elp needed on setup to receive Dutch CanalDigitaal channels

[EmielR]

Hi all,

I'm Dutch, living in the UK, and I'd like to receive the Dutch CanalDigitaal channels to complement the Sky stuff I currently have.
One of the things I picked up was this excelent threat from last year:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/php-bin/forum/showthread.php?t=44421

I haven't got a problem getting a CanalDigitaal card throught various family members, and I'm quite willing to pay for it - so I suspect no real problems on that front. But I do have some other 'newbe' questions about the receiver and the dish setup that I was hoping somebody might help me with:

1. As I understand from other articles currently all programs on canaldigitaal are using Seca2. So I asume this means I will either have to get a Seca2 receiver, or a CI receiver with a Seca2 module. I'm not entirely sure I've understood that correctly. I asume that for my simple needs the simplest of receivers will do? (I haven't really got any plans to branch out further than canaldigitaal and the FTA stuff I can also pick up on the same sat.). Any good tips?

2. I've currently got a simple Sky+ setup, and no plans to ditch that. CanalDigitaal sits on Astra1 at 19.2E. Would the best plan be to simply get a seperate dish for this?, or can I replace the current Sky minidish with something bigger and pick up both Astra1 at 19.2E (for CanalDigitaal) and Astra2 at 28.2E (for sky). My Sky is actualy a Sky+, so would that then mean that I could have a dual NLB on 28.2E, routing to the sky box, and another NLB to 19.2E routing to the other receiver?

If possible I'd prefer to use just the one dish (building regulations and all that), so if somebody could comment on this that would be great.

If this is all possible and I've understood what I've picked up so far then I suppose my only remaining question would be if anybody would have a recommendation on dish size to do this with. I'm based in Cheltenham, which (according to heavens-above) is at 51.901 / -2.080, I've got a clear line of sight from the front of my house, although the 28.2E for Sky is probably as far east as I can get, but that should not be a problem since the Astra1 is "less east".

Any feedback and comments would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JTA]

since you're keeping the sky+ setup, forget about using this one for Astra1. You need to install a twin-lnb on your dish, redirect the Astra2 signal to your sky+ receiver, and redirect the Astra1 signal to a new receiver.
Since you're dutch with relatives in Holland, do it the easy way and buy a cheap Canaal Digitaal receiver with card. It will give you the CD channels, channel line-up, epg plus all FTA channels on Astra1, without any maintenance.

 

[cjgall]

A few words on the dish. You could use a visiosat bi/trisat dish as I do. I have mine pointing are Astra1, Astra2 and Hotbird. If you don't mind the quirkyness of canaldigitaal boxes (I hate them myself) then JTA's suggestion is sound. Otherwise you could go for something like a topfield CI with an official canaldigitaal CAM.

 

[EmielR]

Thanks guys - just the sort of thing I was looking for.
If anybody has any word on the combination of Sky+ (which uses a twin-NLB by itself), and the nlb I'd need for Astra1 that would be great.

 

[cjgall]

Thanks guys - just the sort of thing I was looking for.
If anybody has any word on the combination of Sky+ (which uses a twin-NLB by itself), and the nlb I'd need for Astra1 that would be great.

Not quite sure what you are asking but with one or more Diseq switches you can create all kinds of setups. I myself have 1 quad LNB (astra2), 1 twin LNB (astra1) and 1 single LNB (hotbird). Attached to two switches.

Quad LNB goes to Topfield / Sky / FTA box (Astra2)
Twin LNB goes to Topfield / FTA box (Astra1 )
Single LNB goes to Topfield (Hotbird )


1 Switch has a feed from Astra1/Astra2/Hotbird (Topfield)
1 Switch has a feed from Astra1/Astra2 (FTA box)


Sky digibox's do not support switch's.

 

[EmielR]

yeah, never mind - I don't think I knew what I was asking earlier either :-).

In the meantime I've been reading more and it's all becoming a lot clearer.
Checked out the Topfield box as well and that looks pretty good indeed.
I think I'll just go for a twin LNB for Astra2, with both leads going to the sky+ (dual tuner) box, and then either just a single LNB for Astra1 (for CD), or add another LNB for Hotbird, and combine those through a Diseq switch to go to the Topfield box (for example, might still change my mind on this).

Well, there we go - a week ago I didn't know what half of the words I've just written meant. I think I'm getting there. Thanks a lot again!

 

[cjgall]

Since you are using a Sky+ having both cables from twin going to the Sky box makes sense. I send one to the Topfield because I have an ordinary Sky box and a Topfield 4000PVR. This enables me to record BBC, ITV etc and the CanalDigital stuff on the HD on the Topfield. You can alway add/change LNB's and switches later as the need arises.

groeten en alle best!

chris