Lidl Home Satellite System €80 from Thursday 11 September.

Oracle

Back on offer from Thursday 11th. September is the SilverCrest Digital Home Satellite System for €80. This system comes with an 80cm dish, satellite receiver, satellite finder, twin LNB and 3 year guarantee.

For anyone who's not familiar with these systems they allow you to receive hundreds of free to air (FTA) satellite channels, plus the UK terrestrial channels (BBC, ITV and C4) free of charge. All you pay is the cost of the kit (€80), plus installation, there's no on-going monthly fee. That's a huge saving against paying every month for a cable or satellite service such as Sky, NTL or Magnet.

April Raine

Oracle wrote: »

Back on offer from Thursday 11th. September is the SilverCrest Digital Home Satellite System for €80. This system comes with an 80cm dish, satellite receiver, satellite finder, twin LNB and 3 year guarantee.

For anyone who's not familiar with these systems they allow you to receive hundreds of free to air (FTA) satellite channels, plus the UK terrestrial channels (BBC, ITV and C4) free of charge. All you pay is the cost of the kit (€80), plus installation, there's no on-going monthly fee. That's a huge saving against paying every month for a cable or satellite service such as Sky, NTL or Magnet.

Every time they come up they seem to get a bashing for being rubbish. What is the installation like for someone no good with nuts and bolts, would I have to hire someone? What does work permit required at the end of the advertisment page mean?

Oracle

April Raine wrote: »

Every time they come up they seem to get a bashing for being rubbish....

These systems do come up regularly but they do not get a bashing for being rubbish. Although some may have a bad experience with them in general they're an perfect starter system and great value for money: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055264903&highlight=Lidl+Satellite+System

There's a thread on these sytems on the staellite forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054982781

As a matter of interest April, how would you know these systems have come up before, since you only registered on Boards.ie in March?

mgadget

Columbo you ain't. You did know that one can access and read these forums without ever having to register to join or login?

Oracle wrote: »

....

As a matter of interest April, how would you know these systems have come up before, since you only registered on Boards.ie in March?

mgadget

Has anyone used this system to tune into the Freesat service or does Freesat require specifically a Freesat decoder box?

April Raine

Oracle wrote: »

As a matter of interest April, how would you know these systems have come up before, since you only registered on Boards.ie in March?

did you not know you can read posts without registering? I just logged out went to http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055371185 and logged back in to post this update.

TheDriver

requires a freesat box. The set up is good except the brackets and dish are crap if in a windy place, better off spending a few quid for a decent bracket and dish that will last 10 years at least, but for the box and lnb its handy money. However, with freesat coming along, I'd hold off for that alone.

MunsterCycling

mgadget wrote: »

Has anyone used this system to tune into the Freesat service or does Freesat require specifically a Freesat decoder box?

Works perfectly, been using one for about a year and a bit no problems at all.

MC

April Raine

Oracle wrote: »

These systems do come up regularly but they do not get a bashing for being rubbish.

Well, anything i have read is negative but as you say i only regd in March and i don't know much about these things or pretend to undestand

April Raine

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Works perfectly, been using one for about a year and a bit no problems at all.

MC

would i need to get someone to install it? A friend of mine said he got one from lidl and it worked fine but i have not seen it i presume it is this. he did say there was not as big choice of channels as with paid but good enough for him and reception was ok

I looked thru some old threads and apparently the size of the dish was an issue. This is 80 cm so would it be worth it? It has a 3 year g'tte anyway

ongarite

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Works perfectly, been using one for about a year and a bit no problems at all.

MC

You are picking up FTA (Free To Air) channels with the Lidl, Sky box with no subscription.

You need a Freesat box (only on sale in UK & NI) to pick up the Freesat stations.

Bluetonic

Oracle wrote: »

All you pay is the cost of the kit (€80), plus installation, there's no on-going monthly fee. That's a huge saving against paying every month for a cable or satellite service such as Sky, NTL or Magnet.

What a strange comparison in saying it's a huge saving. Your not comparing similar products, the stations you get on SKY for instance can't be received by buying this 'kit'.

Buying a book would also be a massive saving, you'd not have to watch TV at all.

podgeandrodge

ongarite wrote: »

You are picking up FTA (Free To Air) channels with the Lidl, Sky box with no subscription.

You need a Freesat box (only on sale in UK & NI) to pick up the Freesat stations.

that's not true. All the freesat stations are available (same channels anyway more or less) ., its just the Freesat EPG you don't get AFAIK.

ongarite

Not all the stations are available without Freesat box, ITVHD and Freesat versions of Ch4 require Freesat box.

MisterAnarchy

April Raine wrote: »

I looked thru some old threads and apparently the size of the dish was an issue. This is 80 cm so would it be worth it? It has a 3 year g'tte anyway

The brackets are quite lightweight,will shear if exposed in high winds.
The 80cm dish gives a good signal,far better than a Sky Minidish .

podgeandrodge

ongarite wrote: »

You need a Freesat box (only on sale in UK & NI) to pick up the Freesat stations.

is a bit different from

ongarite wrote: »

Not all the stations are available without Freesat box, ITVHD and Freesat versions of Ch4 require Freesat box.

Either way, given that this discussion is about a standard definition satellite system, ITV HD is not relevant. As for "Freesat versions of Ch4" I don't know what you're talking about, maybe others will, but the Ch4 you get FTA is "normal" Ch4.

bittihuduga

is this 60cm or 80cm?
i can't find the size on the link

podgeandrodge

80cm according to newspaper ads.

homer911

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

The brackets are quite lightweight,will shear if exposed in high winds.
The 80cm dish gives a good signal,far better than a Sky Minidish .

+1

Bracket is very lightweight aluminium and literally got pulled through the mounting bolts on my installation when it was windy. Guarantee does not cover wind damage - I tried and got nowhere. Replaced dish with a sky style mesh dish - completely different kettle of fish: Steel construction, very solid. My personal advise would be to go straight for a freesat receiver and solidly built dish. That being said, I've no regrets over the initial €80 and will probably reuse the receiver in another location when I get freesat

mjsmyth

There is a slight bit of misinformation going on here.

The Lidl boxes are fine, they generally work well, but like all things, those who have problems shout loudest. I have installed 4 of the units for friends and they work fine.

As for freesat, freesat is an EPG, the channels you receive on a freesat box are the same as those you can receive on a FTA (like the lidl) box.

As for ITV HD, well obviously you cannot get it as this box is not a HD receiver. ITV HD is receivable on some other non freesat HD boxes.

Channel 4, E4, More 4 and Film 4 are all available free and you can receive them using the Lidl box.

The main channels you will get are:

BBC1
BBC2
BBC3
BBC4
ITV1
ITV2
ITV3
ITV4
CH4
E4
MORE4
FILM4
BBC News
Sky News

There are also many music channels, other news channels, film channels and general viewing channels.

Installing the dish and getting it set in the right direction takes patience, but it is possible. I did it by looking at where my neighbours dish was pointed and from that point tweaked the horizontal and vertical position till I got it right.

Take a look at the satellite forums on boards.ie for more help and info. One caveat, the dish is fine, the bracket however... well it is way too lightweight. If your house is anyway exposed, buy a stronger one.

MJ

gip

Have to agree with mjsmyth, bought one of these systems about year and a half ago, think it may have cost about €100 then, installed it myself, it had everything needed to do so, although I did have to buy a satellite finder as the one supplied wasn't great but that only cost me about €15 or €20. I had never installed one of these before and installation instructions were good, it was set up and running in a couple of hours. Now I'm not living on top of a mountain or the side of a seashore cliff but there has been plenty of galeforce winds and truly terrible weather since and it has never moved and I have had no problems with receiver box either. I have since installed two more and would recommend them to anyone. In my opinion money well spent.

johnnyboy4711

when is rte,tg4,tv3 becoming freeview?freesat?
thanks
john

MunsterCycling

johnnyboy4711 wrote: »

when is rte,tg4,tv3 becoming freeview?freesat?
thanks
john

The END of never, Ireland is so far behind on the digital front its not funny.


MC

Henry's Cat

bit of a dummie here when it comes to these things, but if I already have Sky dish and box, can I just cancel my subscription and then connect the Lidl box to the Sky dish connection to get all the free to air .. or is there more to it than that?

ongarite

If you cancel your Sky subscription, you can still use it to receive the FTA stations listed above. No need for the Lidl receiver to do this and you will still a functioning EPG.

MunsterCycling

Think it should work but best to ask this over in Satellite forum for a more informed answer.

MC

Oracle

I'm glad there's being a positive response to this thread about the Lidl Satellite System. It's disappointing that some people feel the need to criticise without foundation. I'll leave it to the intelligence of the Bargain Alert forum readers as to their reasons and motivation.

Tony

I'm not sure its without foundation. Its an excellent deal for sure but the dish bracket really is poor , I know this as I've replaced lots of them that failed.

Oracle wrote: »

I'm glad there's being a positive response to this thread about the Lidl Satellite System. It's disappointing that some people feel the need to criticise without foundation.

Ron DMC

/makes note to attach a decent bracket before climbing out on the side of the house.

JimiMac

TheDriver wrote: »

... However, with freesat coming along, I'd hold off for that alone.

Is freesat not already here now or is it better to wait?
Wait for what? Is there something imminent?
Vaguely interested but don't know a lot about it.

jayteecork

so roughly which and how many English channels does this yoke pick up?

Could i just stick the thing out the window and hope to pick up something?

Stuxnet

we have one in our house, the gf is italian so she wanted it for her home Italian channels, works perfect, loadsa channels, had to get someone install it, but must have 2000+ channels, get some mad **** on late at night, have the department of defense pentagon channel wtf !! loads of kuwaiti and arabian channels also !! lol

jayteecork wrote: »

so roughly which and how many English channels does this yoke pick up?

Could i just stick the thing out the window and hope to pick up something?

twenty or so eng in the first 100 channels, but there thousands, i didnt go through them all,
no, i think it needs to be pointed to the hotbird satellite i remember our installer said?
you'd prob want to spend the 100 euros to get it fitted and pointed correctly, imo

mjsmyth

@Bobby
If you are getting Italian channels, then yes, you are more than likely looking at Hotbird. to get the ITV, BBC C4 and so on, you need to be pointed at Astra 2 / Eurobird 1 @ 28.2/28.5 degrees East.

@JayTeeCork, Hmm.. I know someone by that name in Cork.. Anyway, in my favourites, I have 53 English speaking channels. They encompass General TV (like BBC, C4 and ITV...), Film Channels (Film4, Movies4Men, World Movies..), News & Sport (BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Euronews, Fight Network, sportsXchange) and Music (NME, Scuzz, Chart Show, Bubblehits, Flaunt..)

Lots of stuff to look at, plenty of religious stuff, shopping channels also and Fashion TV for the missus

mj

jayteecork

mjsmyth wrote: »

@Bobby
If you are getting Italian channels, then yes, you are more than likely looking at Hotbird. to get the ITV, BBC C4 and so on, you need to be pointed at Astra 2 / Eurobird 1 @ 28.2/28.5 degrees East.

@JayTeeCork, Hmm.. I know someone by that name in Cork.. Anyway, in my favourites, I have 53 English speaking channels. They encompass General TV (like BBC, C4 and ITV...), Film Channels (Film4, Movies4Men, World Movies..), News & Sport (BBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Euronews, Fight Network, sportsXchange) and Music (NME, Scuzz, Chart Show, Bubblehits, Flaunt..)

Lots of stuff to look at, plenty of religious stuff, shopping channels also and Fashion TV for the missus

mj

Thanks for the reply. Are Tunrner Classic movies and MGM movies there?
I wouldn't have a fecking clue how to point it at a "hotbird". lol.

Anyone know a contact in the Cork area (Glanmire/east) who'd do it for a ton?

Ps: There must be thousands of people with the initials "JT" in Cork!

rom

podgeandrodge wrote: »

that's not true. All the freesat stations are available (same channels anyway more or less) ., its just the Freesat EPG you don't get AFAIK.

If you have a sky digital dish then this system is a waste of money for the non techy.

This kit is 80 Euro ok.

http://freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main
You can get a HD box for about 170 Euro on ebay which is great. I got one of these. Very easy to use etc.

You can get a Standard Definition (non HD) one for about 80 Euro off ebay. You get the nice Program guide etc. and its very easy to use just put in a UK postcode. There is nothing illegal about using one in Ireland. ring freesat and ask if you have a problem. They also offer you support for the service. So if you buying this lidl thing just for the box then don't bother. Freesat box are best for most people but if you want one you can tweak a bit more.
https://www.eirss.ie has some nice technomate's for good prices.

podgeandrodge

rom wrote: »

If you have a sky digital dish then this system is a waste of money for the non techy.

But if you don't already have a dish, this system, as an all-in-one system with dish, box, cable etc etc is a bargain alert. The purpose of this thread is for people that want an all-in-one kit, not for people who already have kit.

rom wrote: »

http://freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main
You can get a HD box for about 170 Euro on ebay which is great. I got one of these. Very easy to use etc.

Most people (imo) have no interest in spending €170 for a HD box on it's own. A lot do, but most don't. Yes, it may be tempting if you already have a dish installed and you want HD. But this thread is about a standard definition all-in-one kit.

rom wrote: »

You can get a Standard Definition (non HD) one for about 80 Euro off ebay. You get the nice Program guide etc. and its very easy to use just put in a UK postcode. There is nothing illegal about using one in Ireland. ring freesat and ask if you have a problem. They also offer you support for the service. So if you buying this lidl thing just for the box then don't bother. Freesat box are best for most people but if you want one you can tweak a bit more.
https://www.eirss.ie has some nice technomate's for good prices.

Some of the Freesat box's may not receive non Astra2D channels if you want to point at another satellite i.e. they don't have a non-freesat mode. The Lidl box will pick up whatever is being transmitted. This could be more important than having a "nice program guide etc". The technomates aren't freesat so won't have the EPG, and for the "average" person will not provide anything the Lidl box does not provide. As for buying this "lidl thing just for the box" - again that's not the purpose of this thread imo. I think most people would just go out and buy a box on its own if they had everything else.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing with your comments. But if you think there are HD bargain alerts out there you should post in a HD bargain alert thread.

TM

Lads - all your questions and much more besides are answered over on the Satellite TV forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=55

Some of the comments in this thread are a bit misleading to be honest.

MunsterCycling

TM wrote: »

Lads - all your questions and much more besides are answered over on the Satellite TV forum:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=55

Some of the comments in this thread are a bit misleading to be honest.

As is yours, now if you want to help then help.

MC

jakeyb

Guys, you can get a lot of channel with the box, all you need is call an installer and ask him to bring more better brackers and motorized mount if possible and you will be suprised what you can pick "FTA". Just have a look this for 28.2e - http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

craichoe

jakeyb wrote: »

Guys, you can get a lot of channel with the box, all you need is call an installer and ask him to bring more better brackers and motorized mount if possible and you will be suprised what you can pick "FTA". Just have a look this for 28.2e - http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

Yeh but 90% of it is rubbish. I only end up watching the NON shopping channels.

All the BBC regional channels are the same with slightly different new channels

TM

MunsterCycling wrote: »

As is yours, now if you want to help then help.

MC

Eh? What exactly is misleading about my pointer to a form which can definitely help with a lot of the questions being asked here? And being answered misleadingly here in some cases?

And if you have an objection to my post why didn't you (a) report it and (b) not post effectively the same thing yourself earlier (which I've only seen now)?! :rolleyes:

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Think it should work but best to ask this over in Satellite forum for a more informed answer.

MC

MunsterCycling

Because you didn't read the thread clearly... Geez

TM

Yeah - whatever. Yawn ZZZZZzzzzz.....

MunsterCycling

TM wrote: »

Yeah - whatever. Yawn ZZZZZzzzzz.....

Bye bye, fg

craichoe

Ahh FFS lads, the OP is only posting what they think is a bargain, would ye ever stop going on and nit picking about how good/bad it is, its a bargain alert. Not a lets b*tch thread

Its good for an all in kit for 80 bucks.

Aligning the Dish can be tricky but can be done and doesn't necessarily require you going on your roof.

You can find out which way your supposed to point and what angle the dish should be at with www.dishpointer.com.

As for fixing the bolts and stuff .. do you need an installer ? Well.. how long is a piece of string, at worst you could give it go and if it doesn't work out get someone to do it for you, its more about patience than anything, it won't work out if you duct tape it onto the roof and wave it around hoping to get a picture. Look up a guide, its satisfying to know you've saved money when its all installed and working

For a basic kit, it does exactly what it says on the box. Free to Air Satellite channels. Freeview just gives a prettier EPG, thats ... about ... it.

Cheers OP, already have one from 2 years ago and its still going grand !

TheDriver

As Tony said, you'd be shocked at how many people buy this cheap kit and then start asking questions about it afterwards or indeed pay someone lot of money to install it where they could get a better deal elsewhere. It depends on where you install it and what you want it for to be honest. I know lot of people who bought one and still have it in their shed unused. Its still 80 euro and i would never use a cheap dish again as it broke my heart after 4 weeks up (in a windy spot). Decent dish and bracket will cost small money but be a worthwhile investment.

muincav

TheDriver wrote: »

As Tony said, you'd be shocked at how many people buy this cheap kit and then start asking questions about it afterwards or indeed pay someone lot of money to install it where they could get a better deal elsewhere. It depends on where you install it and what you want it for to be honest. I know lot of people who bought one and still have it in their shed unused. Its still 80 euro and i would never use a cheap dish again as it broke my heart after 4 weeks up (in a windy spot). Decent dish and bracket will cost small money but be a worthwhile investment.

Only a HALF WIT would not be able to set up this system, and you can pick up an old Dish from the analogue era for nothing and use the LIDL lnb with it..
And only a HALF WIT would not realise that this is a BARGAIN!

slemons

I have two questions?
How much does this thing cost? and give it to me...

Na seriously, what time would you need to be at lidl to get one of these bad boys?
The old folks have the most expensive sky package known to man and never watch any of them.
Im actually getting sick thinking about all the money they've wasted

Invincible

slemons wrote: »

I have two questions?
How much does this thing cost? and give it to me...

Na seriously, what time would you need to be at lidl to get one of these bad boys?
The old folks have the most expensive sky package known to man and never watch any of them.
Im actually getting sick thinking about all the money they've wasted

They cost 79.99 euro,be there at 8 am.
Could'nt your parents cancel their package,and receive the freeview stations ?

slemons

Invincible wrote: »

They cost 79.99 euro,be there at 8 am.
Could'nt your parents cancel their package,and receive the freeview stations ?

Thanks
I suppose they could but i dont know if
1 - sky allow them to keep the dish/sky box
2 - the unsubscribed box/dish will pick up fta channels

Im asking here to find out:
Anyone know?
Thanks

TheDriver

muincav wrote: »

Only a HALF WIT would not be able to set up this system, and you can pick up an old Dish from the analogue era for nothing and use the LIDL lnb with it..
And only a HALF WIT would not realise that this is a BARGAIN!

Oh grow up and stop calling names. One look over at the sat forum and you will see all the posts from people ("half wits" according to you) who buy this and have trouble putting it up or just don't bother because they realise its not like an aerial but rather a very exact science.
Its only a bargain if you will actually use it.