Freeview via the medium of satelite ?

BexTech

When Sky and the other UK satellite channels were broadcast in analogue they used the Astra 1 satellites at 19.2E.

steady__eddie

Saw this on next weeks forthcoming attractions at Lidl
http://www.lidl.co.uk/gb/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20050523.p.Portable_Satellite_Receiver
Does anyone know if it will do "exactly what it says on the tin" or have I still got to buy one of them 25 quid card things ?
It looks just the job for me as long as there are some instructions in English as well as the other 11 or so obligatory languages.

BexTech

steady__eddie wrote:

Saw this on next weeks forthcoming attractions at Lidl
http://www.lidl.co.uk/gb/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20050523.p.Portable_Satellite_Receiver
Does anyone know if it will do "exactly what it says on the tin" or have I still got to buy one of them 25 quid card things ?
It looks just the job for me as long as there are some instructions in English as well as the other 11 or so obligatory languages.

Although the website states "This portable set includes all you need to receive free-to-view digital channels on holiday or at home "

It is actually a FTA receiver, so the £20 FTV card will not work, nowhere to put it.

The FTV card is required for ITV1, ITV2, Ch4 and Five.

You will however pick up all the FTA channels, like BBC, Sky News, ITV3, Horror Channel, some Movies, Shopping and a few others.

It is meant to be a very good receiver, runs on the usual 230V AC and also 12 & 24 V DC.

twiney

Thanks for all the info
I'm not sure what the difference is between FTA and FTV.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
Martin

BexTech

twiney wrote:

Thanks for all the info
I'm not sure what the difference is between FTA and FTV.
Can anyone help?
Thanks
Martin

FTA = Free To Air - The channels are broadcast without any encryption, so any digital satellite receiver will pick up the channels, as they are FTA (unencrypted) no viewing card or any fees are needed.

FTV = Free To View - The channels are encrypted so require a viewing card, but require no subscription, you will however have to pay a fee to cover the cost of a viewing card (£20).

ITV1, ITV2, Ch4 and Five are encrypted in NDS (AKA VideoGuard) - what this means is that only a Sky Digibox with a Sky or FreeSat From Sky (£20) viewing card is capable of receiving those channels.

BexTech

Details from Sky website, below are the free channels broadcast from Astra2/Eurobird at 28.2e - the satellites Sky Digital also uses.

All channels are FTA except those marked '•' which are FTV and therefore require a viewing card and Sky Digibox.

AVAGO
BBC 1
BBC 2
BBC THREE
BBC FOUR
BBC Parliament
BEN
Best Direct
bid-up.tv
Bonanza
Broadband UK
CBBC
CBeebies
CFC TV
Channel 4 •
Chat Box
Classics TV
Community Channel
Create & Craft
Dating Channel
Deal Of The Day
Escape
Exchange & Mart TV
ExpressShop
five •
Friendly TV
Game in TV
Game Network
Gay Date TV
Gay Network
Get Lucky TV
God 2
God Channel
Hollywood TV
Ideal World
INI
ITV1 •
ITV2 •
ITV3
Jackpot TV
JML Direct
letsgoshop+
L!VE TV
Life TV
Life TV +2
Look4Love TV
Loveworld TV
Lunn Poly TV
MaxTV
Nation217
OBE
OneTV
Open Access
Open Access 2
Overload
Performance
Poker Channel
Price Drop TV
QVC
Real Estate TV
Reality TV
Reality TV +1
Revelation
S4C
S4C 2
Screenshop
Shop on TV
Shop Vector
Simply Home
Simply Ideas
Simply Shop
Sky News
Snatch It
Soundtrack Channel
Stop + Shop
TBN Europe
Teletext Hols
Telsell
Thane Direct
Thomas Cook TV
Travel Channel
Travel Channel 2
TV Shop
TV Travelshop
TV Travelshop 2
TV Warehouse
UCB TV
Unlimited TV
Vectone Bangla
Vectone Bolly
Vectone Music
Vectone Urdu
Vitality
Wine TV
Wonderful TV
Yes
You TV
Your TV
Bad Movies
Matinee Movies
True Movies
The Horror Channel
Extreme Sports
Golf Pro-Shop
Golf TV
i Sports TV
Wrestling Channel
BBC News 24
CCTV9
CNN
Euro News
ITV News Channel
Sound TV
Teachers' TV
Vectone World
POP
Tiny Pop
B4
channel U
Chart Show TV
Classic FM TV
Fizz
Musicians Channel
The Vault
Plus over 80 radio channels
Abu Dhabi
ATN
B4U Music
Channel S
GEO TV
Islam Channel
mta- muslim TV
PCNE Chinese
Record TV
SAB TV
TV5
Zee Gujarati

(Haven't checked for accuracy)

Paul_Varjak

Some questions:

1. If I got a system that could receive FTA and FTV would this include all the channels that are available on FREEVIEW?

2. If I got the LIDL FTA system would this (combined with FREEVIEW) give me all the channels available with SKY FTA/FTV?

3. Is it better just to get the SKY FTA/FTV system and confine FREEVIEW to the second TV in bedroom?

4. There are some very tall trees on the opposite side of the road and in the direction I want to point dish and I am limited to 45cm dish due to planning regulations. Will it work?

5. What is the angle of elevation required for the various satellites?

6. What is the difference between the satellites in terms of channels broadcast, and any other differences?

Sorry Bextech cross-posted - you have answered some of my questions!

BexTech

Some channels free on DTT (Freeview) are subscription on Sky Digital.

If you are after paying no subscription then you should be looking at getting satellite and Freeview together.

If all you want are the free channels listed above and have no real interest in looking at other satellites then maybe a Sky Digibox with £20 viewing card and also a Freeview box will do. A Sky Digibox is not very good for pointing at other satellites as Sky have designed it in such a way it is pretty much useless other than for Sky Digital.

If you can live with not getting ITV1, ITV2, Ch4 and Five via satellite and are happy to pick those up via freeview then a 'proper' satellite receiver would be best as these could be used to pick up many other satellites, though most English channels are at 28.2e where Sky broadcast from, also as most of the channels at Astra2/Eurobird are broadcast with Sky Digiboxes in mind their EPG (Electronic Programme Guide - Programme listings) are sent in Sky's proprietary format, and not in the standard format, so on a non Sky receiver you will only get the now and next information and not over a weeks listing.

The trees may or may not be a problem, depends on how close they are, how tall they are and how much foliage.

Alignment table for Astra2: http://info.international-satellite.com/articles/astra2_alignment_table.html

The DigitalSpy forum may be able to help answer some of your questions too: http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/index.php

Paul_Varjak

Thanks Bextech.

Yes, I only want to get FTA and, possibly, FTV

At the moment there seems no advantage of getting the £20 card if I keep the FREEVIEW (except it would make it easier changing channels). Seems odd that SKY has the monopoly on these few channels.

So, if I got a 'proper' receiver do they normally allow you to move dishes by remote control to change satellites?.

From reading all your posts, the only channel I would lose on main TV if I used a non-SKY box on main TV and confined FREEVIEW to bedroom, would be ITV2. The other FTV channels being available on analogue TV. However, I run the risk that SKY may get exclusive rights to other channels.

I do like the SKY EPG. My old PACE FREEVIEW had omething akin to that, but my new Bush FREEVIEW box does not.

The trees are very tall - much taller than two storey property I am in and just 60 feet away with dense foliage.

When you say 28.2E, is 28.2 the angle of elevation?

BexTech

The BBC used to be encrypted when they launched on satellite, a couple of years ago they ditched that and went FTA. ITV3 launched FTA, ITV are in negotiations with regard to whether they remain encrypted or go FTA.

It's not really Sky having exclusive rights, as Sky own no satellites so all channels are free to broadcast from the same satellites as Sky do, they and Sky just lease space from the satellite operators. This is why you get a load of pretty dire channels, as Sky have no control over the satellites, also OFCOM have forced them to allow any channel who wants an EPG slot on Sky proprietary EPG to be granted one.

The encryption was really a way to control who can watch the channels, without encryption and viewing cards anyone within the footprint could receive the channels. If ITV can't get Sky to reduce the encryption costs then they will simply go FTA.

Most 'proper' receivers allow them steer a dish, usually by way of a rotor.

Not sure if you have a widescreen TV, but the only way to receive widescreen programming is by way of a digital source, so if you were to watch ITV1, Ch4 and Five on analogue you will be missing out on widescreen.

28.2e is the Orbital position 28.2 degrees east of south.

28.2e is where the SES Astra 2 satellites are and 28.5e is where the Eutelsat Eurobird is, to your system they will appear to be in the same location, though if your dish is not correctly aligned channels on 28.5e may be the first to disappear.

http://www.lyngsat.com/europe.html