Proposed MySky HD Bach setup - Any issues with my plan?

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surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#130654 23-Sep-2013 11:27

I want a cheap way to get mysky & freeview at the bach without dragging my decoder around the place.

Warehouse are doing a $110 dish package special today...

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/redalert/product/1762648

60cm DishTV satellite dish
Universal dish mount
11300 LNB
SF95 satellite meter for aligning your dish
10m of satellite quality coax cable with F connectors fitted

And, I can get a mysky/freeview receiver off trademe that accepts my 4500* mysky card -- $110.

NEW 2013 HDMI F5S SKYBOX Decoder
Freeview SKY(wth your Sky card)
Very good Sharp tuner delivers stable video in quality normally associated with Skys HD Mysky!
The F5 Skybox has HDMI, Scart (component) and composite outputs.
It records to a USB flash drive making it easy to transfer to your pc
It even lets you use some Sky cards(see photo, needs to be NZ4500) so you can have your Sky while away.
Fully compliant MPEG-4 H.264/AVC Main Profile Level 3 & High Profile Level 4.1
Fully compliant MPEG-2 MP@HL & MP@ML
Fully compliant MPEG-1 Layer I & II & III, Dolby Digital Audio(AC3)
Support MPEG-5
Support PVR(store in USB disk)
Support Electronic Program Guide(EPG) for 7 days
Blind scan
Multiple display mode: 1080p/1080i/720p/570p/576i/480p

So, for $220 and a bit of work, I can get a complete installation which allows me to view mysky too.

Are there any issues with this setup? I noticed the lnb is 11300 but sky use 10750 for new installations. Not sure if that is a prob.

Oblivian

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#901143 23-Sep-2013 11:57

That unit squeals of basic DVB-S Upscaling to me. Its odd to not mention DVB-S/S2 but just the MPEG format.. and for it to be $30 a unit on alibaba :)

Aren't most sky boxes using internal cards now, and only old non HD pace units still have a card out the front?

Mpeg5? heheh. Mheg5 maybe

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#901194 23-Sep-2013 13:14

Oblivian: That unit squeals of basic DVB-S Upscaling to me. Its odd to not mention DVB-S/S2 but just the MPEG format.. and for it to be $30 a unit on alibaba :)

Aren't most sky boxes using internal cards now, and only old non HD pace units still have a card out the front?

Mpeg5? heheh. Mheg5 maybe

I'm not so worried about upscaling performance since anything is going to be better than the static fuzzy picture we get at the moment.

As far as I know, all mysky HD/SD boxes have plug-in cards.

haywardb

84 posts

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Subscriber

#901319 23-Sep-2013 16:15

Aren't most sky boxes using internal cards now, and only old non HD pace units still have a card out the front?

I have a MySky+ and the Skycard is behind a flap on the front. Same on a friends MySky.

Oblivian

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#901378 23-Sep-2013 18:24

surfisup1000:

I'm not so worried about upscaling performance since anything is going to be better than the static fuzzy picture we get at the moment.

What I mean is, if its a S1 only unit. Your fuzzy pic might still pip it :) It may not be be very MySky-ish which utilises DVB-S2 TPs. Without seeing if its true S2 its could be using the crud low quality streams, which you can't make any more pretty no matter how good any upscaling is :)

More so if its freeview satelite for the FTA stuff. Theres multi streams of the same channels for regional ads and the quality is so so bad.

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#901398 23-Sep-2013 18:47

Oblivian:
surfisup1000:

I'm not so worried about upscaling performance since anything is going to be better than the static fuzzy picture we get at the moment.

What I mean is, if its a S1 only unit. Your fuzzy pic might still pip it :) It may not be be very MySky-ish which utilises DVB-S2 TPs. Without seeing if its true S2 its could be using the crud low quality streams, which you can't make any more pretty no matter how good any upscaling is :)

More so if its freeview satelite for the FTA stuff. Theres multi streams of the same channels for regional ads and the quality is so so bad.

Thanks, I'll ask the seller.

Oblivian

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#901406 23-Sep-2013 19:00

I did a quick search for it and found it from multiple Chinese wholesalers with the same descriptions copy pasted. Not very helpfull at all.

Seems to be SKy UK focused

Interestingly it also appears to be a fake/cloned unit too. So there are non legit ones out there. And their website fires you do junk unless you use the full link *sigh*

http://www.skybox.cc/proinfo.asp?id=264

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKYBOX-F5s-FREE-DELIVERY-Replacing-F3-F4-F5-Black-100-Original-w-Channel-List-/141031794456

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#901410 23-Sep-2013 19:15

I found some specs...I think it might be OK (DVB-S2). I might take a gamble with the trademe boxes. The sellers have good ratings.

Board configuration

396MHz MIPS CPU

128MB DDRII400 RAM

Memory Clock 198MHz

4MB Serial Flash

Single Tuner

DVB-S2 demodulator

Power Supply

Input 100V-240V 50/60Hz

Power Consumption

30W Max/1W Standby (it's optional by customer?s board)

RS232

For FW Upgrading

Standard Receiver Standard

DVB-S2 Standard (DTSI EN 302 307)

Input Frequency Range

950MHz~2150MHz

Input Signal Level

-25dBm ~ -65dBm

Demodulation

QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK

Transport Stream

MPEG-2 ISO/IEC 13818 Transport Stream Specification

MPEG Profile Level

MPEG-2 SD, MPEG-2 HD, H.264/AVC SD, H.264/AVC HD

LNB Power & Polarisation

Vertical +13.5V, Horizontal 18V, Current: MAX 500ma

Multi Satellite Receiving

22K switcher, DiSEqC1.0, DiSEqC1.1, DiSEqC1.2, USAL

Conditional Access System

1 CA card reader Slots

HDMI 1.3, Left/Right analog audio output(RCA)

Aspect Ratio

Auto, 16:9 Pillar box, 4:3 Pan & Scan, 4:3 Letter Box.

MPEG1 Layer I, MPEG1 Layer II, MPEG 1 Layer III, MPEG2, AC3.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

surfisup1000

5288 posts

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#903128 26-Sep-2013 14:52

Well, I bought this skybox F5s ....it is a sweet unit... user interface seems solid and good quality.

Got it for $110+postage.

MySky card works perfectly in the device.

I thought I'd have to configure the thing ... but , plugged all the cables in, switched on the tv, and it self configured and channels up and running in under 30 seconds (it set up freeview and sky channels in 1 hit).

Sky HD channels work well.

My only problem was i couldn't get the audio going --- stuffed around for a while before noticing the box has internal volume control and it is set to off by default.

This is a very cheap way to get sky/freeview at the bach. Just waiting for the sat. dish from the warehouse now. Should be fun to DIY this.