Freesat the only way to get BBC & ITV HD?

B

blueflag

Member
My Satellite Setup
2 dishes (80 cm)
Old sky analoge reciever (Grundig)
Humax PR-HD1000 reciever
My Location
Germany
Hi all,

I am living in Dusseldorf and would like to get BBC and ITV HD (for the World Cup).

I I have 2 satelites - one of which is pointed at the Sky analogue satelite which I believe is 28.2 degrees. The other allows me to watch German TV.

I have a Humax PR -HD 1000 receiver which has a spare card slot.

Question is do I need to get a freesat card or do I need a card plus new box? ALternatively, is there anyway to get BBC & ITV from the german satelite?

Thanks for your help!
 
Astra 28.2 East is the satellite on which Sky Digital is hosted, the old analogue version was hosted on Astra 19.2, along with the German channels, but a long time ago.

For BBC and ITV HD, providing your dish is large enough to receive Astra 2D beam, all you need is a suitable HD receiver (they are free to air), if you can already pick up BBC and ITV channels, then you should be OK.
 
blueflag said:
Hi all,

I am living in Dusseldorf and would like to get BBC and ITV HD (for the World Cup).

I I have 2 satelites - one of which is pointed at the Sky analogue satelite which I believe is 28.2 degrees. The other allows me to watch German TV.

I have a Humax PR -HD 1000 receiver which has a spare card slot.

Question is do I need to get a freesat card or do I need a card plus new box? ALternatively, is there anyway to get BBC & ITV from the german satelite?

Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

BBC and ITV are only transmitted from 28.2E so the only way you can receive them is if you have a dish aligned to 28.2E.

In particular, the important BBC/ITV stuff is transmitted from the relatively narrow beam of Astra 2D and stable reception in Germany requires a sufficiently large dish for your precise location (the signal can vary considerably depending upon precisely where you are - not sure what the required size is for Dusseldorf, though you can get a good idea from _http://www.sam-radford.me.uk/astra2d.htm or other published Footprints)

As for Receivers, well you could use any HD capable receiver and no Card is required as the Channels are Free To Air.

I'm a bit confused by the term "Sky Analogue Satellite" for a number of reasons:

1. Sky don't own or operate any Satellites

2. Sky don't provide Analogue Channels

However, Sky did use to provide Analogue services using the Astra 1 Satellite cluster at 19.2E. They now provide Digital only services using the Astra 2/Eurobird 1 cluster at 28.2/28.5E.

As you say one of your dishes gets you German Channels, that will be aligned to Astra 1 at 19.2E.

I'm guessing that, despite the confusing terminology, your second dish might be aligned to 28.2/28.5E ................ in which case the only issue to resolve is whether it is big enough to receive Astra 2D in particular : There are four Satellites at tat position, Astra 2A, 2B and Eurobird 1 being very strong and Astra 2D which might not be (as explained earlier) - but it's Astra 2D you are primarily concerned with.





Edit: Whilst typing this lengthy reply, RolfW has slipped in a succinct version!
 
Tivù said:
BBC and ITV are only transmitted from 28.2E so the only way you can receive them is if you have a dish aligned to 28.2E.

As for Receivers, well you could use any HD capable receiver and no Card is required as the Channels are Free To Air.

As you say one of your dishes gets you German Channels, that will be aligned to Astra 1 at 19.2E.

I'm guessing that, despite the confusing terminology, your second dish might be aligned to 28.2/28.5E ................ in which case the only issue to resolve is whether it is big enough to receive Astra 2D in particular : There are four Satellites at tat position, Astra 2A, 2B and Eurobird 1 being very strong and Astra 2D which might not be (as explained earlier) - but it's Astra 2D you are primarily concerned with.


Edit: Whilst typing this lengthy reply, RolfW has slipped in a succinct version!
Click to expand...

Thanks to both of you for taking the time to try and answer my question despite me doing my best to confuse! I will try and confirm exactly what my set up is and its possible I amy be back for more info!
 
Related to this a little, I live in Düsseldorf and currently have Sky HD through my dish, box etc, but seeing as i have spare connections of the dish, can i just simply plug in a Freesat HD box and get the freeview channels, BBC and ITV HD etc on another tV in the house. Off the same dish as currently get from sky?
 
sparkiUK said:
Related to this a little, I live in Düsseldorf and currently have Sky HD through my dish, box etc, but seeing as i have spare connections of the dish, can i just simply plug in a Freesat HD box and get the freeview channels, BBC and ITV HD etc on another tV in the house. Off the same dish as currently get from sky?
Click to expand...

Yes, although successful reception of BBC 1 2 ITV C4 & C5 will all depend on your dish size. If you already get the BBC channels (and this is the important one as they are only carried on Astra 2D) you should be ok, if you dont you wont get them on a Freesat box..
 
through my sky HD box i get the full channel list, all the bbc channels, itv hd now too so if what you say is correct, a freesat hd box should just plug in and work??
 
In an attempt to bring a little clarity to my original post...

I have an 80cm dish pointing at 28.2 east which is connected to an old grundig sky box (non digital). This allowed me the normal free to air (BBC1 - 3, ITV 1- 4, E4, but not Channel 5).

As we now have a new (but I suspect old model) Humax HD reciever I was wondering if I needed to get a free sat box in order to view BBC and ITV HD.

Currently trying a channel search on my Humax box but when I looked up the preset satelites it only mentioned Astra 2 (no Astra 2D).

So questions:
Is what I am trying at all feasible?
Is there a specific way to identify which satelite you need (Astra 2D)?
I was unable to find Transponder codes for BBC and ITV HD for my specific reciever (model PR-HD1000)...can I use codes related to a newer Humax reciever?

Thanks in advance for your patience
 
Sorry - meant old sky boy non HD not non digital

blueflag said:
In an attempt to bring a little clarity to my original post...

I have an 80cm dish pointing at 28.2 east which is connected to an old grundig sky box (non HD!!!!!). This allowed me the normal free to air (BBC1 - 3, ITV 1- 4, E4, but not Channel 5).

As we now have a new (but I suspect old model) Humax HD reciever I was wondering if I needed to get a free sat box in order to view BBC and ITV HD.

Currently trying a channel search on my Humax box but when I looked up the preset satelites it only mentioned Astra 2 (no Astra 2D).

So questions:
Is what I am trying at all feasible?
Is there a specific way to identify which satelite you need (Astra 2D)?
I was unable to find Transponder codes for BBC and ITV HD for my specific reciever (model PR-HD1000)...can I use codes related to a newer Humax reciever?

Thanks in advance for your patience
Click to expand...
 
blueflag said:
In an attempt to bring a little clarity to my original post...

I have an 80cm dish pointing at 28.2 east which is connected to an old grundig sky box (non digital). This allowed me the normal free to air (BBC1 - 3, ITV 1- 4, E4, but not Channel 5).

As we now have a new (but I suspect old model) Humax HD reciever I was wondering if I needed to get a free sat box in order to view BBC and ITV HD.

Currently trying a channel search on my Humax box but when I looked up the preset satelites it only mentioned Astra 2 (no Astra 2D).

So questions:
Is what I am trying at all feasible?
Is there a specific way to identify which satelite you need (Astra 2D)?
I was unable to find Transponder codes for BBC and ITV HD for my specific reciever (model PR-HD1000)...can I use codes related to a newer Humax reciever?

Thanks in advance for your patience
Click to expand...

For the free to air HD channels ANY HD receiver will allow reception - I can watch them on a GDS7000 generic HD box. However if you want the full 7 day epg you will need either Sky HD box or a Freesat HD box.
 
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