Lidl FTA Receivers Dec 30th - €70

Tony · 30-12-2004 1:47pm

rockbeer wrote:

and posting here with any questions. It can be done fairly easily - believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. My advice is don't waste your money on professional installers when you could be spending it on equipment.

you dont really mean "waste" do you

Tony · 30-12-2004 1:51pm

you can tune into one orbital position at a time IE you can get eurobord and astra 2 as they are both at 28 degrees, it is possible to get two poistions but this needa a second lnb bracket and switch .

Hope this helps

trap4 wrote:

Rockbeer, thanks for the great advice and invaluable links!

I went and got all the gear this morning - there was only about 20 people in the queue 10 minutes before opening time. Ah, the advantage of living 'out the country'

Now, to prove that I really live 'out the country' can I just ask another stupid question. Yes, I have give a quick read through the links supplied and so on but can't find an answer and need a very quick answer so I can go back to Lidl right away if necessary...... so, can you only 'tune into' one satellite at a time? I presume you have to point the LNB at one satellite only? So, do I have to get a second LNB to be able to 'tune into' two satellites at once? If so, is it easy and 'normal' to mount a second LNB on my (new) dish?

Thanks for your patience

Tony · 30-12-2004 1:52pm

qBot wrote:

So can u pick Eurobird 1, Astra 2A, 2B and 2d all at the same time or do u have to pick on of them. Sorry for the stupid question but I dont know much bout satellites. Someone also mentioned that euronews had a spanish soundtrack, is there any version of it in english

you can get them all at the same time, euronews has an englsih soundtrack, check out itv news and bbc news 24 as well

rockbeer · 30-12-2004 1:58pm

trap4 wrote:

can you only 'tune into' one satellite at a time?

Basically, yes with one dish, one LNB and no motor you can only tune into one satellite at a time.

trap4 wrote:

I presume you have to point the LNB at one satellite only? So, do I have to get a second LNB to be able to 'tune into' two satellites at once? If so, is it easy and 'normal' to mount a second LNB on my (new) dish?

I've read conflicting opinions on the value of mounting multiple LNBs on a single dish. It's one way to get extra satellites, but I don't think it's easy - you need special mounting brackets and I couldn't say whether the Lidl LNBs fit the brackets. The preferred option seems to be a DISEqC motor. Bear in mind I haven't tried either method so you might want to check out other opinions before you spend any cash.

qBot wrote:

So can u pick Eurobird 1, Astra 2A, 2B and 2d all at the same time or do u have to pick on of them.

You can access all these satellites simultaneously as they all occupy the same region of the sky (28E).

Hope this helps.

Hashbrown · 30-12-2004 2:57pm

All the LNB's appear to be gone from Dublin shops anyway. anyone advise on were to pick one up at a good price and what to look for, are all LNB's univerisal fitting etc?

Pal · 30-12-2004 3:07pm

Since LIDL are sold out, redcross.ie can have my €100

suppose just queue earlier next time.

Galway · 30-12-2004 3:10pm

There were quite a few receivers dishes,sat finders,wallbrackets etc left in the Galway store at well past 11am. I got one and a sat finder . Have sky + so am using one of the feeds from the quad LNB in the study so i can keep an eye on things from my pc. I can connect up to motorised dish in sitting roomif i need to do a sftware upgrade from 19 e. Its basically just a cheap FTA for 28.2 E as I have sky + (UK sub) in sittin room and old digibox takin feed 3 from quad LNB in kitchen with freeview UK card. I didnt bother wit the dish as it looked fairly crappy as I am using FUNke 1m for motorised system and solid black Channel MAster 80 cm fixed for sky - rather than minidish, Using syntec .3 LNB and and .5 respectively. High winds today so not so good.

john_graydon · 30-12-2004 3:25pm

dbyrne wrote:

the last time these came up you couldnt get your hands on them, people were queing in the middle of the night for them, especially foreigners so that they could get there own channels.

anyone in the d15 area have one and is it any use. can you get all the channels from the link above on it

are they worth leaving dublin and going to kildare or wicklow to get them or does anyone know of a lidl that isnt really that busy and i might have a chance. Blakestown, finglas and blanchardstown or out of questions as i find them too busy.

Some people dont know what there buying, They are only Free to Air channels on these receivers. They think they can get premiership matches and movies & Po*n. You can pick up FTA receivers fairly cheap 2nd hand. I would advise anyone to get a receiver with a common interface slot on the receiver as you will probally want to upgrade when you find out that FTA stuff is not what you want. Then you can get a CI cam and chose what you want to view at a later stage. 80cm dish wont pull in Kiosk channels on 1 west either. MBC @ 26east show movies a few years old but your dish size might have to be increased to at least 88cm. So my advice is to get some info on what you want to view before you purchase a FTA receiver from someone with some experience of satellite equipment. It will save you queing for something that you really dont need. On the other hand if its FTA stuff your looking for well then yes its a good bargain.

channelsurfer · 30-12-2004 4:10pm

I was going to just by the receiver and get a quad lnb and use it as an additional receiver on top of sky but I am not sure as to wheter I can do that and how hard is it to do. arent quad lnbs nearly as expensive as the receiver.
any advice as to wheter its compatable with a sky dish or on what type of lnb I would need.

x in the city · 30-12-2004 6:51pm

hi folks

sick of having 2 channels and crap tv3/tng reception. what channels can i receive with this and can i hook the existing co-ax from the aerial into the receiver?

also can i get rai or canal+.?

thanks.

ezza

Charles Slane · 30-12-2004 6:52pm

You can get a compatable quad lnb for 89 Euro on www.satellite.ie (is that how you spell "compatable" - it looks weird !!)

DMC · 30-12-2004 7:04pm

People are discussing it in this thread already.... Threads merged. (Dave, deleted your post

)

Drag00n79 · 30-12-2004 8:15pm

Bought what appeared to be the last receiver in Sligo Lidl this evening at around 4.30. They had no LNB's or dishes left, just the brackets and the sat-finders. Noticed a sign up beside them saying only one item per customer.

Capt'n Midnight · 30-12-2004 8:40pm

There were 4 receivers left in Lucan at 6:45pm - fair few brackets and about 15 sat finders

x in the city - Italian channels FTA
you don't get La7,
on RAI3 the region is Lazio.
F1, calcio and film premiers are usually encrypted
- otherwise you get just about everything you would get with a TV aerial over there eg: Napoli / Videolina / Sardegna 1 & 2 - and several music channels - and the shopping channels sell real stuff (carpets / fitted kitchens / TV's beds etc. not that QVC crap) -

Also IIRC RAI 1,2,3 are still available on Analog so a very old sky dish & receiver could pick them up.

duridian · 30-12-2004 8:47pm

I am quite surprised that so many post that they thought the satfinder useless. I thought it was a gift of a gadget. I though I might post the technique that I use for successful dish alignment with this device, in the hope that it helps someone. I've tuned in the Astra2/Eurobird, Astra1 and the Hotbird satellite clusters very successfully this way:
The first thing I do is face the dish in the general direction of the midday sun, with the arm of the dish just slightly raised above horizontal. Obviously you aren't going to land right on a satellite yet this way(unless by a pure fluke) but at least it's in the right neighbourhood. Tighten the nuts and bolts just enough that the dish doesn't move of it's own accord but not so tight that you can't move it with a slight pressure.
Next connect the cable from the sat receiver to the Satfinder and the short little cable to the LNB on the arm of the dish.
Now nip back inside the house and power on the receiver. Press the "SAT" button on the remote and from the menu select whichever satellite you are seeking. For most people this would be Astra2 because it has the BBC and the most English stations.
Now you must select one of stations that are already preset in the receiver for that satellite. For Astra2 I'd recommend using one of the BBC stations like BBC1 or BBC2 because they don't change frequency, so whatever was preset at the factory is likely still accurate info for these channels. For Astra1 or Hotbird I'd advise using CNN for the same reason.
Now back outside check that the Satfinder is working by briefly turning the sensitivity up to nearly the max. This should result in a loud whining tone and all the leds should light up.
Now turn the sensitivity down just to the point where the tone stops or is very, very faint and you have either no led light or just 1 barely lighting. Now begin to slowly rotate your dish to the east, I emphasise slowly! As you rotate east you can also slightly lower the LNB arm(in other words tilt the dish forward a tiny bit as you are kinda trying to follow the curve of the Earth) until at most it is just slightly below horizontal.
If you are coming fairly close to a satellite with the Satfinder set at this relatively high level of sensitivity you should soon begin to hear the tone rise again and see the line of leds lighting up again.
This next bit is the most important detail of all for good alignment!
Now that you are coming close to a satellite only move the dish one way at a time (either rotate the dish or tilt it slightly, do not do both together). You must again turn down the sensitivity of the Satfinder so that the tone dies out again and the leds also.
Try and move even closer to the signal again and repeat the procedure of lowering the Satfinder's sensitivity and trying to position the dish so that the tone and leds rise again. When you have done this about 3 times you should be fairly close to bang on with the alignment. Check to see if you have found the right satellite by the channel on the tv. If it isn't then move the dish slowly off that satellite, turn up the sensitivity and begin using the same method on the next satellite along the line until you find the one you want.
It can be fairly annoying I know if you are new to this but this approach should work for anyone if they give it a chance. The basic principal behind all of what I have said above is that on high sensitivity the Satfinder will respond when even a hint of a satellite signal is detected. Once you start turning down the sensitivity it takes a stronger signal to make it respond so in this way the gadget tells you if you are getting nearer to perfect alignment.
Hope what I have written is of use to someone.

Gadgie · 30-12-2004 8:48pm

Charles Slane wrote:

(is that how you spell "compatable" - it looks weird !!)

'Compatible'.

There were plenty of receivers left in Lidl Waterford when I picked one up at about 2pm today. They were right at the back of the store on the end of the middle row.

Had a play around with it this evening, seems like a good little receiver. Want it for the bedroom so I can listen to the digital radio stations. It supports DiSEqC 1.2 too.

I noticed it wasn't picking up some of the transponders on Astra 2 so I 'reset all settings' and that fixed it. If you are going to do that though be warned - it'll reset the menu language to German, so (unless you speak it!) note down the menus you have to go through to change the language back to English beforehand.

zenith · 30-12-2004 9:14pm

Hi,

Just want to say: picked one of these up today, no satellite installation experience, and just tipped away and got it mostly working.

You'll need a correct size drill bit - a 12mm worked for me with different rawl plugs than they supplied - and the right spanners - I bought a 13mm. I p*ssed away an hour trying to do that job with the wrong tools.

Also, you'll need sat coax and connectors for the run from the dish to the unit - I needed about 4 metres. That was the only extra cost for me. About 4.50.

(bought it to *hopefully* get Cbeebies for kids on not main telly, to allow hassled wife time to watch something she might want to watch, fyi)

>> I noticed it wasn't picking up some of the transponders on Astra 2 so I
>> 'reset all settings' and that fixed it.

Satfinder will find Astra 1 okay, but I'm having problems finding Astra 2: I presume that I just tend more south - but at approx same level - to find it?

Could this be the problem ('missing transponders') that I'm having? What chanel did you use to tune that did work?

thanks,
zenith

Tony · 30-12-2004 9:18pm

duridian wrote:

I am quite surprised that so many post that they thought the satfinder useless. I thought it was a gift of a gadget. I though I might post the technique

great post

duridian · 30-12-2004 9:54pm

Thanks Tony

daveirl · 30-12-2004 10:14pm

This post has been deleted.

darraghrogan · 30-12-2004 11:05pm

I found this list online:

http://www.flysat.com/satlist.php

A few sites i found:

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=-1000000&Y=7000000&width=500&height=300&gride=&gridn=&srec=0&coordsys=mercator&db=&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&local=&localinfosel=&kw=&inmap=&table=&ovtype=&zm=0&scale=10000000&multimap.x=307&multimap.y=147 - find your position

http://www.satsig.net/ssazelm.htm - type your latitude and longitude into this page and the satellite you want to point at and it tells you where to point.

Can you link two satellites into one tuner? For example, have an existing sky digital box pointed at 28.2 degrees and another pointed at 19.2 degrees for sw updates for example?

darragh

Gadgie · 30-12-2004 11:09pm

Hi zenith,

I already had my dish installed for Sky, so I just put the cable in the back of the FTA box to get it working. I noticed it was missing a couple of the BBC transponders (most of the BBC1 English regions and the non-English BBC2 regions). When I did a channel scan before the reset it was searching 77 transponders, after the reset it was 82.

I think (and I'm working from memory here, so it might not be so accurate) that when installing my dish I moved it to the left of where Astra 1 (19.2) was to find Astra 2 (28.2). Assuming your dish is attatched to something flat, you need to move your dish downwards too - I always think of the dish looking up when it's aligned to Astra 1, but looking straight ahead when it's at Astra 2. I always find it relatively easy to find Astra 1, but a bugger to lock on to Astra 2. I think (and someone can correct me on this) is because Astra 1 has lots of analogue channels on it so the meter starts making noise sooner, whereas Astra 2 is mostly (all?) digital so you have to be more precise.

Let us know how you get on. I'm going to have another crack at mine tomorrow (weather permitting) because I want to put another dish up for Astra 2 and move the existing one to a dual Astra 1/Hotbird set-up (had the bracket for ages but haven't done anything about it yet).

dbyrne · 31-12-2004 12:25am

well i was at Lidl Blakestown this morning. what a mess. everyone just tried to force there way in. this is not the first time i have had this problem queing up there. gave up about 9:20 because no one was going anywhere and the ticket system was a farce. there were people writing numbers on pages beside me saying they had a number to get in.. i just left and went to work. no point in waisting my time
When i left i drove by blanch and there was an orderly que with no problems.. typical i suppose.
went back @ lunch time and everything ws gone, i thought i might get a bit or too that ws left, but nothing.
brother picked up the dish in tipp and a bracket, i drove to lexlip and got the reciever, the sat finder, but there was more chance of me finding a talking snowman than getting an LNB... no where has them, not in dublin, not in tipp, not in lexlip, kildare, edenderry or newbridge, i checked and not a thing... seems that a lot of people bought the LNB or 2 or 3 of them.. they just said they were the first to go.. what a load of rubbish,
so im in the hunt for a LNB, anyone got any ideas? does anyine know if there is any in Newry or enniskellin, or some where down the country?

duridian · 31-12-2004 1:52am

darraghrogan wrote:

Can you link two satellites into one tuner? For example, have an existing sky digital box pointed at 28.2 degrees and another pointed at 19.2 degrees for sw updates for example?

Darragh you can do that alright but not normally with a sky digibox. Digiboxes are really designed to be used with one target zone in mind ie. Astra2/Eurobird at 28east.
To do this with a non-skybox you would use a thing called a DiseqC switch which also requires that you are using a DiseqC compatible receiver. Basically you connect each LNB to a different input on the switch, then set the receiver to consider LNB1 as Astra2 LNB2 as Astra1 LNB3 as Hotbird or whichever order you have connected the to the switch. When the receiver wants to receive a channel that is on a satellite other than the one it is currently using it sends a tone down the line to the DiseqC switch telling it to change to the LNB it needs. All this is done automatically and is very handy.
The LIDL free to air receiver is capable of working with a four way DiseqC setup if necessary. I will be trying this box out myself with a three way DiseqC setup in the coming weeks. Satellite.ie sell DiseqC switches, I believe it is about €23 for a 4 way and about €21 for a 3 way. Give a search under Johannson (the switch manufacturers) if you want to see them.

Now to get back to the Skybox. While it is designed to be used with only one satellite position/LNB, somebody has invented a method of using 2 using a special adapter which utilises a feature of the scart connection on the digibox as a way of switching. I think it actually takes the RGB signal voltage to activate a switch. So if you use this the tv won't instantly switch over to SKy the moment you turn on the digibox like it normally does. I think to switch LNB you just power off and power back on again but couldn't swear as I've never tried it personally. Satcure in the UK sell these gizmos. Items CS012 LNB electronic switch and CS012-A adapter for Sky Digibox are on the link page.

Tony · 31-12-2004 1:53am

dbyrne wrote:

so im in the hunt for a LNB, anyone got any ideas? does anyine know if there is any in Newry or enniskellin, or some where down the country?

what price were the lnb's, maybe i can help?

snaps · 31-12-2004 10:26am

I was very surprised with Lidl here in Galway, They seemed to have lots of stock of both dishes and recievers. I went to Argos next door to buy some stuff at 9am, there was a large queue outside lidl then. When I fnished at about 9.30 in Argos, the car park was full of people with their dishes/recievers etc. What amazed me was at 9.30 I was able to walk straight into Lidl and noticed they still had lots of stock! (I didn'y buy any as I have quite a professional set up my self already, Just fancied being nosy) I think it was LNB's that were running out or were short stocked.

I would say over half the people that were buying these fta systems wouldn't know an LNB from a f connector and I would love to be a fly on the wall when they are trying to put them up. I know from talking to people with hardly any sat experience, A lot of people just think putting a dish up on the wall will work like a tv aerial and you just have to turn it to get the best signal. I actually witnessed a guy once (From scandanavia) who lives local put the dish up on the north side of his house and was pointing it NE in the sky. I gave him some advice (Which he wasn't happy about) and told me he thought it had to point towards the country he wanted to recieve signals from! He was even less happier when I informed him that the dish he had would not pick up anything from scandanavia and that he needed a subscription as well.

I will give some advice though, when finding the satellite you want. When tightening the bolts up, Tighten up all bolts in rotation not just one on the clamps as you will find the clamp will turn the dish around the pole whilst tightening (knocking dish of the satellite). So doing all bolts up in rotation will cancel this out. Another way if bolts are hard to get up in awkward positions, set the dish up off set of the satellite (Opposite side to how the dish will rotate when doing the bolt up) When the bolt is tightened up the dish will rotate on its fittings back to direct line of sight of desired satellite. I find that doing bolts up the wrong way can move the dish 3 or 4 degrees.

Last thing I must stress, A properly alligned dish is no good if you don't have a good lnb and proper high quality cable.

darraghrogan · 31-12-2004 10:42am

duridian wrote:

Darragh you can do that alright but not normally with a sky digibox. Digiboxes are really designed to be used with one target zone in mind ie. Astra2/Eurobird at 28east.
To do this with a non-skybox you would use a thing called a DiseqC switch which also requires that you are using a DiseqC compatible receiver. Basically you connect each LNB to a different input on the switch, then set the receiver to consider LNB1 as Astra2 LNB2 as Astra1 LNB3 as Hotbird or whichever order you have connected the to the switch. When the receiver wants to receive a channel that is on a satellite other than the one it is currently using it sends a tone down the line to the DiseqC switch telling it to change to the LNB it needs. All this is done automatically and is very handy.
The LIDL free to air receiver is capable of working with a four way DiseqC setup if necessary. I will be trying this box out myself with a three way DiseqC setup in the coming weeks. Satellite.ie sell DiseqC switches, I believe it is about €23 for a 4 way and about €21 for a 3 way. Give a search under Johannson (the switch manufacturers) if you want to see them.

Now to get back to the Skybox. While it is designed to be used with only one satellite position/LNB, somebody has invented a method of using 2 using a special adapter which utilises a feature of the scart connection on the digibox as a way of switching. I think it actually takes the RGB signal voltage to activate a switch. So if you use this the tv won't instantly switch over to SKy the moment you turn on the digibox like it normally does. I think to switch LNB you just power off and power back on again but couldn't swear as I've never tried it personally. Satcure in the UK sell these gizmos. Items CS012 LNB electronic switch and CS012-A adapter for Sky Digibox are on the link page.

Is it because each receiver gives out 9 V that the problem is?

Or does each LNB transmit to the receiver on the same frequency?

In essence this DiseqC box allows a receiver to connect to three LNBs? Each LNB is wired to the DiseqC and there is one length of coax going to the receiver? For the sky digibox, should it receive its feed before or after the DiseqC?

Thanks,

Darragh

snaps · 31-12-2004 11:05am

The diseqc switch will only switch between LNBS (Multi LNBS or Multi fixed dishes). This fits behind the dish with short patch leads to LNB's. One cable feeds this switch from the reciever. The recievers can be controlled by a priority switch (Only one reciever can be used at one time UNLESS Both recievers are recieving from same satellite, transponder e.g BBC1 on one and BBC2 on the other) Priority switch is fitted at the back of recievers.

Please note, Sky digibox has no diseqc facility so make sure lnb looking at 28.2E is number one LNB on Diseqc switch. Also when using second reciever make sure when that is turned off it is turned off whilst on a 28.2E channel or diseqc 1 LNB.

wolfe25 · 31-12-2004 8:01pm

duridian wrote:

I am quite surprised that so many post that they thought the satfinder useless. I thought it was a gift of a gadget. .

Great informative thread.... Many thanks.

duridian · 31-12-2004 8:24pm

Tony wrote:

what price were the lnb's, maybe i can help?

The LIDL LNBs were €9.99 Tony. were branded Comag, same as the receiver.

snaps wrote:

I will give some advice though, when finding the satellite you want. When tightening the bolts up, Tighten up all bolts in rotation not just one on the clamps as you will find the clamp will turn the dish around the pole whilst tightening (knocking dish of the satellite). So doing all bolts up in rotation will cancel this out. Another way if bolts are hard to get up in awkward positions, set the dish up off set of the satellite (Opposite side to how the dish will rotate when doing the bolt up) When the bolt is tightened up the dish will rotate on its fittings back to direct line of sight of desired satellite. I find that doing bolts up the wrong way can move the dish 3 or 4 degrees.

That is a very good point actually.

darraghrogan wrote:

Is it because each receiver gives out 9 V that the problem is?

Or does each LNB transmit to the receiver on the same frequency?

In essence this DiseqC box allows a receiver to connect to three LNBs? Each LNB is wired to the DiseqC and there is one length of coax going to the receiver? For the sky digibox, should it receive its feed before or after the DiseqC?

Thanks,

Darragh

Regarding either tpe of switch: Yes it allows the use of several LNBs with a receiver, however remember that it is a switch and therefore only one of the LNBs is actually connected at any one time. The frequencies on the various satellites would overlap to some degree and so therefore the downconverted signals also overlap so it also makes better sense in this way that only one satellite's signals are fed to the tuner in the receiver at a time.

Regarding the Digibox switch: The 9V signal for the switch (it isn't a DiseqC switch, just an electronic switch) is taken from one of the pins in the scart connector. Proper DiseqC switches are switched by the receiver sending a tone up the coaxial signal cable to the switch.
The Digibox would get it's feed from the switch so therefore after the switch. Bear in mind that the electronic switch & adapter trick for the Digibox is really just a bit of jurry-rigging to give a DiseqC like arrangement. As I said before digiboxes are really meant for one thing - receiving Sky Digital. The limited number of 50 "Other channels" which can be programmed into a digibox also shows this. If you want to go tuning in FTA channels other than those on Astra2/Eurobird you'd really be better off with a free to air type of receiver than a digibox as it would be more versatile.

Lidl FTA Receivers Dec 30th - €70

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