Sky and German Channels

juk11

Hi,
this has been probably discussed several times and I checked this forum but I am still not clear.... :

I have a Sky Dish and receiver but only use the FTA (?) channels (BBC1, BBC2 etc.) and would like to add a second LNB to get German TV (19,2 I believe).

I thought I could use a Disq switch but that doesn't seem to be supported on the Sky boxes (unless some DIY wiring - Watty's Workshop - which I don't have a clear idea about yet).
I did get some Aldi/Lidl (?) digital receiver and thought I could use it instead of the Sky box and also feed the 2nd LNB into it (has Disq option).
But when I connect this receiver and try to get the FTA channels it always says "encrypted channel" (or something similar) ....

Am I doing something wrong on the "new" box or do I need to re-adjust the dish to some other position or is there simply no other way but to get some receiver that allows to receive the Sky signal and has Disq support?

Thanks

watty

The Aldi/Lidl receiver will indeed receive all the FTA channels. Channels that work on Sky box with NO card.

(go 501, press red or text. wait for interactive to load, remove Irish card and press backup, then you have ALL the FTA channels on the EPG, inc missing ones on Irish EPG, ie. BBC & ITV is 101, 102, 103)

The Sky digibox can't do Diseqc switching, a deliberate SW lack rather than HW failing. You would need a manually operated switch from www.satcure.co.uk but the Digibox is terrible for FTA from 19E compared with any other receiver. My DIY solution is for experienced electronics folk with a soldering iron. I did have a 3 way switch on the Sky Digibox but junked this the day I got a non-Sky FTA system.

Go to Digibox "Add Channels" and note default frequency, Polarity and SR
(Something like 11.778 and 27,500). Use these figures for a NETWORK scan on the FTA receiver and the "missing" transponders will automatically be added.

Any receiver "out of the box" does not have the full list of Sky transponders.

You will probabily store loads of non-FTA channels unless your receiver has a "scan FTA only" option, in any case delete the "rubbish" FTA channels and the Encrypted channels and stupid sound loops on radio channels after a scan.

Any FTA digital receiver will control a diseqc switch and view all the FTA "Sky" channels.

Tony

what type of dish do you have?

juk11

Thanks for the quick replies !!!

Watty, I will give that a try - good to know that is just me being a bit slow rather than a real hardware issue

Tony, not sure what type of dish or diameter it is - it came also with the Aldi/Lidl receiver (could it be that it has 80cm diameter??)
Anyhow - I got a good signal when I just pointed the dish to 19,2 but I guess what you're aiming at is that it might not be big enough for a 2nd LNB and I might have trouble getting a good reception for the 2nd LNB which doens't get full focus...

What is the best approach to get the 2nd LNB lined up, will I leave the dish and current LNB in their position and try to get the 2nd LNB attached or should one pull the current LNB/dish off focus to get more "room" for the 2nd LNB??

I'll see how this goes once the weather and time allow a bit of DIY fun....

Thanks again.

watty

See http://homepage.eircom.net/~watty/satellite/sathowto-p6.htm


Sky 28E ---- Astra19E-Hotbirds13E

(Early prototype on 80cm dish)

Recent Lidl dishes are a little smaller than Sky Dishes at about 55cm to 60cm.

AFAIK only the older analogue receivers had 80cm dishes, but you never know.

80cm is fine for multiLNB, with a Quad LNB on the furthest out point now I get over 90% quality on Digibox.

juk11

ok - I got the Lidl box connected to the existing LNB (Sky position) and get a a lot of channels but not the BBC and ITV ones...
All the other channels are picked up by the system but not BBC1 etc. -
I get BBC Parlament (great )

I had a look at http://www.lyngsat.com
(BBC One London 6301 5000) and tried to add channels using the video and audio settings but when trying to watch it is saying "encrypted" channel...
I thought these were FTA and could be watched without card - in the skybox I am using I don't have an active viewing card and can still view BBC and ITV ?!

Any ideas?

juk11

to add channels on the "new" box I have to add the sattelite/Transponder/Video PID/Audio PID/ and PCR PID...
not sure what what these settings mean and they seem to be be different than what needs to be added on the sky box?! Also not sure how these settings correspond to the http://www.lyngsat.com page settings.....

SRB

Juk11,
You may find you have to delete the original settings for these channels as they may have changed PIDs since they were first scanned into the box. In other words, it thinks it already has BBC1 stored and won't overwrite the existing settings until you remove it. I know the Lidl "Camping Set" box behaved like that.

juk11

SRB,
the channels aren't listed through the satellite, all the others (like the shopping channels and BBC Parlament) started being listed once I got the connection sorted... so I don't think it has "old" setting that might be wrong.
Are the BBC channels really FTA or have some type of encodingh?
Do you know what the settings are for video PID/Audio PID/ and PCR PID?
I am not sure if I am trying the right settings to add those channels.
Or could it be that I need to add a transponder and thats why they are not listed??

byte

Is there an option for "Network Scan" or something? This should add transponders that are not already listed.

SRB

Hummm... the BBC channels have no encryption, nor do ITV3 and ITV4 so you should be able to add them. I think you may be correct in that the "auto search" doesn't have the frequencies these services are on, so you may need to manually add them and scan them. You may also need to add the frequencies and then save to the default auto scan list, before scanning.
You should find BBC 1 NI and BBC Three with others here :
Frequency: 10.77325 GHz.
Horizontal Polarisation.
Symbol Rate: 22.0 Mbaud.
FEC5/6.

KTRIC

Sorry for the newbie question....

I'm not sure if this was all ready brought up in this thread as I don't understand half of what was said to be honest. Is it possible for me to get Astra 1 (german) channels with my sky dish in its current position by connecting an astra fta decoder.

I read that the Astra satellites are at 19.2E, does Sky digital use this in Ireland aswell ?

SRB

No, you need the Dish to be pointing at 19.2E for the German Channels, the Sky services used by viewers in the UK and Ireland are at 28.2E

juk11

K-Tric,
no questions to be sorry about!!
if i understand correctly you want to receive german channels as well...
you need to add a second LNB in your existing dish that is pointed to 19,2 and connect to diseqc switch (small box that allows to connect 2 LNBs and run them into one cable to your receiver, then you need a receiver that can work with this diseqc switch (the Sky box doesn't) - then you should be able to view the Sky channels (Free to Air - FTA) and the channels from the 19,2 satellite.
At least that is what I (I think) know about it.
Just at the moment I am having trouble finding the FTA channels on my "non-Sky" box although I haven't changed the sat/LNB at all and only swapped the receiver before I try to add the 2nd LNB.... this anyhow is turning out tricky for whatever reason but shouldn't be by what I hear from the other guys here.

I hope this helps

SRB

Juk11,
Which Lidl box are you using ?

juk11

SRB
its Medion DFA 2004.
I can't find any more info on the WEB an only have the printed manual... (I guess thats what happens using a noname product)
Anyhow, I am just running a new scan which seems to take longer than before - so maybe I am lucky.
The TP you mentioned was already in the list - although with less digits (Ionly 10.773) - I can't enter FEC but acording to manual it is not needed??!

....
scan just finished !!! and I got BBC channels (the BBC London channels are still scrambled but BBC NI and Three and Four are OK.
I don't really know what I have done differetly..., does it have to do with what TP you run the scan on?? This time I think I ran it on the one you mentioned.

Now ITV is still missing, where should they be?

byte

BBC London should not be scrambled! It is FTA!

I somehow wonder if your incoming signal is poor, and your receiver is saying the channel is scrambled instead of "no signal"

UTV, ITV3 = 10.906 Vertical
ITV2, ITV4 = 10.758 Vertical

All Symbol Rate of 22.000 and FEC of 5/6

BTW, I think many FTA receivers have auto-FEC, so they figure it out themselves what the correct FEC settings are.

juk11

Byte
maybe you're right, I only get around 70% signal on the best TPs - maybe I need to finetune the dish for a better signal.. although the Skybox was happy enough to get all those channels but maybe it was just a better receiver...
What signal strenght should one have?

Thanks

juk11

I get ITV1 (Anglia and Central) on 10758 but nothing else...?

byte

That's odd. There should be 6 ITV Network channels on that one transponder.

Look here for further details...
http://www.lyngsat.com/astra2d.html

juk11

what do you think of 70% signal strenght?

watty

I don't know... The Strength does not matter if the system is working, it more or less tells you how long the cable is. "Quality" is the important figure. It should be 50% to 100% depending on satellite and channel.

juk11

most TPs are above 50% but there are some that it doens't seem to get anything from, low signal and no program list (marks them with red) - is that normal or should all listed TPs give prorgam information?

SRB

Juk11 - try deleating all stored channels and then scanning for BBC Three again.

watty

Scan after 7pm or there is no BBC3 and BBC4

SRB

You'll find CBBC and Cbeebies "in their place".