Newbie Here UK user - what FTA channels are available beyond 28.2e?

elsmandino

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I would be really grateful for some general advice on available channels on satellites other than 28.2e?

Is there a lot out there for an English speaker?

I would consider a motorised dish if there are multiple channels though, because of where I live, I am not able to consider any dishes that are too big.
 

mariust5

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Free - No
Subscription -Tons .
 

Analoguesat

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Hiya welcome to the forum :)

There are hundreds of channels available fta in the skies above Europe.However entertainment type stuff in English is very limited. The best you will get are news channels from around the world plus any number of religious guff covering virtually any faiths.

There are a few documentary channels around - dont expect National Geographic though - think more the Turkmenistan Government information channel!
 

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Lots of German FTA channels, but very little with English language, apart from the subscription channels, as mentioned.
Sport 1, and Eurosport, are free, on 19.2E, and even though you only get the German audio option the contents are quite good.
If going for a motorized system I'd suggest an 80cm dish, or if the funds allow maybe a Penta 85cm dish.
You could also read a thread, by John Pykett, someone who has recently installed a motorized system:
Advice Needed - my future plans
 

davemurgtroyd

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There are a few channels showing movies and US series with English language options - see this site for an idea of what is available and dish sizes required

Code:
http://purplesat.com/index.php?p=1_16_FREE-TOP-MOVIES

Admin edit - please do not provide clickable links to sat companies that do not advertise on this forum - its not fair on our advertisers. Use the code tags.
 
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A

Archive7

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Best subscription there is the Polish nc+ on Hotbird 13E
Just out of curiosity, why do you need more channels beyond 28.2e
Some people here would give anything to be able to watch UK TV, including a 10m dish if they can get a permit.
 

elsmandino

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Thanks everyone.

Best subscription there is the Polish nc+ on Hotbird 13E
Just out of curiosity, why do you need more channels beyond 28.2e
Some people here would give anything to be able to watch UK TV, including a 10m dish if they can get a permit.

You make a really good point - totally agree that there is more than enough to watch out there on 28.2e alone.

I suppose that a small part of it is purely for the sake of because it can be done - I cannot seem to stop tinkering with these things.

My wife also sometimes struggles to find any programmes to watch when she is bored.

Even if there were no English language programmes at all, I might possibly still consider a motorised dish. I did German as part of my degree and my wife did French as part of hers - however, experience has shown us that can be taught a language at school, watch a programme (even the news) and understand very little.

Whilst I probably am focused on FTA TV, I would not be against a cheap subscription - would that even be a possibility with my setup? I would have to add SmartCard reader to my server (assuming that would work).
 

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Although UK FTA TV id pretty good overall many find its content very limited in certain genres - sport (football, F1, motorsport), recent US series and recent movies - many of which can be found FTA on other satellites.
 
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Even if there were no English language programmes at all, I might possibly still consider a motorised dish. I did German as part of my degree and my wife did French as part of hers - however, experience has shown us that can be taught a language at school, watch a programme (even the news) and understand very little.

Whilst I probably am focused on FTA TV, I would not be against a cheap subscription - would that even be a possibility with my setup? I would have to add SmartCard reader to my server (assuming that would work).
I am not aware of any SmartCard reader that can work with a legitimate subscription card.
Most of the packages these days work with a dedicated receiver with their smartcards. For example TNTSAT.
There are CI+ modules that can work with TV sets that have CI+ slot or satellite receivers that can support CI+.
Adult card are not that sophisticated in the meantime.
I would recommend Enigma 2 satellite receivers that can support CI+
The reason being that you can import any recordings to your PC usually in *.ts extension and manipulate all the streams in the files: Different audio and subtitles (DVB or TTX).
Once you have a subtitle file you can translate it to any language you want using for example Google Translate.
One outstanding TV channels that is FTA on Hotbird 13E is Arte HD.
They transmit in French and German and sometimes in the original language usually English.
 

mariust5

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Focus Sat works in any Conax enabled reader .
 

Captain Jack

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Focus Sat and Polsat (along with a number of other genuine subscription cards) can and do work with standalone smart card readers (with the likes of OScam). Some tinkering required but it works very well.

Another thing to consider is going to King of Sat site and searching for FTA English language channels - it has a pretty comprehensive search function.
 

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Arte is the channel to look for,HD on Hotbird with the schedule for France,
and HD on Astra1 (19E) with a German schedule,
where films start an hour or so earlier ,and late night music stuff will be earlier on the German signal too,than on the French signal.
Its a BBC4,that airs 24 hours a day,really great stuff and NO ADS!
 

elsmandino

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Thanks for your further help with this.

Even if I am only able to get Arte, from the addition of another dish/LNB, it would be worth it - have been reading up on it and it looks like an amazing channel. I am surprised that I had never even heard of it.

My hardware is a bit more obscure, compared to what you guys are using:

I have a headless Linux-based server that contains all my hard drives - the server runs TVHeadend, a program that schedules and makes recordings.

The server is connected to a Gigabit switch, to which various Raspberry Pi client's are connected.

My satellite dish is connected to one of these:

Sat-IP server Telestar DIGIBIT R1 SAT2IP Umsetzer from Conrad Electronic UK

Which connects to the switch, and convets the DVB-S2 signal to IP, which can then be utilised by TVHeadend.

The downside of this is that I do not have a satellite receiver as such and thus nothing with a CI.

I would have to buy a USB CI slot, plus a CAM and smart card and then use these with Oscam (as part of TVHeadend) to decrypt scrambled channels.

It does seem possible but as a bit of a beginner, could be an expensive mistake if it does not work.
 

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For TVHeadend, you can buy a SmartReader (card reader), which will work with OSCam in Linux. I am not sure if a CI CAM will work with your setup.

@Adam792 is the expert on this...
 
A

Archive7

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Arte HD is FTA and any FTA satellite receiver can open it and they cost very little.
The question is how are you going to connect it to your system, assuming you add a dish and LNB.
If you are going the subscription option, then you should decide on which package you want to order and how much are you willing to pay.
Each package needs a specific receiver in order to be able to watch.
You can't just take the smartcard, insert it in a card reader even with OScam and expect all the channels to open.
 

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For smart cards in TVHeadend with Linux, you can use a USB card reader with OSCam. I use this with a German HD+ card and a French TNTSAT card. The German card has been set up once and has worked since, and the TNTSAT card goes off sometimes because the provider changes the encryption a little fairly regularly to frustrate those of us who don’t use their official receivers..

The other alternative is a PCIe satellite card for your server that has an inbuilt CI slot. Newer versions of TVHeadend work with this I believe, but I don’t think providers that make use of the secure CI+ standard are supported.

As you use a SAT IP system then the USB card reader solution would be the one that would work for you. Depending on what pay package you went for.

I’d say before you look at that to just get an extra LNB on 19.2°E and connect it to your SAT IP with a DiSEqC switch. 19.2°E is really easy to scan in TVHeadend as it will do a network scan which automatically pulls in all the up to date frequencies and channels without having to change any defaults.
 

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Sometime the 3rd audio track on ARTE HD is the original (English) 19.2 east & 13 east.
 

mariust5

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You can't just take the smartcard, insert it in a card reader even with OScam and expect all the channels to open.

Yes , you can , we specified this like 3 times now ..me and Jack .. Smargo , Omnisat and many others , just insert the card and make the settings ..
 
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Archive7

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Yes , you can , we specified this like 3 times now ..me and Jack .. Smargo , Omnisat and many others , just insert the card and make the settings ..
But surely not EVERY smartcard. I was thinking of cards that are paired to a CI+ module or dedicated receiver, like the new nc+ packages.
If this is possible, please make a tutorial on how to do it, when you have the time. Thanks.
 
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