Portable Satellite Receiver kit £29.99 Lidl starts 08/06/09

Derek_Duval

Can't go wrong at this price, similar kit £99.99 in maplin.
I've already got a similar kit & use it with a old sky box so I can also get subscription channels.
Was listed last month, but seemed to be only available in a couple of stores. Hopefully should be available in more stores as it's advertised in offers leaflet

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20090608.p.Portable_Satellite_Receiver.ar3

woody505

without having to pay any more money what channel can you get for free with this?

Trust_2

same as woody,

seems a very good buy, but what channels do you pick up, it says no to freeview?

dc

woody505 wrote: »

without having to pay any more money what channel can you get for free with this?

Depends wwhich satellite you point it at, but the Sky/Astra one has free to view channels that you can get with any receiver without a card slot or as with Sky when your sub has expired.

Info Here http://www.astra2d.com/

Lütz_Pangaloo

Trust wrote: »

same as woody,

seems a very good buy, but what channels do you pick up, it says no to freeview?

"Freeview" is the name for digital terrestrial tv in this country, as in channels that are received through a tv aerial in the normal way.

These Lidl portable kits are for the many "free-to-view" channels that are broadcast alongside the subscription ones on each satellite.

If you point the dish in the same direction as the Sky dishes on your neighbour's rooftops you will pickup over 200 ftv channels - mostly rubbish but you should be able to get the UK "Freesat" channels (similar line-up as Freeview, but at the moment doesn't include FIVER, FIVE US or DAVE). You will not be able to view any of the Sky subscription channels - which is pretty much all of them except Sky News.

"Freesat" was concieved as a way to get public service broadcasting to people that couldn't access Freeview, and they are broadcast on the Astra 2D satellite, which is focussed primarily at the UK and France.

If you've never dabbled in satellite before this is a very cheap way in, but the novelty quickly wears off, unless;

you live in a Freeview blindspot or get very poor reception

you have a caravan and want to guarantee decent telly wherever you go, particularly in France

you are addicted to shopping channels, religious programming or watching scantily clad ladies lying on sofas and talking into mobile phones

you start pointing the dish at other satellites like Astra 19 or Hotbird and are fluent in French and German!

The only other reason to buy a Freesat receiver at the moment is to get access to the high definition channels (currently just BBC, ITV and LUX, with Channel 4 HD coming soon) but this Lidl kit won't give you those.

So if you already get good Freeview reception it probably isn't worth buying this, but it is good value at £30.

maximo

What a good post Lutz. Must say I disagree about good value for money-I think its incredible. If anyone buys one I do suggest you get a sat finder-made the job so much easier when I fitted my dish.

bryanb

It's also a cheap way to go if you need to upgrade a chimney mounted aerial for the digital switchover. An aerial company would charge more than the £30 just to visit.
A satellite dish does not need height (what's an extra 10ft when the signal has travelled from a satellite anyway) Diy fitting can be done anywhere there is a clear view of the sky toward the chosen satellite.

Lütz_Pangaloo

bryanb wrote: »

It's also a cheap way to go if you need to upgrade a chimney mounted aerial for the digital switchover. An aerial company would charge more than the £30 just to visit.
A satellite dish does not need height (what's an extra 10ft when the signal has travelled from a satellite anyway) Diy fitting can be done anywhere there is a clear view of the sky toward the chosen satellite.

True - my in-laws are in that exact situation. They live in a valley and struggle to get analogue, let alone Freeview!

But it's worth remembering that when the digital switchover actually happens and the transmitters are completely given over to digital broadcasting, the Freeview signal amplitude will increase significantly (I think I read somewhere it will be ten times stronger), so people with marginal reception now should see a big improvement at switchover.

Also while this Silvercrest kit will receive the Freesat channels, it won't display the Freesat Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), and as anybody with Freeview or Sky will know, with so many channels the EPG is an essential tool for finding your way around. I think using this receiver on your main telly without an EPG would be a pain tbh.

Trust_2

Lutz, as previously mentioned, thanks for such and in-depth and knowledgeable answer.

And yes I will go out and buy as I can not pick up freeview at present, so at least this will give me options,

Thanks

bryanb

Lütz_Pangaloo wrote: »

Also while this Silvercrest kit will receive the Freesat channels, it won't display the Freesat Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), and as anybody with Freeview or Sky will know, with so many channels the EPG is an essential tool for finding your way around. I think using this receiver on your main telly without an EPG would be a pain tbh.

Don't know this particular kit, but the 2 I've got will do EPG. Also if you go through the channels once and set the ones of interest as "Favourites" you only have a limited number to scroll through then. BB

kenr

I have this kit, bought last year for my caravan. The receiver is basic, but works well. It does have an EPG but it is limited to the current program and the next one, however to see what is on a different channel you have to change to it.
(there may have been an update to the receiver s/w since I got mine)
The channel list is much like freeview but no Dave or a couple of the others, but you get ALL the bbc/itv regional programs and a couple movie channels free, and a couple of extra channels like men and motors that you don't get on freeview. Do a search for FreeSat to see what is on Astra 2d