NFL Sunday Ticket

[SalmonBB]

Just moved to Virginia, surrounded by tall trees. DirecTV guy came out today, but discovered the only way for us to get satellite coverage - and with it, the ability to watch all our Seahawks games this year - is if we cut down a smaller tree in the corner of our yard. Neighbor is good with it, but I'm worried we cut the tree down, and then they tell us they can't do it anyway.

Does anyone know of any other good options other than the bars? One potential option is this thing they call NFLSundayTicket.tv: i.e., NFL Sunday Ticket for computers and mobile devices. Anyone have experience with this? Is it worth it, or should I just cut down the tree?

Thanks.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

[curmudgeon]

If you can, get a second opinion. A few years ago signed up with Direct TV through a well known big box warehouse outlet. Installer came to house, suggested cutting down trees, rewiring the house, etc., etc. Nixed the deal, went to a local provider, all has been golden.......

[SalmonBB]

If you can, get a second opinion. A few years ago signed up with Direct TV through a well known big box warehouse outlet. Installer came to house, suggested cutting down trees, rewiring the house, etc., etc. Nixed the deal, went to a local provider, all has been golden.......

Thanks, Curmudgeon. This guy who came by today said he'd been doing this for 25 years ... seemed pretty knowledgeable. With that said, what do you mean by a local provider? We called DirecTV and this is who they sent out. Who did you call, if not DirecTV?

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

[Hawktown]

not sure what direction a dish needs to face in Virginia but Mine needs to point DIRECT south. At the beginning of spring my Direct tv started getting bad and when I first got the service the installer said it would be a good idea to cut the top of a neighbors tree, lol, to get better or longer lasting service. Anyway, I just bumped my dish up 2 inches on its pole and I now have perfect service again! It took a few minutes to get the thing tuned in properly because lifting it on its own pole moved the markers from the angle/degree it is supposed to sit, but I got it. Dish sucks but the have sunday ticket which i do not get anymore as i am local and only want to see hawks games.

I can actually get a better HD picture for free with local tv with just your old school rooftop antenna. Better picture than comcast even???? Better reception than Direct tv!!! For FREE!!!

[NorthHawk]

Yup, the angles are critical.
When I had my dish, I used a stand and anchored it, but high winds sometimes moved it. A friend had his mounted on a fence post at his cabin. That worked pretty well, too as it was easy to mount, but an unobstructed view is the most important thing.

Get yourself a compass and figure out exactly where it is supposed to be pointing just to be sure. The Internet will give you the details if you don't already have that info.

You SHOULD get better reception from an antenna as it is receiving a largely unadulterated signal. The only compression if any, would be from the originating source to the local station.

It's going to be a different world when we finally get 4K or better broadcasts. Those pictures are amazing.

[obiken]

Another good way, I don't know if its still in effect, was to pay a one time fee for Xbox live and Madden and you got a coupon, for Sunday ticket through your Xbox. Since my 2 favorite teams are both in the West I never used it.

[curmudgeon]

Mid Columbia Satellite, local authorized retailer for DISH network. We needed Sunday ticket so they set us up with Direct TV. Fast, painless install.

[RiverDog]

I can actually get a better HD picture for free with local tv with just your old school rooftop antenna. Better picture than comcast even???? Better reception than Direct tv!!! For FREE!!!

That's because OTA broadcast TV's signal is uncompressed. Dish, DTV, and cable all compress their signals so they can fit 1,000 channels or whatever into their medium. OTA doesn't have to do that. Plus it provides for a good backup if the local network affiliates get into a contract dispute with the satellite provider as mine have occasionally, once during the NFL playoffs. And best of all, as Hawktown noted, it's free. I can see one heck of a difference, especially on my big projection TV.

One thing I've been trying to do is talk our local AM radio station into inserting a 3-4 second delay when they broadcast Hawk games. Back in the 80's-90's, I used to turn down the volume of the TV set and turn on the radio so I could listen to the local guys call the game. The radio was always a little ahead of the TV feed, but it was bearable. Now it's way ahead, making it impractical to watch it that way.

I hope you can resolve your problem, SBB. Have they tried multiple locations on your house or checked other buildings you might have? They can also use a ground mount and run the wire back to your house. Usually they like to keep the dish as close to the receiver as possible, so they don't have to do as much wiring, so the installation crew could just be lazy as they don't get any kind of commission for installing equipment. Unless you live in a dense forest, there must be some place on your property where they can sneak a peek at the satellite.

[SalmonBB]

Thanks all! Still looking into the options. Checked the azimuth and elevation numbers, and sure enough ... it points right to a clearing high beteen trees. Think I'm gonna' cut some limbs down into firewood. I feel so crappy about it, though. But I gotta' watch the Seahawks games.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

[Hawktown]

Back in the 80's & 90's my dad would also have the radio on and tv volume turned down. He also had multiple tv's set up to watch all the games on that day, lol.
My dad and his friend would get together every time we played the raiders (dad's friend was a raider fan who turned my brother to the dark side as well), lots of yelling and screaming, great fun!

It is quite amazing to me the quality of picture OTA gets compared to PAY tv. I don't have HD dish and as long as the weather is good enough I use the OTA transmission for games, though in rough weather OTA does a better job usually. Last season We had a storm and i was finding myself switching between dish and OTA because neither one wanted to work full time! lol

SBB all it takes sometimes is to take out a limb or 2. 1-2 degrees tilted up or down with the dish and it won't work as i recently discovered .

[RiverDog]

It is quite amazing to me the quality of picture OTA gets compared to PAY tv. I don't have HD dish and as long as the weather is good enough I use the OTA transmission for games, though in rough weather OTA does a better job usually. Last season We had a storm and i was finding myself switching between dish and OTA because neither one wanted to work full time! lol.

One of the best kept secrets in television is the quality of the OTA signal. Plus mine has several other channels not available on Dish or cable.

[nlbmsportin]

The NFL needs to get with the program and offer a standalone internet service for watching games. Sports are all that are keeping cable and dish alive. Don't need it for most television shows (Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, HBO Now, etc), but sports are better enjoyed live so people will spend absurd prices for watching a team that's 'free' to watch in-market.

[NorthHawk]

The NFL needs to get with the program and offer a standalone internet service for watching games. Sports are all that are keeping cable and dish alive. Don't need it for most television shows (Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, HBO Now, etc), but sports are better enjoyed live so people will spend absurd prices for watching a team that's 'free' to watch in-market.

Good to see you posting nlbmsportin. It's been a while since we heard from you.
I hope your career is well on track.


I'm sure the internet feed is on the horizon.
The obstacle is probably how to milk the most money out of it possible and at the same time not greatly impact the big contracts with the current TV networks.
Perhaps the rights could be given to the broadcasters - with the NFL getting a healthy cut of the cash flow.
At some point it will happen. Of that I'm pretty sure.

[Zorn76]

I watch all Seahawks games on the internet now.
There's pop ups - and it's not anywhere near HD quality - but for no cost it's a good deal.

Pulled the plug on my Directv 4 years ago and quit the Sunday Ticket after '07 season. Don't miss those bills one bit.

[SalmonBB]

Zorn,

Is that the "live streaming" via Seahawks.com?

Also, as far as local radio goes ... is it KIRO that broadcasts the games? I found out how to live stream KIRO. If nothing else, I'll watch Red Zone (which I get with Verizon ... we had to go with them because DirecTV couldn't get around our trees), turn the volume down, and then listen to the game on the radio.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

[jshawaii22]

The WWE has their own monthly subscription Network and it's real nice @$9.95/mo. No more pay-per-views and I have my computer routed to my big TV and it's a good picture and surround sound. No reason at all the NFL couldn't do the same thing and broadcast all the games live to those viewers who pay for it.

[Zorn76]

Zorn,

Is that the "live streaming" via Seahawks.com?

Also, as far as local radio goes ... is it KIRO that broadcasts the games? I found out how to live stream KIRO. If nothing else, I'll watch Red Zone (which I get with Verizon ... we had to go with them because DirecTV couldn't get around our trees), turn the volume down, and then listen to the game on the radio.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

Hey SBB - I watch games via firstrowsports.eu I think there's another similar site (maybe more) that would provide the same thing. As I mentioned earlier - pop up ads - and the streaming can freeze from time to time, but overall I'm fine with it since it's free. It's not HD, though, so if you had it going from the computer to your tv, the pic quality would be pretty poor I think. I watch on my monitor which is just 17 inches. Feels like watching a game on those old kitchen size tv's from the '80's. But it works for me. Been doing that for years now.

[Distant Relative]

Just moved to Virginia, surrounded by tall trees. DirecTV guy came out today, but discovered the only way for us to get satellite coverage - and with it, the ability to watch all our Seahawks games this year - is if we cut down a smaller tree in the corner of our yard. Neighbor is good with it, but I'm worried we cut the tree down, and then they tell us they can't do it anyway.

Does anyone know of any other good options other than the bars? One potential option is this thing they call NFLSundayTicket.tv: i.e., NFL Sunday Ticket for computers and mobile devices. Anyone have experience with this? Is it worth it, or should I just cut down the tree?

Thanks.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

Cut the Damn tree down!

Go Hawks!

[SalmonBB]

Thanks everyone.

Yeah ... I cut it down alright ... at least the half they told me I should. Then they came out, and said it didn't matter ... the prob is with another tree that I cannot cut down. So I got a double whammie: half a tree and no football.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!