milos@faust.UUCP (05/13/85)
Well, they finally got around to selecting a franchisee for the
cable TV system here in Cambridge; maybe in a couple of years
my neighborhood will have been wired.
After hearing all the recent cable-related horror stories, though,
I'm wondering if the satellite dish route isn't the way to go.
Anyone out there got any insight/experience/opinions/flames?
Bob Milosavljevic UUCP: {ihnp4,harpo,esquire}!inmet!faust:milos
Intermetrics, Inc.
733 Concord Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138prg@mgweed.UUCP (Phil Gunsul) (05/17/85)
Bob,
I have been sending for information on satellite receivers for the
last 8 months and have quite a collection. But with the industry moving
so fast, most of what I have is out of date! I subscribe
to a couple of magazines ("STV" is the best in my opinion), they
are a great help in trying to keep up. Anyway, I'd be happy to
'satellite' with you or anyone else...
I have ordered and received a satellite system for here at work
(IQ160 and a 13' Hero dish) from Burton's Satellite, Inc. in Bigfork MT
(I talked to Ann Spohnhauer {(406) 837-5290)}) and am very pleased
with both the equipment and service. So much so, in fact, that I
am ordering one of the IQ170's and a 10' dish for home.
If you are serious about buying, I would be happy to communicate
with you, or better yet, maybe it's time to try to start up
a new news group net.something.to.do.with.satellite.tvro.stuff, or
what ever.
[C'mon, lets hear it from you satellite people out there!!]
Phil Gunsul -- AT&T IS -- Montgomery Works -- (312) 859-4485floyd@brl-tgr.ARPA (Floyd C. Wofford ) (05/24/85)
In article <5100001@faust.UUCP> milos@faust.UUCP writes: >After hearing all the recent cable-related horror stories, though, >I'm wondering if the satellite dish route isn't the way to go. > >Anyone out there got any insight/experience/opinions/flames? > >Bob Milosavljevic UUCP: {ihnp4,harpo,esquire}!inmet!faust:milos >Intermetrics, Inc. >733 Concord Avenue >Cambridge, MA 02138 It seems that most of the movie type channels are being scrambled. HBO is on an intermittant schedule for scrambling as is Showtime. I am assuming Cinemax and the Movie Channel are scrambled or are in the process of being scrambled. The scrambling is supposed to be coded with a key changing daily, so the use of homemade devices should be marginally effective without knowledge of the key. Perhaps its not as sophisticated as that. I am not heavily into video so my interest is minimal. Decoders or descrambling units would be available from licensed dealers (you can bet they will cost). The rest of the situation is not too dismal. There are a number of channels which provide sports, news, music, religious and family programming which are not being scrambled. The quality is commensurate with the viewer's taste. There are a number of satellites from which to choose so there is also variety. I don't advocate getting a dish (my tastes run towards the movies) but if you do don't get burned by thinking you are getting a great deal which won't exist in the future. Floyd Wofford floyd@brl-arpa
thomas@utah-gr.UUCP (Spencer W. Thomas) (05/26/85)
There was an interesting article about satellite video in this month's
(June?) Atlantic Monthly (it's the cover story, so should be easy to
find). Among other things, they said that currently only HBO is
actively moving towards encryption, and that one other (Cinemax?) was
thinking about it (at the time the article was written, of course). It
is also not clear that HBO will be able to transmit encrypted material
only very soon, because of all the legit downlinks that need to be
supplied with the decryption box. However, they ARE actively working on
it.
--
=Spencer ({ihnp4,decvax}!utah-cs!thomas, thomas@utah-cs.ARPA)
"There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired."
- F. Scott Fitzgeraldbytebug@pertec.UUCP (roger long) (05/26/85)
In article <17193@mgweed.UUCP> prg@mgweed.UUCP (Phil Gunsul) writes: >I have ordered and received a satellite system for here at work >(IQ160 and a 13' Hero dish) from Burton's Satellite, Inc. in Bigfork MT > >Phil Gunsul -- AT&T IS -- Montgomery Works -- (312) 859-4485 What the heck is AT&T IS doing with a satellite system? No wonder their stuff is so expensive with overhead like that. -- roger long pertec computer corp {ucbvax!unisoft | scgvaxd | trwrb | felix}!pertec!bytebug
seifert@hammer.UUCP (Snoopy) (05/27/85)
In article <330@pertec.UUCP> bytebug@pertec.UUCP () writes: >In article <17193@mgweed.UUCP> prg@mgweed.UUCP (Phil Gunsul) writes: >>I have ordered and received a satellite system for here at work >>(IQ160 and a 13' Hero dish) from Burton's Satellite, Inc. in Bigfork MT > >What the heck is AT&T IS doing with a satellite system? No wonder their >stuff is so expensive with overhead like that. Simple. First you open up a nice window on the BLIT, then you execute /usr/games/tv -s , where the s option specifies the station number. Fine tuning, if necessary, is done via the interactive tomatoe, er the mouse. Now you can keep up with your favorite soap while waiting for that big troff job to finish. (it helps if you nice the troff job) oh yeah: :-) Snoopy tektronix!mako!seifert
prg@mgwess.UUCP (Phil Gunsul) (05/30/85)
[bytebug] I thought you were serious Roger until I caught on to the pun (satellites ~= "overhead") ;-) Phil Gunsul -- ATTIS