Hello All

It looks like my wife and I are probably going to be moving to the US from the UK within the next few months ... ... and I'm trying to do as much research as possible before I move.

So we have managed to get an idea of house prices, cars, hospitals, health care etc ... and on a more fun note I have chosen the TV and DVD player that I am going to buy

Now I'm trying to work out what TV / cable or satellite system to get and was wondering if any US zulmis could point me in the right direction. I've heard of Tivo and as far as I know it's similar to Sky Plus and I wanted some system like that. What I don't know is if Tivo is locked in to one particular satellite system like Sky, and if it is possible to get Tivo and channels like B4U etc and be able to use the Tivo functions. Also I don't know if there is any better alternative to Tivo in the US???!

Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Muz.

You coming to Sunny So Cali?

TiVO can be used with Dish Network (where the most popular desi channels are) and Direct TV (Star and E channels). I think you need an "IR Blaster" - a device for TiVO to change channels on your dish reciever.

if you are going to get analog cable, you won't have a single problem.

I was trying to get out of paying DVR Service fees(also have higher recording capacity), and attempted to get a TV tuner card for my computer, but the stupid IR Blaster/Device won't install properly

anyway, more and more service providers are turning away from tivo and implementing their own DVRs. TiVO & Yahoo are going to provide joint services

here is some info from the FAQ page at tivo.com:
Does the TiVo® box work with Echostar/Dish Network Receivers?
A TiVo® box is compatible with Dish Network receivers that support IR control (all recent Dish Network receivers so). However, if you have a Dish Network receiver that does not support IR control, such as the EchoStar 4000 or JVC 4500, the TiVo box will not be able to change the channel on your satellite receiver unless you upgrade to a newer receiver.

I'm going to be moving to Conneticut ... I've heard it's cold ... damn cold.

The info that you gave is really useful for me ... I finally understand the stuff that I've been reading on other web-sites!

In the Uk things are pretty simple ... Sky or cable (unless you want some special interest TV) ... and all the Indian channels are available on Sky.

Right - now I can do some more research with this new found knowledge!

Thanks for this dude!

well, I forgot to mention that there are a lot of cable tv providers that have desi channels. I'm not sure about connecticut, but in LA the channels are limited to Zee & TV Asia(horrible channel) with cable providers.

anyway, keep in mind that Zee USA is a month behind UK/India in programming I got into a couple of dramas, but I don't have time to watch them everyday. I just visit indian t.v. serials forums and catch up by reading the episode summaries. lol

yes, connecticut IS cold. I don't know why people bother to live on the northern east coast gotta love it when you can drive with the windows down in December/January

if u get dish network then u will get b4u, b4u music, sony, sony max, zee, zee cine, tvasia (zoom), aaj tak, ht, sahara one, samay, zee gujju,
and on direc tv u get star plus, star one, mtv india, star news ( btw does anyone know how to get the direc tv dish in canada illeagally since i only have dish and want star plus since most of the dramas are on there that i watch

Wow - so to get a mix of B4U / Sony and Star I'll have to get 2 different services?! Or maybe I could go the cable route??? Do you know if cable in the US offers HD programming?

in canada they do on digital cable so it should also be available in america but no indian channels are hdtv yet

your best bet is to go with Dish Network. they have all the top desi channels. they have nice HDTV/HD-DVR receiver, for your HD (limitied selection in USA as a whole) angresi shows/movies.

Is Star even available in the US?

there are a variety of Star channels available on Direct TV. there are regional language channels available too:

http://directtv.com/DTVAPP/packages/int ... hasian.jsp

agree with Rita. watch out for hidden costs. We are paying a $5 extra service fee because we aren't subscribing to their american channels package but I can't avoid that unless I subscribe to their american channels, and since I don't have time to watch TV anyhoo, we are just getting the desi channels for my mom.

Dish Network has a new channel called American Desi. The channel is worse than it's title. but I think it's free, but we don't usually watch it anyway. TV Asia, another US based desi channel is another channel you can avoid (not sure if they offer these in US).

and I'm sure you know the rest, check em out:
http://dishnetwork.com/content/programm ... th%20Asian

Sahara ONE is pretty good. Well, they have cool ads from India. lol Headlines Today and Aaj Tak are great for news. one is english language the other is hindi.

i have a question
since star plus/star one is on direc tv unfortunetly, would it be possible for dish network to also get airing rights for these channels in the us? like how they do for the gora channels (abc, fox, etc) or would international channels have only one company airing the channel

so far they are sticking it to desi audiences by remaining on diff networks. but since majority desis have Dish, these morons(networks) that signed up with DirecTV will most likely move over to Dish.

also, it could be that they end up on both providers, but I highly doubt there is a big enough market for them to do this. I'm surprised to see Zee/TVAsia on Time Warner cable. I think that will soon die out. It seems DirecTV has better cricket packages?

Thanks for the advice guys! I am totally sorted now ... it looks like we will go for the dish network. I have to at least have the ability to subscribe to the Indian channels for when my parents come to visit. Although my parents will not be happy about being a month behind on their Zee TV dramas ... ... but at least they will be able to see them!

Yuvan - thanks for the Dish network link. I couldn't find this info from their web-site when I looked so this is superb!

DirectTV and Star are owned by Rupert Murdoch. Thats the reason they are on Direct TV. To add a viable alternative to Dish for desis, He has got some other channels including MTV and ETV to join its lineup.

The most dissapointing thing about two different satellite channels is Cricket. They show the matches only one one of the networks

By the way Connecticut has the highest per capita income in the US. Perhaps the cold makes us north easterners smarter