[TelstraClear] Free to Air - without the Saturn decoder box?

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › [TelstraClear] Free to Air - without the Saturn decoder box?

burtz

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#6629 10-Feb-2006 13:31

We have Saturn Broadband and TV. We want to just get the free to air channels but Telstra doesn't offer the Sky type $18.29 decoder rental only for free to air channels. Does anyone know if we carry on with the Broadband and tell them we want to stop the TV and they take away the decoder will the free to air channels still come down the cable, or can they disconnect tv independently of the broadband?

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#28157 10-Feb-2006 14:55

Even if the signal is still there on your line, how did you propose to decode the signal without a decoder?

burtz

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#28158 10-Feb-2006 15:00

You don't need a decoder for the Free to Air Channels

bcourtney

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#28159 10-Feb-2006 15:04

ahh, i didn't know that. With the way that TCL handle Saturn TV i reckon that there is a good chance that the signal will still be there on the line for you. Before upgrading to Digital, i was still receiving movie and sports channels through the line even after cancelling them about 8 months prior (and not paying for them).

I'm guessing they will simply get you to return the decoder and that's all they will worry about!!

sbiddle

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#28163 10-Feb-2006 15:23

The simple answer is yes. If you do not have a decoder you can simply plug the coax straight into your TV and receive the FTA analogue channels - 1,2,3,4,Prime, Maori TV and Saturn weather.

Saturn don't necessarily approve of this but at the end of the day a lot of people do it and I know of people in poor coverage areas who have Saturn TV and even had the installer hook up their system this way (ie 1 TV in the house that has the Saturn box all the others just have the cable hooked up from the splitter so they get clear FTA channels).

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#28166 10-Feb-2006 15:32

That's right... When I moved into my current house a few years ago I just plugged the coax cable into my TV and had perfect reception. A couple of days later I asked Saturn to install a decoder for cable TV, phone and a cable modem (I have been using their services for 6 years or so)...

lchiu7

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#28250 12-Feb-2006 11:45

sbiddle: The simple answer is yes. If you do not have a decoder you can simply plug the coax straight into your TV and receive the FTA analogue channels - 1,2,3,4,Prime, Maori TV and Saturn weather.

Saturn don't necessarily approve of this but at the end of the day a lot of people do it and I know of people in poor coverage areas who have Saturn TV and even had the installer hook up their system this way (ie 1 TV in the house that has the Saturn box all the others just have the cable hooked up from the splitter so they get clear FTA channels).

With the old analogue boxes, you had to split the signal coming in from the street, one into your TV, the other into your cable box since the cable box, once it had unscrambled the signal, only output that channel on its RF output. With the new digital cable boxes, the entire cable signal is passed through the box so all you need to do is patch the output from the cable box into your TV. Then you can tune into all the FTA channels (also Saturn weather) on your TV and also the one unscrambled signal that your box has selected.

But there is one caveat to this. It's better to view the unscrambled output from the cable box via the AV inputs since the umscrambled signal via the cable box is only is mono - you lose the NICAM stereo

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Mutly

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#28285 13-Feb-2006 09:20

lchiu7:
But there is one caveat to this. It's better to view the unscrambled output from the cable box via the AV inputs since the umscrambled signal via the cable box is only is mono - you lose the NICAM stereo

I'm not sure this is the case. I am running the coax from the back of my TCL digital decoder into my HTPC and get full NICAM surround...

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lchiu7

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#28310 13-Feb-2006 13:35

You will for the FTA channels that are coming in untouched via the cable box. But for the scrambled channel I would be surprised if you got NICAM stereo since it means the box would have to basically unscramble the signal, and somehow remodulate the NICAM stereo onto the signal before it went out. My experience is only in passing - when I choose tune my TV to the channel that the cable box is outputting, it always notes the audio is mono but for the FTA channels it says stereo. I suspect the same would apply for teletext too though I haven't consciously checked. TT works fine on the FTA channels but if it's a channel that's getting processed by the cable box, not so sure

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axion

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#28564 15-Feb-2006 18:13

Yeah the signal is definatly still there. I was talking to a guy about a month or so ago who got his cable disconnected + tv and everything, he had another cable modem of his own hooked it up, put in IP's and everything and was getting free net. Aswell as free every channel TC offers (decoding through computer). I don't really approve of this since well I pay but yeah it can be done. :P

apteryx

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#29122 22-Feb-2006 21:32

Yes, this works. I was an unbeliever; how can a digital signal get put into an RF input and work on an analogue TV? But, the previous owners had installed Saturn TV, and even left a cable. With a threaded to normal RF input adaptor ($3.98 from Dick Smith) this gives access to 1, 2, 3, 4, Prime, Maori and Saturn weather. Excellent!

DjShadow

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#29571 1-Mar-2006 10:51

Thats the setup I've used. Being in Wainuiomata where the FTA signals from Kaukau are weak, pluging in Saturn to pickup the FTA channels only works a gem, almost crystal clear!
Sky TV change to do the same thing, like $18ish a month for FTA channels only through digital or can get prime tv only for free.

sbiddle

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#29579 1-Mar-2006 12:29

apteryx: Yes, this works. I was an unbeliever; how can a digital signal get put into an RF input and work on an analogue TV? But, the previous owners had installed Saturn TV, and even left a cable. With a threaded to normal RF input adaptor ($3.98 from Dick Smith) this gives access to 1, 2, 3, 4, Prime, Maori and Saturn weather. Excellent!

The signal is not digital, it's analogue. Saturn now run both Digital & Analogue TV signals over cable.

DjShadow

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#31259 22-Mar-2006 08:58

Possible OT, but, has anyone else with Analouge Saturn noticed that TV3 is no longer in Nicam Stereo? Yet all the others (TV1,2, C4 and Prime) are still in Stereo....

paradoxsm

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#31276 22-Mar-2006 11:57

When is saturn going to expand it's footprint? especially with upgradong to digital.

when every home has fibre to the front door, it'll be a wonderful day.

lchiu7

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#31281 22-Mar-2006 12:28

It would get over the LLU problems! Maybe something like this

http://www22.verizon.com/FiOSForHome/channels/FiOS/root/about_FiOS.asp

I doubt if TCL has the finances to do it though. However I also see AT&T is rolling out something called LightSpeed which is the same - fibre to the home

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/h/wellycbd PM me and mention GZ to get a 15% discount and no AirBnB charges.

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