New Sat Freeview Setup Help

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NZCrusader

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Topic # 91576 15-Oct-2011 23:39

Hey guys, we are looking at replacing the bad VHF system on the house on the canterbury peninsula (freeview states that UHF reception is likely to be poor).

On the VHF can only get TV1 & 2.

1 is a tiny bit "fuzzy".

We are thinking about testing a UHF first before implementing a freeview satellite system, but as stated it is likely we will be going with sat.

It is a holiday home so we dont want to spend too much on gear.

My Questions:

Q: Does anyone know of a good package / kit (DIY) or places to get the gear at cheaper prices than standard retail ? (Local shops in Canterbury preferred, but would order from Auckland if was much cheaper)

Q: What is the difference between 60-90cm dishes ? (Apart from the obvious size)

Q: Is there any real difference in LNBs ( I notice some are twice the price ) ?

Q: Is there any difference in picture quality between a cheap receiver & an expensive one ?

Q: What receivers are good for the price (primarily looking for an HDMI port to connect to the TV as opposed to composite) ?

Q: For a short cable run (~20m max) will there be any noticeable difference between RG6 & RG11 ?

Q: I hear there are extra TV channels that you can get on satellite that arent on the freeview list SBS & some OZ channels ? How do I get those ?

I have only had experience setting up a Freeview Terrestrial at home which works fine on a 20-30m RG6 run using the old SKY UHF aerial.

Any tips or answers to the above questions would be most welcome. Cheers.

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richms

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Reply # 534008 16-Oct-2011 17:28

Q: Does anyone know of a good package / kit (DIY) or places to get the gear at cheaper prices than standard retail ? (Local shops in Canterbury preferred, but would order from Auckland if was much cheaper)

Q: What is the difference between 60-90cm dishes ? (Apart from the obvious size)

Gain, so the ability to get weaker signals (not a problem for freeview) or work better in heavy rain (seldom a problem with freeview)

Harder to mount, more prone to shifting in the wind.

Q: Is there any real difference in LNBs ( I notice some are twice the price ) ?

Performance, but price isnt really an indication.

Q: Is there any difference in picture quality between a cheap receiver & an expensive one ?

Not really, its bad off sat whatever gear you have. Some will upscale but from what I have seen they look about the same as cranking the sharpness on the TV up, ringing and all on edges.

Q: For a short cable run (~20m max) will there be any noticeable difference between RG6 & RG11 ?

No, as the noise comes from the LNB too, so you are just wasting money and making hasels with thicker cable that you wont easily be able to terminate

Q: I hear there are extra TV channels that you can get on satellite that arent on the freeview list SBS & some OZ channels ? How do I get those ?

Use a non approved box and let it scan the whole satillite, then delete all the ones that are not free to air.

I have only had experience setting up a Freeview Terrestrial at home which works fine on a 20-30m RG6 run using the old SKY UHF aerial.

Prepare for a disappointing picture then

Richard rich.ms

cyril7

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Reply # 534025 16-Oct-2011 17:56

Hi Rich has provided the answers but just a point, 60cm is the standard spec dish you dont need more, if correctly aligned you will only get the same rain fade as every other sky install which is a few minutes per year.

Dont use RG11 you only need RG6, 50m or even more is not out of the question before an amp is needed.

FreeView Shop has reasonable packages

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/freeview-starter-package-p-347.html

Cyril

Jaxson

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Reply # 534070 16-Oct-2011 20:23

richms:

Q: I hear there are extra TV channels that you can get on satellite that arent on the freeview list SBS & some OZ channels ? How do I get those ?

Use a non approved box and let it scan the whole satillite, then delete all the ones that are not free to air.

Or just make sure you select FTA only when you do your scans and it will only look for channels that aren't encrypted.

richms

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Reply # 534194 17-Oct-2011 10:14

When I did it that still got a hell of a lot of useless channels, ones which were neither picture or sound, but yeah, it would go a long way to removing the cruft that you cant watch.

You will also have to remove the multiple redundant versions of TV1 that the unapproved box will get when you scan tool.

Richard rich.ms

Jaxson

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Reply # 534195 17-Oct-2011 10:15

Hey but you pick up the SKY weather channel background music though!

NZCrusader

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Reply # 534519 17-Oct-2011 23:51

richms:

I have only had experience setting up a Freeview Terrestrial at home which works fine on a 20-30m RG6 run using the old SKY UHF aerial.

Prepare for a disappointing picture then

Nah, ours is great, no visible interference in the picture. Not far from sugarloaf either.
*Also after googling some pics of sky UHFs, ours isnt as old as some of those models on there.

The antenna looks very similar to this:

http://www.freeviewshop.co.nz/element-aerial-freeview-p-76.html

But anyways back to the sat setup for the house on the peninsula..

So can you please give me an example of a box that will work with freeview + obtain the extra channels ?

Also can you recommend an LNB ?

(In terms of performance of LNBs, what is that performance related to exactly ?)

Thanks for the replies guys.

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Oblivian

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Reply # 534520 18-Oct-2011 00:02

In general, Sat box WITHOUT freeview certification (or locked channels as the case may be)

Just watch out for the cheaper brands.. similar chassis with cheap guts.

trig42

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Reply # 534530 18-Oct-2011 06:33

Cheapest way to do it is get Sky installed (without a term contract) then cancel after a month. - might be about $150 - but that gets you the dish and the cable and installation.

Jaxson

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Reply # 534543 18-Oct-2011 08:11

NZCrusader:
richms:

I have only had experience setting up a Freeview Terrestrial at home which works fine on a 20-30m RG6 run using the old SKY UHF aerial.

Prepare for a disappointing picture then

Nah, ours is great, no visible interference in the picture. Not far from sugarloaf either.

Nah richms is referring to what you're going to get on the satellite service.

There's a whole page of options here
I have the Ultraplus 700 hdmi PVR thingy and it does what you want.
The official ones have a nice basic interface though and none of that weird rainbow graphics type stuff going on.

The Warehouse often does an approved $80 unit that can actually tune in non approved stations as well. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that, but I know the one farmers was selling does as my parents have it. At $80 it's a winner for simply watching only. You have to spend more to do things like record to usb, get hdmi output. All the receivers I'm talking about here only do DVB-S by the way, and you need to spend more to get HD capabilities.

Options are things like contacting Lars at the freeviewshop and he'll put you onto an lnb/receiver etc. Locally 'kiwisat' here at geekzone can help too. For freeview most lnb's will be fine as the radiation levels from that satellite are really strong.