Upgrading to an HD PVR..few questions

[feo]

I think the time has come for me to upgrade from my sh*tty DSD990 to an HDPVR. Initially, I was waiting for a couple more HD channels to pop up and better software upgrades but I might as well upgrade now and watch a few Premier League games and the Sunday night movie in HD.

Firstly, do I need a new dish? I'm not sure how big our current one is...we inherited it from the previous owners of our home.

Second, any suggestions on REPUTABLE QUALITY installers in Pretoria? (or someone willing to drive out from Jhb to Pta)

Third, whenever the weather is bad, my signal goes to hell and DStv is barely watchable...is this also gonna be a problem with DStv HD?

 

[ToxicBunny]

It is preferably to have a 90cm dish...

You will very possibly need to upgrade the LNB or get a splitter/multiswitch.

IF you are losing signal in poor weather, your LNB is not in perfect alignment, so I'd get that looked at, but yes it will still be a problem with dstv in HD

 

[Inertia]

I think once your alignment is good the weather doesn't play such a big role anymore. Even with all these Joburg afternoon thunderstorms my viewing has hardly been interrupted

 

[atomcrusher]

Correct installation (..and beware - there are a lot of fly-by-night installers around), and the 90cm dish, will go a long way towards (.. relatively :erm happy HD viewing.

And if you really want to get put-off from any Multichoice offering, go read the DSTV forum ... you may just decide to stick to reading the printed word!

 

[arf9999]

I think the time has come for me to upgrade from my sh*tty DSD990 to an HDPVR. Initially, I was waiting for a couple more HD channels to pop up and better software upgrades but I might as well upgrade now and watch a few Premier League games and the Sunday night movie in HD.

Firstly, do I need a new dish? I'm not sure how big our current one is...we inherited it from the previous owners of our home.

Maybe. Idealy you need a 90cm or bigger dish. If you're going to upgrade, try going to a 120cm... see later for reasons.

Second, any suggestions on REPUTABLE QUALITY installers in Pretoria? (or someone willing to drive out from Jhb to Pta)

nope, sorry. I've dealt with people recommended by Space TV in the past and so far so good.

Third, whenever the weather is bad, my signal goes to hell and DStv is barely watchable...is this also gonna be a problem with DStv HD?

Short answer, probably yes. Especially if you use a Dual LNB with a multiswitch, because the actual signal level will be lower than with your current setup. To overcome weather related drop-out, you'll need:
a. a bigger dish, well aligned.
b. a quad LNB
c. lots of cables (4 cabes from LNB to decoder)

 

[ToxicBunny]

If you're doing a HDPVR setup, it might be prudent to go for a SatCr LNB.. then you can do single cable from LNB to decoder.

 

[Quantum Theory]

90cm is a guideline from Multichoice. There is a 70cm elliptical Visiosat dish from Space TV, that performs better than most 90's. 120cm is overkill arf9999. We only use those on communal installations. You can use a twin LNB with a good multiswitch (e.g. Spaun/Labgear) or a SatCR LNB, instead of the quad LNB. Call Space TV Pretoria to refer you to a good installer.

http://www.spacetv.co.za/?loadpage=contacts&menuname=contacts&submenuname=contacts&branchid=6

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

I have that 70cm dish .... I also have the SatCr LNB and to date I have yet to experience any weather related issue. I think I lost signal once, for a minute, in that hurricane like storm we had a while back. Signal strength has been a constant 100%.

But, do be sure to use extremely reputable installers ..... dodgy ones can do so much damage.

 

[Steve_Ras]

SD PVR Disk failure

Can I ask for HELP Please.

I went away for the weekend, and when we got back no more hard disk operating on the PVR
Tried all the technical resets etc - nothing worked.
Phoned MNET and got the response that the SD PVR is no longer repaired, I must upgrade/buy a new HD PVR (no trade-in) with all the 4 cable problems!

Opened up the box and checked the HD on the PC - disk failure RC=7
So the disk has failed.

No problem, I have seen the treads on how to upgrade the disk, (How_to_Upgrade_your_PVR_HDD.pdf)
I buy an expensive 250Gb IDE Western Digital replacement drive.
Create the 3 partitions and format to FAT32, however I still cannot figure out how to set all 3 partitions active(?)
Could NOT copy the existing files across, so the disk is empty.
Set master/cable select jumper (no diffs)
Plug the new disk into the PVR
Tried PVR tech reset and disk format options
Guess what it still cannot find the disk!

Any ideas? I really am not to keen on the cost and hassles of the HD PVR, I want to get the SD working.

PS Another funny is that the date is set to Dec1969 and the time will not set correctly

 

[SoTrue]

PS Another funny is that the date is set to Dec1969 and the time will not set correctly

Ah, there is you problem! Yours was damaged during testing on the first moon landing.