Re: Direct satellite systems?

[Tim May <tcmay@got.net>]

At 11:07 PM -0700 7/5/97, Lucky Green wrote:
>My local cable killing Mars rover deployment in favor of local dog tag
>ordinances (as required by the city), made me realize it that getting my
>own dish is way overdue.
>
>I would appreciate reports on any first hand experiences subscribers to
>this list have with satellite services. Yes, NASA TV and the SF channel is
>a must. :-)

I'm copying the list for my usual reasons. Plus, others may be interested.

I've had a DSS system for 15 months, and strongly recommend it, with a few
caveats I'll get to. I run my system into a Sony S-VHS deck and thence out
to a 32-inch direct view Pro-Scan monitor. (And to sets in other rooms.)

DSS is the leading 18-inch system, with DirectTV, USSB, Hughes, RCA, Sony,
etc. being the main names. The main competing system  being the Dish TV
system.

For about $60 a month I get the usual hundred or so channels, 5 channels of
HBO, 3 channels of Showtime, 3 of Cinemax, 3 of The Movie Channel, and
multiple others. And CNN, CNN-International, CNN-FN, blah blah. And CSPAN
(Congressional Sycophants, Panderers and Assholes Network). And the Sci-Fi
channel, though I never watch it (plenty of good recent vintage SF movies
on the major HBO types of networks, and Sci Fi channel often has
infomercials, etc.).

There is supposedly an Internet downfeed of some sort coming, but I'm not
counting on it. (The receiver box has a digital output cable; no uplink, of
course, but the proposed use involves a telephone connection for the user
responses.)

Advantages: Dish is very small and light. Fixed aiming, which means it can
be aimed and forgotten, with no mechanical motors, no maintenance, no lag
time in reacquiring a satellite. Dish can be mounted anywhere a clear view
of the southern sky is available. Exact aiming details for any location are
available (try Web sites, or Usenet newsgroups like *.dss.*, etc.). The
dish can be bolted on the side of houses, apartments, etc. Not in trees,
though, or where trees will even partly block the line of sight.

The picture quality is very good for some things. No snow, no thermal noise
("sparklies").  See next section.

Disadvantages: The system is all digital transmission. MPEG-2 is used for
compression. This can result in compression artifacts, especially in
fast-changing scenes (sports, for example).

The first year I had the system, I noticed almost no compression artifacts.
Recently, though, the various programmers like HBO and Encore added more
channels. I surmise this was done by cranking up the compression factors,
as many people are complaining loudly on the Net about seeing more
"pixelation" or "blocking" artififacts.

I'm hoping they tweak the algorithms and ratios to lessen this problem.

One or more additional satellites are expected to go up, so this may help.

I'd still recommend it. Over the competing systems like Dish TV, and
certainly over the 8-foot BUDs (Big Ugly Dishes, the C-band systems).

Readers with good memories may note that I mentioned Ku-band satellites in
my Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, written and distributed in 1988. Things have
come full circle.

--Tim May

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."