Big dish satellite T.V

Back in the 70's and 80's, big dish antennas were something of a fad for getting satellite tv signal. You could get anything, from anywhere, for free.

Whatever happened to that? Is it gone because of digital signal and everybody encrypts? Is there some way for me, in Massachusetts, USA, to get Eurosports coverage from Sky, just by knowing what dish to install and where to point it?

The only reason I want this is because I am a cycle racing fan. And the options I have, for pay, are all bad, for one reason or another. Either I feel like the company is ripping me off, or the selections are abysmal, or customer service is more painful than a root canal, or something.

Anyway, I tried to research this via google, but got nowhere. At this point I'm hoping someone will give me a few minutes to bring me up to speed.

Cheers;

LOVE that show
You can still get the whole series on You-tube.

To the OP, you can still pick up the signals, but the old dishes were analog, the new smaller dishes are digital.
Not only do you need a de-scrambler, but you also need to have either a digital reciever, or convert the analog signal to digital.

The old dishes went out of favor for a lot of reasons, space for one, the fact that most of the channels you got for "free" were in Swahilli or some other language.

It would probably be a better, and probably cheaper way to get the sports you want is to check out the options available on the web.

Personally, I wouldn't even mess with the old large dishes, very expensive for what you get out of it.

True, however the amount of programming and the fact you probably won't get the exact programming you want makes it a low value option for the price of the equipment involved.

Much simpler and quicker to stream the video to your computer using sites such as Cycling fans website.

When you are looking for something specific, it is best to find the easiest and most economical way to do it.
Those big old satelilite dishes are not the best option in the scenario outlined by the OP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyanR Whatever happened to big satellite tv dishes?

They got wet and shrunk. People were afraid they would mow them under so they moved them to the roof.

Yeah!

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip LOVE that show
You can still get the whole series on You-tube.

To the OP, you can still pick up the signals, but the old dishes were analog, the new smaller dishes are digital.
Not only do you need a de-scrambler, but you also need to have either a digital reciever, or convert the analog signal to digital.

That's the best answer to the question - thanks. That is kinda what I was thinking.

Originally Posted by lookb4youcross Actually you can get a FTA reciever and pick up C-band, there is still some interesting stuff in the clear. At this point I would recommend the OP to look here SATHINT - Satellite Charts, Packages, Footprints to see if there is anything of interest. It will list the in the clear stuff, as well as the encrypted stuff.

Good tip, thank you.

Originally Posted by MTSilvertip True, however the amount of programming and the fact you probably won't get the exact programming you want makes it a low value option for the price of the equipment involved.

When you are looking for something specific, it is best to find the easiest and most economical way to do it.
Those big old satelilite dishes are not the best option in the scenario outlined by the OP.

Excellent tip, thanks. I've been going with Steephill.tv - but the pirated links are getting worse and worse - and I know they are pirated. Years ago I paid for cycling.tv when they were a startup - and they were pretty good. Then they sold out, the coverage became crap, and sfaic, they've never recovered enough quality to interest me.

I'll keep an eye on this one.