Freesat HD Prices

chabsey

I'm thinking of setting up a Freesat HD system and while people have suggested I look at a couple of different Irish providers I would prefer to investigate buying the constituent parts myself and doing it that way, rather than paying someone for a bundle and a the installation.

I've had a read through as many posts here as possible but can't find definitive answers to some of my questions.

So, questions are:

1) Does any sat dish work for Freesat HD or do i need a specific one / size?

2) Can I use any dish / box combo or are they related and have to be bought in a pair?

3) Is there a way to 'test' how good a signal I'll get before going the whole hog and buying all the parts. Reason i ask is that I'm planning on using a pole down the bottom of my garden to put the dish on, and would prefer to know the signal was ok before buying.

4) Is Ebay a good place to get a FreesatHD box bargain?


Thanks!

shinobi

1) Does any sat dish work for Freesat HD or do i need a specific one / size?

Any Dish 60 Cm or greater.

2) Can I use any dish / box combo or are they related and have to be bought in a pair?

You will need a Universal LNB (Receiver) to go on the dish & should suit any free sat box.

3) Is there a way to 'test' how good a signal I'll get before going the whole hog and buying all the parts. Reason i ask is that I'm planning on using a pole down the bottom of my garden to put the dish on, and would prefer to know the signal was ok before buying.

Sat finder is a gauge you use when aligning your dish & it will indicate how strong your signal is.

4) Is Ebay a good place to get a FreesatHD box bargain?

I have bought some stuff off Ebay before with no issues.
But remember, 1) Check the sellers details before you buy.
2) If it's a private buy you may have no come back if you buy faulty goods.
I have bought some stuff from Satellite.ie in the past,
Very reasonably priced & delivery. (I've no affiliation with Satellite.ie).

chabsey

Excellent, thanks for the swift reply. So it looks like I'll probably go for a 60cm dish as I want the smallest impact visually in the garden. Do these things work as you'd expect in terms of size, meaning the bigger the dish the better the signal / number of channels? I presume so, otherwise why bother with a huge dish.

I've found a couple of Freesat HD boxes on Ebay for about 200 euros, and I think i can pick up a 60cm dish in Maplin for about 50 - 60 euros so hopefully it'll be about 250 - 300 euros for a complete setup. Nice.

Ideally I'm going to hook this all up to my to-be-built HTPC, but first things first.

shinobi

chabsey wrote: »

Do these things work as you'd expect in terms of size, meaning the bigger the dish the better the signal / number of channels?

Yes, as the signal weekens the dish needs to be larger to focus more of the weaker signal to the LNB. 60 Cm dish should be fine as astra 2D has the tightest foot print.
http://www.astra2d.com/images/Maps/astra2d_footprint.jpg

pizzahead77

Actually you could get a Bush HD box in Argos in NI for £120 or €150 (at todays exchange rate).

There seeems to be some issues with lip synching on the HD channels using the Humax HD box at the moment (reported on the forums on www.digitalspy.co.uk)

chabsey

Thanks for the info guys.

Just when I thought I had the perfect solution, I read a little more on HTPCs and how you can get an internal Freesat HD card that'll do the same job as the set top box, but obviously without the box part. As my plan is to eventually build a HTPC it might be worth my while holding off on the whole freesat box purchase until the PC is ready for deployment.

So much to learn though, gah!

Tony

Interesting, do you have a URL for that card please?

chabsey wrote: »

Thanks for the info guys.

Just when I thought I had the perfect solution, I read a little more on HTPCs and how you can get an internal Freesat HD card that'll do the same job as the set top box, but obviously without the box part. As my plan is to eventually build a HTPC it might be worth my while holding off on the whole freesat box purchase until the PC is ready for deployment.

So much to learn though, gah!

shinobi

http://www.hauppauge.co.uk/site/products/data_novahds2.html

chabsey

Tony wrote: »

Interesting, do you have a URL for that card please?

I searched for freesat hd and htpc and found the hauppage hvr 4000.

Its not specifically for freesat but it does accommodate it.

By the way, if you're affiliated with satellite.ie, I sent u an email question earlier and haven't heard back. If you're not, please ignore!

Tony

Hi, I own satellite.ie and I did not receive your mail. Did you get an automated reply? If not then the return email may have been entered incorrectly

chabsey wrote: »

I searched for freesat hd and htpc and found the hauppage hvr 4000.

Its not specifically for freesat but it does accommodate it.

By the way, if you're affiliated with satellite.ie, I sent u an email question earlier and haven't heard back. If you're not, please ignore!

chabsey

Odd, you might want to check the form located here:

LINK

As it should have come through to you there. I don't think it's likely I entered my address wrongly, but did you get any queries about Freesat HD set ups today? That was from me most probably.

ecodub

I think Maplin are doing a special offer on a Freesat HD system at the moment - I got one last time the offer was on and the whole set (Receiver, Dish, Bracket and LNB) worked out around €250

I'm very pleased with it, BBC were covering Euro 2008 in HD which was great.

Details here
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222155&source=1&DOY=2m7

You mention eBay, while I have bought some things on eBay, if I can purchase similar in a local store withing 20% of the price - I will always opt for the store as you can see the item before you buy and they are on hand if you have a problem afterwards.

Tony

I've been getting mails all day and replied to all at this point, many related to HD. Did you receive the automated reply as I asked earlier?

chabsey wrote: »

Odd, you might want to check the form located here:

LINK

As it should have come through to you there. I don't think it's likely I entered my address wrongly, but did you get any queries about Freesat HD set ups today? That was from me most probably.

watty

you could use PMs for this off site discussion?

Tony

I agree Watty, email is faster though

mossym

Tony wrote: »

Interesting, do you have a URL for that card please?

thread on this here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055301052
and here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055322005

Tony

Thanks