Advice Needed New Satellite to replace budget aged 1m motorised dish

[realdannys]

Hello everyone.

I've scanned a few posts here and collected a bit of info as most people ask similar questions of course.

I've had a ground mounted 1m motorised dish system since about 2012 - it was a really cheap system from eBay, probably about £100 for everything - big grey unbranded dish. To be fair it worked very well, back in the halcyon days I could even pick up Nilesat.

Early 2020 my Dark Motor failed and I replaced it with a TM-2600. I had some signal for a while but it stopped worked and then I had work done on the house so never went back to it. I've tried this summer to remedy things but cannot get the system tuned in again for the life of me and I fear it's a number of things.

For a start when putting everything together the arm on the TM-2600 moves...it appears to do this within the dial at the top rather than it's bolted connection which seems odd. I regret taking the arm off when I first got it to adjust the limits as I didn't really need to adjust them. So first thing I believe I need another new motor as this is knocking things out.

Secondly though I think at least the bracket on the dish has had it's day. All bolts have rusted, I don't believe they're holding very well anymore - i've also had to cut some of the bracket out on the back so that it would fit with the motor in the right place.

So i've looked at a few dishes. I know things like the Gibertini OM100 is very well made, but is it going to get me a better signal than say one of the 1m Technomate dishes that can be had for half the price - or is it just a case of the structure and longevity is better? I don't want to go too crazy on the setup these days as I think it's barely worth it anymore in the UK but I would like to get something back up and running that works as well as my previous system did for 8 years.

I've got a VU+ Duo2 receiver, cabling is still fine in place and the pole which was cemented in about a meter underground i still rock solid and perfectly straight. So I just want to invest in a better dish with bracket and a motor that doesn't appear to rock on or move. The dish has always had a bit of give and move in it when you puled or pushed it, but I think now it's gone a bit too far (there's always a chance it's warped in the wind at some point too, maybe even the lnb arm itself)

 

[Magmax]

realldannys hi my satellite outfit dates from 2012 as well first you a good rotor that can carry a larger- antenna
Kind Regards-

 

[Channel Hopper]

Hello everyone.

I've scanned a few posts here and collected a bit of info as most people ask similar questions of course.

I've had a ground mounted 1m motorised dish system since about 2012 - it was a really cheap system from eBay, probably about £100 for everything - big grey unbranded dish. To be fair it worked very well, back in the halcyon days I could even pick up Nilesat.

Early 2020 my Dark Motor failed and I replaced it with a TM-2600. I had some signal for a while but it stopped worked and then I had work done on the house so never went back to it. I've tried this summer to remedy things but cannot get the system tuned in again for the life of me and I fear it's a number of things.

For a start when putting everything together the arm on the TM-2600 moves...it appears to do this within the dial at the top rather than it's bolted connection which seems odd. I regret taking the arm off when I first got it to adjust the limits as I didn't really need to adjust them. So first thing I believe I need another new motor as this is knocking things out.

Secondly though I think at least the bracket on the dish has had it's day. All bolts have rusted, I don't believe they're holding very well anymore - i've also had to cut some of the bracket out on the back so that it would fit with the motor in the right place.

So i've looked at a few dishes. I know things like the Gibertini OM100 is very well made, but is it going to get me a better signal than say one of the 1m Technomate dishes that can be had for half the price - or is it just a case of the structure and longevity is better? I don't want to go too crazy on the setup these days as I think it's barely worth it anymore in the UK but I would like to get something back up and running that works as well as my previous system did for 8 years.

I've got a VU+ Duo2 receiver, cabling is still fine in place and the pole which was cemented in about a meter underground i still rock solid and perfectly straight. So I just want to invest in a better dish with bracket and a motor that doesn't appear to rock on or move. The dish has always had a bit of give and move in it when you puled or pushed it, but I think now it's gone a bit too far (there's always a chance it's warped in the wind at some point too, maybe even the lnb arm itself)

If it is only the dish that requires replacing then look on any social media site for something local being offered at a cheap rate, ie. free.

You may need to decorrode bolts, ask for images of the finer bits before you go and collect.

 

[Mickha]

My system dates back a lot longer than that, starting with a cheap receiver, then an Echostar 3600, followed by a few cheap digital receivers, and finally athe same as you, a VU+ Duo2.
Although I still use my Duo2 for satellite, I find I use Kodi more often.
If you have an internal hard drive fitted, you might want to consider using Kodi 19.4.

 

[realdannys]

My system dates back a lot longer than that, starting with a cheap receiver, then an Echostar 3600, followed by a few cheap digital receivers, and finally athe same as you, a VU+ Duo2.
Although I still use my Duo2 for satellite, I find I use Kodi more often.
If you have an internal hard drive fitted, you might want to consider using Kodi 19.4.

I've always absolute despised Kodi, it's not for me at all.

It was advice on replacement dishes I wanted though. Triax, Gilbertini, can you still get the latter in the uk?? Just get the easiy to find Technomate?

Secondly, whilst i'm here. When you're faced with a bracket for adjust angle like this - in this case it appears to have a little marker to line up, if it doesn't' have that (as neither my current dish, nor motor has) how are you supposed to set them accurately, are we lining up directly through the middle of the bolt?

 

[Mickha]

Each to their own.
Usually only people who haven't used Kodi, properly, despise it, mainly due to the problems with streaming, but if used correctly, you don't stream, on an enigma 2 receiver, you switch on the download option, and can get to download, (record), streams onto your hard drive, to view when, and as often, as you want, including some of the latest films, and TV series.
I personally used it, a lot, when I had a lot of time, for viewing, during the pandemic, so downloaded all of Entourage, Poirot, and a few other series, to view without advertisements, and binge view, when I wanted.

 

[realdannys]

Each to their own.
Usually only people who haven't used Kodi, properly, despise it, mainly due to the problems with streaming, but if used correctly, you don't stream, on an enigma 2 receiver, you switch on the download option, and can get to download, (record), streams onto your hard drive, to view when, and as often, as you want, including some of the latest films, and TV series.
I personally used it, a lot, when I had a lot of time, for viewing, during the pandemic, so downloaded all of Entourage, Poirot, and a few other series, to view without advertisements, and binge view, when I wanted.

For all non live events, TV shows and movies i've got Plex setup with back end of Sonarr, Radarr and usenet. It downloads things for me as and when they become available in the quality profile I set (usually UHD or nothing) - I only watch 80gb remuxes of 4k Bluray discs for movies with HDR and Dolby Atmos (if available) and 1080p webDL lowest for TV shows if 4k isn't available.

I need the sat dish strictly for sharp high quality football feeds, no IPTV or streams come close (apart from the official BT ultimate 4k HDR stream)

 

[Mickha]

I tend to only watch older television series, before political correctness took hold.
These older series are either never shown, or usually edited, if there is any female nudity, or political incorrectness. I even have to download my music, off the internet, to avoid all the editing, that goes on, which is sometimes ridiculous.
For example, the Pogues, Fairytale in New York, which is often shown, on 28.2E, but on one channel, Trace Xmas it's edited, yet on another Christmas channel, on the same satellite, you get the unedited version.
I noticed, while at my parents, that even Friends, is edited, on British television, removing the word bitch, that I remember in one episode. It's amazing that other people, across Europe, can see unedited television, yet in Britain many things are edited. I even watched an old film, with Dick Emery, where a woman showed her bottom, while taking a photo, in a passport photo booth, shown at 8PM, yet Talking Pictures decided that placing a big, yellow, star, was more appropriate than showing her bottom.

 

[scopus]

For all non live events, TV shows and movies i've got Plex setup with back end of Sonarr, Radarr and usenet. It downloads things for me as and when they become available in the quality profile I set (usually UHD or nothing) - I only watch 80gb remuxes of 4k Bluray discs for movies with HDR and Dolby Atmos (if available) and 1080p webDL lowest for TV shows if 4k isn't available.

I need the sat dish strictly for sharp high quality football feeds, no IPTV or streams come close (apart from the official BT ultimate 4k HDR stream)

You'll be lucky if you find many football feeds on satellite these days..if you do, most are now encrypted.

 

[Manikm909]

champions league maybe FTA

 

[realdannys]

You'll be lucky if you find many football feeds on satellite these days..if you do, most are now encrypted.

Many of the European HD feeds are still accessible. Obviously encrypted but that's OT and against TOS. I don't care about English commentary, in fact i'd prefer not to have it. My ideal choice is crowd noise only if a channel provides it to switch to.

 

[Mickha]

Sky Germany was the only one that seemed to have the option of stadium audio, unless you know of other satellite channels, that have this option, that are still available?
German channels used to show FTA sport, more than anyone else, at least that I viewed, and had a reasonable picture.

 

[realdannys]

Sky Germany was the only one that seemed to have the option of stadium audio, unless you know of other satellite channels, that have this option, that are still available?
German channels used to show FTA sport, more than anyone else, at least that I viewed, and had a reasonable picture.

Some of the Spanish ones did too.

Anyway this is all pretty OT - I want some input on which dish to get. Gibertini seems difficult to find in the UK now. I'm not looking to save so much as to go free, I just don't want to spend much over £150 for a new motor and dish (plus fixtures) - is a Triax going to be much/any better than the Technomate dish?

 

[ozumo]

I've always absolute despised Kodi, it's not for me at all.

It was advice on replacement dishes I wanted though. Triax, Gilbertini, can you still get the latter in the uk?? Just get the easiy to find Technomate?

Secondly, whilst i'm here. When you're faced with a bracket for adjust angle like this - in this case it appears to have a little marker to line up, if it doesn't' have that (as neither my current dish, nor motor has) how are you supposed to set them accurately, are we lining up directly through the middle of the bolt?
View attachment 145093

Using the numbers stamped on the clamp is only really useful as a starting point. To align it accurately you use a meter or take the receiver & TV outside. With your receiver you may be able to use a phone app to monitor signal levels.

As for the dish just get what's cheap and available and keep an eye out for a better used reflector later if desired. Importing from Europe is now a faff and more expensive than it used to be. The further weakening of the £ today doesn't help either.

 

[realdannys]

Using the numbers stamped on the clamp is only really useful as a starting point. To align it accurate you use a meter or take the receiver & TV outside. With your receiver you may be able to use a phone app to monitor signal levels.

As for the dish just get what's cheap and available and keep an eye out for a better used reflector later if desired. Importing from Europe is now a faff and more expensive than it used to be. The further weakening of the £ today doesn't help either.

Yeah you're right.

The Technomate has a much better bracket (and not just the rust) than what I have and I prefer the single arm LNB holder that clips into place as mine is one of those 3 arm types which bend quite easily. Think i'll just order one of those and a new TM-2600 motor or Dark Motor.

Sometimes I can use my phone to grab info from the TV to check signal/picture though it's a bit of a faff, I might pick up one of those £70
screen tuners and a simple analog signal finder from Amazon and return the TV tuner when i've done it.

 

[moonbase]

champions league maybe FTA

Champions League feeds in 4K resolution are generally NS4 modulation although there might be a few feeds in standard HD

 

[realdannys]

Champions League feeds in 4K resolution are generally NS4 modulation although there might be a few feeds in standard HD

I'd love 4k feeds and even if I could only get a handful of PL and CL games a year i'd buy a 4K box for it, but I was under the impression none of the 4k channels clear.

 

[moonbase]

I'd love 4k feeds and even if I could only get a handful of PL and CL games a year i'd buy a 4K box for it, but I was under the impression none of the 4k channels clear.

None of the regular 4K CL feeds in NS4 modulation will even lock in a normal satellite receiver, they need an NS2000 demodulator with EBU enabled access credentials.
There are a few infrequent 4K feeds around but unpredictable as to when.

A decent 4K receiver is cheap enough nowadays, it makes sense to have one on the off chance of anything decent being available in 4K.

On the subject of your dish replacement, have you considered second hand motorised kit from somewhere like eBay or facebook?

 

[Analoguesat]

I need the sat dish strictly for sharp high quality football feeds, no IPTV or streams come close (apart from the official BT ultimate 4k HDR stream)

As already mentioned most UK football is fed via fibre nowadays so you arent going to find the games that were available a few years ago.

Big sports events tend to use high end NS3 / NS4 transmission equipment. There is NO WAY AT ALL of receiving these transmissions without the correct authorised equipment which is not generally available to hobbyists

 

[Manikm909]

dont forget my Laminas 1.2 is available along with 2 diseq motors i'll chuck in.