Looking to purchase a FTA Satellite system. Some questions

tdv123

Don't really know much about Satellite systems or anything so any advise be would great.

Latley I've noticed alot of electrical stores selling these systems at what I think is pretty decent prices around 70-150 euros. I'm guessing these would be pretty basic systems.

From what I understand they basically give you access to all the fta channels on 28.2E for the basic installtion. I already have Sky so that wouldnt be much use to me. But theres an option to get a couple of 100 - roughly a 1000 forgien channels at a slighty dearer cost with a fixed dish pointed at a satellite of choice or a motorised dish which will cost a little extra again.

I don't really mind the price of getting a motorised dish in but what exactly would I be able to pick up? I think the largest dish in any of there options is 80cm. Would that be enough to pick up signals from the main Satellites around Europe? Or would I need to get a bigger dish to take full advantage of what a motorised dish has to offer. If the 80cm dish was able to pick up all the Astra, Eurobird & Hotbird satellites (or most of them anyway) I think I'd be pretty happy enough with that.

And what in the way of programing would I be able to recieve? Would there be much big sporting events (football, boxing, rugby etc...) or any big American broadcasters programing (HBO,NBC,Fox etc...) on any of these fta channels?

MrTrebus

these "systems" are not worth it mate
main reason is that ALL they can receive is the FTA stuff !
You cant add a subscription card at a later date to the machine because of the linmitations of the hardware !
Your far better off buying a dreambox or a Vuo etc (google is your mate ) and get either a motorised or a fixed multi lnb dish.
More expensive to get set up but far more value for money at a later date

After having a motorised dish ( 1 meter ) and now having converted it to a multi lnb setup I would recommend something like a "wavefrontier" dish.
Thats what Im gonna change over too (as soon as the war office has approved the funds ;) )
(that, combined with a DreamBox and some time on google is your best option)


hope that helps

MrTrebus

if I was starting again (considering what I know now about sat systems)
heres what I'd recommend.....


Sat Box.

http://satboxes.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=44

Dish.

http://www.hm-sat-shop.de/antennen-wavefrontier/wave-toroidal-t90-p-bundle.html

with that setup you could get 4 satellites (to start off with)

28.8e
19e
16e
13e

they would probably be the best to start off with ( you can then add more LNB's to the dish to get other sats ! )
Time spent on google also will point to good things you can do with that sat box

hope its not information overkill :D

t c

Is there much English or sport content on 16E, MrTrebus?

I am working on a 4 sat with Diseqc switches. 28, 26, 19 and 13, would 16 be better than one of them?

Cheers
TC

MrTrebus

t c wrote: »

Is there much English or sport content on 16E, MrTrebus?

I am working on a 4 sat with Diseqc switches. 28, 26, 19 and 13, would 16 be better than one of them?

Cheers
TC

mate,
I never got 26e so have no idea whats available on it :rolleyes:
as for 16e, from what I can remember there were some "packages" available on it, but its been a while since I had that sat !

asif2011

What's on 16E is in the link below... you usually tune in to 16E if your are using Tring to watch English Premier League 3pm kickoffs. It's mostly Albanian/Romainian/Serbian TV which I doubt would interest you too much. Though you need a good sized dish, as bad weather can give you a bad signal. Many complain of poor picture quality with Tring and a lack of HD channels as issues. It's one of the cheapest subscriptions though.
http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-16.0E.php
http://www.satbeams.com/footprints?position=16


What's on 26E is in the link below... it would be great if you could access 26E as most of those Arab stations are FTA, Abu Dhabi Sports spring to mind, but as far as I know you would need a humongous dish as the footprint doesn't go close to Ireland at all.
http://en.kingofsat.net/pos-26.0E.php
http://www.satbeams.com/footprints?position=26


The reality is if you are looking for sport Sky UK is as good as you are going to get if you looking for English content, unless you are looking for 3pm kick offs. Alternatives include getting Sky Italia 13E with access to HD and Seria A; Nova (Greece) 13E with a severe lack of HD; Canal Digitaal (Spain) 19.2E with access to HD and popular La Liga games; or ViaSat (Baltic/Norway/Sweden/Denmark) 4.8E but you would need a big dish to get this, though they have english commentary and plenty of games. All will require expensive subscriptions.


If you use the link below you can search for stations with English audio streams, so foreign stations could be watchable if you just change the audio stream. Just do a search for the satellite or country and select the English language. You can see what FTA stations you will receive if you select a satellite and choose the encryption as 'Clear'.
http://en.kingofsat.net/search.php


If you want to check what satellites are showing what sport or game then check the link below. You'll obviously need a subscription to the provider before you can see the picture but it gives you an idea who might be a good provider to go with.
http://liveonsat.com


If you don't know what satellites you can get from your house then use the site below. Just find your house on the map and use the drop down list to select the satellite you want to receive. Not all satellites will be reachable so it's best to use one of the Sat-Beams links above to check its footprint first. At least with this you can tell where you need to put the satellite and if there are any walls/tress in the way. Plus the Sat-Beams site will give you a rough idea what size dish you'll need too.
http://www.sat-direction.com


Think that's all - hope it helps...

swoofer

@asif2011, you have made a mistake about 26east and as posted elsewhere badr4 with all the FTA stuff is perfectly receivable in ireland with a 1.1m dish.

I think you have misread the footprint details and this can cause confusion. Also on 16east there are quite a few movie channels that are in english and a new satellite will broadcast from there wef 8th Novemeber with the expectation of much greater single strength.

the big question asked was what was FTA and as 26east is the BEST sat for free to air you threw him right off. The rest of the sats we can get here have sod all in the way of FTA in english. 80cm is too small for 26east. you need 1.1triax dish.

a multi lnb set up is ideal but the range of sats is limited and to set up the dish and lnb's is a time consuming but satisfying, when it eventually works, task. You can have loads of receivers with multi lnb's.

you dont say where your located but for ireland and 26east its a 1.1m dish. and how much do you want to spend.

gbc

Peter Rhea

GBCULLEN wrote: »

. . . I think you have misread the footprint details and this can cause confusion.

It's not a case of misreading the footprints as the official Badr 4 FSS & MBC footprint maps don't show any coverage for Ireland or the UK, but of course anyone with capable receiving equipment knows this is not the case.

The BSS & FSS footprints on the SatBeams site seem to be more extensive but the MBC one is similar.

swoofer

@peterrhea,

read carefully this is what asif2011 wrote " you would need a humongous dish as the footprint doesn't go close to Ireland at all. "

now look carefully at the link you posted, the first one that says BADR4, its colour coded and it states FOOTPRINT, within those colours it shows letters A, B, C, D and down below it shows corresponding dish sizes. Read those off and they equate to

east of ireland = c = 90cm dish size, west of ireland = d= 1.2m dish size.

I rest my case,

Peter Rhea

GBCULLEN wrote: »

now look carefully at the link you posted, the first one that says BADR4, its colour coded and it states FOOTPRINT, within those colours it shows letters A, B, C, D and down below it shows corresponding dish sizes. Read those off and they equate to

No need for the patronising tone, I was just drawing attention to the fact that MBC is referred to as having its own 'special' beam (the 3rd map).

Anyone viewing this could be led to believe that there is no coverage in this part of the world, unless they carried out further investigation (although it does look conveniently like the 1st map with the English-speaking regions chopped off).

tapfit2004

i have managed to get 26e on a 90cm dish, it would fade in the rain. i also had it on a 1m and it was a lot better. on a 1.2 its perfect.

gavgalway

is this dreambox a combi box as well can it get soerveiw

tapfit2004

gavgalway wrote: »

is this dreambox a combi box as well can it get soerveiw

you can add tuners to some dreamboxes (dm800, dm500hd(usb tuners) dm8000(has 4 tuner slots)).

the 8000 is, i think, the only one that can accommodate 2 satellite and 1 terrestrial tuner internally in the box.

i haven't used a usb tuner on a dm but most reports say it works well.

other linux boxes like vu duo, qbox, azbox etc can be used as combi boxes for sat and dtt.

there are also a good few non linux boxes like the ferguson which has its own thread on here.