Free to Air Satellite - what can it do/

loofer

Link to Aldi Offer

This is due on Thursday 9th June.

I currently have free to air with Sky from an old Sky contract that I cancelled many years ago. My questions are:

1. Would I get any extra free to air channels with the above kit from aldi - can I find out what the channels would be?
2. Can I just use my existing installed sattelite dish in its current position and connect this box to get the extra channels?
3. It says it has a USB port for conecting a memory device, does anybody know if the satellite box actually has a feature that allows you to record/copy a program to a USB HDD or do you you have to buy some special kit/software?
4. Is it it worth it for £80/

scotsbob

loofer wrote: »

Link to Aldi Offer

This is due on Thursday 9th June.

I currently have free to air with Sky from an old Sky contract that I cancelled many years ago. My questions are:

1. Would I get any extra free to air channels with the above kit from aldi - can I find out what the channels would be?
2. Can I just use my existing installed sattelite dish in its current position and connect this box to get the extra channels?
3. It says it has a USB port for conecting a memory device, does anybody know if the satellite box actually has a feature that allows you to record/copy a program to a USB HDD or do you you have to buy some special kit/software?
4. Is it it worth it for £80/

You will get all the free channels availbale on Astra 28.2 degrees which is the same satellite Sky use.

Yes, in fact you may be better to do that if your dish is bigger than the Aldi dish, which is only 45cm. 45cm is only suitable for locations in the southern part of the UK.

You will need an external hard drive to record onto. You could record onto a usb stick but an external drive will hold more programmes.

It depends on your needs as to whether or not it is worth it. You will get all the free to air programmes but you will only have a "now and next" EPG (however you can use the Internet for programme guides.)

With a bigger dish and a dish motor, for about £50, you could access satellites from all across Europe and have closer to 10,000 channels

loofer

scotsbob wrote: »

You will get all the free channels availbale on Astra 28.2 degrees which is the same satellite Sky use.

Yes, in fact you may be better to do that if your dish is bigger than the Aldi dish, which is only 45cm. 45cm is only suitable for locations in the southern part of the UK.

You will need an external hard drive to record onto. You could record onto a usb stick but an external drive will hold more programmes.

It depends on your needs as to whether or not it is worth it. You will get all the free to air programmes but you will only have a "now and next" EPG (however you can use the Internet for programme guides.)

With a bigger dish and a dish motor, for about £50, you could access satellites from all across Europe and have closer to 10,000 channels

Thank you very much. Maybe I am better off getting a dedicated HD PVR receiver for recording. I'm guessing you can't just stick this Satellite dish up in the general direction as Sky, I will have to get it professionally installed.

With a motorised one, can I just stick the dish up and the motor will align it in the required direction itself? Can I use my existing Sky dish with the motor?

scotsbob

loofer wrote: »

Thank you very much. Maybe I am better off getting a dedicated HD PVR receiver for recording. I'm guessing you can't just stick this Satellite dish up in the general direction as Sky, I will have to get it professionally installed.

With a motorised one, can I just stick the dish up and the motor will align it in the required direction itself? Can I use my existing Sky dish with the motor?

General direction will not be accurate enough, it needs to be 28.2 degrees east of south. You say you already have a Sky dish, just use it because it will be pointing in the corrrect direction.

Yes you could use any dish with motor, the motor just bolts on between the dish and the pole.

loofer

scotsbob wrote: »

General direction will not be accurate enough, it needs to be 28.2 degrees east of south. You say you already have a Sky dish, just use it because it will be pointing in the corrrect direction.

Yes you could use any dish with motor, the motor just bolts on between the dish and the pole.

Thank you, apologies for the constant bombarding of questions.

With the motorised system, what is the typical delay between switching one viewable channel to another where it involves the satellite motor turning from one extreme angle to the other?

scotsbob

loofer wrote: »

Thank you, apologies for the constant bombarding of questions.

With the motorised system, what is the typical delay between switching one viewable channel to another where it involves the satellite motor turning from one extreme angle to the other?

If you are switching channels which are on the same satellite then no delay. If the channels were on neighbouring satellites then about 2 or 3 seconds.

From one extreme to another on my setup would be from 42.0East to 39.0west and that is a 73 degree turn which takes about 30 seconds.

jayuk22

scotsbob wrote: »

Yes, in fact you may be better to do that if your dish is bigger than the Aldi dish, which is only 45cm. 45cm is only suitable for locations in the southern part of the UK.

hello scotsbob, im in middlesbrough, north east england and was looking at getting this setup for the bbc/itv HD channels for the world cup, are you saying that i wont recieve the channels on aldi's 45cm dish? i've trailed the internet for answers but just get mixed answers for different sites do you know what size is recomended for my part of the country? ... thanks


theres also a 65cm Ross HD kit in B&Q for £69.00 just wondering if anyone got any thoughts on that too, world cup is nearly here and im need to setup .. thanks

scotsbob

jayuk22 wrote: »

hello scotsbob, im in middlesbrough, north east england and was looking at getting this setup for the bbc/itv HD channels for the world cup, are you saying that i wont recieve the channels on aldi's 45cm dish? i've trailed the internet for answers but just get mixed answers for different sites do you know what size is recomended for my part of the country? ... thanks


theres also a 65cm Ross HD kit in B&Q for £69.00 just wondering if anyone got any thoughts on that too, world cup is nearly here and im need to setup .. thanks

The footprint for the satellite is pictured here. You will see that 60cm is recommended

http://www.digitalsat.co.uk/astra2dfootprint.html

jayuk22

thanks scotsbob, i think i better look into getting something over 60cm, out of interest, what would happen in my region with a 45cm dish? would i get no signal

Thanks again

scotsbob

jayuk22 wrote: »

thanks scotsbob, i think i better look into getting something over 60cm, out of interest, what would happen in my region with a 45cm dish? would i get no signal

Thanks again

45cm may well be ok. If it isn't you will just get a weak signal and some missing channels.
Have a look around your neighbourhood at the dishes there and just ask. Phone a local arial installer and ask. You could post a message on one of these boards
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=141
and see if anyone from your area replies.