Hi Civil Guy, can you me what an e dish is ? I have no clue what this is,
how can I tell if I do ? I am going to jump on the 505 offer today, but don't want to buy it if I don't have the proper dish. Help ! Please !


Yes, you do need the e dish for the 505.

Elliptical dish to capture 2 satellites (Anik F1 + F2)

There are 2 types:
Stacked with 2 LNBFs that look like beercans; example
http://cgi.*********/Starchoice-Star-Choice-Dual-Satellite-Dish-w-receiver_W0QQitemZ5813303961QQcategoryZ61386QQssPageNameZWDV WQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Unstacked that has 4 connections to hook up to 4 receivers to, example
http://cgi.*********/StarChoice-Star-Choice-Elliptical-75E-Dish-Quad-LNB_W0QQitemZ5813634736QQcategoryZ61386QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem

SD = Standard Definition, ie regular (non-HD) programming.
e-dish = Elliptical dish, ie the oval shaped one. If you don't have one, Call Star Choice for the upgrade program. Price is usually $50 installed with warranty.

I don't watch sports at all, so TSN-HD does nothing at all for me. It's not just up to StarChoice to allow MuchMusic and BET high definition channels. First of all, the stations have to offer high definition before StarChoice could even give it to us. To my knowledge, these music channels are not in HD, so even if SC wanted to, they could not give them to us in HD.

Sorry to hear that. How does the HD look? I hope you find the culprit before you ditch the receiver.
The other day I was watching a DVD and couldn't help but notice the crappy picture. On checking the video settings in the menu on the Sony, I noticed all the settings were in the middle of the scale. Somehow the reset button must have been pushed on the remote (even though it is recessed) Factory settings are not the best. I pulled out my Sound and Vision "Home Theater Tune Up" DVD and retuned the settings per the video test patterns. It does make a difference, not that you haven't tried that already.

I'm a glutton for punishment and refuse to give up; but I've got to solve this before my better half throws me out the door or tears down the new dish. She never wanted the upgrade in the first place. She's been reasonably understanding with my technical explanations thus far, but enough is enough, she just wants our old picture quality back. JBracing, I kid you not, my old round dish and 421B was around 90% compared to HD. Tomorrow I'm calling the installer and have him re-install my old dish. Guess I'll go with a dual system to keep the peace in the family. That way she gets the picture we once had and I have a new piece of hardware to play with.

HD is excellent except for the ABC problem with sound.
I've heard about the Sound and Vision "Home Theater Tune Up" DVD. Where do you buy that?

I've heard about the Sound and Vision "Home Theater Tune Up" DVD. Where do you buy that?

Does this product offer anything better than AVIA-Guide to Home Theatre complete with colour gel filters?

How does it rate?

I know there was another one called Video Essentials I think and that is a bit dated by now I'm told.

BTW, I ordered mine from Chapter/Indigo online, AVIA that is.

Elliptical dish to capture 2 satellites (Anik F1 + F2)

There are 2 types:
Stacked with 2 LNBFs that look like beercans; example
http://cgi.*********/Starchoice-Star-Choice-Dual-Satellite-Dish-w-receiver_W0QQitemZ5813303961QQcategoryZ61386QQssPageNameZWDV WQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Unstacked that has 4 connections to hook up to 4 receivers to, example
http://cgi.*********/StarChoice-Star-Choice-Elliptical-75E-Dish-Quad-LNB_W0QQitemZ5813634736QQcategoryZ61386QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd Z1QQcmdZViewItem

Don't know if you've been following my woes about SD picture quality problems, but the dish they put up for my switch to the 505 has the unstacked type LNBF's. My original dealer (no longer with *C) mentioned that he had a customer once that had a somewhat similar problem to mine. They replaced the LNBF which solved the problem. Do you know anything about the LNBF's? Is it possible there may be a convergence problem with one and not the other. Just searching for any reasonable possibilities.

BTW, I ordered mine from Chapter/Indigo online, AVIA that is.

Thanks ARR, I'll look into that too.

Here is a link to the C-Net review of the different calibration discs:
http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108543-2.html?tag=lnav

I got my Sound and Vision disc off e-bay.

I'm a glutton for punishment and refuse to give up; but I've got to solve this before my better half throws me out the door or tears down the new dish. She never wanted the upgrade in the first place. She's been reasonably understanding with my technical explanations thus far, but enough is enough, she just wants our old picture quality back. JBracing, I kid you not, my old round dish and 421B was around 90% compared to HD. Tomorrow I'm calling the installer and have him re-install my old dish. Guess I'll go with a dual system to keep the peace in the family. That way she gets the picture we once had and I have a new piece of hardware to play with.

HD is excellent except for the ABC problem with sound.
I've heard about the Sound and Vision "Home Theater Tune Up" DVD. Where do you buy that?
CIVIL GUY,
You're scaring the crap out of me. I too, have the old round dish and am being upgraded to the E dish tomorrow as I just purchased a 505 from Future Shop.

I'm getting fantastic picture quality from my Round dish and my 412B. Is poor picture quality to be expected for SD stations once upgraded?

I'm consistantly getting 80 for signal strength and 99 for picture quality. I'm not interested in going backwards, or having 2 dishes. Does everyone experience this?

I'm confused about the whole loss in picture quality moving to the 505 and e-dish. Technically, the dish shouldn't have anything to do with picture quality since its digital - the data to form the picture is either there or its not. If its not, there will be bits of the picture actually missing. The picture won't get sharper if the signal strength goes higher.

Are you using the same cable and connector that you used before with the 421b with the 505? Different cable/input combinations may affect the picture quality.

Have you tried hooking the 421b back up to the e-dish to look at quality? I'm betting it should be the same as with the round dish - placing the change in quality with the reciever and cable instead of the dish.

I'm confused about the whole loss in picture quality moving to the 505 and e-dish.

The only difference that a stronger signal will make is that rainfade is less likely to happen. I think what is causing some of the confusion is comparing a SD signal on the SVideo or composite lines (from a 4XX receiver) to a signal coming in upconverted on component or DVI (from the 5XX receiver).

When I compare SVideo from both a 401 and 500 on my Sony Directv view CRT; I see a difference in colour ( the red jaggies are gone with the 500) but a brighter picture with the 401.

How your tv handles upconverted signals will depend on the type of HD it is, plus how it is set up. I had to play with Sony settings to get rid of edge enhancement and adjust other settings to rid it of the edge jaggies on SD material. To do the real test - apples to apples - compare SVideo or composite input of SD on the 2 receivers.

I guess my question is, will I be dissappointed with the SD programs on my Sony with the new equipment? I will be going with a DVI cable.

I agree, you really have to compare apples to apples re; cabling. I just don't want to lose the PQ that I presently have. Forgive my paranoia.

I agree, you really have to compare apples to apples re; cabling. I just don't want to lose the PQ that I presently have. Forgive my paranoia.

You always have the option to hook up both SD and HD lines between the receiver and tv. Just switch inputs on the tv when you move between HD and SD channels. That's the way that those with external HDD200 decoders have been doing it since the getgo.

That way you won't be losing any PQ. On my Sony CRT, I found that component cables were the way to go for both HD + SD. On the other hand, a friend of mine with a rear projection HDTV finds it better to switch inputs between SD/HD.

I'm confused about the whole loss in picture quality moving to the 505 and e-dish. Technically, the dish shouldn't have anything to do with picture quality since its digital - the data to form the picture is either there or its not. If its not, there will be bits of the picture actually missing. The picture won't get sharper if the signal strength goes higher.
I believe you're talking about signal strength by itself. I agree, once the signal becomes too weak it completely goes (it's there or it's not).

The picture quality has alot to do with what you see. I find when the quality is low, I get shifting of moving images. The signal strength could be at 80 %, but the low image quality strength has a great effect on the images on the screen. This seems to be the case at my house.

You always have the option to hook up both SD and HD lines between the receiver and tv. Just switch inputs on the tv when you move between HD and SD channels. That's the way that those with external HDD200 decoders have been doing it since the getgo.

That way you won't be losing any PQ. On my Sony CRT, I found that component cables were the way to go for both HD + SD. On the other hand, a friend of mine with a rear projection HDTV finds it better to switch inputs between SD/HD.
Thanks for the advice.

Here's a new thought - could the crappy look of SD have anything to do with F1 being on its last legs? I've got a signal strength on F1 around 52, while on F2 (HD stations), the signal strength is around 72. I've never seen such a difference between the two. And i'm noticing more and more stations looking like crap - the kind of blockiness that others have mentioned too. Maybe F1R will fix some of this?

Here's a new thought - could the crappy look of SD have anything to do with F1 being on its last legs? I've got a signal strength on F1 around 52, while on F2 (HD stations), the signal strength is around 72. I've never seen such a difference between the two. And i'm noticing more and more stations looking like crap - the kind of blockiness that others have mentioned too. Maybe F1R will fix some of this?

Nope it will not. Like a previous poster said, with digital you have it or you dont. If you have it and problems persist then you have to start looking at other compents such as the tuner card, cabling, lnb etc.

Here is a link to the C-Net review of the different calibration discs:
http://www.cnet.com/4520-7874_1-5108543-2.html?tag=lnav

I got my Sound and Vision disc off e-bay.

Thanks Lenny.

CIVIL GUY,
You're scaring the crap out of me. I too, have the old round dish and am being upgraded to the E dish tomorrow as I just purchased a 505 from Future Shop.

I'm getting fantastic picture quality from my Round dish and my 412B. Is poor picture quality to be expected for SD stations once upgraded?

I'm consistantly getting 80 for signal strength and 99 for picture quality. I'm not interested in going backwards, or having 2 dishes. Does everyone experience this?

Don't be scared, be strong! With all new technologies there's always a few glitches here and there. I just happened to fall into one. Everyone's set up is different, everyone's eyes see things differently. I just regret in hindsight that I didn't leave my old dish up so I could fall back just in case. I'll work things out I'm sure. Nice to have forums such as this to exchange info. Go for it!