A La Carte satellite TV system under $250 or so?

 

  I've been thinking about setting up some sort of satellite dish system to
supplement the FTA broadcast channels we get.  We don't watch a whole lot of
TV - most of what we watch comes from the local library on DVD.

  However, at times I would like to watch something.  I could either go for
a lot of variety, or else something like the Sci-Fi Channel.  My wife loves
game shows, so the Game Show Network would be great.

  I don't want to subscribe to cable, DirecTV, or anything where I have to
essentially subsidize a load of channels I would never watch.

  What I DO want is the capability of getting a bunch of free channels, as
well as subscribing to several (and by that I mean perhaps 2-4 channels like
Discovery Channel, Game Show Channel, Sci-Fi Channel, etc.) a la carte.

  For a while I was looking at getting a big dish, because I heard you could
do a la cart.  Then I heard that most of that was switching over to 4DTV,
but that was expensive.  Now I hear that 4DTV is on the verge of becoming
outdated, and something called DVB S2 (or something like that) has become a
de-fact standard.

  Frankly, I'm very confused by all of the changes.  I would like to be able
to get an inexpensive system, under $250, set it up and subscribe to a few
subscription channels.  No, not a "tier" of channels, where I get to pay for
crap like the golf channel. (apologies to those who get their jollies by
trying to use a stick to knock a ball in a hole)

  Can anyone suggest something like this?  I'd be open to using one of those
PC cards, and a small dish or something, if it has stable drivers and
software, but I think I'd really prefer some sort of set top box.  Big Kudos
if the system can get game show network, TBS, Cartoon Network, Sci-Fi, or
others a la carte for ~ $9 a year per channel like I saw with a KU band
system a few years back.

                                                            Thanks!

 

OhioGuy wrote:

   Almost everything is scrambled so without subscribing to Dish or
Direct you will not get much.

 



Your only real option with that requirement is standard broadcast TV,
but even there, you are subsidizing channels you don't watch by paying
for the cost to market most of the products you purchase.

 



The free-to-air channels you're hoping to receive are available via an
MPEG-2 set-up.

See the information at
http://skyvision.com/store/mpeg_store.html

 


Not gonna happen.

Either pry open your wallet and subscribe to a cable or satellite
service, or learn to live with what you can get over the air.