Hi all any one on here with a satellite system other than SKY or standered pay per view in there home?regards munch

Yes Munch, 1.2m motorised channel master dish, bog standard skybox plus manhattan st-550 pvr euro satellite box, plus Humax HDCI2000 hidef box. running latter into a projector for bbc hi-def.

Loads of experience with installs, set up, cams, etc.

why? :-)

Hi FOZZ I got the Humax HDCI-2000 for the bbc hi def then i found out what you can do with this box ,got a 80cm dish then a trex cam and a cas 3 interface then a motor and a ART card for the football ,and more sats than i no what to do with ,still getting the hang of it .regards munch

Yes indeed! I have a CAS3 and a few different CAMs myself. You do start to realise how restrictive the SKY box is. It wont even allow you to search on certain symbol rates and error correction. Its quite amusing watching some live feeds as well. have fun!

Actuall Munch are you aware of www.lyngsat.com? a full database of what is out there...

Yes thanks Fozz i do know that site and a lot of other good ones .munch

Munch/Fozz

Would one of you mind starting at the beginning and explaining in simple terms how you go about things. What is available (or not available) and how do the costs compare?

I would appreiciate it.

Thanks

PS I currently use a sky HD box, but have cancelled my HD subscription due to lack of HD material - the BBC stuff is all still available without paying the extra £10/month anyway.

Regards

Gary

yes me too . come on guys please explain whats out there and the costs involved

regards

neil

yes another

how does it work without a subscription, do you buy a card. can you still watch sky sports.

oh why would anyone get skyhd the service channel choice is so poor its unreal.

neill

Well I will have a go!

The basic determinants of what channels you can get are:

1. where the dish is pointing. Satellites are arranged in geostationary orbits in clusters to provide up to many hundreds of channels from one location. the lyngsat site above will list all the satellites around the globe and their location.

when you aim your dish at a particular location, for example the Astra 2 satellites at 28 degrees east (where Sky broadcast from) the exact angle of rotation and inclination you will need will depend on the location of your house. You can use online calculators to get these angles.

A dish may be static and point at one cluster of sats or be motorised and move to point at the one you need to get a particular channel. A half way house is to have one dish with multiple LNBs on it that can pick up a small number of sats that are fairly close together.

2. The scrambling system used (if any). Many many channels are free to air (abbreviated FTA) and can be seen without any viewing card. For others it can get a bit more complicated.

Sky use a system called Videoguard and this is embedded in their proprietary receivers. you also need a viewing card which controls an individual's subscription. Most of you will be familiar with this.

For other European services there are many scrambling systems with such exotic names as IRDETO, VIACCESS, CONAX etc. Lyngsat tell you the system in use. Some general european receivers will have some of these embeded in them and others will need a thing called a conditional access module or CAM to get that system. then a viewing card etc etc.

3. Costs - well a basic FTA receiver can be had for about £100 and kits for fully motorised can be had for as little as £300.00 you then can install yourself or pay extra for this. Be warned it is hard to do the first time too me a weekend and much swearing.

The hardest thing is to align the polar mount so that it faces true grid south. You cannot use a compass for this as there is magnetic variation. I found the easiest way was to use a satellite at around 0 degrees and also a plumb line at x minutes past midday to cast a shadow.. dont laugh.

4. Getting stuff for free, well there are many websites that deal with this matter but naturally I cannot go into this here.

5. one or two receivers? well the sky box is the only one offically allowed to get videoguard so european boxes cannot get sky and the sky box is heavily controlled so cannot get many european sats. You really need two receivers to do the job properly.

I hope this helps

blimey

Gary

well I am pleased to see that went down well, LOL

Thanks for the overview - does the range of material provide entertainment or is it a bit like Ham radio - it is the making contact and collecting CQ cards rather than having real conversations - this is not meant to be a disparaging comment about Ham radio.

Fozz

Sorry, only just caught your reply. Actually I'm still a bit confussed? Still no clear idea as to what's available and what the costs are. I guess I'd best spend a bit of time researching this on the net.

Thanks

Gary

Depends what you want Gazzer. If you just want access to the free stuff as on lyngsat then for about 100 quid you are up and running. If you want English language films to be as good as or better than sky movies then there are alternatives. A good dealer can get you set up with DigitAlb for example, cards are between 120 ish and 175 depending on where you buy and a sat receiver pointed at 16 degrees east. There is football on this sat as well.

like hifi a good dealer matters and good ones will chat to you and tell you what is possible.

I dont want to break any forum rules, advertising etc, so if anyone wants to email me on gary@fozzylogic.com I can send a few links to good dealers etc.

Gary

It sounds a bit hard at first to set up a dish but it is not .you need a 80cm dish near to the ground if poss makes life easyer to set up most good sat boxes will tell you what sat you are on and signal strength.there is so much out there it is good fun.the more you get into it the more you find out what you can do with these things.Iget all the prem football in english. sat /sunday/ and midweek games with a card cost £120.a year.I Can give you a good dealer free delivery on all there kit online site or free phone .if you want to mail me on mumch@btinternet.com.munch

munchdont take this the wrong way atall.but is there anychance you cud put a bit of punctuation and a few captls into your poststhis wld mke them so much easier toread.especially if you broke the post in tosentances and paragraphswhat you say is usually quite interesting but a bloody bugger toread

munch,

Don't take this the worng way. Is there any chance that you could add punctuation and capitals in your posts. This would make them so much easier to read. Especially if you also broke the post into sentences and paragraphs.

What you say is ussually quite interesting, but very difficult to read.

Cheers

Don

okwilltrytodobettermunch

Munch,

As I tell my students after their first attempt at a landing,

"well done. We just need to work a little bit to get the approach right, then i'm sure you'll find the flair and actual landing quite easy. Nontheless, that was pretty good for your first landing - you did everything in the right sequence, it all just seemed to happen a little too fast....... "

Cheers

Don

I do Helicopters they have two sets of horizontally revolving rotors.regards munch

Then you might (or might not) know Steve Johnson who did Sea Kings at Brawdy, then Chinooks at Odiham (with several tours in Bosnia) and is now back on Sea Kings at Boulmer allegedly trying to maintain standards. I think he could be heading back to Valley soon, if not already there.

He probably did one or two other tours as well to fill in the last 20-odd years since he heard those words......

Cheers

Don

Don no i dont know him ,sea kings and Chinooks sod that, to big they drop to fast .regards munch