Cheap DIY BBC Kit Suggestions Please

spongebob

Ok

Need a dish (70-80cm or so? in the west)
lnb
receiver
cable
compass

that it?

suggestions on where to get all the above and prices for them, cheapest receiver possible.....unless there is a pitfall!

M

Tony

Originally posted by Muck
Ok

Need a dish (70-80cm or so? in the west)
lnb
receiver
cable
compass

that it?

suggestions on where to get all the above and prices for them, cheapest receiver possible.....unless there is a pitfall!

M

The only pitfall of a cheap receiver is the lack of EPG so if thats no big deal any FTA will do, cheapest Sky box is the pace minibox if you want EPG.

Tony

spongebob

no EPG it is, can set the 10 most important on 1-10 buttons

whats out there ?

Thanks

M

watty

The EPG is not the main issue but lack of BBC interactive.

The "Interactive" on wimbleton is impressive.

It can be cheaper to get a Sky free Install offer (if a first time subscriber). Downgrade from Sky World fto whatever and then cancel after 1 year and ditch phone line.

The gear is yours from Day 1.

A £20 analog signal meter is more useful than compass as with Digital often you get no reading till you have "found" the satellite properly.

The Astra/Hotbirds are not actually at a compass bearing of 28.2 E of south..

Due true south in Limerick, Cork or Galway is Satellite at 8W because we are 8W of grenwich (approx).

The compass is about 5 degrees out due to magnetic north variation.

Any large objects nearby like gas tank etc put compass out.

Set dish elevation for apprximately 22 degrees and wiggle to south West till the analog meter gives a signal.

If a digibox, repower it.

If you are NOT on Astra2/Hotbird, then it won't find anything. Try "Manual Tuning" in Services 4 0 1 Select (Install menu). Manually add Hotbird or Astra1 channels
www.lyngsat.com
or what ever.

Based on which satellite you are "really" pointing at (and if you started by point approx the same as a neighbour and found a signal it might be Sky), you can move dish more East if it Was Astra1 or Hotbird or more West if it was Hellas).

The two strongest signals are Sky and Asta1. Hotbird is near as strong just west of Astra, so getting Astra2/Eurobird (Sky) without picture just using meter and pointing to SW is not hard.

A compass without a meter is very hard for Digital.

For Analog (5W, 13E, 19E) it isn't hard without meter or compass.

I think this time of year about 10 or 11 am the sun is in aprox correct direction (but only same height in sky at spring / autumn. Winter the sun is below arc of satellites and now midsummer way above arc of satellites.

An offset dish is pointing upwards 10 to 25 degrees more than it looks as if it is physically. Only a center feed dish points physically at same elevation as it "sees..


If you already have a Digibox an Humax, Palcom, Technisat etc box is a nice option as is a Hauppauge Nexus PCI DVBs card for PC (Direct PVR functions on hard disk and TV out built in)

spongebob

Thanks Watty.

I was going to put the dish on the ground beside the wall, line it up there (chalk lining the optimal angle on the ground) and then hoist it up the wall once I had worked the alignments out on the ground.

I was not going to do this in the morning when the sun and the sat are in close proximity in the sky, I was going to wait until 4pm or later when the sun was not an isue.

Q on the EPG advice.

You say that an EPG feature is required for the interactive BBC. Is the interactive data a string of data that comes with the picture data (but is hidden normally like teletext for example) or does it require a phone line/modem connection ?

Thanks again

M

BBC Interactive doesn't need a phoneline or a modem.
it's basically a menu screen which is operated via the EPG.
The menu screen contains thumbnail images of various "full screen" options which are channels in their own right.
Currently BBC wimbledon interactive, allows you to switch between various courts and watch different matches with full commentary.
Theres also a news multi screen with options to access in depth news pieces, weather etc with digital text in a side bar, which you can read by scrolling down with the sky remote.
They are in laymans terms channels within channells carried on a transponder, but are tailored to be accessed via an EPG only.
Watty over to you:D
mm

watty

"Man" explaination is fine.

It is more like the Interactive of DVD (nothing not already comming is got) than Interactive of Modem + Internet.

Except a DVD will jump to start of a video. Satellite "Interactive" video in same sense has to wait for the transmission loop to get to the start again. So with "Interactive" news screens you start watching whereever it is in the "transmission loop" rather than at the start like a DVD would.

spongebob

/me has changed his mind. Thanks for that one, Thought an EPG was a Sky Digibox (only) feature.

/me now reckons the cheapest EPG box would do and

What about Humax or Technomate boxes with 1 or 2 CI slots to futureproof the damn thing just in case !

M

Aquos76

technomate is a very good box. pm me and i can give you details of it ie where to get it and how much it costs.

watty

Originally posted by Muck
/me has changed his mind. Thanks for that one, Thought an EPG was a Sky Digibox (only) feature.

/me now reckons the cheapest EPG box would do and

What about Humax or Technomate boxes with 1 or 2 CI slots to futureproof the damn thing just in case !

M

The FTA boxes will only do Station name and Now/Next program EPG info. No Interactive. No digital text.

Sky box, even with NO subscription will give:
1 to 2 weeks program guide.
Interactive Digital Text on Sky News and BBC
Interactive Video etc. On BBC, Sky News.
Some shopping channels use "Interactive" too.
Automatic retune if PID or frequencies change
Personal Planner to automatically change Channel / Start VHS recording by click on selected program up to next week away.

I can't believe I'm arguing a Digibox is better..

FTA box *IS* better for:
Free hard disk recording (not cheap)
Hotbird, Astra 1 and other non-Sky channels/Satellites
Control 4way or 2Way or motorised dish
Non-Sky pay TV (need CI slot or embedded CAM, so not exactaly a FTA any longer).

I'd recommend a subsidized install of Digibox for 1st receiver and something else (non-Sky) for second.

Unless you are into Itallian, German, Arabic, Etc then a non-Sky digital receiver is best first.

spongebob

Thats cool, thanks all for your help.

I probably will go for a non Digibox in order that I could add another LNB to the dish (for Hotbird probably) and toggle between the sats....

I dont want millions of features but I may be sorted at around the €200 mark for the receiver.

Thanks All for the pointers. BTW does anyone see a problem with my plan to orientate it on the ground first seeing as i probably won't have a signal meter.

M

Lennoxschips

Yeah, if you are considering going for Astra 19 deg or Hotbird 13 deg then you certainly don't want to be using a Sky digibox!

Thanks All for the pointers. BTW does anyone see a problem with my plan to orientate it on the ground first seeing as i probably won't have a signal meter.

The Sky Digital signal is very strong and easy enough to get a lock onto. Mount the dish on a vertical pole, with the dish elevation set to about 22 degrees, with a clear view of where the sun would be a 11 am (doesn't matter how high it is). Set up your box and tv somewhere near it. The box should have a built in signal meter, which displays on the television. Either set it up so that you can see the tv from where you are aligning the dish or get somebody who can see the television to call out to you. Point the dish to the southwest and then twist it left and right untill you get something on the signal meter. The network ID for Astra 28 is "0002", once you get locked onto that it's just a case of tweaking untill you get the signal bars as high as possible.

It's really fairly easy, because the Sky signal is one of the strongest signals.

If you want, you can leave it mounted at ground level. My dish is mounted onto the side of the garden shed at about shoulder height, for example. Unlike a TV aerial, height is not a factor. As long as the dish can see the satellite, it doesn't matter.

Icehouse

I reckon that there will be an announcement very shortly that the BBC have reached agreement, possibly with those companies already making Freeview boxes to make FTA satellite receivers to receive the Beeb channels. they even manage to convince Sky (eventually?) that it's in their interest to have a Sky decoder slot

Pure speculation on my part, but it could happen


_____________________________________________
http://www.ukscreen.com/cast/nmande very friendly TV

Mossy Monk

i have just started praying for that non Sky box with a Videoguard cam. i know NDS will tell them to take a flying leap i thought that this practice of only allowing official Sky boxes to have Videoguard was against all EU rules on the subject

spongebob

there is a new legal framework coming in on the 25/07/03 in re: Videoguard among other things. Comreg are supposed to enforce it. I asked this question about 6 months ago. Wiser persons than I answered Here and then it were forgotten.

I reckon that if SKY start to collect and pay Irish VAT instead of UK VAT then they will not come in for too much regulation by Comreg even if Comreg have a few new teeth in 3 or so weeks.

I am still wavering between a no CI slot receiver at c.€150 and a CI enabled recieiver at c.€250

Dish around the €100

Lnb around the €35

Cable €15

So I could do it for €300 at a squeeze and me oul fella wanst one at that price too. I am somewhat bewildered at some of the brandnames that crop up on European sites at low prices, that has me investigating further at the moment. Lidl/Aldi have sold complete sets in this country Dish/Lnb/Receiver for less than €100 but I dont think they could tune into some channels even if correctly oriented.

M

Tony

Lidl were selling analogue decoders which is why they were so cheap. If you can hang on until end of July there will be some better offers pricewise.

Tony

Originally posted by Muck
there is a new legal framework coming in on the 25/07/03 in re: Videoguard among other things. Comreg are supposed to enforce it. I asked this question about 6 months ago. Wiser persons than I answered Here and then it were forgotten.

I reckon that if SKY start to collect and pay Irish VAT instead of UK VAT then they will not come in for too much regulation by Comreg even if Comreg have a few new teeth in 3 or so weeks.

I am still wavering between a no CI slot receiver at c.€150 and a CI enabled recieiver at c.€250

Dish around the €100

Lnb around the €35

Cable €15

So I could do it for €300 at a squeeze and me oul fella wanst one at that price too. I am somewhat bewildered at some of the brandnames that crop up on European sites at low prices, that has me investigating further at the moment. Lidl/Aldi have sold complete sets in this country Dish/Lnb/Receiver for less than €100 but I dont think they could tune into some channels even if correctly oriented.

M

byte

Yeah, there are numerous makes and models of standard digital receivers.

I have a Manhattan Skyline 3000 which I got for around €300 or so. It has 2 CI slots though I have never used a CAM yet. It's quite a good receiver but slower than Topfields that I have installed for other people. Strong are quite good too though I dislike the remote control that accompanies them.

If there is one flaw I've found with Manhattan it's that software must be upgraded from PC to receiver and not via satellite like some other makes like Humax etc. To update from PC you need to download software from site (which I did) and transfer to receiver using a "null modem" cable. Therein lies the problem for me as I cannot get my hands on a female-female nullmodem cable! Not in big demand in PC shops. So if anyone has one they want to offload...

spuddy

Originally posted by byte
...Therein lies the problem for me as I cannot get my hands on a female-female nullmodem cable!

Maplin do them, look HERE

or you could call into one of their shops

byte

Originally posted by spuddy
Maplin do them, look HERE

or you could call into one of their shops

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look...