Are HD LNBs just a marketing trick?

[ggp759]

Hi am a newbie to the satellite scene and i would like some information on LNBs. Are they any special LNbs for HDTV reception? I see some of them in websites like the mega diavolo one that they do have the word HDTV at the end of their description. Do they have something special for HDTV or is just a marketing trick? My setup is a Famaval 1.8m offset dish with 2 LNBs one for Hotbird 13e and one for Astra 19.2.Dont know their brand but i do know they are quatro. My apartment building has this one antenna serving 30 apts through multi-switches. The problem i have is this:Am interested in receiving the spanish Digital+ package including the HD channels. I dont receive the HD channels but i do get a lot of the sd channels late at night.Also i receive other HD channels on astra and hotbird just fine. My interest though is these channels of the Digital+. My question is this: Could this be a problem of the lnbs? If i do get a better lnb for astra will i be able to receive them? The signal on these HD channels fluctuates from 0 to 100% without ever locking though. (Their frequency is 10817V 22000 2/3. I do get the sd frequency 10847V just fine though). Could this be a problem of the multi-switches in the building? I know that whoever is reading this must be overwhelmed with all the questions but this situation with the certain channels is driving me crazy. I would hate though to get a better and/or bigger dish just for myself and eventually discover that the solution would have cost as little as a high-end LNB. Suggestions about this problem and about specific lnbs geared for this kind of reception woes would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot guys and please go easy on me!

 

[Topper]

Yes it is a con they are identical to SD lnb's.

According to your My System details you have no system, how are you receiving SD channels

 

[ggp759]

Sorry i forgot to complete those details. My system includes the dish i mentioned in my first post and a dreambox 800hd original not clone receiver. Any chance that changing lnbs though will help me get the channels am interested in? thanks

 

[Topper]

Not really sure as you are relying on the competence of the installer and a complicated setup which has more to go wrong, Digital + is only on 19.2 East AFAIK.
Without knowing what HD channels you are able to view it is difficult to comment.

 

[ggp759]

I get all the HD channels from sky germany,Canal digital( french) orange(french) on astra 19.2 and pretty much every hd channel on hotbird 13. The ones missing are the channels am interested though. Any help you can give me with this info? thanks again for your quick replies

PS: A lot of the HD frequencies am having trouble receiving are below 11000V( eg. 10817v,10876v) and almost all of them are 22000 2/3. Something special about that? Thanks again.

 

[rolfw]

Why not take a couple of photos of the dish, particularly one of the LNBs and upload them here.

 

[ggp759]

Ok will do thanks again guys

 

[ggp759]

I managed to take these photos of the dish and the lnbs. They cant get any better cause they are in the highest spot of the building with difficult access. Also something else that maybe i have not included in my previous posts is that a lot of the astra 19.2 channels(HD and SD) are not available until late at night. And at that time hotbird reception turns to a big fat zero. Could it also be the disecq? The multiswitches from what i have seen( there is one on every floor,total of 6 floors and i am on the third) also have terrestrial tv plugged in and also radio. Thanks again guys for all your help and please help me to get to the bottom of this bizarre situation.

 

[Topper]

I would suggest you take a photo of one of the 'multiswitches' as well

From what I can see and whilst understanding where you are located in the world the F-connectors appear poor connections and are screw on type with no apparent protection or weather insulation using self amalgamating tape.

 

[wod]

interesting prime focus dish with an offset lnb, i didn't think that would work properly. i would have thought they would have installed 2 dishes with hotbird and larger one for 19e

 

[ggp759]

apparently there is something wrong since they are not working are they are supposed to. will take a pic of the multi-switches in a couple of hours. Will changing the lnbs to inverto black ultra( at least the one that gets astra 19.2) will it make any difference?

PS: wait is that a prime focus dish? the installer of the system told that is an offset dish.

 

[ggp759]

The first and last pic and the last pic are of the multiswitch in my floor( same to all other floors) and the rest are of the multiswitch at the top which is unique to the building. Sorry for the quality 3gs is really crappy with low light. Any more conclusions from these pics? thanks again guys.

 

[satelliteman]

A bit of a tangled mess. Terminations do not look that good either, whether that would be causing the problem is another thing.

 

[ggp759]

Thanks for the response. The fact that hotbird works until late at night and then when astra starts having reception hotbird shuts down completely is it indicating anything?

 

[ggp759]

After much frustration with the current situation i decided to have a setup of my own and get the hell off the current setup and the messy multiswitches. Starting from the easy part. Hotbird 13e. Am between Triax TDS 110 and the Kathrein CAS 90. The first is 69 euros and the second 200 euros. My first question is that if i go with the kathrein will i get the same reception as with the triax? Am assuming the kathrein has something better to be smaller than the triax and cost almost thrice as much. Also i would like a suggestion of a good LNB able to clear HDTV frequencies for both of the dishes. My goal here is to buy the important stuff on my own(dishes,lnbs,diseqc switch) and then bring,hopefully, a pro to do the installation. Any suggestions based on your experience guys would be greatly appreciated. thanks again

 

[2cvbloke]

Interesting that the installer used UK sockets, then jammed in unfused Europlugs, not exactly a secure connection, especially as they could easily buy country-specific sockets for such things...

Hope you have a fire extinguisher to hand, just incase....

 

[sonnetpete]

Just to throw another dish into the mix, have you thought of a 1 metre Gibertini? I'm very pleased with mine (although it is an XP Premium, though how much difference that makes I'm not sure) I would also suggest pairing it with a Inverto Black Ultra. The combination works really well for me.

 

[ralphmagno]

hello,
seen the pictures and your dish is a prime focus.
the ivacom lnb looks ok but the f-conoctors look like they should be changed out.
check for corrosion and do one at a time.
if you mix this up it will not work.
each output is different polerization and can not be interchanged.
the second lnb is for a offset and the signal level is lower as well.
you will need a small feed horn and another ivacom lnb and it has to be aligned to hot bird as well.
to do this you will need a spectrrun analizer.
remember the 4 lines going to the multiswitch must go on the correct way or it will not work as well.
hope this helps
ralph

 

[timo_w2s]

Interesting that the installer used UK sockets, then jammed in unfused Europlugs, not exactly a secure connection, especially as they could easily buy country-specific sockets for such things...

Hope you have a fire extinguisher to hand, just incase....

Actually they make quite good connections. ;) The only problem I've found is it can sometimes make it unreliable for proper "UK" plugs to use after a Euro two pin has been used in the socket for a while.

Incidentally, the guy is from Cyprus where they use the same kind of sockets as we do in the UK but I assume a lot of stuff in Cyprus imported from surrounding areas has two pin Euro style plugs on them.

 

[ggp759]

hello,
seen the pictures and your dish is a prime focus.
the ivacom lnb looks ok but the f-conoctors look like they should be changed out.
check for corrosion and do one at a time.
if you mix this up it will not work.
each output is different polerization and can not be interchanged.
the second lnb is for a offset and the signal level is lower as well.
you will need a small feed horn and another ivacom lnb and it has to be aligned to hot bird as well.
to do this you will need a spectrrun analizer.
remember the 4 lines going to the multiswitch must go on the correct way or it will not work as well.
hope this helps
ralph

Actually they make quite good connections. ;) The only problem I've found is it can sometimes make it unreliable for proper "UK" plugs to use after a Euro two pin has been used in the socket for a while.

Incidentally, the guy is from Cyprus where they use the same kind of sockets as we do in the UK but I assume a lot of stuff in Cyprus imported from surrounding areas has two pin Euro style plugs on them.

Thanks guys for all the help. I decided to make my own setup as i stated above. Starting with hotbird was easy. Now for astra 19.2. there 2 freq that i really need but they are driving me crazy. Are they really that hard to get? I mean people here receive(with the correct dish size) sky uk. The freq are 10817V 22000 2/3 and 10876V 22000 5/6. A friend of mine has tried in Limassol on his 2.4m DH prime focus dish with invacom lnb and still the reception is at zero?!!?? Am sure the freq are correct. they are for the digital plus spanish package on astra 1kr. Anybody can elaborate on this? going crazy here. Thanks guys