How is this done? By placing a satellite in a special orbit called geosynchronous or geostationary, it appears to remain still to planet Earth. It is, in fact, traveling at the same relative speed as the surface of the planet. This orbital path is named after famed science writer Arthur C. Clarke and goes by The Clarke Belt. Clarke described the orbital satellite arc in a paper in 1947! This apparently stationary position allows for easy pointing to the satellite which in turn allows for easy transmission and reception of radio wave signals. Satellite uplinkers point large, high-powered dishes at the satellite and send up a variety radio signals including data, telephone traffic, and most interesting, television. Satellite TV viewers point smaller versions of a dish at these same geostationary satellites and can receive over 250 channels of cable type programming as well as dozens of special channels.

Dish Size: In the early days of satellite TV, dish sizes ranged from 10 to 24 feet -- not something that many families would like to have standing around in their backyard. Today, dishes range in size from six to 10 feet, with the bulk of new dishes in the 7.5-foot range. They are smaller, lighter, and less obtrusive making them easy to place on top of a roof or camouflage with attractive landscaping.

Receiver: There are several different brands of satellite TV integrated receiver descramblers, or IRDs. All of them perform similar functions and each has its own set of special features. Your TV viewing preferences may determine which type of IRD you choose.

Today's receivers are equipped with a VideoCipher Renewable Security module that allows the user to pay for and watch subscription programming. Its function is virtually transparent to the TV viewer.

The latest incarnation of the satellite receiver contains the ability to receive analog radio and video, VideoCipher analog video and digital audio, and DigiCipher digital video and audio via the DigiCipher II compression technology. This latest generation of satellite television is called 4DTV.

Analog and Digital Signals: Signals delivered via satellite come in many shapes and sizes. Some of them are radio type waves which vary in amplitude and frequency to create the pictures and sound. Others are delivered digitally and converted into pictures and sound via digital converters in the satellite receiver. Both types of pictures are of the highest quality.

250 Channels: With the combination of analog, VideoCipher, and digital channels available on satellite TV, there are over 250 regular channels and dozens of specialty channels for occasional viewing. Even if you choose not to subscribe, there are many worthwhile programming options. However, subscribing opens the doors to a vast new world.

Site Survey: To determine whether or not you can receive satellite signals, the first step will be to see if you have an open view of the southern skies -- provided you live north of the equator. If such a view seems to exist, a site survey will be necessary to determine exactly where the best location for a satellite dish lies. Your local satellite retailer can perform this function.

Trees and Other Objects: If your view of the southern skies is obstructed, either by trees, buildings, or mountains, you may still be able to receive part of the wide array of programming available via satellite.

Sports: Although ESPN may be the most visible sports network, the amount of sports channels to be found on satellite is mind-boggling. There are several sports-only channels available to dish owners. Most of them offer a regional team's games for viewing in the team's franchised area. These channels include: NewSport, Home Team Sports, Houston Sports Entertainment, Madison Square Garden, New England Sports Network, SportsChannel, Prime Sports, and Sunshine.

Movies: There are movies of every variety available every hour of the day and night.

There are several subscription services on satellite -- HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and The Movie Channel to name just a few. These programmers feature specialized programming and movie features which include the most recent box office hits, concerts by your favorite groups and musicians, comedy show specials, and original shows created by the programmers themselves.

Television "superstations" provide many of the old classics as well as the tops in syndicated programs.

Other programmers providing, but not limited to, movie fare include The Disney Channel, PBS, Arts & Entertainment, Fox Family Channel, Bravo, American Movie Classics, The Independent Film Channel, and The Playboy Channel. All of these programmers provide high-quality fare that caters to all types of television preferences. All of the above, and many more, are available through satellite TV.

Specialty Programming: In addition to movies and sports, satellite TV offers a myriad of specialty programming such as adult services, shopping channels, music channels, and many foreign language programs including German, Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish, Greek, and Dubai.

Special Feeds: One of the unique features of satellite TV is the presence of special feeds. Special feeds are programs delivered to network affiliates at predetermined times for rebroadcast at a later date or time. These feeds include many of the most popular syndicated programs. And best of all, special feeds are free.

Pay-Per-View: The latest trend is toward pay-per-view services. Pay-per-view (PPV) is the concept of paying only for what you watch. Presently, there are several PPV providers of which TVN is the most prolific with 10 channels in operation 24-hours per day. Other PPV providers include Cable Video Store (CVS), Action PPV, Viewers Choice, Request TV, XXXpose, and XXXotica to name a few.

Through this assortment of PPV providers, viewers can watch the latest blockbusters shortly after their release on video. PPV can save trips to a video store and the aggravation of the movie you want being out of stock.

Pay-per-view is accomplished via the reception of the signals via satellite and the reporting of those purchases through your telephone line. The reporting is automatic and does not incur any phone charges.

Parental Guidance: Lest you begin to fret that young eyes may be subjected to adult material, fear not. Satellite receivers have a number of ways to control the household viewing. Viewing can be controlled by movie rating and channel lock out with password protection.

Subscription Prices: Prices for subscriptions are low and significantly less than you would pay for comparable cable if you could even find it. On satellite, you get five HBO channels when you purchase just one. You get three Showtime channels when you purchase just one. The list goes on.

You can subscribe to few or as many as you wish and an annual bill can range from $25 to as much as you can afford. That is as little as two dollars per month!

In the Past, Dishes Were Larger: When early satellite dishes were constructed, the electronics were inferior, the satellites less powerful, and the mechanics of a satellite dish not as finely honed. Hence, the dish had to be large to collect enough signal to help construct sound and pictures. It was not uncommon to see 12-foot dishes dotting the landscape.Zoning boards did not take kindly to these behemoths.

Today, 7.5-Foot is Common: With the more powerful satellites of today, the higher grade electronics, and nearly 20 years of engineering fine tuning, dish sizes have come down to six feet in some areas. The most common antenna today is the 7.5-foot dish which is small enough to be roof mounted or camouflaged with landscaping materials and shrubs. Zoning boards are much more forgiving of these smaller dishes.

Satellite TV provides very high-quality pictures and sound to users. Displaying this top-notch signal on a 19-inch, 10-year-old TV is almost counterproductive. Satellite TV makes an excellent source for home theater, the latest rage in consumer electronics. But what is home theater?

Home theater is the process of duplicating, as near as possible, the theater experience in your own home. Home theaters range in construction from the incorporation of a simple Dolby Pro Logic surround processor and surround speakers to the full-blown usage of red velvet curtains, special seating, automated light dimming, and front projectors on a motorized screen. The average home theater lies somewhere in between.

According to the Electronic Industries Association, the group that establishes standards for consumer electronics, a home theater should consist of at least the following:

A 27-inch or larger TV: In order to get the most out of today's higher resolution sources such as satellite TV, laserdisc, and S-VHS, a larger screened TV is preferable. Many of the movie releases are now being issued in their original wide screen format and larger screens will help get the full benefit of these screen ratios.

Dolby Pro Logic Surround: Dolby Pro Logic provides signals for separate left, right, center, and surround channels.

Front left, center, and right speakers: The center channel helps provide proper dialog sound imaging. Left and right speakers give a lateral motion to a movie's main sound.

Rear left and right speakers: With two rear speakers, even though the signal sent to them is monaural, the feeling of depth is enhanced a great deal, drawing the viewer further into the movie.

A laser disc or S-VHS player: A home theater is only as good as its source material. Laser disc and S-VHS provide exceptional resolution over standard VHS, cable, or local broadcast. Satellite TV also provides an enhanced resolution.

One or more subwoofers: Subwoofers help reproduce the extreme low frequencies in a movie sound track. If you want to feel the "thud" or the "boom" of home theater, you need at least one, more if you have a large room.

A front or rear projection TV: Projection TVs have the advantage of displaying larger pictures than their picture tube counterparts. Rear projection TVs can get as large as 80 inches (diagonally) and can be viewed in a normally lit room.

Front projection requires much more ambient light control. They need to be viewed in darkened rooms with little other light, but they offer picture sizes to 100 inches and high resolution options.

A Dolby AC-3 processor: The next iteration of Dolby processing is Dolby AC-3 which provides for discrete surround channels and a separate subwoofer track. Dolby AC-3 is backward compatible with Dolby Pro Logic.

A management and control system to make operation of the home theater simple: All this equipment can be quite intimidating to the novice, and control of an entire system can be cumbersome. In its simplest stage, a control system can be a unified or learning remote that can control all of your components. In its more advanced stage, a control system can be accomplished with a touch sensitive control screen that can operate your home theater with one touch as well as your house environment, security, and water management systems ... all from your TV screen.

• Your picture looks scrambled and snowy
• When you press SETUP or on a 4DTV OPTION 9 , then 0 and nothing happens
• If the channel is not part of your package or they were never ordered
• If your receiver is not responding to the remote
• On a 4DTV you get the message "Continuing to search..."
• You are not getting the correct satellite, example: The receiver indicates you are on G5-5 but when you check the channel it is not CNN.