1 dish, 2 rooms, cheap sd receivers - WHICH? please...

[andypandy11]

Hello,

My freeview is jumpy and glitchy so I want to set up freesat and hopefully you great people can help me out a little.

Firstly, I mainly just want the standard Freesat channels and will want HD later when I can afford the HD receiver! So i'm looking at under 50cm dish kits like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=007

Will they be good enough for normal 1 - 5 with E4 and other regular channels and BBC Hd?
What benefits will I see in getting a larger dish? I think motorized is too technical for me to install myself which i plan to do but a bigger dish i don't mind so much.


Also as I will plan on getting a HD receiver later, I just want a crappy sd receiver for now. Is there satellite receivers that will pick up more channels than others? Will cheap 2nd hand receivers like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA:IT&ih=012

get all the standard channels I'm after? or will I need an encryption card or a new model that is designed for the freesat services?

Sorry if any of my questions are stupid, i've only ever had terrestrial and freeview TV, never had sky or any satellite before, but hopefully soon will!

Any help very appreciated!!

Thak you!!

[cauliflower69]

Well hello m8 and welcome to the forum.

You have a few options available to you.

1. Go for a freesat satellite system with decoders (full 7 day EPG. You will need a dish pack like the one from ebay you posted. and then two freesat recievers you can pick up cheap and cheerful ones in argos for £50 as far as i'm aware.

2. Go for a FTA satellite receiver. (Not a comprehensive EPG if any) You will once again need a dish pack like before. The main difference is that with the FTA satellite recievers you will have more channels that are not included on the freesat package. (You will have to rescan your satellite receivers every now and again as channels move about - you will not have to do this with the freesat)

3. Go for 2nd hand sky boxes. Same again with the dish pack. These will give you all the freesat channels and more they will also not need to be updated and you will have the full sky epg.

4. Go for a bigger dish for other satellitesa dn motorise it. If you are interested in one of these setups please say so and I will provide more details.

Also you will need the quad to provide feeds to the two boxes and you can upggrade your boxes to HD whenever you wish.

Finally that reciver you posted a link to will work but may be a tad slow to react as they are the older type receivers. For a cheap system these will work. I would prefer these boxes and still cheap

_http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pace-Sky-Digital-Satellite-receiver-Digibox-DS430N_W0QQitemZ250257713847QQihZ015QQcategoryZ969 70QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Actually forgo to mention southernsatellite he's a member on this board and has some great deals. you can see his online shop here _http://stores.ebay.ie/Southern-Satellite-TV-0845-053-0420

Or you can contact him directly threw the board _http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/members/southernsatellite.html

[kerrywez]

Very comprehensive cauliflower, well done mate. Keep up the good work mate.

Very best regards Wez

[andypandy11]

Thanks cauliflower!!

very good info, but of course I need a few more questions answered! hehe

right, you say that box i mentioned was slow, is that just when selecting channels and surfing through menu's etc? Will it still display the image and sound at a normal frame rate without glitching etc?

Also on the box you reccomended it says for channel 4 and 5 would I'd need a card to view them, is this because they are FTV? I thought that BBC was FTV aswell? How come I will still get those channels?

Is EPG the programme listings with now and next! haha!?

I am interested in the motorized kit, can you just put these up and then they scan for satellites themselves? or will I need to programme in co-ordinates to tell it where to find them?
Also what extra types of programming would I get, I would like to get premiership football if possible, not interested in porn, shopping channels, foreign language etc

yep the one thing i did know already was that I'd need the quad LNB!! hehe apart from that everything was new to me so thank you soo much!

[Robbo]

Hi,

There will be no glitching with the picture etc on a slow box, it may be slow when changing channels.

You only need a card for channel 5, BBC1, BBC2,ITV,CH4 are all FTA, plus you would also get all the other FTA channels. Ch5 is FTV at the moment.


A motorised dish needs setting up properly so that it tracks an arc in the sky where the satellites are located. The receiver just needs to turn the motor the right amount to stop at the satellites you want.

If using USALS, the correct positions for the dish to stop will be calculated by the receiver based on your latitude and longitude. OR you can find the positions manually if you want during set up. Either way, when you come to watch TV, the dish will move automatically to the correct satellite when you change channel.

A DigitAlb subscription which uses the satellite at 16E is one reliable way of receiving premiership football. I don't watch football myself, but it may be possible by VPS, for which you would need a suitable receiver such as a Technomate, or a CAM

Robbo

[andypandy11]

Hmm Ok, the motorised one sounds a bit out of my league at the moment,
think I'l just go for a larger fixed dish for now and see what I can get!

I don't mind if it takes longer to change the channel, I think I'l save some dosh now so that I can save more for the HD receiver later, although I've see B grade HD receivers on Maplins for £100, are these any good? If its just cosmetic damage, I'm not too fussed, but are even the A grade HD receivers from them any good? Also will HD receivers drastically come down in price as freeview boxes have? or has that fall already happened?

thanks Robo for your help also!

[cauliflower69]

There is no need to have a bigger dish if all you wish to view is astra 2a 28.2 (SKY) as a 45cm will be perfect and a bigger dish will not allow more channels to come threw.


If you don't mind the length of time it take sto browse menus then thats fine (but in my opinion it does get rather annoying somtimes waiting for certain receivers to react)


As everything m8 it will eventually come down in price but its very hard to see them coming down much more than a £100.

If it was me I'd buy two second hand sky boxes (this way you'll be able to use interactive functions and series link, auto view etc) and a mini dish with quad the whole lot for under £100. This will insure that you receive perfect digital signal at very little cost.

Thanks Wez just trying to do my bit.

[andypandy11]

Oh, so a bigger dish won't be able to pick up more satellites without it being motorized?
when you say sky box, can it be a third party brand designed for sky? or will it have to be sky branded to get interactive, series link, auto view etc?

I'l probably go for the sky boxes and get the cheap, slow ones for the rooms I hadn't planned on getting it for, like the kitchen etc... Although i may aswell go for a HD one at £100 if they won't be coming down that much. I guess if it's rubbish I can take it back to maplins.

hah my friends have just been laughing at me down the pub saying you can't get satellite for free, we'll see who's laughing when they're still paying whatever a month to sky and I'm not!

Thanks for the help again guys, we'll show them!

[cauliflower69]

A bigger dish with a monoblock LNb or are multi-feed arm will but as far as I'm aware all your interested in are the Uk channels. If you decide to go for the approach you will need a satellite reciever.

Well technically you can't get the sky package for free you'll be receiving a free to air system that will allow you to watch the free channels i.e. BBC's ITv's, Ch4, E4 and many more.

freesat is a partnership between bbc and itv with a designated amount of channels that are also free to air. But you get more with a satellite FTA receiver and Sky box.

A sky box i mean a box specifically designed for Sky do not make there own boxes. Amstrad, Pace, Thomson etc make the sky boxes for them.

Bear in mind that you can either go for a freesat HD or FTA HD reciever. Or you can go for the humax which is freesat compatible and can use other satellites.

Trust me m8 anyone that has cracked the NDS encryption would never release it to the public because the last guy that did got ALOT of time away in a nice four walled room

Hope this helps ya m8.

Finally at the moment all you will receive in freesat in HD will be BBC one and ITV.

If you have a HD skybox with a FTV you can have CH4 HD also.

You can obtain a FTV card direct from SKy for £30. this will also unlock Five, +1, Five US and Five US Lite and sky three.

[andypandy11]

sorry yes I knew I wouldn't get the full sky package, but they were laughing and saying I wouldn't get any channels at all unless I paid a subscription!

I think I'l just go for the small dish with quad LNB for now and if I get hungry for more chanels later then upgrade the dish & arm and add another LNB at a later date, but I'm sure I'l be happy with the one satellite, just want to get better reception for similar channels that are on freeview really.

Now to hunt for suitable receivers!

thanks again for your help cauliflower!