Lidl - Mini Digital Satellite System

v10

Was are these lidl systems like ? Does anyone here have one ?

Was looking for a cheap satellite setup for a motorhome .. would this suit or not ?

They don't specify the size of the dish so I dunno if it would be any use .. also how easy or difficult would it be to setup i.e. lock onto a satellite ?

They give very little details on the website.

Cheers for any help

muincav

the dish is quite small and will be unsteady in the wind, but you can pick up an old and bigger sat dish and just put the lnb on it and hey presto!
a lot of people forgot about the dish belonging to their old analogue system when they became brainwashed by sky to part with their money and therefore just left the old dish on the wall! hav a trip round where you live and spot one and offer the householder to get rid of it for them-for free......
good luck

joe25

If You miss out you can just buy this one here.

http://cgi.ebay.ie/COMAG-Mini-Sat-Anlage-1012-mit-Multifunktion-Halterung_W0QQitemZ190114630848QQihZ009QQcategoryZ77744QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

watty

These are actually no longer good value.

bush

What channels can you get on these? Can you get channel 4?

byte

YOu cannot get Channel 4.

You can get all the BBC's, ITV's and Sky News, CNN, etc.

james_d_23

was thinking about one of these myself and was wondering what channels I'd get, would I be right in thinking that I'd get the channels that Ulsterman1690 stated in the "Free To Air Satellite any good?" thread?

i.e.


"BBC1/2/3(CBBC)/4(Cbeebies)/News24/Parliament
ITV1/2/3/4(Kids)/Men and Motors
A few free film channels (Film 4 being the best)
About 10 music (including classical) channels and 200 radio channels
about half a dozen news channels
A few oddball channels which might have the odd interesting programme (depending on what youre into)

On the other hand theres
200 shopping channels
About a dozen religious channels -various brands of "evangenical christian" (mostly of US origin) with one RC and a couple of Muslim channels (Most sane people avoid these like the plauge but twisted souls like me enjoy them for their comedy value )
A couple of Dozen ethnic channels -Dont want to come accross as narrow minded but most of the ones on Astra 2 are terrible (If you want to broaden your horizons in this regard the Hotbird satellite is far better) The handful that do English programming seem to have criminally incompetent sound engineers and an annual production budget of about £5 !
Gaming channels -Worse than the God channels (Both are aimed at swindling the guillable but at least the God channels are occasionally funny)"



Because if so I'd buy it..

byte

The receiver itself might be OK, though the dish doesn't look to be up to much.

Also of note, the receiver doesn't have an RF modulator, so would be no good for those considering distributing the signal around the house.

soupie

Guys

I was planning on using this in wexford, will it pick up a signal for most stations with the dish supplied? if not would the arial we have attached to the mobile home assist it?

If not is the dish good enough to get me most of the stations?

Thanks

byte

It may do. Not fully sure how big the dish is. The aerial will be of no benefit to satellite signals.

Personally, I suggest paying a few extra quid and getting a decent box and dish from maybe Maplin or similar establishments.

honkytonk52

well i picked one up this mornin. i ahve had no problems with it so far i got the astra 19.2 and 32.8 great picture bit of a scald to install and the brackets are a bit dodgy but it will do for the time being

remlap

honkytonk52 wrote:

well i picked one up this mornin. i ahve had no problems with it so far i got the astra 19.2 and 32.8 great picture bit of a scald to install and the brackets are a bit dodgy but it will do for the time being

32.8 if you mean 33.0e then well done since its beamed over Turkey I believe.

Kafreme

Hiya, we got one of these and hubby is going mad trying to get a signal. We live just north of a big hill - would this cause us problems? Also, he rang a local TV guy who told him that these dishes were not set up to get Astra 19.2 and talked him through deleting all the satellites listed!!??? Where do we go from here (assuming we can get a signal at all with that afform mentioned hill?)? Honkytonk52, did you have to set it for Astra 19.2 or was it already there? I had a list of stations showing such as BBC1 and 2 previous to things being deleted.
Any help appreciated!

Edited to say that another local TV guy said that the tiny dish wouldn't pick up any signal (I'm in Wexford too). Is he right or just scamming us cos he has a bigger dish for sale?

St Senan

another local TV guy said that the tiny dish wouldn't pick up any signal (I'm in Wexford too). Is he right or just scamming us cos he has a bigger dish for sale?

If your looking for English channels they are on Astra2 at 28east.
Astra1 at 19 east would be European channels mainly German You would need at least a 60cm dish to get any sort of decant signal the dish that lidl sell would be to small and it wouldn't stand a strong wind. I get a lot of calls here in Gorey about setting up these dishes.

5h4d0w

Bought this a few days ago. I can access Astra 1 no problem, but for some reason I can't find Astra 2. The signal strength and quality come up at around 65-75%, but even when I have Astra 2 selected, it comes up with the german channels. The BBC channels are all 'No Signal' Any idea what I can do?
Thanks

Hashbrown

I got one from lidl about a year ago. Use it in Wexford and works grand most of the time, but no good in a strong wind or if its raining. Pick up astra 2 and can receive BBC 1,2,3,4, all the ITV.s and SKY news and a load of other mostly crap foreign Stations.

honkytonk52

5h4d0w wrote:

Bought this a few days ago. I can access Astra 1 no problem, but for some reason I can't find Astra 2. The signal strength and quality come up at around 65-75%, but even when I have Astra 2 selected, it comes up with the german channels. The BBC channels are all 'No Signal' Any idea what I can do?
Thanks

well if you see what the quality of the astra 2 and it up at 70 or so then if you go back out to your dish move the LNB around to about 15 degrees of keep fidllin with t until something comes up

wil

if you are getting german channels then you dish is almost definitely not pointing at astra2 28.2 but most likely astra1 or hotbird.
Move your dish a few more degrees to the right and slightly down (if I am remembering this slightly arseways please correct me someone)

If you are using a satfinder you should get a drop then rise in signal as you more from sat to sat. Problem is if you are using a small dish such as the lidl camping one it will be almost impossible to tell between sats as the resolution on a small dish is very poor. It basically looks at a larger area of sky at any one time than a larger dish which can home in very specifically on each sat.

This has pros and cons.
In areas of strong signal a small dish requires less adjusting as you dont need to be exactly on the sat. But in poorer signal areas you need a bigger dish to pull in more signal in order to get a lock on the satelite. It also needs to be more spot on but it is easier to tell between close sats.

My 60cm circular dish I got from lidl/aldi which looks considerably smaller than the elliptical standard Sky dish gives just about acceptable signal. The elliptical sky dish gives a much stronger signal especially in rain.
Another factor is that as far as I know most of the FTV channels come from the Astra 2d transponder which has a smaller footprint so possibly weaker signal as you go west.

Just a note of caution re Aldi/Lidl receivers.
I think not much more than a year ago they were selling analog fta systems but they had digital written on them referring to digital tuning of an analogue signal rather than a digital signal.
These are becoming less less of interest as analog signals are phased out, so check for the DVB symbol in case you are ever offered one of these

elderlemon

Got one of these yesterday for €79 - thought it might be useful for the hols when its pouring rain and the kids are bored. Hooked it up to Astra 2 and got a really good signal.

I think I'll replace the dish at some point - its only 36cm and from what I've read there will be problems in wind and rain.

Not bad for my first sat system - I think its €79 well spent. Will see how it works in "real life" over the next 2 weeks.

watty

Any further west or north than Portliose it won't work in pouring rain. Wind should not be a problem.

Wind however is a serious issue at 110cm dish, about 16 times the wind load!

GrumPy

decent sized dish, and receiver in power city for €135.

5h4d0w

Thanks for all the advice, but unfortunately none of it is working.
I have Astra 28.2° selected, the signal intensity and quality are both over 70%, but I'm still getting absolutely nothing. I tried pointing it down and moving it to the right as wil suggested, but I couldn't pick up a second point where I had any signal. Messing around with the LNB didnt work either.

This is the screen I'm getting:


(The Diseqc is usually at 2/4, but I had just changed it on the advice of someone else. I doesn't make a difference)

EDIT: Got it, thanks a lot wil. It was just pointing at the wrong satellite as you said, and it thought it was the astra 2 one. Its raining and windy here in tralee, but I still have a perfect signal. Seems like a good buy now, for just €80.

Zaphod

5h4d0w wrote:

I have Astra 28.2° selected, the signal intensity and quality are both over 70%, but I'm still getting absolutely nothing. I tried pointing it down and moving it to the right as wil suggested, but I couldn't pick up a second point where I had any signal. Messing around with the LNB didnt work either.

Try deleting the existing channels and then do a scan on that frequency (10773). If the channels which are found are not the BBC, then you're still pointing at another satellite, probably 19E or 13E. It helps if you mark off the positions on the dish bracket, so that you don't end up continually aiming at the wrong satellite.

Read this:
http://bytelive.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=How+to+align+a+satellite+dish

Ulsterman 1690

Lidl up here are now doing them for £50 but much as id like to be proved wrong Im still sceptical as to the possibility of a 35cm dish recieving anything other than the stronger transponders on Astra 2 (and even then only on a clear day)

Mind you the thing is rather laughably advertsed as being preprogrammed for Astra 1, Astra 2, Hotbird, Turksat, Hellias, Sirius, Atlantic bird, Thor, Amos, Nilesat and whatever yer havin yerself

While this may be perfectly true Id like to see someone in Northern Ireland getting that lot on a 35cm dish :eek:

watty

Wexford/Waterford/Dublin the 35cm will work when it not raining. Donegal Eurobird and lots of non-2D will be poor.

2D is the most constant across Ireland as unlike other beams the centre is about the Isle of Man, and reaches diagonally from Brittany to Iceland. 45cm will work in Brittany and Med coast of France needs nearly 1m dish.

Capt'n Midnight

Astra 2D http://www.lyngsat-maps.com/maps/astra2d.html - match the contour with the table on the side to see recommended dish size

another picture

NUTZZ

Just in case anybody is wondering, here is list of the best channels that you can pick up;

BBC 1,2,3,4
BBC NEWS 24
BBC PARLIMENT
ITV 1,2,3,4 (+1)
Bubble Hits (Irish Music Channel with Glenda Gilson)
Chartshow TV
Fizz (music)
The Vault (music)
Flaunt (music)
CNN
Sky News
Reality TV 1,2, Thriller, Horror
Playboy One
Men & Motors

thats just a few, there are hundreds of channels of crap as well.

Tony

National Broadcasters: BBC 1,2,3,4, (all regions) ITV 1,2,3,4 (all regions) S4C

Movies : Film Four, True movies

Kids Channels: cITV, CBBC,Cbeebies,

News Channels: Sky News, BBC News 24,CNN, Euronews,



Sports :Extreme Sports,

Music Stations : Chartshow TV, Classic FM TV,Classics TV ,Performance TV

Entertainment: Reality TV,Fashion TV,Motors TV

Radio Stations: RTE , BBC and many more

Other channels: TV, PCNE (Chinese), Rapture , The God Channel,EWTN

byte

Just a few notes, Tony. Extreme Sports is no longer FTA, and Rapture has ceased broadcasting on satellite. I'm pretty sure Fashion and Motors are subscription channels now too.

I really must get the FTA list on Wiki updated, channels change so often

L1011

Fashion went pay on a one year contract and is now FTA - Again!

Bloomberg is worth adding to the news list

Reality TV is now called "Zone Reality" and has a +1 and an "Extra" channel.

Scuzz, Flaunt and Bliss are all worth adding to the Music section - the only widescreen music channels, all decent quality, all FTA.

GJG

5h4d0w wrote:

Thanks for all the advice, but unfortunately none of it is working.
I have Astra 28.2° selected, the signal intensity and quality are both over 70%, but I'm still getting absolutely nothing. I tried pointing it down and moving it to the right as wil suggested, but I couldn't pick up a second point where I had any signal. Messing around with the LNB didnt work either.

This is the screen I'm getting:


(The Diseqc is usually at 2/4, but I had just changed it on the advice of someone else. I doesn't make a difference)

EDIT: Got it, thanks a lot wil. It was just pointing at the wrong satellite as you said, and it thought it was the astra 2 one. Its raining and windy here in tralee, but I still have a perfect signal. Seems like a good buy now, for just €80.

Hi there, seems like I have the same problem you had.

I think I am on the wrong satellite - mostly continental channels including loads selling what looks like German phone-sex! Can you tell me what you did to get from one to the other? IE, turning to the left or right (as you face the dish), up or down, and what's with the little thing that you can turn to different degrees?

Thanks!

PS, Am I correct in thinking that Film4 (my main target) is on this other Astra one?

Ulsterman 1690

mostly continental channels including loads selling what looks like German phone-sex!

Sounds like youre on Astra 1 (19 East)

For film four BBC ITV etc You want to be on Astra 2 (28 East)

You want to turn your dish slightly Eastwards from where it is now and maybe reduce the elevation slightly (the little thing that you can turn to different degrees?)

Tony

byte wrote:

Just a few notes, Tony. Extreme Sports is no longer FTA, and Rapture has ceased broadcasting on satellite. I'm pretty sure Fashion and Motors are subscription channels now too.

I really must get the FTA list on Wiki updated, channels change so often

Thanks I'll update my site info

wil

Just in case any one is interested, Aldi is doing pretty much the same camping FTV satellite kit from this Sunday.
Same micro dish though.
At €80 its not a bad deal, with the 35cm dish, you may need to live up a high mountain or in the upper stratosphere to get the list of satellites they mention (see Ulsterman above). Add a proper dish and who knows.
I might even get one just to see if I can get something on that dish
And Aldi do have a pretty good rep on their returns policy from what I've heard if it just doesnt work out.

spockety

I bought one of these yesterday and stuck it on the ground in my back garden in South Dublin. Had found both Astra 28 and Astra 19 within a few minutes, and watched BBC etc with a perfect picture.

Comes in a handy carrying case too

v10

Anybody have one of these to sell ? If so I'm looking for one ...

watty

Better sized dish for the MidWest and further:



The middle is motorised and the right side dish can be extended to feed 1000 receivers with 4 satellites. It feeds 7 satellite receivers, one is a dual Tuner PVR.

One of the quattros is off it and lying on wall.

The left dish is due to be replaced with a 1.7m mesh one.

shreka

muincav wrote:

the dish is quite small and will be unsteady in the wind, but you can pick up an old and bigger sat dish and just put the lnb on it and hey presto!
a lot of people forgot about the dish belonging to their old analogue system when they became brainwashed by sky to part with their money and therefore just left the old dish on the wall! hav a trip round where you live and spot one and offer the householder to get rid of it for them-for free......
good luck

I have had a lidl dish for a couple of years now and live high u-.When the weather gets bad I'm afraid the dih will blow away!!. You're saying I can replace the actual dish with another larger one (even an analogue one) and the satellite will still work? If so, this is brilliant news!!:)

wil

I would say there is a little bit of confusion here between the sturdiness of the mounting versus the effect of the wind. The small size is not really the reason for unsteadiness in wind (unless its not secured at all). Most of these microdishes (nomenclature check : using the term mini would just continue to confuse them with the larger Sky supplied mindishes) have fairly flimsy type mountings which would not be suitable in strong wind. They are usually hand tightened wing nuts or similar, adequate for such small dishes used on a portable basis. All permanent fixed dishes should have spanner tightened bolts to secure them in position.
If your dish is in a windy or exposed area and already giving you cause for concern then a larger dish is going to have more problems and require even sturdier mountings.
Other than that all you have to make sure is that the lnb is a universal type and preferably matched to the shape of your dish. I am sure you could take the lnb from the microdish and fix it to a large oval dish without significant problems