Satellite TV Receiver
The satellite receiver you connect to your TV is as important as the dish, since different receivers come with different features. Satellite TV receivers today can offer 5.1-surround sound, HDTV and built-in digital video recorders.
The satellite TV receiver will connect to the TV or Home Theater receiver and is used to change channels usually with a menu-driven guide. If you plan on using satellite TV with a Home Theater system that has surround sound or HDTV, the bargain starter receivers might not be such a good deal. They might be inexpensive compared to the more feature-rich receivers, but spending a little extra will let you see and hear the potential offered by the clean digital signals encoded in Mpeg2.
Advertiser Links for Satellite TV Receiver
When shopping for a satellite receiver it's important to shop for receivers specific to your service provider. There are Dish Network boxes (receivers) and then those for DirectTV; hey aren't compatible with each other. The receiver will have a card that will only work with that receiver;the card is used to decode your subscription. When you get your dish and receiver connected you'll need to call your service provider to subscribe and they'll send a program down to your card so you can receive your preferred channels.
Fortunately for consumers,nearly any electronics company can make receivers so you have a huge variety of makes, models and choices by companies like Zenith, Samsung, LG and Toshiba.
The Dish DVR-510 has a digital audio output (S/PDIF) and a built-in 80Gig hard drive for digital recording and is priced under $300. This will provide surround sound and DVR but not HDTV.
The full-featured set top boxes like Zenith's HDR230 for DirectTV is considerably more at $950 but offers an 80Gig hard drive DVR, digital audio output and it's an HDTV tuner.
Satellite TV Setup Guide
