Newbie advise - Well not so Newbie

[daver]

My first post and hello to everyone, but bear with me

Well I have read Sticky after Sticky and after 2 weeks reading am still no nearer to my purchase. I was one of the originals with the old D2mac, then moving to pace & humax. And after 10 years out of it, I am starting again.

I have the great pleasure, that my next door neighbour provides me with S&Y for the premiership. But other channels show other games, which I would like to give to him.

I originally was quite interested in the Eurovox Quantum, but reading posts on this, I am now changing my mind as this has little support and many reported problems.

So I am now looking at a 1m fully motorised Technomate TM5400CI+ USB System.

So after the long intro, here are the questions.

I am interested mainly in sports, disney & kids, movies.
Will this system be good enough?

If I could spend a little more at entry level, what would you guys choose?

Is it still cards and Cams and spending more time on the computer than you do watching the channels or has it become easier?

Is there a really simple TV guide on the web?

Thanks to everyone in anticipation.

Dave

[Mickha]

For guaranteed sports coverage you might want to consider subscribing to DigitAlb on 16E, which your described system should get.
Unfortunately DigitAlb is currently pairing their cards with receivers for the HD channels so in the future you might need a Cam capable of imitating this action, but as this is a new development there isn't much information available yet.
You are never guaranteed viewing options in the satellite hobby and up to now we've had a good selection of packages available.
Currently with a patched technomate you will get:
Premiere 19E
TPS & Polsat 13E
Digi TV 1W
With the Diablo 2.3 cam we also have DigitAlb 16E and Canal Digital 1W.
We know that Premiere will soon be changing their encryption, and TPS will be moving to 19E and changing theirs so these channels will not be available.
There are a lot of new receivers coming on the market including the Linux based Q Box, with a built in Diablo Cam, and the long awaited Dreambox 8000 HD receiver.
Considering the amount of viewing choices currently available there isn't a simple TV guide, but you can usually locate a programme guide for individual channels by using lyngsat:
_http://www.lyngsat.com/
Click on the packages link that matches the satellite position of the package you're interested in, e.g. for Digi TV, 1 West, click on Atlantic and Digi TV and you get a list of channels with links.
For Canal Digital you can use tv planet:
_http://tvplaneten.se/