I go to yard sales, flea markets, and Goodwill occasionally, and at times I've seen where someone will have old satellite TV equipment for sale. At times I've seen old Primestar equipment (The system that used a medium sized dish and was eventually bought out by DirecTV). I know that the dish is probably still usable, but is the tuner still usable for anything, even if it's not satellite TV connected? Is it even usable for parts? I'm not really planning on buying anything Prinestar connected, but I'm just curious if it's any good for anything now. Thanks!
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Is Primestar equipment good for anything now?
- Thread starter anotherguyTN
- Start date
The larger dishes especially are useful for receiving free-to-air satellite TV. One of the main satellites is Galaxy 28, which has programming from all around the world. There's also live "newsfeeds" and sports feeds. You'll need a free-to-air DVB receiver for these, ideally today one with HDTV capability (feeds are often in HD now). Experimenters also use the dishes as Wi-Fi antennas.
The Primestar receiver is pretty much useless. It is designed to receive / decode channels using the DigiCipher I standard, one of the first for digital satellite TV dating back to around 1992 or so. Back in the mid 1990's, there were are a lot of DC1 signals up there, most notably seven PBS channels on another Ku-band satellite that could be received by just re-aiming the Primestar dish and going into a "secret" menu, but those are long, long gone. Around 1996, GI introduced the DigiCipher II standard, with which the Primestar receiver is not compatible, and within a few years virtually all DC1 services were using it. Now DCII (even with updates through the years) seems to be going out of fashion in favor of more universal MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 formats.
The Primestar receiver is pretty much useless. It is designed to receive / decode channels using the DigiCipher I standard, one of the first for digital satellite TV dating back to around 1992 or so. Back in the mid 1990's, there were are a lot of DC1 signals up there, most notably seven PBS channels on another Ku-band satellite that could be received by just re-aiming the Primestar dish and going into a "secret" menu, but those are long, long gone. Around 1996, GI introduced the DigiCipher II standard, with which the Primestar receiver is not compatible, and within a few years virtually all DC1 services were using it. Now DCII (even with updates through the years) seems to be going out of fashion in favor of more universal MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 formats.
M
MotoMuzak
Guest
"The larger dishes especially are useful for receiving free-to-air satellite TV. One of the main satellites is Galaxy 28, which has programming from all around the world. There's also live "newsfeeds" and sports feeds. You'll need a free-to-air DVB receiver for these, ideally today one with HDTV capability (feeds are often in HD now)."
Yes!! That is what I have done for the last few years now. Found the dish at a flea market (now out of business
( and two LNBF's at a hamfest the weekend after. The PS dish *works* for C-band, but is far, far from optimal, being designed primarily for K-band reception--you'll likely need a BUD if you want to do any serious kind of C-band reception.
As for the Primestar box itself....................................hmmmm....................................................... *scratches head*
"Now DCII (even with updates through the years) seems to be going out of fashion in favor of more universal MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 formats."
I can see why--as I understand it, the ATSC system is based in a large part on DCII technology...ergo, most of the DCII standard that was at one time proprietary is now pretty much public knowledge. Why would anybody want to use a supposedly proprietary scrambling system that even an amateur with a really decent grasp of the ATSC's underlying technology might compromise?
Yeah--software-based CAMs are awesome ;o) *sinister laughing*
Yes!! That is what I have done for the last few years now. Found the dish at a flea market (now out of business
( and two LNBF's at a hamfest the weekend after. The PS dish *works* for C-band, but is far, far from optimal, being designed primarily for K-band reception--you'll likely need a BUD if you want to do any serious kind of C-band reception.As for the Primestar box itself....................................hmmmm....................................................... *scratches head*
"Now DCII (even with updates through the years) seems to be going out of fashion in favor of more universal MPEG-2 / MPEG-4 formats."
I can see why--as I understand it, the ATSC system is based in a large part on DCII technology...ergo, most of the DCII standard that was at one time proprietary is now pretty much public knowledge. Why would anybody want to use a supposedly proprietary scrambling system that even an amateur with a really decent grasp of the ATSC's underlying technology might compromise?
Yeah--software-based CAMs are awesome ;o) *sinister laughing*
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