Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

So my dad for the last month has been to everyone he knows about this new receiver he heard of from Fortec.



http://www.fortecstar.com/estore/sto...2&CategoryID=4

He told me that it's completely free to use. There aren't any subscription costs. All you have to do is buy the box, hook it up and that's it.

It's using something called "Free-to-air". I had never heard of it so I looked it up in the internet bible:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-air

After reading it, it sounds legit. What do you guys think?

My dad said he's been getting like 600 channels for free and it's working just fine.

doopstr

Are they compatible with the new style dishes?

When I think of free to air I picture some huge ugly dish in the backyard.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

My dad's got it hooked up to his dish that he got form Dish Network.

cM3go

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

That's exactly what I thought when I first heard about it.

doopstr

What kind of channels does he get? Anything good? Does he get the normal cable channels such as USA, Nickelodeon, TNT, etc?

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^ I'll ask him for the list or a summary and post it up.

mamboking

<----- wishes he still had his old sattelite dish that show backfeeds where you can watch the cheerleaders dancing at NBA games....




meh, looks like what you are gonna get is PBS and a bunch of religious channels. The good ones are encrypted...

Tsx536

To get the free to air signal you need a 30" dish with a Ku LNB.

Those receivers can also pick up the Echo birds.

owkone

What channels is he getting? The Fortecstar web page does not list the channels.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

So I talked to my dad tonight,

he's gonna be down here visiting for the weekend and is gonna bring the box with him so I'm gonna give it a run and see for myself how it does.

But over the phone he was telling me some of the channels he gets like Nick, TNT, FX, HGTV, Spike, USA, ESPN and a whole bunch of others. I figure if he gets these channels he probably gets all the other ones like discovery, animal planet, fox news, cnn, hnn, tbs, etc.

Of course since this is off the air, it also depends on your location and quality of signal, satellite and all that stuff

But i'll have a final answer soon.

You'll have to figure what works best in your area in terms of signal quality.

quad150db

iTrader: (1)

while there are some free channels out there if you are getting TNT,FX, HGTV.. then you are just hacking Dishnetworks sat.. I have had a free to air for years now and love it but no its not legel to recieve any of those channels for free

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^^ that's what I was thinking and I kept telling my dad that but he wouldn't believe me. And that's what prompted me to look into it more.

the fact that the box needs to update iteself with god knows what is an indicator that somethings fishy. But it could be simply updating the guide so you know what's on. but even still, the fact that my dad the other day was tweaking it to point towards the same sats that dish uses is an indicator that it's not legitamate. And hence the reason why I started this thread to find out.

quad150db

iTrader: (1)

yeah what he has is an Auto Rolling bin which is auto updating to crack dishnetworks signal. however he should be warned that every 3-6 months on average it will go down and if he does not no someone to reprogram his dish or know how to do it and where to get the new software from he will have a dish that is great for watching the NASA channel and not much else.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

^^ what's wrong with watchin the NASA channel.


<~~~ employee of NASA and has made stuff that's broadcast on NASA TV.

Sly Raskal

iTrader: (1)

that's why he connects it to the internet and it autoupdates through that.

I still don't like the idea of it all though.

quad150db

iTrader: (1)

yeah he is just updating to the new bin. I am no one to judge because I have had one for about 3 years or so. but it can be a pain in the ass if its your only source of tv. because it seems like it always goes down when you really want to watch something..