Need Help!!! What kit should i get

[Kabuda00]

Hi

I am looking to venture into the satellite world. I have very little knowledge of what I am doing but have found what I have read here very useful so thank you.

The main reason for getting satellite is so my Wife and kids can watch Polish TV. I have a sky mini-dish that was left behind when i bought my house.

What do i need to get up and running. Ideally I am on a budget so the cheaper the better. The main thing I need to know is whether i can get any Polish TV using the sky mini dish or will i need to get a bigger dish.

Sorry for all the questions but i really am very new to this so i have no idea.

Thanks

[bigtee]

:welc4: kabuda

Assuming you want to keep things simple in the beginning:

1. What size is your current sky dish --- the 'smaller' or 'bigger' type of sky dish?

2. Is your Sky dish currently in use --- e.g. for Sky TV?

3. If your sky dish is not currently in use, you may initially try to use it to see if you can get some polish channels on a satellite called Hotbird at 13 east; in that case the Sky dish will probably need (re) pointing, i.e. alignment, to the correct direction for Hotbird.

4. If your Sky dish is currently in use, you probably should buy a second dish, maybe a 90cm dish, and arrange for it to be pointed at either Hotbird or another satellite at 16e or both (which is technically possible either by using a motor or two "LNBs").

5. You may also need a receiver other than a Sky digibox.

Hope these initial points help and trust other chaps will be along with further suggestions soon.

[Kabuda00]

Thanks for the reply

I think it is the smaller sky dish. The dish was there when i bought my house so it has been unused for over 3 years. At the moment i don't have any kind if reciever but thought i might try and get either the Technomate TM-1000D or the Technomate TM-1500CI+ which have been recommended on the 'Where do i start' post.

I would ideally like to get the most out of using satelitte so if to do that i need a 90cm dish i think i might go down that route so i can experiment a bit more with it once i have an idea what i am doing. I thought i might buy the reciever first though and see what i could do with the sky dish as it's there and i didn't pay for it!

[bigtee]

Hi again

The TM 1500 CI+ is a very good choice imo (though I know that there are other good receivers too). I would say buy the receiver first indeed and then try to point the dish (even if it is the small one, especially if you are in the southern parts of the country) to Hotbird for initial experimentation to test the waters.

[bigtee]

One more thing: to have an idea of Polish channels available on satellite, have a look at the link below (i think most of the ones in the link are free to air stations).

http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Poland.html

[Kabuda00]

Thanks bigtee

I think i will get the TM 1500 CI+ first and have a play around with the dish.

Thanks for your help

I will probably need some advice once i buy the reciever in the coming week. It's nice to know there are people willing to help newbie's like me.

[Kabuda00]

Hi

After having a look around for a TM 1500 CI+ i have seen that the 9100+ is only about £20 more. Would it be a god idea to pay the extra for the TM 9100?

[Unknown user #1]

How proficient you are in Linux? The TM9100 is totally different beast you know

[BGonaSTICK]

The TM-9100 is a superb piece of kit for the money, but I don't think I would recommend it to a beginner unless they have good Linux skills, or at least good computer skills and the patience of a saint

I think they are likely to be more troublesome to most beginners than the Dreamboxes, and there are a fair few broken Dreambox owners with machines which refuse to boot after their tinkering.

[Unknown user #1]

It is possible to revive TM9100 with JTAG c@ble but as I never did it can't comment on how difficult it is. Still a very nice machine even if it is lacking some important features (timeshift is one of them).

But I totally agree - TM9100 isn't for faint-hearted.