FTA summary and questions

[Sandbox]

I'm hoping someone can answer a few questions and correct any misunderstandings I've made. I've read a lot about this over the past couple of days and I think my brain is starting to melt!

The flat I’ve moved into has a Sky digital dish left on the wall by a previous occupant. Before I moved I was happy enough with the channels that Freeview gave me, but the signal is poor in the new location and I get fewer channels now. I get the main ones (all BBC, ITV1-4, C4, C5 & E4) but not much else. I can’t get Film4 for example. I would also like to access more radio stations that Freeview gives me.

I liked the look of the list of channels at Sky’s FreeSat page, but £150 seemed expensive as I don’t need the dish or a man in a van to install it. After reading around I’ve discovered that all I need that I don’t already have is a receiver.

As I understand it, I have two choices: 1) get a Sky digital box. Without a card this will give me all the channels listed as FTA at http://www.ftasat.co.uk/. The “red button” will work but will be slow. 7 day EPG. Browsing through the channels will include subscription channels that I can’t access, and it won’t be possible to change this. Adding a FreeSat card for £20 would add C4, C5 and Sky 3 (I don’t get this last one on Freeview any more but I never watched it when I could get it!). If I wanted I could upgrade to a Sky subscription package at a later date (unlikely).
2) A FTA satellite receiver such as the Technomate TM-1000 D (no card slot) or the TM-1500 CI+ (with card slot). Without a card I’ll get the same FTA channels as above. If the box has a slot, a FreeSat card can be added to add C4, C5 and Sky 3 (???). The “red button” won’t work but it will be possible to access the content by directly tuning the extra channels directly. Now and Next will be shown, but no EPG. The channel list can be customised to remove channels I can’t watch, and reorder the rest. Upgrading to a Sky subscription package would not be possible using this type of box.

Please point out any mistakes I’ve made above. There must be some!!

Random questions:
Does the “red button” service include the digital text service offered by eg BBC? Would subtitles be available or does this not work via the text system on satellite?
The cable from the dish into the flat is labelled “CT 100” and does not have a connector on the end. Is this what I need to connect it to a receiver? http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...10447&doy=18m8
Is BBC Parliament full screen with both of these options? It's only 1/4 on Freeview.
Are the radio stations in a decent quality bit rate?
Do you get all the BBC and ITV regions? I think I read somewhere that with a Sky box the regions are preset, where as with a FTA box you can set your own?

Sorry that was so long! Please let me know if you have any suggestions or corrections

[BGonaSTICK]

Hi sandbox. Welcome m8

OK, that's a lot of questions. Let's give it a go.

Excuse me if my answers are not too verbose

As part of your soln. 1, I don't know why the red button would be 'slow'?
As part of soln. 2, you can't use a Freesat card from Sky in a non-digibox

Everything else in these two options is 100% correct. Your research has paid off!

As for the rest:

Red button on the Sky digibox option does do digital text (well, it certainly does with a Freesat card, and I can't see it not working without, but I haven't tried...)

Not sure about subtitles, but think that yes, it would work. Anyone confirm this for me?

CT100 cable is good. Yes, your Maplins link to the twist-on F connector is what you want. Here's how to do it

http://www.satellitehelp.co.uk/forum...hp?topic=435.0

Think that BBC Parliament is widescreen (to fit in John Prescott) - can't say I've watched it recently.

You can see all BBC and ITV regional selections with both a digibox or an FTA receiver. Easier with the latter, but check the 9xx channel numbers on www.ftasat.co.uk for variations on the Sky EPG.

The Freesat card is regionalised, but this just dictates which flavour you get on ch. 101, 102, 103 etc.

Phew!

Hope that helped

[Sandbox]

Hi BGonaSTICK

Thanks for taking the time to wade through it! Your answers have certainly helped.

I though I'd read somewhere that the red button was slow on FreeSat but I probably misunderstood.

I think I'm more tempted by option 2. There is nothing I can't live with here, where as having to flick through "empty" channels would annoy me every day! I see that the Technomate TM-1000 D is recommend in another thread and as a FreeSat card wouldn't work if there was a slot I think this one should do me. Of course I'll probably regret it if I get the satellite bug

Thanks for the link to the connector info. You've saved me having to ask how to do it!

Apparantly the radio stations broadcast at 192kbps (http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dsat_radio.htm) which is great.

Thanks again!

[BGonaSTICK]

No problem m8.

If you outgrow your Techno 1000D, there's a healthy s/h market. Patches will help keep it interesting though

Premiere's open on 19.2E at the moment.

Satellite radio is great, especially if you have multi-satellite capability.

If you can get C4 and FIVE on Freeview, then I think you're right to go for an FTA box.

Stay in touch!

[Sandbox]

So I've got myself a Technomate TM-1000 D box It's connected and all seems to be working

A couple of initial questions:

- Is there any way to get the box to put the channels in the order shown in http://www.ftasat.co.uk/ or do I need to do it manually?

- I've got loads of radio stations, but I can't find Planet Rock It's in the ftasat list but I can't find it on the box :?

I'm sure there'll be other questions when I've played a bit more, but thanks for your help and advice so far

[BGonaSTICK]

Organising and sorting channels is not something I bother doing, as every time you perform a rescan, you get them all back!

I accept that some people want to have it neat and tidy, and that job's made a lot easier if you can locate a channel-manipulation package for your STB.

Technomate provide one here: http://www.technomate.com/software_u...M-1000+D+++FTA

...though I've not used it personally.

Planet Rock should be available on 12523 V SR 27500 FEC 2/3 according to Lyngsat

Glad you're enjoying it so far

[BGonaSTICK]

...and don't forget to check out the free Sky Box Office channels at the moment!

http://www.satellitehelp.co.uk/forum...p?topic=1478.0

[Analoguesat]

sandbox - your traansponder database is almost certainly out of date. Several new transponders fired up in recent weeks. Check your frequencies here:

http://www.flysat.com/ebird1-astra28.php

[Sandbox]

I managed to get Planet Rock by rescanning

Stick - Thanks for the link to the channel editor. I may have a go at "tidying" once I've got to grips with all the channels! The separate favourites lists look promising so I may go this way.

Do I need to update the software with the latest version on the Technomate website? I'm aware that there are "unofficial" versions, but they won't be much use to me will they? (as I only have the old $ky dish and can't move it). The list of changes mentions "transponders updated" so hopefully this would fix the issue Analoguesat mentioned.

I have several channels called "Sky Box Office" listed, and although the info box says "FTA" they were all blank when I tried them last night? Is this something I would need the patch for?

In the list of satellites I've unselected everything other than "Astra 2". Is this right? I've read that Astra 2 is actually a cluster of other satellites, so I'm wondering if "Astra 2" covers them all?

This is fun! Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated

[Analoguesat]

Patches wont do anything for sky channels. You have to have a legit subscription to get them.

Theres a number of channel labels hanging around without any output. The SBO channels that are in the clear are on 12090V .