Alternatives to Freeview for FTA

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Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#196787 12-Jun-2016 19:55

I am technology impaired by choice, and despise not having options. Hence I have been doing research into all the different satellites and making sure I can access the programmes I want.
I have a Strong STB and sky dish. Using blindscan I have a multitude of programmes come up but they have dollar signs attached. Would a smartcard solve this?
If so, where do I go to get one?

Thanks guys and gal's

wellygary

8328 posts

Uber Geek

#1570658 12-Jun-2016 20:05

That will be a small outfit known as SkyTV who are on the same satellite :)

Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1570674 12-Jun-2016 20:16

Bugger

How come only sky programmes have come up? Am I doing something wrong?

Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1570677 12-Jun-2016 20:31

wellygary: That will be a small outfit known as SkyTV who are on the same satellite :)

How come only sky channels are coming up? Am I doing something wrong?

Oblivian

7300 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1570704 12-Jun-2016 20:51

Its where we are on the planet. With a 45-90cm dish pointing where it is, we get Optus D3, C1

Get a larger dish or change the offset, you get D2 at 152deg.

Go to C band or 4ft+ and you will be able to see the horizon sats with more overseas programming. But not a lot of english stuff

RunningMan

8956 posts

Uber Geek

#1570709 12-Jun-2016 20:52

Almost all the channels receivable in NZ from that satellite are broadcast by Sky. The Freeview ones will be in there too, but they're obviously not the ones you are looking for.

Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1570720 12-Jun-2016 21:19

Oblivian:
Its where we are on the planet. With a 45-90cm dish pointing where it is, we get Optus D3, C1

Get a larger dish or change the offset, you get D2 at 152deg.

Go to C band or 4ft+ and you will be able to see the horizon sats with more overseas programming. But not a lot of english stuff

Okay, I can't get quality on c1 or d3 but can get d1 and d2.
Supposedly we are supposed to be able to get Eulstat but again no quality.
Same with Asiasat but that's because I am in a valley surrounded by ranges.

So I suppose I need to find a cheap provider.

Thank you for your help.

Oblivian

7300 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1570723 12-Jun-2016 21:24

Looking at it the wrong way. All those sats are inline with each other in the sky and visible from the default sky dish. Changing the config in a STB to a different bookmarked satellite without moving or changing the LNB settings is essentially useless. They're just a guide for if you have a motor/moving dish so it can rotate etc.

Blind scan will over-rule this and show you every transponder on all of them as long as the LNB head settings are set for at least one of those bookmarked ones. What you see is what you get without moving to a larger dish and LNB. Standard SD freeview will be there, but you sound to be expecting more, Which you won't get without expendature

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Oblivian

7300 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1570725 12-Jun-2016 21:26

http://www.lyngsat.com/Optus-D1.html

Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1570732 12-Jun-2016 21:40

Oblivian:
Looking at it the wrong way. All those sats are inline with each other in the sky and visible from the default sky dish. Changing the config in a STB to a different bookmarked satellite without moving or changing the LNB settings is essentially useless. They're just a guide for if you have a motor/moving dish so it can rotate etc.

Blind scan will over-rule this and show you every transponder on all of them as long as the LNB head settings are set for at least one of those bookmarked ones. What you see is what you get without moving to a larger dish and LNB. Standard SD freeview will be there, but you sound to be expecting more, Which you won't get without expendature

Ah okay.
I would just watch the channels I want online, but because of my location I would have to get Satellite data which is horrendously expensive.

I suppose I need to decide if I want to spend money on data or on pay tv. Ideally I want to be able to access UKTV and BBC World. Only problem is once the rescue dogs and goat's have drained my bank account there isn't much left. Time to put the buggers to work I think.

Oblivian

7300 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1570737 12-Jun-2016 21:49

Time for a 3M dish..

http://www.freetv.co.nz/channels.html Opens the world up to Intelsat and some of the UK programming

Mousepaws

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1570750 12-Jun-2016 22:10

Looks like a good idea Oblivian. However that takes us back to the original problem of needing Smartcards to access channels. There isn't a subscription cost but most use the cards.

Also through all my research it appears NZ likes to block channels that are used by subscription services.

Have looked at Dishtv, so they may have cards too.

Thank you for all your help.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

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Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#1570808 13-Jun-2016 07:21

Mousepaws:
Also through all my research it appears NZ likes to block channels that are used by subscription services.

I think you're reading a few too many conspiracy sites. You can't "block" a channel. Most channels that exist on DVB-S are encrypted for one reason or another.

At the end of the day you're not magically going to come across hundreds of free channels with a satellite dish if that's what you're expecting.

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18663 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1570828 13-Jun-2016 09:01

From my location in Hawke's Bay I get three satellites without problem and good quality on an old 80cm Sky dish: D1, D2, Intelsat19. As has been pointed out, most of the interesting stuff is scrambled. I don't rotate the dish, just offset the LNBs. For unscrambled channels D1 is just Freeview plus the occasional feed. D2 has the most choice, mainly religious and some foreign public senders but also Russia Today. Intelsat19 is interesting for the English-language news channels Euronews, France TV, and I think the South Korean channel. That's about it these days.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

allio

885 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1570883 13-Jun-2016 10:55

Unless you have a particular interest in one of the foreign channels on D2 (ie. you're from there or have family from there), in my experience there is absolutely nothing worth watching on that satellite.