Complete and utter novice looking for advice and probably a miracle!

[riggers_p]

Hi I have been looking around at systems etc but generally dont know what i want!!
I have no system at all at the moment, not even sky and i am adverse to sending loads of money to murdoch's crew.
I probably want utopia, by having a system fitted thats easy to use, and gets most things out there for little money,(even HD or am i being even more ridiculous now!)
Is there such a thing or should i be content by putting my toe in the water first and start small?
Any help would be much appreciated
Regards

[Jimdefruit]

Hi Riggers P,
Welcome to the forum. I hope we can help to solve some of your problems. At least we can try.

First, do you know what is out there and do you know what you would like to receive?

Films, Sport, adult, documentaries? possibley all of those? They are all available.

You are starting at a time of change, what with high definition (HD) television becoming available.

I would certainly hold back from HD at present and let the scene sort itself out. There are not many HD receivers available yet and there will no doubbt be a few mistakes.

Your basic requirements are for a satellite dish, a receiver and a TV to show the picture.

The dish size will be dictated by your location and to an extent which satellites you wish to receive.
If you want to receive programmes from more than one satellite you will need to motorise the dish or if you are only interested in one or two satellites you could fit multiple lnbs (low noise blockers or signal receivers) to a static dish.

The choice of receiver will depend upon what you want to receive. A simple 'free to air' receiver will get you a lot of programme channels but for the more exotic channels, and if you want to experiment and see just what you can get out there you will need a receiver that can be patched or programmed to decode encryptions.

Receiver prices vary from say £50 for watching fta programmes to £110 for a patchable receiver to £300-£400 for a programmable receiver that will get you just about everything.

Let us know a bit more about what you are prepared to pay and what you think you want and we will all do our bit to confuse you totally.

[riggers_p]

Thanks for that, what a hepful service this is.
I probably want to receive most the things you said, how much sport would that include, and would it be english footy.
I am in the northwest around Wigan/Bolton, so do you know of any good installers/distributers around here.
I am not too worried about intial outlay as long as it does the job and dosnt create a big on cost.
Would it be possible to get a system that would easily change to HD when they get it sorted out, or would it be a new box again?
If i get a patchable receiver thats all singing and dancing, will a minion like me be able to handle it?
regards

[BGonaSTICK]

I think at the moment that it's a choice between flexible OR HD, although one or two of the HD boxes now work with CAMS, and can therefore decode some stuff that they shouldn't.

If I was in your situation (and I had an HD telly), I would buy a good dish setup, and a cheap non-HD box to get started. This will let you see what's available and how it all works etc. without spending a fortune.

In 6-12 months time there will be many more HD boxes available (and cheaper...) and you'll have a much better idea of what can be done and where you ultimately want to go with this.

Doing it this way will also mean that an upgrade will simply involve unplugging your beginner's box and plugging in something else, no fuss.

Illegal satellite signal decoding is a funny business. One minute there is more open than you can possibly watch, the next - virtually nothing. Over the last few years though, there's nearly always been at least one good package open, and viewing Premiership football or English language movies has not been a problem.

On installers, not sure in your area, but if you suggest one or two you find in the Yellow Pages or whatever, members might be able to pass some comment.

Regarding your last point, we'll have to set you an intelligence test to find out!

Have a read in the beginners section and hit us with some more questions

HTH

STICK