# Tv question



## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

We currently have CIGNAL Satellite TV which for all accounts and purposes $UCK$. To me it is a money pit. Every time it rains no tv. Een though we are close to Manila ther are not a lot of options. Destiny, SkyCable etc does not have service here. I have heard from a couple people the PLDT / CIGNAL delivers via the internet and there is no interruption. I find that hard to believe as video streaming uses a lot of bandwidth. Any bottom line anyone tried their service? If not I'm buying an antenna and tell my wife that's all


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

c_acton98 said:


> We currently have CIGNAL Satellite TV which for all accounts and purposes $UCK$. To me it is a money pit. Every time it rains no tv. Een though we are close to Manila ther are not a lot of options. Destiny, SkyCable etc does not have service here. I have heard from a couple people the PLDT / CIGNAL delivers via the internet and there is no interruption. I find that hard to believe as video streaming uses a lot of bandwidth. Any bottom line anyone tried their service? If not I'm buying an antenna and tell my wife that's all


Friends of ours also have Signal Sat TV. For the most part they are quite happy with it. I'm guessing that you live in an area that when it rains you have very dense clouds with high tops. Those will block any satellite signal until it clears a bit. Another issue you may be having is that the dish is not quite on target with aiming to the satellite.
I'd suggest having a Signal TV installer/tech have a look. I have not had or tried satellite services here in the Philippines so can not recommend others.
Only option would be to search the net and possibly locate a satellite provider located in another country???


----------



## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

Jet Lag said:


> Friends of ours also have Signal Sat TV. For the most part they are quite happy with it. I'm guessing that you live in an area that when it rains you have very dense clouds with high tops. Those will block any satellite signal until it clears a bit. Another issue you may be having is that the dish is not quite on target with aiming to the satellite.
> I'd suggest having a Signal TV installer/tech have a look. I have not had or tried satellite services here in the Philippines so can not recommend others.
> Only option would be to search the net and possibly locate a satellite provider located in another country???


Jet thanks we have had Cignal out here several times. Now I have AFN DECODER and we can always get TV. Living in Antipolo or altitude is above Manila but you are right cloud coverage does have an impact. I might need to research and set the satellite myself.


----------



## lefties43332 (Oct 21, 2012)

c_acton98 said:


> Jet thanks we have had Cignal out here several times. Now I have AFN DECODER and we can always get TV. Living in Antipolo or altitude is above Manila but you are right cloud coverage does have an impact. I might need to research and set the satellite myself.


Had satellite in usa..wasnt impressed


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

c_acton98 said:


> Jet thanks we have had Cignal out here several times. Now I have AFN DECODER and we can always get TV. Living in Antipolo or altitude is above Manila but you are right cloud coverage does have an impact. I might need to research and set the satellite myself.


Well, Hope you can get the issues with it resolved without too much problem. Life does get interesting here in paradise-Hahaha..


----------



## cvgtpc1 (Jul 28, 2012)

You might want to try aiming that dish yourself. I've seen Cignal in hotels and residences all over and never seen a problem.


----------



## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

lefties43332 said:


> Had satellite in usa..wasnt impressed


Last place I lived in the States was in Nebraska. Had satellite (very small dish in front yard) there and real good luck. Only time we had issues was during heavy cloud cover or if snow built up in the dish during winter.


----------



## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

cvgtpc1 said:


> You might want to try aiming that dish yourself. I've seen Cignal in hotels and residences all over and never seen a problem.


Yeah I did that with the AFN Decoder works great. I am going to research the direction and elevation. I used an APP from Google Play with the AFN.


----------



## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

The problem with Satellite TV is that the clouds (when heavily laden with water) will scatter your signal. The transceivers do not put out enough power to "burn" thru the clouds and focus the signal. I remember back in military days of putting out something like 200W on our multichannel SATCOM systems to push 1.5MB of data through the heavy rains. Even then it took everything that the unit could muster just to maintain the link (connected but still degraded signal). 

The TV transceivers put out only a fraction of that and will always be susceptible to "rain fade".


----------



## Cebu Citizen (Dec 13, 2013)

I agree with the assessment of any satellite system...when it is poor weather, thick cloud cover heavily laden with moisture and you are stuck at home, that seems like the time you would really need and want good reception. I would think a local cable provider can get you better service at all times...rain or shine.

I have always preferred cable over satellite reception...of course the problem here being...is there any cable available in the more remote Provincial areas...

What are the hard wired cable options there in the Philippines?


----------



## jon1 (Mar 18, 2012)

Most decent sized towns have hard wired cable options. However, when there are brown outs in the towns, you will experience service interruptions even though you may have power in your area.


----------



## 197649 (Jan 1, 2013)

Cebu Citizen said:


> I agree with the assessment of any satellite system...when it is poor weather, thick cloud cover heavily laden with moisture and you are stuck at home, that seems like the time you would really need and want good reception. I would think a local cable provider can get you better service at all times...rain or shine.
> 
> I have always preferred cable over satellite reception...of course the problem here being...is there any cable available in the more remote Provincial areas...
> 
> What are the hard wired cable options there in the Philippines?


Sky canle is one but they have limited coverage. I know PLDT now owns CIGNAL so here we go again with the monopoly thing. But PLDT delivers the signal via Internet. The package is 20mbps and 73 channels. I am just leary of the delivery. My internet works great in the rain very seldom is it down. But when you talk TV Youtube sometimes it is choppy and frustrating.


----------



## Cebu Citizen (Dec 13, 2013)

I agree! 20mbps is VERY slow and really not sufficient enough to handle streaming video or TV movies. Here in the states it is typically required that you have speeds of at leaat 40mbps to adequately handle large video loads.


----------

