Question Would be great to hear from anyone using any satellites other than 28.2e.

elsmandino

Prominent Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Messages
545
Reaction score
33
Points
288
I have become rather interested in satellite TV, recently, and want to know what else is out there from satellites other than 28.2e.

A very broad question but it would be great to hear about:

1. What satellites you are viewing, along with the channels you are actually watching
2. The hardware you are using and
3. Your general experience of it
 
Thanks Dave.

Have just been looking up your hardware from your signature - rather impressive.

At the moment, I have a Sky Zone 1 dish with a quad LNB connected to it.

I was hoping to either:

Add an additional 80cm dish, with 28.2e, 19.2e and 13d feeds on it or

Add a fully motorised 80cm dish.

I note that you are a little bit more north than me - what sort of channels do you watch on the additional two satellites?

I also note that you are looking to go motorised too - is this because you just can or because there are some other specific satellites that you after?
 
Either option will be fine, though here you'll find more for the motorised.
Whether you'll find much, or anything, of interest is up to you.
I've had access to several satellites but seldom use any, once the novelty has worn off.
It will help if you know more than one language.
 
Thanks for that.

I am trying to make sure that I don't carried away with the idea of this being something being fun to set up, only to be a bit disappointed with the ultimate outcome.

Based upon the site that Dave mentioned above, it does seem that all the FTA movies that I might like to have received are going to need a fairly substantial dish.

Furthermore, I get my satellite via one of these:

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

I am still not sure whether this device even supports Diseqc 1.2/URSALS so a motorised dish might turn out to not even be an option.

With regards to languages - I speak fairly good German (by no means fluent) and am trying to get my basic French up to a better level. I also have a three year old and would love him to start with foreign languages - subject to my research as to whether this is actually a viable way of learning.

The more I think about it, the more I am tempted to run one of the feeds to a tri-ouptut DiSeQc switch. I can connect one output back to my Sky Minidish LNB and then connect the other two to a second satellite with two LNBs, pointing at two of the other big satellites - 19.2e and 13e.
 
I have 28.2E, 19.2E and 13E with three LNBs on a Z1 dish mounted on a cross boom. You will need slimline LNBs for 19 and 13 though as the separation is not that great. With two standard Sky LNBs, you can just manage 28 and 19 with them touching. One of the cables from 28 is connected directly to my box and the other through a DiSeQc switch with 19 &13.
Location: South coast near Hastings.
 
Add an additional 80cm dish, with 28.2e, 19.2e and 13d feeds on it or
Add a fully motorised 80cm dish.

Multi LNB works, but only really if you want specific channels/packages or you need to use multiple sats at the same time, but it's extremely limiting.

Motorised is a whole different game... There is so much more out there between 46e and 30w (and more for some installs) with lots of FTA channels and subscriptions to explore if you fancy. Plus broadcast feeds to receive too.

You do see posts from people getting bored of multi LNB as per Logi above, you'll struggle to find that from motor users.

As per above look at Pedros site Purplesat and search the forum, there's a wealth of info on here to read.

It will help if you know more than one language.

It probably would, but that implies there is little English content around the arc and that is not true.
 
Last edited:
I don't do implications! :D
He's already looked at Purplesat and no doubt will again.
 
Last edited:
Thank you all.

I guess my first port of call is going to be to first of all work out whether my device actually supports a motorised dish.

Are any of you familiar enough with the Digibit R1 to know whether it does or not (or whether it is even possible to retrospectively add it)?
 
The setting up menu should tell you.
Look where it says how to fix a satellite connection.
 
...

Are any of you familiar enough with the Digibit R1 to know whether it does or not (or whether it is even possible to retrospectively add it)?

It doesn't look like it can do anything like controlling a motorised satellite system or you'd expect them to have included it in the specifications. It may be possible to add motorised satellite, but I'd expect you'd need a regular satellite receiver to do that & then allow the sat-ip device to use the satellite the motorised dish is then pointing to ... but then you'd probably get blown away by the motorised satellite system & just use it direct & relegate the sat-ip.
 
Last edited:
Thank you.

The more I read up on this subject, the more I am becoming convinced that the obvious choice for me is to just go with a proper satellite receiver - seems like so much less hassle and there seem to be so many benefits.

What sort of box should I be looking at, do you think?
 
Last edited:
There's lots of receivers, the Technomate TM5402HD M3 or TMF3/5 are very popular receivers with enthusiasts & the general public, they are very intuitive, easy & slick to use for satellite & especially on motorised satellite systems.

Then there's a massive market based on the E2 or Enigma 2 Linux OS, loads of manufacturers making boxes to work on the E2 OS.. different price/ quality / feature levels & loads of 3rd party support, especially for the most popular models & SW support is as important. Not as intuitive or slick & they usually require an E2 learning curve before you get the most out of them unless they are really well set up already & they can look very flash with decent graphics. The E2 boxes should blow receivers like the TM5402 out of the water, but they fall down on intuitive slick sw & many important areas that are easy on a 5402 but are definitely not easy on an E2 OS box or can't be done, basically down to the way the original OS was written & adopted across the industry & can't seemingly be altered by 3rd party programmers, but the E2 boxes can do far more in so many areas & tend to get used slightly differently. Different people like one or the other. I'd guess you'd favour E2, but I've had plenty of IT / network pro's favour the 5402.... both is best IMO.
 
An E2 box can have multiple tuners in both type and number, and would then allow the ability to use a motorised dish/es alongside fixed ones. The internal hard disk can easily be shared over your LAN for your clients or you can record to a NAS instead. They can be controlled via web interface and can stream live tv to pcs/phones/tablets. There is a learning curve but if you can

A TM cannot do this and records video in a slightly odd format which isn't the easiest to work with... there are convertors but results are very mixed in my experience and I found it was just easiest to playback directly on the TM. However, it does do some things very well, such as soft cams and feed hunting.

As Pedro says, both is best. :D
 
Brilliant - thanks so much for that, Pedro.

Off to do a bit of research on sat receivers.
 
Thanks Kev - based upon my current setup, I think that the E2 is going to be the route I go down.

Really great option that you picked up on, in terms of recording directly to my NAS. I love the flexibility of that.
 
An E2 box can have multiple tuners in both type and number, and would then allow the ability to use a motorised dish/es alongside fixed ones. The internal hard disk can easily be shared over your LAN for your clients or you can record to a NAS instead. They can be controlled via web interface and can stream live tv to pcs/phones/tablets. There is a learning curve but if you can

A TM cannot do this and records video in a slightly odd format which isn't the easiest to work with... there are convertors but results are very mixed in my experience and I found it was just easiest to playback directly on the TM. However, it does do some things very well, such as soft cams and feed hunting.

As Pedro says, both is best. :D

I can't think of problems with recordings made on the latest technomates .. they usually run on most smart tvs, I think I've run them on E2 boxes. . Might be some differences. . Hhmm have to do some tests when i get back to the office.

I can list loads of good and bad points on both but not recording and editing recordings
 
I have been doing some more research and am pretty fascinated by FBC tuners.

Early days yet but I have narrowed my choice to either:

GigaBlue UHD Quad 4K - GigaBlue UHD Quad 4K | GigaBlue

or

VU+Solo4K - VU Plus

They are pretty evenly matched and both appear to do exactly what I am after.

Which would you go with, if at all?
 
Totally agree - apart from, as you say, there being no FTA UHD content, my TV and amp don't support it in any event.

My looking for an E2 box is completely independent of any 4k capability - it is annoying as I am almost certainly paying a bit of a premium for a feature that I am never going to use.
 
Consider picking up a Vu+ Duo2, they have dropped in price considerably now and are well supported along with being more or less bomb proof.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom