alt.satellite.tv.europe Frequently Asked Questions
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From: MJ Ray Message-Id: 20081111@astefaq.towers.org.uk Expires: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:41:43 +0000 Newsgroups: alt.satellite.tv.europe Followup-To: alt.satellite.tv.europe Subject: alt.satellite.tv.europe FAQ (modified 2008-11-11 five is FTA) Summary: Basic equipment, other online resources, posting suggestions Archive-name: tv/european-satellite Last-modified: 2008/11/11 Posting-Frequency: monthly URL: http://mjr.towers.org.uk/comp/astefaq.txt Copyright: 2008 MJ Ray. Permission granted to copy whole or in part. ------------------------------ Subject: 1. Introduction This is a compilation of some Frequently Asked Questions from the alt.satellite.tv.europe newsgroup. It covers basic equipment, posting to the group and other online resources in the questions: 2. What do I need to get European satellite TV? 3. What does "on 19e" (or similar) mean? 4. How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's ITV 1? 4a. How is FTA satellite TV different to Freesat? 5. Can I use my old Sky/Premiere analogue dish? 6. What are FTA, FTV, CI, DiSEqC, ...? 7. What extra equipment may I need for pay-TV? 8. What are the posting rules for alt.satellite.tv.europe? 9. What's the charter of alt.satellite.tv.europe? w. What other resources are recommended? Please send updates for this FAQ to the address in the "From" line. Other FAQs posted to alt.satellite.tv.europe include: Sky Digital FAQ - http://skydigitalfaq.cjb.net/ HDTV FAQ - http://www.burnyourbonus.co.uk/HDTV/faq.html Sex on Satellite FAQ - http://www.sexontv.co.uk/faq.htm ------------------------------ Subject: 2. What do I need to get European satellite TV? There are basically three parts to the equipment: a. An antenna aimed at a satellite - often a dish with LNB - see advice about siting and aiming dishes (links below), b. some reception equipment - usually a "set-top box" - and c. something to display it on - a TV. Standard free-to-air (FTA) systems can be bought fairly cheaply from high street electronics stores and some DIY stores in most areas. Installing it yourself is fairly simple if you don't mind drilling holes, fitting cable connectors, waterproofing joints (self-amalgam tape!) and some trial-and-error in aiming the dish. For a particular country's stations, see lyngsat or digitalsat. ------------------------------ Subject: 3. What does "on 19e" (or similar) mean? Satellite positions are described as the longitude of the place on the equator that the satellite hovers above. 19e means 19.2 degrees east, which finds some Astra satellites about 35000km above the Congo basin, with many FTA German broadcasts. If your dish isn't aimed at it and you want to watch a channel on 19e, you need to move the dish, either manually or maybe with a motor or jack. A good signal meter (either on-screen or connected near the dish) and a compass is usually enough to aim a dish. Satellite signals can only be picked up within their transmission "footprint" so check coverage first. For channel frequencies and reception reports, see "What other resources are recommended?" ------------------------------ Subject: 4. How is satellite TV different to Sky? Where's ITV 1? BSkyB is one broadcaster on 28e that sells subscriptions. If you subscribe, you'll get a dish that's too small to receive much else, a Sky-branded receiver with built-in CAM, a viewing card, non-standard "digital text" software and all that installed for you. The Sky UK sets can be used to pick up other satellites, but aren't very good at it. A non-Sky satellite system could be used equally well with a dish aimed at another satellite, such as 19e for ARD/ZDF or 13e for RAI. Some systems can have added subscriptions, if you want. If you aim a non-Sky system at 28e, you can receive FTA channels (BBC, itv, Channel 4, five, BBC News, Sky News, Euronews, for example) which are "on Sky" but not encrypted. If you have a Sky receiver, Free To View cards are still available from Sky for a charge, but only get you fiver, fiveUS and Sky 3 in addition to the Free To Air channels. ITV 1 is not one channel: there are many regional variants of ITV 1, mostly very similar, but some (Scottish, Grampian, Channel and UTV) differ more and are not called ITV 1 in their channel name text on satellite. For the reasons why, see http://www.htw.info/ On 1 November 2005, ITV 4 launched but was not available on the Sky EPG at first (it could be added as an "other channel"). On the same day, other ITV channels became Free To Air instead of FTV. Any standard satellite system (including non-Sky) can view them. ------------------------------ Subject: 4a. How is FTA satellite TV different to Freesat? Freesat is a marketing programme for a free-to-air receiver that meets a particular specification which comprises essentially, DVB-S reception, an EPG and "digital text" services. For more information, see http://www.freesat.co.uk Opinions differ on whether the EPG, text and "ease-of-use" features are worth the limited choice of receivers. Also, channels such as five appeared on FTA receivers weeks before Freesat. ------------------------------ Subject: 5. Can I use my old Sky/Premiere analogue dish? Analogue (PAL, NTSC or Secam) and digital receivers differ, but can use similar antennas. If you have an analogue set, you don't need a new "digital dish", but maybe a modern LNB and re-aiming. See http://www.selkirkshire.demon.co.uk/analoguesat/raihelp.html ------------------------------ Subject: 6. What are FTA, CI, DiSEqC, ...? FTA is free-to-air, a programme which needs only a standard receiver, not any decryption equipment. FTV is "free-to-view", encrypted programmes that can only be decoded using a special receiver and a viewing card. No subscription is required and expired cards may work. See the Sky Digital FAQ in "Introduction" for more info on UK FTV channels. DVB-S is digital video broadcasting by satellite. It's similar to DVB-T (Freeview/digital terrestial) and DVB-C (digital cable), but most receivers only work on one. Each DVB-S transmission can hold many TV and radio programmes, show information, teletext and more. See http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/dvb.txt for details. DVB-S2 is the next generation standard, mainly used for HDTV. HDTV is High Definition TeleVision, aiming to give better pictures for modern bigger screens. See the FAQ listed in question 1. LNB is low noise block-downconverter, the bit on the end of the arm in front of the dish which collects the signal onto the cable. DiSEqC is Digital Satellite Equipment Control, which lets receivers control switches between LNBs (on one or more dishes), and later versions can control motors. USALS is the Universal Satellite Auto-Locator System, a way to aim a motorised dish just by telling the system its geographic location and the orbital position of the satellite. Works well for me. CAM is Conditional Access Module, a small device which decrypts channels. It usually needs a keycard, but some work without one. CI is Common Interface, which is a type of slot on the receiver, usually for putting a CAM into (such as Viaccess Red). ------------------------------ Subject: 7. What extra equipment may I need for pay-TV? To view satellite pay-TV, you may also need: a. a receiver with a spare CI slot and the right CAM; OR b. a receiver with the right built-in CAM; AND c. maybe a keycard from the seller. Some of the built-in CAMs aren't available for CI slots, which forces you to use a licensed built-in receiver (Sky does this). There are also CAMs which claim to support more than one system, but results seem to vary between packages. For more details, ask the sellers on lyngsat's "Packages" page. Many EU countries have nasty laws against getting pay-TV without paying, or even against discussing it. I think it sucks that the law props up inadequate technology while free trade in European television services isn't enforced, but that's the current situation. See private web forums and other newsgroups. ------------------------------ Subject: 8. What are the posting rules for alt.satellite.tv.europe? This group is old, its legs are grey and ears are gnarled! It also has a lot of British and English posters, so "daft" messages may be answered with humour or sarcasm. Don't worry about it: recover gracefully and you should get useful answers. If you "top-post/whole-quote" you may get complaints or be ignored, because it's harder to understand where your message fits and harder to edit into a reply. Please start with a trimmed quote. See http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?How_to_post If you are asking for help with equipment, please give relevant model names. For reception problems, please say which satellite/ frequency you are trying and where you are trying from. Adverts are tolerated, but I doubt many people act on them. As an alt group, there are few rules, but if you want useful replies, it helps to follow the local culture. ------------------------------ Subject: 9. What's the charter of alt.satellite.tv.europe? It was created for postings "All about European satellite tv" in 1993. In 1995, there was an attempt to remove it because of some group in rec.*, but the alt group continues... Everything in the rec group seems on-topic here, as well as feedhunting and other things that aren't often discussed. See ftp://ftp.isc.org/usenet/control/alt/alt.satellite.tv.europe.gz ------------------------------ Subject: w. What other resources are recommended? General help and advice: http://www.digitalsat.co.uk/ http://www.analoguesat.co.uk/ http://www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk/ http://www.odpm.gov.uk/ see Planning Advice, Installation of satellite Frequency listings, reception reports and news: http://www.lyngsat.com/ http://www.kingofsat.net/ http://www.flysat.com/ Related newsgroups: news:alt.satellite.tv news:alt.satellite.tv.crypt news:uk.tech.digital-tv
FAQ Changes and Satellite News (2006)
- 27 Nov
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Replaced satmania with satscan on my TV guides page.
- 8 Dec
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UK media regulator Ofcom released Ofcom sets Digital Switchover related licence conditions about the terrestial broadcast network, including a consultation on self-help relays.
Essentially, the public service station multiplexes (BBC Royal Charter, Digital 3 & 4 and Freeview, labelled 1, 2 and B on this list ) will be available from all current public analogue transmitters, but the commercial multiplexes (SDN/itv and National Grid Wireless, which are A, C and D on the list) only need to continue the current coverage. So, free-to-air satellite reception will still be better for radio, music and films in most current poor-DTT areas.
Comments
2007-09-15 (Permalink): Satellite TV commented:
"Wow, all that seems pretty complex to me. The U.S is so much more simple, we just chose Dish Network or DirecTV or some kind of cable and call it a day. Then again I don't know if thats a bad or a good thing."
That's a bad thing. Look at the situation: In the US, there seems to be very little free-to-air (FTA) satellite TV for most of the country, except PBS and religious channels. The main US FTA FAQ answers "Should I drop cable/Dish/DirecTV and switch to FTA?" with "Probably not."
I'd say "Probably yes" to similar questions in Europe, as long as you aren't dependent on one of the few incompatible pay-TV channels. Channels like MTV, Nick, TVEi and DW are all pay-TV in the US, but FTA in Europe. But if you're in the US, look on the bright side: Canada seems even more behind on this.
In Europe, you can still call whatever satellite broadcaster (such as Canal Satellite, Premiere or even Sky) and get a system installed if you choose, but you can also install your own. That's what my FAQ is about: giving people in "the land of the free TV" some starting info on how to do that.
Some broadcaster-supplied systems only really work well with one broadcaster's "approved" channels (Sky are particularly bad for that), are more expensive to upgrade than standard systems and don't give viewers the equipment to repair it when it breaks, which encourages them to keep paying the broadcaster's agents. Some of those agents do some pretty dishonest tricks when installing dishes, such as putting them far higher up than necessary, to discourage viewers from fixing it themselves and to advertise satellite TV to the neighbours.
It's pretty easy to install a standard satellite system... if you can put up a wall bracket and tune in a video, you can probably do it. Alternatively, there are independent installers who will do it for you, who might seem like they charge more than the broadcaster's agents, but remember that a good one won't keep charging you every month or try to sell stuff to you forevermore!
Comments are moderated (damn spammers) but almost anything sensible gets approved (albeit eventually). If you give a web address, I'll link it. I won't publish your email address unless you ask me to, but I'll email you a link when the comment is posted, or the reason why it's not posted.