Recommendations for FTA satellite systems

Hi everyone,
We watch very little television in our house so we've never bothered with cable subscriptions or the like, however I came across this link in another AAM thread:http://www.satellite.ie/ This has got me thinking and it looks like I could receive some channels free for an initial outlay of perhaps a couple of hundred euro. I only have RTE 1 and 2 at present and I don't know much about TV cabling, subscriptions etc; I'm just wondering if anyone has purchased a system from these guys for DIY installation? I don't think I'll ever go down the route of paying for a subscription service ( I just don't have the time to watch very much TV anyway) but I wouldn't mind having a choice of channels to watch when I do get a chance to look at the box (Lord save us from "Celebrity Jigs and Reels" etc). Any and all feedback welcome. Sometimes I think we must be the only household in Eire without a flatscreen TV and Sky!

Go onto boards.ie they have a whole section on satellite systems which could be worth a read.

I second that suggestion:

[broken link removed] > Tech > Cable & Digital TV

I’ve Lidl’s FTA (receiver is Silvercrest) it’s easy to program (delete unwanted / rename / sort, ect..) cost was €100.. 18 months ago. I’ve seen another from Maplin and the RC interface is very cumbersome to use.
Some things to consider would be – location of the satellite dish (East Astra 28E is satellite to pick up BBC ect.) - how to get the cable to your TV point. Depends on where you are located in the country but I’d recommend a 60CM dish (as opposed to bigger) less resistance to wind if you are in a windy location, also make sure you get a strong bracket to fix the dish to (the one that came from lidl buckled!). I’ve used Satellite .ie for a new LNB & cable & found the guy there is v helpful. I don’t watch a lot of tv but it’s nice to have an alternative to RTE sometimes, I can pick up BBC 1..4 / ITV 1..4 / Sky news / Channel 4 Movies about 12 in all, the other 200+ FTA I’ve deleted.

Thanks people, that's enough to get me going.

I bought one of these from Lidl this morning so we'll see how it goes.
This upsets me though -

http://www.satellite.ie/acatalog/Free_to_Air_frequently_asked_questions.html

Apparently you can't receive RTE through satellite as they have sold the rights to SKY. Our RTE reception is terrible, we pay our tv licence, and yet can't receive it through satellite without a further subscription of €21 a month, for which you'd get the whole SKY Basic package. Is it only me that finds this crazy?

Well, Sky is a PayTV platform. RTE could not afford to run either FTA or FTV (just card needed). Similarly UPC/NTL is a PayTV platform, and to the best of my knowledge doesn't offer RTE for free?

Carpenter, I don't know if you've done whatever you're going to do yet re this, but see previous posts on special Sky offers. I recently got Sky+ installed for free, and took out the minimum 12 month contract at €20 per month. So for an outlay of €240 over 12 months you'll get the dish, decoder and all cabling installed for free, get Sky for a year (more channels than you'll ever watch) and get to keep all the gear if you do cancel after a year. You can also get Sky Sports for a month at a time if you want for special events you may want to see. Compare that to buying the Lidl/Aldi version, installing it or paying to have it done, tuning it etc. No contest as far as I was concerned.

oopsbuddy said:

and get to keep all the gear if you do cancel after a year.

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The Sky tuner is somewhat restrictive when it comes to non-Sky channels. (e.g. symbol rates).

Anyone considering going FTA satellite (for UK channels) should wait until next month when the UK's official FTA system will be launched. There will be new equipment.

Channel 4 is now testing FTA on Astra 28.2 (Channel '8350' on 10729Mhz/V/22000Ksps). They'll be part of the new package.

Ok pardon this question if it's a bit basic - but do you need a Satelite dish, or is there a digital box that can be used instead - or does that assume you've subscribed to something else? (not preferred option) I found out on Saturday when our (very basic package) cable went that TV3 is not on UHF - is it on FTA? We don't watch much TV either - primarily the RTEs, so long as they're on FTA that's OK. How does it work then for taping with ye old vid recorder, is that able to tune in all those FTA stations also - ie are the FTAs at a frequency that isn't off its band...

There is no such thing as a FTA digital cable box. There used to be illegal boxes that could be used to steal NTL/UPC service, but the system has been upgraded to render them useless.

FTA satellite will give you BBC and ITV, channels 4 and 5 coming soon (already under test), plus thousands of other channels. A new satellite tuner is due out next month that give a Sky-like experience on the UK channels.

For RTE, TG4, TV3, your only free option is a conventional aerial. If you want them on satellite you must pay Sky and use one of their tuners.

Technologist said:

For RTE, TG4, TV3, your only free option is a conventional aerial. If you want them on satellite you must pay Sky and use one of their tuners.

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Just to muddy the waters a little, These channels are available at the moment on RTE's DTT test. DTT receivers are small and cheapish and afaik, can be plugged into your sat decoder box and will integrate into your list of channels. If you're in the dublin region, the only kit you'd need would be an internal antenna to pick up dtt.

But, of course, this is just a trial at the moment and at some stage it will be switched off and presumably replaced with a fee based alternative.

aldark said:

These channels are available at the moment on RTE's DTT test. DTT receivers are small and cheapish and afaik, can be plugged ito your sat decoder

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No, you do't plug them into the Sat decoder box, they're just another box like a Sat decoder that can connect to your set. You'll also need a terrestrial aerial or a wire coat hanger. More importantly, when the system becomes official, the UK boxes that are presently quite cheaply available (and the built-in DTT tuners in modern TVs) won't work as the new system will use the more modern MPEG4 standard. But, the basic 4 channels will be FTA, you'll need a card for any other useful channels.