Do i need a freeview tv.....if i have a satellite dish kit?

wilkies5

Help!! We take the kids with our caravan on holiday regularly. We have, in the past, rigged up a satellite (suitcase) kit to enable us to watch favourite programmes. It's a bit fiddly to connect it all up, but as long as we find Astra 28, we can get free channels ok. This year, since the digital switchover, we are getting nothing!

Does this mean, even though we are trying to receive satellite channels, our tv needs to be one which has built-in freeview?

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but we can't see any difference between this year and last, other than the switchover.

At home we have freeview set top boxes plugged in, but that's to external aeriels....which are not available on holiday!!

vale46_2

something is wrong with you finding a signal for the satellite box or your satellite box / dish itself check leads / connections etc

digital switch over WONT effect your satellite signal

if you got satellite before you will get it now on the same tv you had last year
the problem is with your dish alignment the LNB or Box / cables

is your box a free to air box like you get in aldi.maplins.B&Q ? if so
if you haven't used the box since last year lots of channels have moved to the new astra 1N Satellite
if your using a pre programmed channel list from last year you wont get anything on it
you need to get a good signal then do a re-scan

macman

What digibox are you using in conjunction with your sat dish? You don't need a Freeview TV, or indeed any TV with a built in tuner, since the signal is generated from the digibox and can be fed to any monitor.
As above, the digital switchover affects only terrestial services-not satellite.

wilkies5

Quick update!

No, I didn't need a separate box to connect to Astra 28 at the campsite. Just needed a bit more patience to find the satellite!! Many thanks for your advice everyone!

SallyD

Are the satellite systems that Aldi sell occasionally okay for a spare bedroom?

vale46_2

SallyD wrote: »

Are the satellite systems that Aldi sell occasionally okay for a spare bedroom?

they can be used for foreign TV and freesat uk
depending on what satellite you point the dish at
but these box's dont usually have a EPG/TVguide built in them
you only get now and next TV listings on them
if your not bothered about foreign TV

get a freesat box or a old sky box there cheap
then source a sky dish from a carboot, market, ebay etc
get it set up that would be the best option for a bedroom IMO