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bazzer

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#34811 29-May-2009 17:02
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I know it's a bit of a subjective topic, but my mate is looking at getting Freeview.


His current VHF/UHF aerials are a bit stuffed, he had an aerial buy come out and tell him as much and quoted $900 to install new aerials/cable/amplifier etc.  Seems a bit pricey, so we're trying to figure out the Easiest/Cheapest/Best way for him to get Freeview.


Option A) DVB-S.  He doesn't have a dish, so would need to install one of those and find the satellite somehow but that's a pretty cost effective option, since the receivers are generally a bit cheaper, right?  He's recently run RG6 to his aerials so I suppose he can reuse that?


Option B) DVB-T.  His reception is pretty average, but the UHF might be OK.  I took my STB around and I think the picture was OK, maybe a bit of pixellation here and there.  Might improve with the VHF taken out of the equation?  Otherwise UHF areial is not too bad (cheaper/easier than dish?) and as I said he's already got new RG6 run so that's OK.  Also means he can keep Prime (although his Prime reception is a bit rubbish currently).


So what decision needs to be made?  Well, he wants TV in two rooms (at least) so that will require boxes for each TV, therefore Option A is looking good.  The problem is the whole set up of the satellite dish.  Is it easy enough to do on one's own?  He's pretty handy.  Do you need a satellite finder, or can you get by with the built-in functions of the STB?


He quite likes the idea of HD and the UHF aerial might be OK so maybe it’s worth going down that track?


What does everyone reckon?  He’ll probably do it himself, but is anyone here an aerial/dish guy that can help him out if he gets into trouble setting everything up?  He’s in the Howick/Pakuranga area.  Is $900 really too much for what this other guy was suggesting to do?


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Nety
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  #219667 30-May-2009 08:40
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With the massive drop in quality on DVB-S now (see here) I would spend the extra on a DVB-T STB for sure. If he has already run a new cable just get rid of the VHF aerial and the splitter and buy a new aerial appropriate for the location.







Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64



sbiddle
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  #219673 30-May-2009 09:11
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$900 for an aerial install is crazy - that is assuming it's not including the price of the STB's.


bazzer

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  #219793 30-May-2009 13:29
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I'm pretty sure it didn't include STBs, but I might be wrong. Might've included a new run of cable to the different TVs but still I thought it was on the high side. I'll check it out with him, and let him know about the DVB-S stuff. Is it really that bad? I sort of told him that HD might not be worth it on his TVs, because the quality of DVB-S was so good. Oops! Since I'm on DVB-T I haven't really followed that thread.

Maybe he should just get Sky installed?

I think DVB-T is the way to go, but it would be a bummer to get the STB and everything and find that his location is not that great for signal. At least with satellite you're pretty guaranteed a signal.



sonicpro
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  #220648 1-Jun-2009 22:43
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I'm in the same area. DVB-T and DVB-S are both fine. UHF pointed at Waitura, sat pointed at sky tower I think. Both the UHF antenna and sat dish were installed by sky tv ages ago. Prime tv reception is crap from here but Freeview HD is great, just using a couple of cheap no name dvb-t usb sticks and dvbviewer.

Nety
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  #220791 2-Jun-2009 12:04
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sonicpro: I'm in the same area. DVB-T and DVB-S are both fine. UHF pointed at Waitura, sat pointed at sky tower I think.


Ah you gave me a laugh on a Tuesday morning.. Sat would be pointed at.. a satellite (D1 for Freeview)







Media centre PC - Case Silverstone LC16M with 2 X 80mm AcoustiFan DustPROOF, MOBO Gigabyte MA785GT-UD3H, CPU AMD X2 240 under volted, RAM 4 Gig DDR3 1033, HDD 120Gig System/512Gig data, Tuners 2 X Hauppauge HVR-3000, 1 X HVR-2200, Video Palit GT 220, Sound Realtek 886A HD (onboard), Optical LiteOn DH-401S Blue-ray using TotalMedia Theatre Power Corsair VX Series, 450W ATX PSU OS Windows 7 x64

sonicpro
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  #221798 4-Jun-2009 21:16
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Of course not at the sky tower itself. But in the direction of it.

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