Inherited Sky Dish

[Allen1066]

I have just moved home and the previous owner has left their Sky dish on the wall. It's one of the small black ones.

Can anytone recommend what I would need to receive FTA broadcasts. I just want a cheap receiver instead of buying a Freeview box.

I've seen some boxes like the Manhattan 1100, Telestar Starsat1, and other cheap ones, but are these suitable for my needs ?

Thanks,

Allen

 

[BGonaSTICK]

If you just want the free channels from that satellite, then a second hand Sly digibox would be a sensible buy. It will get you (nearly) all the free to air channels on 28.2E including the BBC channels.

Be advised though that ITV, CH4 and FIVE are not free to air, and that you should get one that is 'out of contract', i.e. has been connected elsewhere for a year or more.

You may be lucky and have the opportunity to buy a 'Freesat' card later this year from Sly, that would roughly equate to what you can get on Freeview, but that's not a given at this stage. If that goes ahead, then guestimates abound that it would cost in the region of £20 - £25 one-off. Again, rumour.

 

[rolfw]

You also have to consider that you can pick up a brand new freeview box from somewhere like www.richersounds.co.uk for less than £50.

 

[Allen1066]

Thank you for your replies. I see from another thread that LIDL are going to be selling a box for 49.99, would that be okay for picking up FTA channels from the Sky satellite ?My main concern was whether I need a Sky box, or any of these receivers will do ?
Are the FTA programs on the EPG ?

 

[BGonaSTICK]

It will work fine.

Advantages are that it will get ANY FTA channels, whereas the Sly box has a limited range of symbol rates (though it will get most if not all FTA's from 28.2E). This means that if you pointed your (or preferably a larger) dish at another sat, you would be OK.

Disadvantage is that you will never get ITV Ch4 or FIVE unless they become FTA. Only a Sly digibox can decrypt Sly's encryption.

There are many reasonably priced FTA receivers if you get fed-up waiting for a Lidl receiver to appear.

 

[Allen1066]

What FTA receivers would you recommend?
I'm not too worried about ITV, CH4 and CH5 as I can get them through my arial.
I do have a bigger dish in my shed that I was also given, so at some point in the future I might want to use that and make it steerable.

 

[rolfw]

There are a few budget models here http://www.sateuropa.co.uk/overview.asp?catid=1&subcat=1

 

[Allen1066]

There are so many to choose from!
Given that I might want to make my dish steerable in the future and maybe need a card for decripting, what should I go for. The Finepass range look good. Any thoughts ?

 

[rolfw]

As long as the receiver has DiseqC 1.2 or better, then it is capable of operating a DiseqC motor, probably covers the vast majority of new receivers.

 

[BGonaSTICK]

If you might want to decrypt some stuff later on, then you should go for a receiver that has a 'CI slot' (i.e. not FTA only) unless you are happy to upgrade your receiver later as well.

If you want a reasonable box that will work with a CAM (the thing that will help with the decrypting, without getting into the complexities of that here) then check the best-selling (and probably the most discounted) receivers from the bigger sat-retailers.

Why not have a good read, and come up with a shortlist, then come back here to see what the folks think? There are some good magazines for sat-gear available too.