HD Satellite Dish

william

Hi all,

We recently moved into a new house which has a HD Sat dish (only know this because the previous owner mentioned it to me). NTL is not available in the area and in any event I want to use the dish to get free TV. We also have a Full HD TV and DVD player.

A couple of questions:
- would you have any recommendations on what equipment I should purchase to start watching TV? a brand & model ref would be most welcome.
- do I need to know if the dish is motorised or not? out of interest, how would I know if it is motorised?
- can parental controls be easily set up?
- or should I hire a professional to set up the system for me?

Thanks for your help.

Will

syboit

Your in the wrong forum :-(, so probably will be moved.

- get yourself a satellite receiver, freesat brand or one of many other non-freesat/non-sky models, technomate is one (have a look in the satellite & foreign satellite forums for plenty of recommendations

- Suppose yes, then at least you'd know if you can tune in other sats. have a look at the back of the dish where its mounted on the pole, and you'll notice its either fixed with botls or not. Motorised will have to be able to move around obviously

- depends on the sat box you get, but most of them do provide this

- No, lots of people around here have done it themselves, loads of helpful threads. If this dish is setup correctly should be just a case of pluggin in the sat box.

Oh, and there is no such thing as a "HD Sat Dish", they will all pick up hd and non-hd channels. Currently the only free HD channels on 28'2 (astra) are bbchd, luxeHD and sometime ITV HD (though you'll need to check if the sat box you buys can tune in ITV-HD, due to the way its setup)

kuro_man

Have a look on the satellite forum.
I recommend the Humax foxsat HDR (High Def freesat+ pvr with 320gb hard drive) ; It is £300 but it's a fabulous bit of kit and should serve you well.

Also, check out the freesat web site; it's a good starting point.

william

Thanks guys. I did some research on the Humax and it is clearly the brand leader. It's a lot cheaper without the PVR function though - less than half price. Therefore, I'm thinking of getting the Humax without PVR as our DVD has a hard drive for recording. Is this wise or foolish?

Thanks,

Will

joolsveer

william wrote: »

Thanks guys. I did some research on the Humax and it is clearly the brand leader. It's a lot cheaper without the PVR function though - less than half price. Therefore, I'm thinking of getting the Humax without PVR as our DVD has a hard drive for recording. Is this wise or foolish?

Thanks,

Will

I bought the Humax Freesat+ and I am very happy with it. I have a DVD recorder too but rarely use it anymore.

watty

Dishes are dishes. They work identically for Analogue, Digital and HD.

If it is motorised it has a big motor between dish & pole.

Sky HD can't control a Motorised dish.

If you want English TV and the previous person used German TV, the dish needs realigned.

It's insane to buy a non-PVR if you want to record.

If you want payTV you need a Sky HD box.,

kuro_man

In order to use the DVD recorder to record satellite, you'll have to manually configure both machines and you won't be able to record in high def. There will also be a loss of picture quality on recordings.

PVR records source signal to disk so no loss of quality on playback. Also, the EPG provides extended data on programmes which allows alternative schedules, alternative resolution, series link. PVR also allow pause/rewind live TV etc.

You might save a €120 - €150 buying the non-PVR box, but I think its worth the difference. Check out www.joinfreesat.co.uk for the lastest deals.

william

Thanks guys for the advice again.

The non PVR Humax is £128 while the with PVR is £287 - more than double the price. Is it really worth that?

Sam Radford

That's like saying "a motorhome is dearer than a caravan".
Depends what you want. For ease of use, I'd go for the motorhome, but people who like a challenge, with space to store it, might go for the caravan.



.

william

william wrote: »

Thanks guys for the advice again.

The non PVR Humax is £128 while the with PVR is £287 - more than double the price. Is it really worth that?

Do you record programs often?

Yes=More expensive pvr
No=Cheaper non recording reciever.

fat-tony

william wrote: »

Thanks guys for the advice again.

The non PVR Humax is £128 while the with PVR is £287 - more than double the price. Is it really worth that?

If you have never used a SKY+ box or a digital PVR before - then be ready for a "life-changing" experience:D
"This will change forever the way you watch TV" Cue the music, read all the media hype and be assured - it's all true;)
If you watch a lot of TV, then having the facility to pause "live" tv or zip through the ads, having time-shifted by 10 minutes because of the disc recorder built in to your satellite box is worth more than mere money:)

Martin_F

I've a non PVR HD box coupled with a DVD HDD recorder. Just biding my time on the PVR front. Biggest problem is you can't watch 1 digital channel while you record another - which you can on a PVR. Recorded picture quality is pretty good (even though not HD).

william

Guess it's a PVR then.... Thanks for the advice. Now I have to buy a new TV........

kuro_man

william wrote: »

Guess it's a PVR then.... Thanks for the advice. Now I have to buy a new TV........

Note that to be able to watch 1 channel and record another without limits you will need 2 outputs from your LNB. If you have only 1 output you can use a loop-through (instructions in the user manual) but you can only watch channels from the same transponder that you are recording. See http://www.joinfreesat.co.uk/index.php/faqs/how-to/operating-a-pvr-with-one-input for details.

You can buy multiple output LNB's on ebay from around £10. I use a highly-regarded Smart Titanium Quad (4 outputs) and it cost around €29 delivered. the dual output is a bit cheaper. If you have a sky dish, you must have a sky LNB or a collar adaptor for a standard LNB.
Installation is relatively easy, remove the old one, put on the new one and run a second cable to your receiver. Try not to move the dish (if its alligned correctly)!

cnocbui

Well if you have to buy a new TV, you can get Panasonic LCD or Plasma TVs which have an inbuilt satellite receiver which includes an Mpeg-4 decoder so it will work with the HD satellite channels and as a bonus, means that the set will be able to decode the digital terrestrial Irish TV stations when they come on line later this year.

I bought one of these (50" Plasma) and it is absolutely superb.

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/VIERA+Plasma+and+LCD+TVs/VIERA+Plasma+TV/TH-50PZ81B/Overview/870433/index.html

Panasonic have just released new models, so there are likely bargains to be had on the old ones, but expect to have to import from the Uk or the north - new or old.

If your DVD is a Panasonic with Viera link, it can be set to record automatically via the Freesat EPG on screen.