newbie - advice on thoughts for first system

[si]

hi - this is my first post

i live in an area with poor freeview and terrestrial tv reception due to large trees obscuring the transmitter so have been considering the satellite option.
i was first interested in the Sky Freesat offer that Dixon's were running with equipment, installation and Sky freesat channels for a one off payment of £75 but they are always out of stock and I haven't been able to order it.
I then started looking at other options and thanks to helpful websites like this one am now interested in a more flexible satellite system (and new hobby!)
As an introduction, I thought I would look at getting the satellite system Lidl are offering at £59.99 which is a 60cm dish, LNB and Silvercrest SL65 receiver. This seems a cheap entry system and many people seem to have tried one of these and got good results. I would like to experiment with different satellites and channels but can't be bothered to continually re-align the dish so thought i would get an extra dish (a larger one 80-90cm) and have the 60cm dish aligned to whichever satellite gives the freeview equivalent free to air channels for the family, leaving the larger dish for me to 'play' with.

I have some questions i hope someone can answer for me before i go ahead with this plan:

1) can i connect two dishes to the SL65 receiver in the way that I want and be able to remotely switch between them and the sats/channels?
2) I've read that this receiver is pre-programmed to a fixed number of satellites and new sats/channels can't be added - is this true?
3) if i want to motorise the larger dish at some time in the future, would i be able to do this and still keep the smaller dish connected to the receiver as well?
4) i am interested in watching English premiership footy and have read about channels such as Premiere, Digitalb and Fox Turk that screen live games. Would i be able to access these (and any other channels which show live EPL games) with this receiver, or is it too basic?

Sorry if these appear to be completely stupid questions - very grateful for any comments.

[BGonaSTICK]

Hi there Si. Welcome to the forum m8.

My first note is a cautionary one. Trees are bad news for satellite too, so I trust you have a suitable south-facing location in mind for a dish or two

Whilst the SL65 box may look good, it will limit you pretty quickly - but more of that later.

Right. To the questions!

1) Yes, by adding a 2-way DiSEqC switch.
2) They can. One of our members posted the procedure yesterday in the Comag/SilverCrest section :clap:
3) Not really. A manual switch would be required - but still not a bad solution.
4) No. It's too basic.

Now, this is what I would buy if I were you.

A second-hand, out of contract digibox from eBay or the local paper - around £35. Try and get one with an FTV card. If you can't do that and want to watch Channel 4, FIVE and Sky three 'free' (one-off payment), buy a card from Sky. The card is £20.

A Sky minidish dish can either be scrounged or bought second-hand for a tenner. A quad LNB for the dish would also be nice to have for £5 - £10 extra.

Then, a Technomate TM-1000D with a budget 80cm - 90cm dish, two LNBs and a multi-LNB bracket. A four-way DiSEqC switch will tie those two LNBs and an output from the one on the Sky dish into one Technomate-bound c@ble.

Now we have independent and reliable family viewing on the Sky-based setup, and kit which will allow you to both play around and watch football, movies and bizarre foreign channels 'till the cows come home.

Techno is around £60, LNBs £5 each, dish and multi-bracket £40, mount £10, c@ble £15, DiSEqC switch £10.

Total is... well, you can do that

If you just go out and buy the Lidl kit, then that's cool. If you get interested before you buy it - start probing, asking questions, maybe get a sniff of what else can be achieved, then you should go for the next level up.

STICK

[si]

thanks for the excellent reply Stick. i'm pleased to see that most of what i was proposing is feasible - it seems i have actually understood some of what i have reading here!

i did have my heart set on buying a Lidl set this week and getting up and running this weekend but the case you put for an alternative route makes a lot of sense even though a lot more expensive.

i'll have a further look around at options.

thanks again.

Si

[BGonaSTICK]

If you think it might become more of a hobby for you than just watching TV (and particularly if you want to watch football, movies or porn), then it's definitely better to invest a little more up front. If you want to keep the cost down and just get cracking:

Techno TM-1000D £60
Old Sky minidish + LNB £15 or less
Cable £15

Total - £90 tops.

Job done.

The good thing about all this is that you can do most of it on throw-away kit. Ebay is a great source, as it all tends to go cheaply if it's local and you can pick up.

If you really can't wait a week and don't live near a proper sat-store, then just go for the Lidl stuff - but you'll probably only ever get FTA TV. The camping kit can do a bit more, but for an extra £20 you can have a quality receiver with excellent support. An easy choice for me

I can't even buy a round of drinks for £20! In fact, I've never even tried! :roflmao: ops:

[si]

i agree with most of what you are saying - not interested in porn - have a very satisfying marriage if you know what i mean ops:

already been on e bay and secured a quad lnb for £8.40 which i think is ridiculously cheap for something that will let me watch different channels on different receivers in different rooms or HD, if i get that far.

bidding on sky boxes at the moment around the £20-£25 mark - thought i'd keep the family happy first with the FTA stuff and it'll be good practice installing this first

think i've found a mini dish locally for £10 but waiting to see if they'll let me collect otherwise postage is another £10

going to car boot fair this w/e to see what's about

tecnomate 1000d seem to go for £60ish on e-bay and i'll probably go for one of these in the next week or so

not finding any good prices on dishes yet but need to be a bit more local research - satellite shops seem a bit thin on the ground in the north east and the one i did find was very expensive

thanks again - i can see this hobby replacing the diving, car, gardening, golf etc.

Si

[si]

just won panasonic sky box with all leads, remote and ftv card (i think) for £31

this is all going to much easier and cheaper than i thought

OMG - i think i'm hooked!

S

[solunauk]

Originally Posted by si

tecnomate 1000d seem to go for £60ish on e-bay and i'll probably go for one of these in the next week or so

I'm a newbie myself, but my research makes me think that the 1000CI is a better bet because it has a slot that can be used for exploration of the wonderful world of Cams. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong about that. I think a lot of the Ebay ones are over-priced and you could pretty easily get nearly the same deal with a reputable dealer. EG WizardSatellite.co.uk have the 1000D Super for 59 and the CI for 79, plus delivery.

Good luck!

Sol

[si]

just ordered 1000d super from wizard £59 incl delivery - cheaper than e bay!

just need a good dish and some cable now.....

Si

[BGonaSTICK]

Yes, you are so right. Dealers who knock out the 1000D for over £60 would be charging too much. £60 is the recognised price. Many of the good dealers actually sell on eBay, so they're not all crooks. Just reading the auctions will tell you who's who.

The CAM slot is a bonus, but to be honest they are almost redundant at the moment. CAMs have tended to be a way that the commercial parties in the sat-scene have exploited the regular hobbyists. Release after release of new CAMs opening a new package ****ed a lot of people off, and activity on that front has now really dipped. The same with programmable cards.

The Diablo CAM is the exception, and has proved to be a very good investment, but again - not opening anything particularly special right now. It's good value at around £50, but then that's still almost the same price as the 1000D.

Being hooked on this cool, but don't let it take over!

[solunauk]

59 including delivery For my next trick ...

Satcure is where I got my cable. Maybe they're not the cheapest for everything but the site has loads of informative articles to read and I get the impression that they genuinely care about their customers. Run your peepers over this: http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm

Sol