Totally new to satelite Help!!

J

jimbomac

Member
My Satellite Setup
none yet
My Location
uk
Hi, long time lurker, first post and am a bit lost to be honest:confused:, the more I read the more confused I am becoming.

I have recently purchased a samsung c530 TV. I had sky in the past but not anymore, the dish is still up and the cable is ready to plug in a box. the telly has built-in freeview not hd version) and I would like to buy a hd box (dvb-s?)

are the boxes plug and play via hdmi and would I need a sky card at all??
I would like to view fta channels and any fta satellite channels??
maybe get a viewing card (cam?) or two at a later date.
my box budget is £120 at a stretch.

looking at the openbox s2 - any others anyone can recommend?

Thanks in advance,
Jim
 
To be honest you are probably best saving up a bit & getting a second hand Sky HD box or a second hand Freesat box.

If you only want the fta channels then no SKy cards are required at all.
 
Thanks for the reply.
I was looking at the Technomate TM-5402 HD or openbox s2. would these not work if plugged in or do you need a sky card or a similar card to get fta and other foreign channels?
 
FTA Channels are by definition broadcast unencrypted (clear) so require no Card of any sort.
 
Yes they would work - but you only get now & next epg and have to update channel changes manually.

You dont need any card for fta channels so stop worrying about Sky cards - if you want to use a Sky card of any kind then use it in a Sky box.

You only need a foreign card if you want to watch foreign pay channels (football / movies / mature content / other sports being the biggest four)
 
ok a bit clearer now :) just confused as some posts I have read here were saying people had to put their card back into the sky box sometimes.
 
That's for those using Sky Cards for subscription channels, in boxes other than Sky boxes. The Cards need "refreshing" from time to time to keep them active and the best way to do that is to return them to a Sky box for a while.

Nothing to do with FTA.
 
And to get foreign FTA channels, the dish needs to be pointed to a different satellite/s
 
Good point Robbo :D

If you want the foreign stuff you are going to need additional equipment dangling on the wall.
 
i have an Openbox S9HD and find it an excellent box. It has inbuilt PVR software and with an external USB device records well. Also works out of the box with no additional software or setup required (other than satellite scan) with Sky cards both FreesatFromSky and subscription (only requiring input of the serial number the card is paired to for the premium channels - Sky Movies and Sky Sports) SD and HD as well as having full DiSEqC and USALS capability. The only drawback is that it does not have a full 7 day EPG for 28 East merely "now and next".
 
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