silverback Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Hi all, i've bought a mecatronic dish from Jacksons satelite company, can anyone enlighten me on what type of reciever/decoder would be the best a free to air or the one from sky where you get a box and purchase a card for freesat for £25 the system is for use around all of europe and uk (eventually) *-) jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 For Free to Air (FTA) satellite broadcasts all you need is a FTA box. There are a few on sale but you will want a 12v one. You don't have to have a SKY box unless you want to pay for SKY encrypted channels. A new FTA box will come with pretty well everything already programmed so all you have to do is point the dish and you have a TV program. I use a Comag, it came with a "suitcase" system, you can get one for around £45 new. H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 Thanks H but this is where i am getting confused, on websites i have been on FTA doesnt carry channel 4 or 5 they are on FTV and also there is Freesat, you don't need to subscribe to Sky you get there box, phone them and for £25 they send you a card for it what transmits on there "platform" the freesat channels and more for free, so the reason i was querying it was i have been told that with the sky digi box the further south you went the signal remained abit further than the FTA recievers, and wondered if anyone could confirm this, i was gonna run the box thro a small inverter to get around the 12v issue jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peter Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 If you want to use it in southern Europe /Spain, you will need the Sky box and card. Because all the FTA channels have been moved to a narrower footprint satellite. It's still at 28.2 degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Peter, I am intrigued, are you saying that with a Sky box and card it is still possible to receive the same level of service that we did in Southern Europe before the changes earlier this year? AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 The main channels are all FTA now and on a tight beam. The pay HD channels (Five, E4, More 4, ITV 2,3,4) are available further afield, but a Sky HD box and HD sub are needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Derek, are you saying we could get Uk TV through SKY in France/Spain? We have a sat dome. We do have a sky hdtv box, as we used to subscribe, but don't now. Would it be worth changing back to sky?, so that we could take box away with us? Don't think we would have time at the moment, as we are of in a couple of weeks, but maybe for future trips. PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 thanks for the replies :-D the sky digi box is not the one where you subscribe, its the same box with a one off payment of £25 for a viewing card, from what jacksons were saying if you were at the edge of the footprint you had a better chance with one of those boxes, and from what they were telling me you would have no chance with a dome anyway, they were saying 1.2 mtr dish!! so even the 850mm dish ive just got has no chance really!! *-) can you get FTA boxes that can record to usb thingys? jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coachman Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Going a bit away from the thread we had a SKY hd box and it worked through France and when in Dresdon it failed to receive uk, I found out that the dish we had at that time was a 400mm one so a larger dish proberley would have worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 silverback - 2014-03-30 9:17 PM Thanks H but this is where i am getting confused, on websites i have been on FTA doesnt carry channel 4 or 5 they are on FTV and also there is Freesat, you don't need to subscribe to Sky you get there box, phone them and for £25 they send you a card for it what transmits on there "platform" the freesat channels and more for free, so the reason i was querying it was i have been told that with the sky digi box the further south you went the signal remained abit further than the FTA recievers, and wondered if anyone could confirm this, i was gonna run the box thro a small inverter to get around the 12v issue jon It seems you have gotten totaly confused. The types of recievers can be split into 4 groups. 1 FTA (free to air) In the UK these will pick up ALL the free channels, including 4 and 5 (but not 5HD), these can be had in 12v and 230v depending on model, you will need a bigger dish as you get further from UK. One downside of these is the channel order, they will be listed in the order they are scanned so you will need to reorder or crate favorite list to make sence of them. These are usualy easy to use for other sattelites, but there is very limited english cnannels on these. 2 Freesat, these are similar to FTA, but optimised for viewing UK channels, no card is needed, they list channels the same (or similar) to a Skybox, most SD ones are 230v, many HD ones are 12v, they are not very easy for viewing other satellites. 3 Freesat from Sky, this is a Skybox with £25 card, similar to Freesat but new boxes are only 230v and they are a complete pain to use on other satellites. 4 Sky, Subscription required, will not pick up the main channels any better than the boxes above but may pick up paid channels better, new boxes are only 230v, are a complete pain to use on other satellites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 thanks Colin FTA it is then, will look on roadpro, maplin, sites and see what they sell cheers jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 You also have to bear in mind since February the new satellite means that you will be able to receive very little, if anything, of UK TV in Europe whichever receiver is used.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I'd echo Colin's points with one exception. Certain Freesat boxes will also act as a FTA box in a separate mode. On many of them, this second option is rather clunky, but some boxes such as the original Humax FoxsatHD (there are others but this is the only one I can vouch for), function easily and exactly like a "blind search" FTA box following a mode switch from the remote. (i.e. once locked onto a satellite, it will also search ALL FTA transmissions and create a second channel list). With one of these you can have the best of both worlds (Freesat is quite a nice interface, FTA brings more potential satellites and channels). Unfortunately, unlike many other HD boxes, the original Humax is not 12v with an external 240v power brick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Colin is quite right about the different types of receivers so I won't go through them again. The main thing is that with the new satellites having smaller footprints for the broadcasters like BBC, ITV, Ch 4 and 5 you will have very little of use in Spain / Portugal or Eastern Germany. We are on the Algarve at the moment and many ex pats are quite upset that they are receiving nothing (even with enormous dishes). Knowing what the changes in February would do I brought our Sky HD box with us this year. It is being used via an inverter. We also have an Oyster 85 cm twin auto skew satellite system. With this system and a little tweaking we got the BBC / ITV etc as far as Biarritz but once over the Pyrenees - Nada. As we pay for the full package including HD we are still getting quite a few channels and when we can't get the HD version we can get the standard def version or vice versa. EG we do get ITV 2,3 and 4 HD versions but not ITV1 (either version). We also get Ch5 (HD). So if getting tv is a priority then you would be best getting an HD Sky box and paying for the HD service to get the best chance of receiving something watchable in southern or eastern europe. There is another option and that is to use an FTA receiver and whilst in southern Europe you could watch Arabsat at 26 degrees which have quite a number of channels broadcasting in English with Arabic sub titles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Brown Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 just a point, the current Avtex TV's have built in free sat which means 12v supply to the TV provides the lot, notwithstanding the new footprint restrictions outlined above. If you need a separate box then the 12v Comag is a good one. I used the Comag until I got the Avtex TV. Given the reception of Sat signal the Comag will give you more than you can watch plus all the usual crap. It is also good for other sats, or at least was when I last used it. I dont see the point of paying £25 for a sky card then have to provide 240 volts whether by EHU or inverter when you can have the lot, one way or the other, on 12v. Just my view. However, I would watch this space because some enterprising person/company will come up with an answer to Mr. Murdocks ring fence. Currently the internet is the only way but you need a VPN etc etc. and of course, the internet at a reasonable rate and data speed. Art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Mike88 - 2014-04-01 8:42 PM You also have to bear in mind since February the new satellite means that you will be able to receive very little, if anything, of UK TV in Europe whichever receiver is used.. Unless you have a Sky HD box and HD sub, then you'll get the ITV and C4 HD multichannels, C5 HD and the usual Sky channels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverback Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 many thanks chaps its getting abit clearer in my noggin now *-) we dont watch tv that much, it was about when abroad i could mainly get the weather, news and watch the footy and gp's and F1 so the foreign channels will have these will just turn the sound down!! *-) just a thought my new system is programed for all satelites in europe to lock on i just select the sat on the control and it goes to it ( i think) so would the reciever over ride this? or does the reciever need to have these pre programed sats as well? as you can see i'm a complete novice at this, we don't even have sat tv at home just freeview, so i don't think a full sky package at £40 to £50 a month is an option cheers jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Arthur Brown - 2014-04-01 9:31 PM just a point, the current Avtex TV's have built in free sat which means 12v supply to the TV provides the lot, I'm not sure that is the case, whilst some retailers make this claim Avtex themselves don't list 'Freesat' on the specs, which leads me to believe they have FTA tuners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 colin - 2014-04-01 11:02 PM Arthur Brown - 2014-04-01 9:31 PM just a point, the current Avtex TV's have built in free sat which means 12v supply to the TV provides the lot, I'm not sure that is the case, whilst some retailers make this claim Avtex themselves don't list 'Freesat' on the specs, which leads me to believe they have FTA tuners. ....they are (or at least mine is) FTA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Have a look at the Maxview website. They do 12 volt receivers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hallii Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Can someone explain how a better signal can be received further away in Europe using a Sky box and one off pay card? (If this is, in fact, the case). Do Sky use a different beam to the Astra series UK spot beam? Are they transmitting via the Eurobird Sat on a wider beam? H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 hallii - 2014-04-02 2:00 PM Can someone explain how a better signal can be received further away in Europe using a Sky box and one off pay card? (If this is, in fact, the case). Do Sky use a different beam to the Astra series UK spot beam? Are they transmitting via the Eurobird Sat on a wider beam? H A better signal cannot be received, so for the main channels it is no different, I'm not uup to speed with latest on 'freesat from sky' but there may be some minor channels that you can get which broadcast on wider beam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 hallii - 2014-04-02 2:00 PM Can someone explain how a better signal can be received further away in Europe using a Sky box and one off pay card? (If this is, in fact, the case). Do Sky use a different beam to the Astra series UK spot beam? Are they transmitting via the Eurobird Sat on a wider beam? H You need to explain whether the Skycard is paired to your home receiver and is for paid subscription channels such as Sky Movies and Sky Sports as you can receive these channels further into Europe depending on the size of the dish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 hallii - 2014-04-02 2:00 PM Can someone explain how a better signal can be received further away in Europe using a Sky box and one off pay card? (If this is, in fact, the case). Do Sky use a different beam to the Astra series UK spot beam? Are they transmitting via the Eurobird Sat on a wider beam? H There's really no need for a one off Sky card anymore. Channels are either FTA or pay. Sky use Astra and Eutelsat satellites but with wider beams. Even the new satellites have more than one beam with both tight UK along with European/North African/Middle East ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 hallii - 2014-04-02 2:00 PM Do Sky use a different beam to the Astra series UK spot beam? H Yes, some Sky channels are transmitted on the Astra2 North and Europe beams. Examples would be ITV2, 3 and 4, E4 and C5 which are on the Europe beam but only in HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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