Am I better investing in Freesat PVR rather than Freeview HD ?

:thumbsup:
They'd probably have sent one anyway - they are standard.:)
 
I have a sat finder that I used to use with campervan (non to successfully I might add) so will have a go at installing myself! brave or what......

worth paying the extra for 1000 gb hd I guess??
 
At the current prices of drives you've even more reason to go for that model.:thumbsup:
 
Well, I made my decision and went for the Freesat Humax Foxsat HDR 500GB. It seems to me pretty good. Scrolling the EPG can be marginally slow, but I do mean marginal, and it may be during the download process. Ease of use is much better than I was led to believe by various comments around the web. I now have a Freeview TV and this Freesat PVR. There are many more regional channels on Freesat than Freeview, e.g. all the BBC regions, and you have the flexibility of changing BBC1 and BBC2 from the region associated with your postcode to another region (although this is not an option with ITV). Of course, you can put any old postcode in to get all channels by default for that reqion.

My one problem I had is: For some reason my dish does not pick up the Eurobird satellites at all well (28.5E versus 28.2E for the Astra collection). The Freesat EPG is on Eurobird, whereas all the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 channels are on Astra. I get an excelent signal from the Astra sats, so TV is good. But on Friday, when I set up the Humax (in the immediate tail-end of the storm we had, even in South Wales), and with only one satellite feed connected, the Humas froze while I was scrolling the EPG. After 10 minutes, I had to power off, nothing else did anything. This happened three times. I acquired a second sat connection lead on Saturday, so have two sat inputs now, and the EPG has been fine, even in a bit of rain we've just had. So the jury is out on that one, but I feel the Humax should not have frozen - that's a bug. (I will tell Humax).

As to why I can't get Eurobird, I don't know. I am using a northern area dish (i.e. larger than the southern area one). It is mounted on the side of the house pointing parallel to the wall and upwards, so the roof overhang, of about 200mm, obscures a small part of the dish. On some Eurobird channels I get a strong signal but the quality is poor, on others there is little or no signal (according to the Humax). The EPG channel is strong but quality is only 30% (in the red zone).

My conclusion is that Freesat offers a good service with the potential to include more HD channels, whereas Freeview has bandwidth capacity problems and probably can't. Whether Freesat will include these HD channels when Freeview can't is a question I'd like an answer to.
 
As to why I can't get Eurobird, I don't know. I am using a northern area dish (i.e. larger than the southern area one). It is mounted on the side of the house pointing parallel to the wall and upwards, so the roof overhang, of about 200mm, obscures a small part of the dish. On some Eurobird channels I get a strong signal but the quality is poor, on others there is little or no signal (according to the Humax). The EPG channel is strong but quality is only 30% (in the red zone).

.

Astra 2 uses a non standard skew which is different to EB1. Most problems with EB1 are resolved by a comprimise lnb skew setting.
 
Yes, the dish needs a little alignment. Who fixed the new LNB connection?
Freeview and Freesat - and terrestrial and satellite TV in general - are too different to make comparisons meaningful. There are only a limited number of available frequencies on terrestrial - though that's not really a "problem" -, whereas in theory there is and will be enough capacity on satellite for any number of channels. Any broadcaster who can afford it will be able to put up their channel. They can then choose whether or not to pay for it to go on the Freesat or Sky EPGs or both. Whatever they do it will be available on any satellite receiver, and if it's free any Freesat receiver will receive it either on the EPG, or "in non-Freesat mode" - that may answer your question.
 
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Yes, the dish needs a little alignment. Who fixed the new LNB connection?

I have a quad LNB with a comercial-type splitter system in the house with two satellite feeds to most rooms. All I did was connect the satellite output from the wall connector to the Humax, with a standard 1 metre sat connection lead. I have had this Eurobird issue since day one, but the dish is very high up (9 metres) and difficult to access (at a reasonable price).
 
Astra 2 uses a non standard skew which is different to EB1. Most problems with EB1 are resolved by a comprimise lnb skew setting.

Thanks for reply. What has to be adjusted to change the skew? Is it the dish, the LNB or something else?
 
I have a quad LNB with a comercial-type splitter system in the house with two satellite feeds to most rooms. All I did was connect the satellite output from the wall connector to the Humax, with a standard 1 metre sat connection lead. I have had this Eurobird issue since day one, but the dish is very high up (9 metres) and difficult to access (at a reasonable price).

If you are trying to split lnb connections then that's the most likely reason for your problems, a quad lnb can only be used to feed 4 tuners (The Foxsat needs two of them for 100% capability). Skew is the amount of twist the lnb has in it's collar.
 
Thanks for reply. What has to be adjusted to change the skew? Is it the dish, the LNB or something else?

To change the skew you turn the LNB. The skew is 15 degrees for Astra, you may have to rotate the LNB for best compromise between Astra and EB1.
I bought a dish kit from satgear with some noce printed instructions. Unfortunately I cannot find the instructions on their web site (a possible link may not be allowed anyway).
With the satgear kit the quad LNB has 4 outputs which point towards the ground.

The LNB collar is loosened and the twisted so that the F connectors point at roughly 7'o'clock. This gives the required 15 degree skew (but only if you have same dish kit).

You would have to display a signal from EB1 and use a mirror so you can reflect the TV screen and twist the LNB to peak signal or use a sat signal strength meter, hope that helps.
 
If you are trying to split lnb connections then that's the most likely reason for your problems, a quad lnb can only be used to feed 4 tuners (The Foxsat needs two of them for 100% capability). Skew is the amount of twist the lnb has in it's collar.

Hi, it's a little more complicated than that. When the house was built, just over a couple of years ago, I had an audio-visual guy install a satellite cabling system. This works as follows: The LNB is, I believe, a Quattro LNB, not a Quad. This has 4 fixed outputs, being the four quadrants of the satellite signal:

1. Horizontal polarisation low band
2. Horizontal polarisation high band
3. Vertical polarisation low band
4. Vertical polarisation high band

These are sent to a Multiswitch (Delta Electronics Multiswitch MS 5016 N) where they are combined and sent out to 16 separate outputs (I use 14). Pairs of these are sent to 7 rooms, where they act as normal satellite feeds, so Sky or Freesat boxes can be connected in any room as a normal dual feed, with full control and the full range of channels.

What wasn't realized when the dish was installed (to an unfinished house) was that the Eurobird satellite was not being picked up well.

I have just noticed a comment on Satcure (http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm) that says "No Quattro is manufactured to fit a Sky minidish - it always requires a (roughly) circular dish". It is possible this may be the problem, as I have an oval dish?

Getting back to the "skew", this sounds a fairly easy thing to adjust, off a ladder maybe?
 
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I have a quad LNB
The LNB is, I believe, a Quattro LNB
That and the other details have put quite a different light on it!
Your question may in fact be the key - that it was the wrong kind of dish from the start - as glt now confirms. :)
 
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Hi, it's a little more complicated than that. When the house was built, just over a couple of years ago, I had an audio-visual guy install a satellite cabling system. This works as follows: The LNB is, I believe, a Quattro LNB, not a Quad. This has 4 fixed outputs, being the four quadrants of the satellite signal:

1. Horizontal polarisation low band
2. Horizontal polarisation high band
3. Vertical polarisation low band
4. Vertical polarisation high band

These are sent to a Multiswitch (Delta Electronics Multiswitch MS 5016 N) where they are combined and sent out to 16 separate outputs (I use 14). Pairs of these are sent to 7 rooms, where they act as normal satellite feeds, so Sky or Freesat boxes can be connected in any room as a normal dual feed, with full control and the full range of channels.

What wasn't realized when the dish was installed (to an unfinished house) was that the Eurobird satellite was not being picked up well.

I have just noticed a comment on Satcure (http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/lnb.htm) that says "No Quattro is manufactured to fit a Sky minidish - it always requires a (roughly) circular dish". It is possible this may be the problem, as I have an oval dish?

Getting back to the "skew", this sounds a fairly easy thing to adjust, off a ladder maybe?

Right you have a multiswitch which explains a lot. Firstly your dish should be at least one size larger than you would need for your location and the feed horn shape should match the dish. Even suitable dishes are slightly oval but much less so than a Sky Minidish.
 
Right you have a multiswitch which explains a lot. Firstly your dish should be at least one size larger than you would need for your location and the feed horn shape should match the dish. Even suitable dishes are slightly oval but much less so than a Sky Minidish.

The dish is a "northern area" size, whereas I live near Newport in South Wales, so it is one size up. It is black, oval, perforated. It looks rather like a Sky dish to me.

Now how do I tell if the feed horn shape is right? I have photos, and even a powerfull torch!
 
The dish is a "northern area" size, whereas I live near Newport in South Wales, so it is one size up. It is black, oval, perforated. It looks rather like a Sky dish to me.



Now how do I tell if the feed horn shape is right? I have photos, and even a powerfull torch!

Sounds like a zone 2 minidish.

http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/sky.htm

A conventional dish is pictured below

Not sure if you can tell by looking through the white cap.

See here for pictures with cap removed.

http://www.satcure.com/tech/LNBpics.htm
 
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Sounds like a zone 2 minidish.

http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/sky.htm

A conventional dish is pictured below

Not sure if you can tell by looking through the white cap.

See here for pictures with cap removed.

http://www.satcure.com/tech/LNBpics.htm

Thanks for that. I think it is a zone 2 (presumably for Scotland?) mini-dish, as per picture. And yes, it looks like you can see the required dish shape from looking inside the LNB, but it's 9 metres up! BTW, the first part of your message did not show up in the AVForums page, only in the Quote above. don't know why.

I am trying to upload a photo. Not tried this before and I'm not sure what I am doing.

I will have a word with the guy who put the dish up.
 

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the first part of your message did not show up in the AVForums page, only in the Quote above
Please explain that - and your photo is fine and seems to show an excellent job done.
 
Please explain that....

When I looked at this page after I got the email saying there was a new post, only the bottom half of the message was present - it may be that grahamlthompson edited the message? When I hit the "Quote" button to reply, it was all there. Here is the relevant text of the email that I received, that also only contains the bottom half:

"Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************

---Quote (Originally by DCGP)---
The dish is a "northern area" size, whereas I live near Newport in South Wales, so it is one size up. It is black, oval, perforated. It looks rather like a Sky dish to me.

Now how do I tell if the feed horn shape is right? I have photos, and even a powerfull torch!
---End Quote---
Not sure if you can tell by looking through the white cap.

See here for pictures with cap removed.

http://www.satcure.com/tech/LNBpics.htm
***************
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL - IT WILL NOT BE READ BY ANYONE."
 
I added the photo link after the original posting.

For Newport Astra 2 Skew is -14.8deg and EB1 -22.5deg. About halfway between should be about right.

www.dishpointer.com
 
I added the photo link after the original posting.

For Newport Astra 2 Skew is -14.8deg and EB1 -22.5deg. About halfway between should be about right.

www.dishpointer.com


Hi Guys, just to let you know that the problem with my dish not picking up Eurobird was the skew was set wrongly. Turning the Quattro LNB to approx 7 o'clock (from 6 o'clock) fixed it - the Humax Foxsat says all channels are now well in the green zone (above 66%), and all channels now work, with those from the new Astra satellite at 95-100%. Other Astra signals are also improved.

The dish is still a Sky Zone 2 oval dish, but it does seem to work well, even though it should be a round-ish dish. The fact that the dish is adjacent to and pointing parallel to the wall of the house was not the problem, nor that a small part of the dish is obscured by the slate roof overhang.

So all now good.
 
The dish is still a Sky Zone 2 oval dish, but it does seem to work well, even though it should be a round-ish dish. The fact that the dish is adjacent to and pointing parallel to the wall of the house was not the problem, nor that a small part of the dish is obscured by the slate roof overhang.

So all now good.

Provided the lnb matches the dish shape it doesn't matter what the dish shape is.

Mines a zone 2 oval and it's also parallel to a wall.
 

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