Another newbie question

[brian28]

As a satellite virgin I was thinking of buying a Humax Foxsat, but then came accross the list of available channels shown at ftasat.co.uk ..................

A bit more digging unearthed a bewildering new world of yellow cards, CAMS,
Diablos and Dragons

Please can you suggest a good place to start and, am I destined to fill the house with an array of strange fire-breathing monsters ?

[Mickha]

Hi brian28, welcome to the forum.

Your information is way out of date, the cams, and cards, you mention, no longer open a lot of channels, as most providers have greatly improved their encryption standards.

Start by looking at what dish you will need, the bigger the better, for receiving satellites, and you are allowed up to a 1 Metre dish, in most areas, without needing to apply for planning permission.

Next look at whether you want it motorized, so you can gain access to a wide variety of satellites, at least between 42E - 30W, or fixed, with multiple LNB's, to give you a choice of a few satellites.

Have a look at dishpointer.com to find your latitude, & longitude, and see which is your nearest true south satellite. This is your longitude reading, negative readings = West, Positive readings = East, so if your longitude is -1.87, your nearest true south satellite is 1W.

Now you can work out where you need to site, your dish, to get a full view of the satellite arc.

Once this is done you can start considering which type of satellite receiver you want and the channels you would like to view.

[brian28]

That's a great help Mickha - just shows how misleading the Internet can be ....

My prime interest was originally FreeSat, but then I saw the full list.

Would I be able to get FreeSat with e.g. a DreamBox, or would I still need a Humax anyway ?

[radtv]

Yes you can, but its not as user friendly as a Freesat box, such as the EPG as with a Freesat box its 7 Days, you can get plug-in software for the Dreambox to have a EPG but its not as good. Also a Dreambox can be comlicated to setup

[brian28]

Thanks again Mickha
Perhaps you could suggest a suitable setup for me (from the dish - up) ...
It would be great to be able to access our cctv cameras, plus freesat, sky sports and Nat Geographic if possible
I already have a Cat-5e cable network, but don't yet have a smart tv .... do you know whether streaming tv would be as good /easier to fulfill the above ?

[Mickha]

It depends on your budget, and where you will need to site your dish. If you are lucky enough to have a south facing garden, with an unobstructed view, then a ground mounted satellite dish is not only easier to install but to maintain, and can easily be done by oneself.

Receivers range anywhere from £70 to over £1,000, each with different attributes, a reasonable starter could be a Spiderbox HD receiver, or similar, which has the capability of opening extra channels without the owner needing to put a lot of effort in, unlike some linux based receivers.

On the other hand linux based receivers offer a lot more functionality.

Have a browse through radtv's red apple digital store, at dishes, motors, and receivers, also check out the members photo gallery and have a look at some of their dish installations:
Satellite Photo Gallery - Techwatch Support Forums: Digital & Satellite TV, FTA, Cable, Computers, Mobile Phones, Apple and General Tech Forums