| reply to ftarules
Re: FTA in Canada said by ftarules :
I've been running on the same firmware for 2.5 months now. Updating firmware takes about 5 mins and when Bell and DishNetwork do screw with things new firmware is released in 1-2 hours NOT WEEKS.
I didn't say "Always" - as I said in my post "Sometimes" it can take a week or more - about every 2-3 months is correct for how often firmware bins have to be updated, but 3 times in the last 4 years I was out for around a week. Yes the majority of times it was less than a day - often around 4 hours from what I've found.
The problem is, if you're like me, and have a family who just want the TV to work when they turn it on, even telling them to wait 4 hours is unacceptable. Telling them to wait 4 to 5 days is a death sentence on the FTA receiver and you'll find it in the dumpster the next day when you get home, and the ExpressVu installer on a ladder at the back of your house.
So it was just a warning - it's not flawless - you have to be willing to do the firmware bin updates, sometimes at the most inopportune time (in the middle of a movie, football or hockey game, the season premiere of Gray's Anatomy, you name it) - and _sometimes_ the waiting for that BIN can be a killer. If on the other hand you have another source for your regular programming, as I said basic cable, OTA antenna, basic Satellite service, etc. and you use your FTA to watch things like Starz, HBO, Cinemax, US network feeds, etc. and won't be inconvenienced by an outage, then by all means.. FTA FTW.
And unlike AndyB - I use my FTA receiver on an old ExpressVu dish just fine - I have an LNB provided with the FTA receiver that I mounted to the old ExpressVu arm with no problem at all and it works perfectly. Considering the ExpressVu dish *IS* the Dish Network dish re-branded, there's little to no reason you can't use it to "see" any of the Dish Network satellite feeds. I've never had a problem with signal strength. A motorized mount would be sweet however - but I've settled in with it pointed at one sat for now (I use my FTA at my cottage, and when I'm going for a long stay I take one of my BeV receivers from home with me just in case there's a "firmware outage"). |
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