SKY dish for FreeView

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FatFurryGuy

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#139277 3-Feb-2014 14:47

A friend has new telly with FreeView built in and wants to get rid of Sky. I plugged the Sky cable in the telly (with an adapter to go from the F81 into the telly’s coax connection).

The autotune function can find no channels – implying there is no signal. The LNB on the dish has an oval cover, so I assumed it would be a straight swap – have I missed something?

B1GGLZ

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#979429 3-Feb-2014 14:55

Yes.
You can't plug a satellite dish into the TV because the TV doesn't have a satellite tuner.
You need a UHF antenna.

CYaBro

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#979430 3-Feb-2014 14:55

Yes you have missed something. :D
The Freeview tuners built into TVs are UHF NOT satellite tuners.
You will need a UHF antenna on the roof or purchase a satellite freeview STB.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

xpd

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#979438 3-Feb-2014 15:10

As the others have mentioned..... but also ensure you can get a good FV signal via UHF where the TV is. Might only be DVB-S available.
Check the coverage here : http://www.freeviewnz.tv/coverage.aspx

XPD / Gavin

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FatFurryGuy

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#979439 3-Feb-2014 15:12

DUH! Thanks guys, i just assumed when they said FreeView it would be a sat tuner.

Thanks for the speedy replies.

trig42

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#979473 3-Feb-2014 15:46

You are not the first, and will not be the last to make that assumption.

I think they should have named them differently. Say FreeSat and FreeView?

Buzz Bumble

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#979490 3-Feb-2014 16:17

trig42:
I think they should have named them differently. Say FreeSat and FreeView?

More like "ExpensiveSat" and "ExpensiveView" ... all this forced upgrading certainly is not "free". :-(

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turb

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#979622 3-Feb-2014 19:03

This thread has brought up a good point.

Why isn't sat freeview built into TVs?

Is it too difficult?

Is it because everyone else uses a different system?

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RunningMan

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#979649 3-Feb-2014 19:17

turb:
Why isn't sat freeview built into TVs?

I was looking at specs for one of the major brand name TVs last week (can't remember which - doh!) and it was a list of generic specs with yes/no next to each. The list contained DVB-T and DVB-S tuners, so presumably there brand name TVs out there with DVB-S tuners.

I suspect that a TV would have one or the other though, not both, and as DVB-T is supposed to be the primary signal, it's the obvious tuner to include. Given that the DVB-S broadcast is only 576i and poor bitrate, it doesn't do justice to most of the TVs available now (unless you are using an external BD player etc) so manufacturers wouldn't want their TVs to get a reputation for poor picture quality...

Spyware

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#979680 3-Feb-2014 20:09

FatFurryGuy: DUH! Thanks guys, i just assumed when they said FreeView it would be a sat tuner.

Thanks for the speedy replies.

How can you be so unenlightened, may I ask why someone without the slightest clue is in charge of TV service provision?? Have you ever heard of DVB-T before??

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alasta

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#979740 3-Feb-2014 21:57

turb: This thread has brought up a good point.

Why isn't sat freeview built into TVs?

Is it too difficult?

Is it because everyone else uses a different system?

It would be great if they did. Before I shifted to terrestrial I tried two different satellite receiver boxes and they were both terrible, and I couldn't find any other suitable ones on the market. I'm sure the mainstream electronic brands could do it a lot better.

Jaxson

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#979821 3-Feb-2014 23:14

From memory it was a sales numbers thing, which assumed most people in NZ wouldn't use the satellite side of things. Panasonic actually offered a satellite tuner in one of it's models, but not the spec released here in NZ!

Basically if you can get freeview HD/UHF/Terrestrial/Landbased then that's the one you should aim for. It supports HD content and supports 5.1 channel sound. I say supports because the content has to be sourced in this format, and broadcast on one of the only 3 channels to actually be in HD on freeview HD...

Satellite really is the poor cousin, but definitely has it's place if you're outside a UHF coverage area.

As for expensive, a basic UHF aerial in the region of $50 and I don't think that's actually too bad really. However, in a lot of cases people can't install these themselves, or don't have quality RG6 cable installed, so it can add up. Actually, if you do have a satellite dish installed, and don't intend to use it, you can re use that exact same bit of cable by simply putting a UHF aerial on it instead. (Assumes the placement is useful and you have enough slack to fit etc, but it's worth mentioning if the rest of your VHF setup is rubbish. Alternatively keep the satellite dish and simply buy an $80 satellite receiver from the warehouse.

Personally I agree about the name confusion. Quite a bit of difference between HD ready and Full HD also. Freeview Satellite would have been pretty simple to implement as a branding term, and Freeview UHF, or Freeview HD if you must, maybe a combo of Freeview HD UHF, or how about Freeview Aerial instead? But hey, that's why they get paid the big dollars right?