skystar usb and SKY dish - will it work?

[bob the builder]

Hi guys
completely new to satellite TV so the question is maybe stupid.

Have SKY dish - I think the size is around 50cm, maybe bit less -46 cm - is that standard?

But instead of buying SKY package I would like to buy Technisat skystar USB card and to use it as receiver.

Will I be able to see anything with this combination - live in Edinburgh?

Thanks

[nanochickin]

:welc1: to the forum Bob

I think in Edinburgh Sky used the Zone 2 dish (equivilent to 60cm) so you should be able to get all the free to air stuff off Astra 2 / Eurobird @28.2e. If you are prepared to adjust the dish you will probably be able to get Everything FTA off Astra 1 @19.2e

At a push you might also get Hotbird 13e and Hispasat 30w if your very lucky, although expect it to pixilate badly when it rains You will have to modify the case of the lnb to get the correct poloriazation angle (Skew) for Hispasat

Don't quote me on this but you may get Thor 1w and Sirius 5e being that bit further north. I'm sure Analoguesat will put me right on this since he lives that much nearer to you than i do. :?



nano

[Analoguesat]

Around here (Galashiels) the ratio of zone 2 : zone 1 dishes is about 2:1

There must have been a shortage of the bigger dishes at some point so they just used zone 1's instead. The smaller dishes just dont have as good rain fade protection as they dont collect so much signal, but either will work.

Bob, if you use a Skystar you will ONLY get the free channels , and NOT any of the pay channels or C4, C5, 5US, 5Life or Sky 3.

[bob the builder]

As I said completely new to satelitte TV - thanks for advice - it's already better.

If skystar USB is not good enough what should I buy (I need something that I can plug in my laptop)? Of course I would also like to play with decoding software

[BGonaSTICK]

Hi Bob, welcome to the forum

I have a Skystar USB and they are great little boxes (I have one of the very early blue ones). The Skystar is a very powerful device, and if you want to use something with your laptop, there's not much that can compete.

If you would consider a stand-alone STB, then the choice widens dramatically.

Going back to the Skystar, the USB version prevents you from watching the HD channels, and it will require a laptop with a reasonable amount of graphics power under the hood. I've not tried mine on my lappy, but on a Duron 1300 based desktop and 32MB graphics card, it struggled occasionally when running the decoding plugins.

It will indeed work with the decoding stuff though (not tried mine with the latest, it's been packed away for quite some time).

Feel free to ask about any other specifics, and I'll see if I can remember that far back

STICK

[jontydog]

I have never used the USB Skystar but the pci one is an excellent buy and you can watch all the free channels from the Sky satellite as has been said.