Just Sharing This Pay TV reviews (Viasat, Focus Sat, Polsat, Sky UK, Magtisat)

Captain Jack

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As I have a bit of experience with some pay TV, I thought I'd write a little review.

First up: Viasat Latvia

Satellite: Astra 4a/SES-5 @ 5E

Dish size required: Highly dependent on location. In Bristol, a good 1m dish is enough to receive Astra 4A, which is where the majority of channels are. Signal drops in the evenings by around 1.5dB but generally stable. SES-5 is not possible here even with a 1.8m dish, so some HD channels are missing.

Encryption: Videoguard/NDS (mainly paired)

Receiver: Pace HD. A nice little box, responsive with full EPG but somewhat "dark". The theme is very black with white text. Has ability to control a simple DiSEqC 1.0 switch, which, with some trickery, can drive a 36V motor via a VBox.

Channel line-up: A good mix or Russian, English and Baltic (mainly Latvian) channels. You get most Viasat Film channels plus all of TV1000s (yes, they still exist), documentaries (Viasat's own as well as NG/Discoveries), general entertainment (TV3's, 3+, Russian STS/TNT/NTV/Pervyj Kanal), music (MTV mostly), children's fare, sports (Viasat's own only) and some adult stuff.

Image quality: Most channels are still in MPEG-2 but picture quality is pretty good. Very little blocking on fast moving scenes but can appear a bit 'washed out' sometimes.

Languages: Most channels have selectable audio tracks between original and dubbed/voice overs.

Cost: 23 Euros per month for full SD package

Where to get it: Rather tricky without knowing someone in Latvia. A few dealers sell it but at hugely inflated prices.
 
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Captain Jack

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Next: FocusSat Romania

Satellite: Thor @ 1W

Dish size required: Pretty strong satellite (or rather the footprint FS is on) - will get away with an 80cm dish in Bristol area. Maybe less.

Encryption: Conax

Receiver: Any Conax enabled receiver will do - I used my card in OSCam but a Conax CAM works just as well.

Channel line-up: A huge mix of channels, many with selectable language options into English, though some film channels don't carry original soundtrack. You get pretty much everything; movies, children's, sports, documentaries, general entertainment, music and adult. Lyngsat list isn't fully correct but my Romanian card also opens some UPC channels, such as HD versions of Eurosport in English.

Image quality: Like with Viasat, most channels are in MPEG-2, which limits the quality but is generally pretty good. HD channels are excellent, though there are not many of them.

Languages: Most channels carry multiple soundtracks, including original, especially 'generic ones' (Discoveries, NG, MTV, CN, etc.).

Cost: 65 Lei per month (about £12.50) for the 'Total' pack including English. Can pay an additional 7 Lei per month for some Hungarian channels.

Where to get it: These pop-up on eBay now and again. I bought mine from this forum and top-up my card on FS's site using my credit card.
 
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Lazarus

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Would it be possible to give info about how to actually procure these Packages, too?

Edit: Have saved you one task, and made this Sticky ;)
 
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Captain Jack

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Next: Cyfrowy Polsat

Satellite: Hot Birds @ 13E

Dish size required: Do you live anywhere near Europe? Then you can use a saucepan lid (basically, any dish at all will do).

Encryption: Nagravision (paired)

Receiver: Any CI enabled received will do. Cards are supplied with a paired CAM but companies also give you a RSA and box key for use in OSCam (which is where I use it).

Channel line-up: Much like FocusSat, a very good mix of channels, though a lot of are them are specifically Polish. That said, there are a great many 'generic' channels, like in the above - Discoveries, Disney etc. Most, but not all, carry original soundtracks. Good selection of sports channels, though not much in the way of "EPL" that most people want.

Image quality: A lot of channels are in MPEG-4 format, so the quality is generally better than that of FocusSat or Viasat. HD channels, of which there are a few, are excellent (as viewed on a 'tiny' 37" TV).

Cost: 60 Zloty for not quite a full package (I am missing HBO, some sports and adult channels on my card).

Where to get it: Anywhere on eBay. Having a sizeable Polish population in the UK helps having many dealer who will get you a Polsat (or indeed an NC+ card). Mine came from KAMSAT - Satellite & CB Store, who I will use to renew my subscription.
 

Captain Jack

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Would it be possible to give info about how to actually procure these Packages, too?

Edit: Have saved you one task, and made this Sticky ;)
Your wish is my command.

Other packages to follow tomorrow...
 

Captain Jack

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Next: Magtisat Georgia

Satellite: Astra 1G @ 31.5E

Dish size required: You will *probably* get away with a 1.2m in Bristol but expect to lose it in moderate rain. My 1.8m is adequate for most conditions.

Encryption: Bulcrypt (paired)

Receiver: ZHD210, which is also used for Bulsatcom. A small receiver, slightly larger than a VHS tape with a card slot. Very basic - menus are very early 2000's, reminds me of DVB2000 menus from Nokia 9600, but pretty responsive and relatively easy to use. Has full EPG for the channels. No ability to control any sort of DiSEqC switches, so I have to drive my dish to it manually (Bulsatcom's version allows DiSEqC assignments, so it's been castrated by Magtisat). I don't think it's as sensitive as it could be - I need at least 11dB reading on receiver's "meter" to not have any glitches. In summary: nothing special but quite adequate for most folk. Some pictures below...

2016-08-26 08.43.49.jpeg 2016-08-26 08.44.03.jpeg 2016-08-26 08.44.21.jpeg 2016-08-26 08.46.24.jpeg

Channel line-up: A good mix of Russian and Georgian channels. I don't speak Georgian so I stick to Russian and English ones only. Most tastes are catered for - films (dubbed in Russian), documentaries, kids' stuff, adult, general entertainment and some sports in form of Setanta Eurasia (no idea if they show EPL - will check at some point). A lot of channels from NTV+/Tricolor are retransmitted here - the main reason for me having it.

Languages: Russian and Georgian are the main ones. Film channels are generally dubbed into Russian with no ability to switch to original sound track. Some documentary channels are available in English but this is of generally limited interest to an English-speaking only person.

Cost: 30 Laris (£10) per month for an almost full pack (missing 3 Georgian movie channels)

Where to get it: Erm... unless you know someone in Georgia, it's pretty much impossible. I haven't found a single dealer selling these and had to go through my Georgian contact (same one that got me the cursed Sky Caucasus CAM) to get it. I can probably get a sub if anyone is interested - cost about £320 delivered with a full year's sub (includes the cost of receiver).
 

Captain Jack

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Final one: Sky UK

Satellite: Astra 2x @ 28E

Dish size required: In UK, a pan lid will do (no, really). In Europe, it varies widely depending on your location and footprint - there are three satellites up there serving this monopoly.

Encryption: Videoguard/NDS (mostly paired)

Receiver: Er... is it Amstrad that pumps these out these days? Anyway, it's Sky's own. In my opinion, for pure out-of-the-box experience, these are the best ones there is. Great 7 day EPG, easy to manage and schedule recordings, good on-demand content (though I prefer a Fire TV stick for catch-up services), stable (for me) and supplied free of charge for new subscribers. There's also a Sky Q malarkey but I honestly have no idea what it is - mine is just a bog standard Amstrad HD box from around 2010.

Channel line-up: This doesn't really need any introduction. Probably the best channel line-up for an English speaker available in UK. You have everything there: movies, sports, kids etc. etc. etc. Please note, that a lot of channels are "free"; in that they don't need a Sky subscription and can be received with any receiver. More than half of what we watch is FTA. Good line-up of Asian channels, mainly from Indian sub-continent, some available with a basic subscription.

Languages: Mainly English with some Welsh and a mix of Asian ones.

Image quality: HD channels are very good, especially Sky's own channels. SD channels are also good, though movies4men type stuff suffers from wishy-washy dull pictures...

Cost: Generally an arm and a leg. It seems to be a bottomless pit of options, which can send your bill spiralling into £100 per month territory. A full package costs a whopping £80 per month! And that's without any additional countless sports and Asian channels as "extras"... We pay £28 per month on special deal (after moaning) for a full variety pack (basically everything except sports and movies). Definitely haggle for best deals.

Where to get it: If you're in the UK, you can't avoid it. Plenty of resellers about.
 

Captain Jack

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So, which one should you go for? Depends where you are and what you are looking for. Sky UK is certainly one of the best packages there is but don't get pulled into it because you want to watch BBC - these are FREE!

The best value package is probably Focus Sat for me. It's very cheap with a good channel line-up with a lot of it in English. I usually park on Mooz TV music channel for 'in the background' type channel - keeps me sane at work. Polsat is a very close second though and is easy to obtain as well. I like the fact that you can watch both of these packages in whatever receiver you watch and are not bound to providers' ones.

Obviously, there are plenty of other packages available out there. Canal Digital is pretty good but is rather expensive and their receiver is allegedly poo. You can get a CAM though, so can use it in any receiver too.
 

blademedia

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Hello Captain Jack interesting information thanks, the package I would love is DStv, unfortunately large dish needed :(, maybe s-band will have some luck.
Code:
http://campaign.dstv.com/premium/
 

Captain Jack

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I can get 12245H and occasionally 12054H on my 1.8m but I agree that it seems like a decent package.
 

VodzigorLans

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Next: FocusSat Romania

Satellite: Thor @ 1W

Dish size required: Pretty strong satellite (or rather the footprint FS is on) - will get away with an 80cm dish in Bristol area. Maybe less.

Encryption: Conax

Receiver: Any Conax enabled receiver will do - I used my card in OSCam but a Conax CAM works just as well.

Doesnt it mean you can record conax encrypted channels to watch it at pc? What do you think will it work with OpenBox SX6 (wicard/oscam)?
 

Captain Jack

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Doesnt it mean you can record conax encrypted channels to watch it at pc? What do you think will it work with OpenBox SX6 (wicard/oscam)?
Yes, I can easily record this on my Vu+ Solo2 box and transfer recording to PC. I've no doubt SX6 will work fine with this.
 
A

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Has anyone tried the Czech Slovak link on 23.5°E ?

If so is it also in English ?

As cards and cams seem to be about £120ish a year.
 

Adam792

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Seeing as you've started this, I'll add a couple more which I have experience of. :D

HD+ Germany

Satellite: Astra 1KR/1L/1N, 19.2°E

Dish size required: Sure I don't really have to even say for this one :D Pretty much as small as you want! Sky zone 1 is fine in most of the UK just as for 28°E.

Encryption: Nagravision ("Sort of" paired)

Receiver: Various are available, or a CI+ module which can be put into any CI+ compatible TV or receiver. HD01 and HD02 (the first two generations) of the card can be read in any receiver with something like OSCam, as the RSA Key and Box ID are available on the internet (there's only one pair of keys for each HD01 and HD02 used in all official receivers).

Channel line-up: Just German private channels that are FTA in their SD version on the same satellites, but in HD quality. RTL, Sat.1, ProSieben, Sport 1, TLC, etc.

Image quality: The HD quality is actually pretty stunning, with high bitrate MPEG4 1080i across the board.

Languages: Pretty much everything is German language only, the same as the SD counterparts. Apparently it's to do with broadcasting law in Germany meaning the content itself has to be identical (including audio tracks).

Cost: €60 per year, or €5 per month.

Where to get it: You can get a new card with CI+ module ready to go on Amazon very easily. If you want to use a Linux box with OSCam, HD02 cards (I wouldn't recommend getting an HD01 version as these will apparently be phased out at some point soon) seem to come up on eBay fairly often. Once you have the card you can renew the subscription using a credit card or PayPal on the HD+ website. They don't ask for address details! You just enter your payment details, tune your receiver to Pro7 HD and click the activate button on the website and within a minute or so the card rights should have updated.
 

Captain Jack

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Has anyone tried the Czech Slovak link on 23.5°E ?

If so is it also in English ?

As cards and cams seem to be about £120ish a year.
There are rather a few channels carrying original soundtrack - seems to be a mix though SkyLink on Astra 3B at 23.5°E - LyngSat

Can't go wrong for that price it's the full package for a year.
 

MCelliotG

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I'm interested in this Slovak Link package also, however will the new Irdeto cards work on Oscam rather than the official receivers?
 

Analoguesat

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HD+ is of course useful for RTL's coverage of the F1 races that C4 dont take. Although all bets are off now Sky Mix have started showing some races
 

dvdfilm

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are you sure the slovak package is 120 a year? doesn't seem to me, but i'm not familiar with the language so can be wrong
 
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Wait, wait.
Let me understand this - this may almost be profound.

you mean... you guys are actually *watching* tv?
As in, spending time to immerse yourselves in the actual programming on some of the channels?

Hmmm... this is new to me. But it sounds viable, somehow - perhaps the family should try and have a go one of these days...

Ah! just checked with my better half. Apparently, we have cable tv - both SWMBO and kids watch cable tv. (Whatever that is)
Might be difficult to sell the tv-via-satellite concept in the household, then... :(
Back to Polar mounts, dBuV and C/N-ratios... :)
 

Captain Jack

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About a month ago, MagtiSat added another frequency (12266 H) with a good bunch of channels on it. It's become a very good alternative for NTV+/Tricolor for those outside of 36E/56E footprint.
 
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