Why Sky Or Freesat when you can have 23 satellites for £180 one off

Roger1

In addition to Astra, we also have a dish for Eutelsat which gives us numerous European and other programmes.

We need Swiss TV and get 7 Swiss programmes, for which we have to pay for a card. The movies have twin soundtracks, original language (usually English) and German, French or Italian depending on the channel. My wife likes to watch the films in English. They tend to come on Swiss before the UK channels. Sport is also free on Swiss and many German channels.

scotsbob

ninky wrote: »

scotsbob wrote: »

I can receive 23 satellites from Spain to Turkey and have 7,500 channels. QUOTE]

i don't want to watch turkish or spanish telly. for a start i can't understand what they are saying and secondly it's sh*t. less is more in some cases.

All the Hollwood movies have English soundtracks, the Discovery channel, Disney channel, Playboy channel etc etc etc all have English soundtracks, just press the audio button and select English. Personally I watch a lot of sport and I don't need an English commentary, I understand what is going on without someone telling me.

scotsbob

I am not sure what the rules on this forum might be for mentioning products. "Technomate" is one of the better known and most popular receivers, just do a search with that brand name and satellite system and you should find all you need.

ninky_2

scotsbob wrote: »

ninky wrote: »

All the Hollwood movies have English soundtracks, the Discovery channel, Disney channel, Playboy channel etc etc etc all have English soundtracks, just press the audio button and select English. Personally I watch a lot of sport and I don't need an English commentary, I understand what is going on without someone telling me.

tbh discovery, disney, playboy and sport are of no interest to me either. mostly i like bbc stuff, some ch4 current affairs and docs and independent cinema. i find freeview and lovefilm subscription gets me the best of what is on offer.

cancelled sky and glad i did. why should i pay to watch adverts, shopping channels and other content that already pay sky for airtime?

BIG_BERNARD_BRESSLAW

Stan1x wrote: »

I get all the film channels and football channels in English with my sat. box for free and all the guides are on the internet and if you log into one of the sites available on the web you will get all the info. how to do this.

Can you tell me more about this, which sites I would need to look at as I am very interested in trying to get any free footy channels

scotsbob

BIG_BERNARD_BRESSLAW wrote: »

Can you tell me more about this, which sites I would need to look at as I am very interested in trying to get any free footy channels

My last posting above tells you what equpment to go for.The website that lists the games along with the satellites and channels is here http://liveonsat.com/daily.php The Thor satellite at 1.0W is where I watch it for free. (or you can go to the Astra satellite at 28.2E and pay Sky some huge amount for the privilege)

gjchester

nirelandguy wrote: »

Ha:D Your having a laugh? If your lucky some stations give you now and next, Most don't even give you that.

If you have a Freesat branded box you get a 7 Day EPG on all Freesat channels as part of the Freesat service. Using any standard box won't let you see the Freesat EPG, just as you say now and next if your lucky.

Simran

Scotsbob, I’m completely new to this so apologies for the questions.

I am currently on a virgin media bundle, could I give up the TV bit and purchase a receiver?

Is this completely legal?

Can these receivers access all the channels you could get on Sky/Virgin (e.g. Nickelodeon, movies channels, bollywood channels)?

Is there any subscription to pay of any sort after you have purchased the receiver?

Are their any parental controls attached e.g. to stop kids accessing adult channels?

Is installation straightforward (esp for dummies like me!), and do you need to buy anything else e.g. satellite dish?

Is there a dummies guide which tells you what specifications to look out for (as I see on the technomate site, there are many different kinds of boxes)?

Thanks!

gjchester

Simran wrote: »

I am currently on a virgin media bundle, could I give up the TV bit and purchase a receiver?

Yes but if your in still in your 12 month contract to Virgin media they may charge you to leave or change the package. Also on some of the basic TV packages (the M on Virgin) you may find they bundle it for free with the line and you get no reduction for not taking it.

Simran wrote: »

Is this completely legal?

Sort of.
Many channels are "free to air" FTA and they can be legally recieved.

Others are encrypted, and you can either buy a card or in some cases modify the recieving box to decode it. Buying a card may or may not be legal, (ie if the broadcaster permits sale of the card in the UK and it's doesn't break UK laws ie !!!!!!). The legality of buying a card is a huge grey area in many cases, as the broadcaster may not have bought the right to transmit to the UK, so cannot legally sell them in the UK, so they are sold to people in the "home" country who sell them on. For exapmply if you have a villa in spain and want Sky you could buy a card here and take it over there. Legally your breaking the law as Sky's T&C say they can only be used in the UK, in reality it's unlikely anyone would know (and Sky probably won't care as long as you pay them)

Modifying a box or using a pirate card is not legal in any way shape or form regardless of what may be said.

Simran wrote: »

Can these receivers access all the channels you could get on Sky/Virgin (e.g. Nickelodeon, movies channels, bollywood channels)?

Maybe, there is no definative answer to this, you may get the channel for free but it may not be in English language, or have subtitles embedded in the picture, depends on what the broadcaster chooses to broadcast. Say you get Nickelodeon from a french source, why would they want to broadcast in English, it may be but may not.

Simran wrote: »

Is there any subscription to pay of any sort after you have purchased the receiver?

To watch FTA no, to watch encrypted channels yes.

Simran wrote: »

Are their any parental controls attached e.g. to stop kids accessing adult channels?

Depends on the reciever you buy, again no definative answer.

Simran wrote: »

Is installation straightforward (esp for dummies like me!), and do you need to buy anything else e.g. satellite dish?

If you have basic DIY skills you can put a dish up, if you don't then no. You don't need electronic skills but do need common sense and the ability to follow instructions.

Simran wrote: »

Is there a dummies guide which tells you what specifications to look out for (as I see on the technomate site, there are many different kinds of boxes)?

Again depends what you want, High Def, PVR facility, dual recording ability, without saying what you want it's hard to say what to get.

scotsbob

Simran wrote: »

Scotsbob, I’m completely new to this so apologies for the questions.

I am currently on a virgin media bundle, could I give up the TV bit and purchase a receiver?

Is this completely legal?

Can these receivers access all the channels you could get on Sky/Virgin (e.g. Nickelodeon, movies channels, bollywood channels)?

Is there any subscription to pay of any sort after you have purchased the receiver?

Are their any parental controls attached e.g. to stop kids accessing adult channels?

Is installation straightforward (esp for dummies like me!), and do you need to buy anything else e.g. satellite dish?

Is there a dummies guide which tells you what specifications to look out for (as I see on the technomate site, there are many different kinds of boxes)?

Thanks!

I can't answer your question about Virgin Media but I can help you with the rest. Basically there are dozens of sattelites up there. Sky and Freesat would have you belive you need their services to get only one of them. You don't have to use them. I have put a pole at the end of my garden and have a motor and dish with a lead indoors to my set top box. The whole thing cost me less than £200 and took me an hour to set up. I can access channels all across Europe. Yes it is all legal, in the same way it is legal for someone in France to tune to the BBC. I have 23 satellites to watch and approx 7,000 channels

I notice a number of posters above have made little comments about foreign languages, they clearly do not understand how the receivers work. All Hollywood movies, programmes made for the Discovery channel, etc etc etc are produced in English. Foreign broadcasters dub on an additional soundtrack in their native language. The receiver box allows you to select the soundtrack you want.

I also note the little comments about what is watchable on all these channels. Well other countries appear to have less reality tv and shopping channels than we have. I don't watch every channel but then I have a choice of over 2 dozen film channels and all the sports including Scots and English Premiere than I could ever want. I also enjoy the different slant on news and current affairs that other countries have.

Yes all the boxes I have seen have parental locks (and you need them because there is a lot of !!!!!! freely available from Europe.)

I am retired and have no technical skills whatever, mobile telephones present a challenge to me. Therefore if I could set it up anyone could. I started of with the This site told me all I needed to know. http://www.techwatch.co.uk/forums/

I started with the 5400CI+ which has pvr and then upgraded to the 6900 because I wanted all the HD channels.

Good luck and post back if you need more help.