 12, 2006, 8:54 PM

Post #6 of 14 (4658 views)

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Re: [RickS] High Definition Satellite Service

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I do tape the larger XM antenna on my car. I have another antenna in the house. I usually use my XM unit in my home here in Ajijic. I know people who have sirius radios in their cars in Ajijic, who say that it works well here. However I have no personal experience with sirius.

One nice thing about being moderator, is that I can Edit my post, anytime I want. I wanted to add that several years ago when Sirius was new to the area, the consensus was that only XM radio would work this far south. Apparently we were wrong

(This post was edited by johanson on Apr 13, 2006, 8:08 PM)

Cynthia7

Apr 13, 2006, 5:47 PM

Post #7 of 14 (4637 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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Sirius works from Laredo to SMA ..down to Oaxoca and Puerto Escondito..once or twice it faded for a minute but only using the antennae that clings by a magnet to the roof..wonderful to be able to listen to all those programs driving thru Mexico.

N2Futur

Apr 19, 2006, 2:24 PM

Post #8 of 14 (4590 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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Pete,

any idea how much larger of a dish we will need to pick up the former Voom HD Channels via DISH Network? Should we get the larger dishes to bring down or buy there? Sounds like we're going to have a satellite dish garden on the roof in order to get the HD channels. We're still with DirecTV here in Colorado, but I'm looking at switching to DISH soon, so we'll be all set up for our move SoB next fall.

Elke
___________________________
"When choosing between two evils, I always like to pick the one I never tried before." - Mae West

(This post was edited by N2Futur on Apr 19, 2006, 2:26 PM)

johanson / Moderator

Apr 19, 2006, 2:51 PM

Post #9 of 14 (4585 views)

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Re: [N2Futur] High Definition Satellite Service

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The Voom Channels. Elke: I was able to get them fading in and out using a 12 foot dish when pointing at 129 W. Sure with a little work with that large of a Dish I probably could have done better with the VOOM channels, but I didn't bother to try. I get enough HD without the VOOM channels. Remember I also get the US networks and some Canadian Canadian channels in HD from StarChoice (either 13 or 14 channels on Star Choice) and could get another 7 or so, many which are repeats on my C band system
What I am saying is, I like Bubba

taltman711

Apr 19, 2006, 5:25 PM

Post #10 of 14 (4570 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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Dishnetwork's sat. at 129 is failing. They do not admit to it, but it is a real problem receiving the signal here NOB. Why they would put the HD programming on this sat. is beyond me. They signal will cycle from strong to very weak and the picture will breakup and go blank for a while. They will be launching a new sat. that dish will lease transponders from in 2007, so this hopefully will take care of the problem. The HD stuff is also on the sat. at 61.5. I don't know if you can get that sat. in Ajijic, but you may give it a shot. Read this discussion regarding the 129 sat. http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=62803

johanson / Moderator

Apr 19, 2006, 6:56 PM

Post #11 of 14 (4558 views)

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Re: [taltman711] High Definition Satellite Service

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Hey Taltman, you hit it on the nail. That is exactly what is happening down here. The signal would be great for a while and then it would fade. I had no idea it was happening up North. I thought it was a problem only experienced in Mexico at the edge of the footprint. I played around with 61.5 for a while but could not get a DISH Network signal to lock on. I was told by a satellite dealer in Guadalajara, who said one could get the old VOOM channels on Echo Star 3 or Rainbow 1 (I can't remember which one). He had the same problem fading problem I had with an even larger sat dish when he pointed at EchoStar 5

Oh I have a have three Satellite Dishes down here (Ajijic) for DISH network, a 2 meter for the satellites at 110 W (Echo* 6&8) 1.4 meters at 119 (Echo* 7) and then a third LNB attached to my 3.9 meter c/Ku Dish that I can move from point to point and play around, (You know all the other DISH satellites.)

A much simpler system that gives me my Seattle Network stations in HDTV is Star Choice. I have one smaller dish (36 by 26 inches) that receives signals from two birds at 107.3 and 111.1 West and includes 13 or 14 HD channels.

taltman711

Apr 19, 2006, 7:46 PM

Post #12 of 14 (4550 views)

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Re: [cmh2148] High Definition Satellite Service

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To further answer the OP questions, both Dish & Star. must be married to an address in their country of origin. A lot of folks sign up in the country of origin, and then bring their boxes when they move. I only can speak of Dish, but you then go to your account on their web site and sign up for paperless billing. You can also pay your account monthly by internet using your Cr.Card, or sign up for autopay via Cr. Card. It is not illegal for you to do this in any way. Mexico doesn't really care and I really don't think Dish does either. They are getting paid after all. They do company wide compliance audits on a small scale, but they also have over 12 million customers and there is really nothing about your account to raise a red flag. The absolute worst thing that can happen if they do find out is to shut off your account. Unless you have VoIP for your phone, you can't order PPV via your receiver. Also, the new Dish DPR (Tivo like) receivers require a phone hook up or you will be accessed an additional $5.99/ month charge. The VoIP system avoids this charge.
Tim

taltman711

Apr 19, 2006, 8:08 PM

Post #13 of 14 (4546 views)

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Re: [johanson] High Definition Satellite Service

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Quote

Unfortunately no longer true. See this quote from a recent Dishnetwork "Retailer Chat"
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=63169
Note the quote in post #11. Pay up Pete!! (At least for Dish)
Tim

johanson / Moderator

Apr 19, 2006, 8:59 PM

Post #14 of 14 (4536 views)

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Re: [taltman711] High Definition Satellite Service

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Thanks for the warning. Any time I have phoned Dish I have told them that I am in my RV and that I have one of my 3 receivers with me and that I do not care if they turn the other two off, and they have never been upset, I have even asked for more programming explaining that the RV was parked at a house where I had access to a dish that I wanted to point toward 129 W. They cooperated and allowed me to subscribe to the Voom channels knowing I was not phoning from my home but using a call back service that happened to show a Florida area code. I told them that I was thinking of going to Mexico too. There was never a problem.

Maybe I was lucky. Thanks for the warning. I shall be more careful in the future.

With Star Choice they even had an advertisement in their webpage letting us know that it was OK to take our receivers with us when we traveled and showed a footprint showing a strong signal in Mexico. They have since stopped showing that page.

I am lucky enough to have property in both BC and WA giving me, I hope, I have the right to bring receivers with me when I head south. That said, I will be in Seattle in less than 3 weeks and commuting between Vancouver Island and my property near Anacortes WA, via ferry boat very soon thereafter.