Sat TV System

dave321

Hi
Anyone got an idea where to go for a cheep sat TV system - looking to pick up, at least main 5 channels?(BBC/ITV/Chan4/5), only free though. House is towards the bottom of a valley, so the terrestial signal is very poor, even with booster. I know lidl sometimes do a sat TV system for 50 or 60 quid but missed out on the last one at the local shop as they went so quickly.
Cheers
Dave

Reluctant_spender

If normal systems are poor due to location have you asked your neighbours what they use. That way you will know what works and what does not, speak with your local independant retailer as he/she will know the area.

magyar

Unless you want to install it yourself or pay someone to, then the best solution is usually to sign up for Sky for a year on their minimum package, which will end up at about £160 I think, then just cancel and you end up with freeview.

dave321

Thanks for the replies. The neighbours have the same problems and, in the main, either have poor reception or are on satallite. We are a bit worse than most as we are low down and several new houses have been built less than 30 meters from us, in direct line of sight between us and the transmitter and are all 3 stories - we are in a small 2 story cottage. I'm quite happy to install it myself.

watermuppet

I can send you a load of sat cable, well cheap. (;eft over from when I installed mine). If you need some pm me.

dave321

Many thanks for that, but cable I have plenty of. It seems as though ebay is probably the best. A new/second hand digi box and remote is about £30-50 and then the dish and LNB for about £20. So £70 max.
Cheers
Dave

BexTech

magyar wrote:

Unless you want to install it yourself or pay someone to, then the best solution is usually to sign up for Sky for a year on their minimum package, which will end up at about £160 I think, then just cancel and you end up with freeview.

No, you don't end up with Freeview, that is a DTT service (a digital service via an aerial).

What you end up with is a FTA/FTV satellite system, several channels that are free via Freeview are subscription via satellite.

BexTech

dave321 wrote:

Many thanks for that, but cable I have plenty of. It seems as though ebay is probably the best. A new/second hand digi box and remote is about £30-50 and then the dish and LNB for about £20. So £70 max.
Cheers
Dave

Or you could subscribe to Sky Digital on the £15 per month package, so get a few more channels, go via Quidco and get £50 cash back, does make it £130 though, but at least it's all new and installed for you.

BBC and ITV are FTA (Free To Air - so not encrypted), so any DVB-S receiver will pick them up. C4 and Five are FTV (Free To View, but encrypted) these use NDS encryption so a Sky Viewing card and Sky box is required, though some boxes like a dreambox can run NDS emulation, but could be screwed anytime.

You can usually pick up a decent DVB-S receiver from Germany for under €50 (Fifty Euro), but as Ch4 and Five are encrypted, you won't get those channels).

dave321

BexTech
Thanks for the info, gives me a few ideas!
Thanks