Sky & Freesat From The Same Dish?

Yes, freesat boxes work fine with Sky dishes and quad/duo LNB's

Hi,

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I don't know so I gotta ask...

I don't really know what to enter as a search, and couldn't find an answer by browsing, so I'm posting this.

If this has been asked before, I apologise and would apreciate being directed to those threads.

I've fitted my Lidl Freesat dish and am getting the programme menu up on the TV screen, but no channels yet. I haven't had time to properly align the dish - hopefully this Sunday.

I understand that the Freesat satellite is Astra 2, at 28.2E.

I've read that the Sky satellite is also at 28.2E - is this correct, and is it the same Astra 2 satellite?

If so, and given that the Lidl LNB has two outputs, could the same dish simultaneously receive both the Freesat signal to the Freesat set-top box and a Sky+ signal to a Sky+ set-top box?


Thanks for any replies,

Mark

YES!

It's even the same TV signals. Just different control data and software on the set box.
The Sky digibox and the Freesat box just use different information from same satellites to build the Program Guide and Interactive/Text features. The actual channels are the same signal!

You can drive as many recievers as you have LNB outputs. You'd want a Quad LNB as Sky+ needs 2 cables. But an official Sky+ or SkyHD install includes a quad, allowing a Sky+, Lidl and Freesat box. There are also Octo (8 way) LNBs.

The Sky Digibox I think actually recieves from 3 Astra and one Eurobird/Eutelsat satellites that could be 100km to 500km apart, but because they are 45,000km away, above the equator, they look like a single larger capacity satellite to a dish less than 2m in size.

FTA (lidl box), FreeSat from Sky, FreeSat, Sky Digital of 28.2/28.5 is all the same signals/channels, just different User Interfaces.

FTA and Freesat is all the same channels
Freesat from Sky adds the 3 channel five options, a regional C4 that might have different adverts to the free C4 and Sky3.
Sky Digibox adds option to subscribe to pay channels provided by Sky, Setanta and a few Porn merchants.

There are 21 other satellite positions that can be received. Most of these don't work with a Sky Digibox and to get all require the dish to point in 22 different directions. There are ways to get 2, 3, 4 or up to 8 satellites on a single dish using a MultiLNB bracket, or for flexibility with more than 3 or 4, a Toriodal dish. Each satellite position needs a separate LNB and then you need a special switch which a Sky Digibox won't control, so make the 28.2 LNB be #1. You can drive up to 1000 receivers from one dish this way. Or several fixed dishes if more than 40 degree arc is needed.

A motorised dish gets all satellites, but only a single LNB makes sense and only one receiver. Channel change from TRT1 on Turksat to Galicia TV on Hispasat could take 3 minutes for some motors to move the dish from 42E satellite to 30W satellite.

This system below feeds a 16 +1 x 16 Multiswitch to allow upto 16 tuners on 4 satellites. It's not expensive extra to the cost of 16 receivers (or 8 Sky+ boxes etc)

Hi Guys, I've a pretty simple question that I hope somebody can answer!
I'm moving into a rented house where the previous tenants had sky. If I go ahead an connect my free sat box to the existing connections that are in the house will it work? Sky dish is still outside and wires remain in the living room.
I'm a complete technophobe when it comes to things like this.
Thanks in advance.

goo goo doll wrote: »

Hi Guys, I've a pretty simple question that I hope somebody can answer!
I'm moving into a rented house where the previous tenants had sky. If I go ahead an connect my free sat box to the existing connections that are in the house will it work? Sky dish is still outside and wires remain in the living room.
I'm a complete technophobe when it comes to things like this.
Thanks in advance.

If the dish was indeed pointed to 28 degrees and is still perfectly aligned it will worth a shot nothing to loose.

dubrov wrote: »

It should work unless it was a recent Sky Q install.
Sky Q uses a different LNB

The HYBRID Sky Q LNB will work with standard receivers as well as Sky Q equipment according to what I have read.

lertsnim wrote: »

Only if Sky have installed a hybrid lnb which they don't do automatically. People have had to request them.

Oops ...... yes of course.

Thanks for the correction.