NewB living in Turkey; Satellite help needed

[pinochio]

I just moved to Turkey and I want to buy a satellie program. I have looked at a couple digital receivers and I am currently considereing to buy

Goldmaster DTV 19800 CIM D-Smart: DVB-S, 1x CAS, 1x CI, Ethernet, Modem. The store told me that I can buy this receiver, plus 2 90cm dishes, one for "hotbird" and one for 'TurkSat'. This receiver has something called, D-Smart which I am assuming is additional to the "FTA" channels that I would receive...

I am hoping to be able to see sports channels--especially soccer and the EURO 2008 in June, (maybe Eurosport), and and the best combination of French, Germany and English channels...( the reason I am considering 2 satellites) I keep hearing things about channels disappearing after one month, or having to run software updates for the receiver, or having to 'reset' the receiver every now and then...

Please advise....

Joe

[Topper]

Welcome to the forum pinochio

D-smart is a bouquet click here to see but I am afraid you will be disappointed if you want open the encrypted channels as they are encrypted in Videoguard which is totally secure. Thus I am not sure what to say.

[HB13DISH]

If this receiver has the D-smart package subscription included, then it should open all the encrypted channels in that package.
But looking at at the link that Topper gave, almost all the channels have Turkish audio, which is great if you know the language. But if you are looking for channels with English audio then this might not be the best choice.
I would recommend a Dreambox 7020S and to install a larger dish than 90cm for Hot Bird 13E.
Ask about the Nova Greek package on Hot Bird. I think that they have many sport channels. Not cheap even in Greece.
You can always put another dish later on if you need more satellites.
Hope that this helps.

[pinochio]

Thanks,

I think I'll pass on the Goldmaster receiver, I don't speak Turkish and I probably wont get much of it.

My wife beat-me-to-it... she went to the store and bought a FOCUS 8500 DCI receiver. After doing some research we found out that all we need is to buy a CAM module that will go into the CI slot of the 'FOCUS', and buy a subsciption of some kind of package. Hopefully we can find something that has soccer, french, german and english.

Comments welcomed...

thanks

[HB13DISH]

All you need now is a dish. The bigger the better in our area ME.
Hot Bird 13E has a lot of channels with many languages. British channels there are only BBC Prime (DTH) and BBC World (FTA).
Forget about the CAM for the time being until you have a working system and when you decide on which subscription package you can buy, as you would need the CAM to support the encryption system.
Also check you new STB. Which encryption system does it support?
You will discover that subscription packages outside their own specific countries are quite expensive to buy.
Check the packages section:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellit...es-information
As I mentioned before, check Nova. They might have it in Turkey.

[pinochio]

What does "STB" mean and what does that do?

Well, the handy-man was able to come today Sunday and installed a dish in my backyard. However, he only brought me an 80cm and I am taking that back as the offer was a 90cm (i'll see if i can get a bigger one). For now, the "hotbird FTA" channels are working. There's plenty but not what I am looking for... no soccer (only Arab soccer leagues that I'm not familiar with).

I guess this is where a subscription comes into play. I'm considering getting the 'BIS' package as my wife is French and she's looking for her channels. I think there is one sport channel in there and hopefully that covers enough European matches to make me happy.
Now I have to find a way of buying a 'Viaccess module', since that is what I need to be able to use the 'BIS' card (so I read).

Comments welcomed...

Thanks for reading and replying, your information is much appreciated!!

[HB13DISH]

STB means Set Top Box, and it means a receiver.
The Bis package is not worth it. Too expensive and the video quality is not as good as Canal Sat.
You will need anothe sub for the sports.
Take my advice and get yourselves at least 1.8m dish. This way you might get Astra 19.2E in addition to Hot Bird 13E with a 6 degree LNB or two seperate LNBs + Diseq and since she is French then she might be able to get a cheaper official subscription card easily using a French adress.
The CAM in this case is Seca.
In the meantime there is Arte, TV5 (2 channels) in French FTA.
Try not to rush things. It will only cost you more.

[pinochio]

I was looking at Astra 19.2 but I found out that due to my location ( Eastern Turkey; Adana), it is not available. That puts Canal Sat out of the question.

So, in the meantime, I will stick with my FOCUS 8500 DCI receiver @ Hotbird and will contemplate getting an additional dish for TurkSat. They have one channel I know that does broadcast some soccer... NTV.

thanks

[HB13DISH]

You are farther to the north than me and I know that with 1.8m I could receive part of Astra 19.2E.
Suggest to ask a professional instead of looking at the foot prints, as they may not always give a conclusive result.

[pinochio]

Yes, but unfortunatly in the housing unit that I am living at, I am not able to have a dish that big. The biggest is 110cm

[w4tt4n4b3]

Pinochio, I am interested for the D-Smart pack that is available in the TurkSat satellite. Could you please confirm whether the Eurosport HD and Espn Classic are available in English Audio?
In Lyngsat.com next to each channel has English audio available as well.
Is this true?