mm, satellite TV...

[Guest]

spect lots of you have lovely satellite TV. Oh yes you do. How does it work then? Do you get a "decoder" box? And can this be disconnected and taken elsewhere? Would a "paid for" decoderwork inthis country and in the south France too? Not too interested in "chipping" stories, as Homer will put his foot down.

 

[Guest]

I don't think you can move the decoder around since it has to be plugged into an agreed phone line so that big brother can see what you are watching-and so he can charge you for all those pay per view things that you didnt want but your 3 year old selected anyway!!

 

[BarryD]

Since when has a 3 year old had any interest in the Red Hot channels? Sounds like a feeble excuse to me Mark.

Barry D.

 

[ari]

"Television: friend, mother, lover" - Homer Simpson.

 

[Guest]

Re: does it need a phone line? Markc?

I can't have it needing a landline to connect into. Whjats this Pace stuff?

 

[markc]

Re: does it need a phone line? Markc?

No, only if you agree to the subsidised 'box'. The box is subsidised by Open - the on-line TV services and under the terms of the subsidisation, the consumer has to have the ability to make on-line purchases through the telephone line. This only lasts a year, so if you already have one, after 12 months you can remove the phone connection.

M

 

[markc]

Re: does it need a phone line? Markc?

oh, and Pace make the boxes

http://www.pace.co.uk/index.asp

very helpful folk

M

 

[byron]

Not so, I am not and never have been plugged in to the phone line. When you first sign up for the cheapo set you do sign to say you will plug in for the 1st year. I didn't they range me several times but didn't do anything. If you have your box on the boat and of course the aerial it will work in Europe with your card, the sat recognises the card, not where it is.

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www.education-jobs.co.uk
www.alexander-advertising.co.uk

 

[markc]

depends on where you are and the size of your dish, and what transponders you are picking up from - in the UK we can use a mini-dish, in southern europe you need a bigger one. Some footprints miss off the bottom of Spain for example. There must be an expert company in this area?

M

 

[Guest]

mark, can u tell me EXACTLY wot thing to buy from Pace. That black box dvb summink? there's sevral boxes. If I buy the cheaoyt job, signto say ooh yes I will put the phone in (tho it's miles away) and then not put the phone in and sneak of with the lot to france? will them plonk adish on the house for uk use?

 

[markc]

You need one of their DVB (digital video broadcasting) boxes. Essentially, Pace will not sell you a subsidised box - these just come from the high street. Also buy a dish and LNB - Pace should be able to advise on which one. With this set-up you will be able to watch all free to air programming. If you want to see 'pay' TV in any region then all you need to do is to subscribe to that service, they'll send you a card which goes in the front slot and, hey presto. However, you will not be able to subscribe to Sky with a non-UK address as they only pay the programme makers for UK broadcast, so can't 'sell' to Spain for example. But, you can subscribe from home. Just tell them you have a digibox pay the ££ per month and they'll send you a card. You can plug this card into any digibox, anywhere that is within the footprint and you can see the programmes you have subscribed to.

DO NOT buy a subsidised box that needs to be plugged into a phone socket - when you subscribe they will need the phone number that it is attached to and the system will call it up every now and then to check that it's still on line. If it isn't, you get a hefty bill!!!

M

 

[Guest]

Re: nerly there

than ks. The black one is the dvb thing. Now, the free to air channels - sactly which are those? CNN andnickleodeon and sky1 I spect cos nobody wd pay for that lot wd they? Do tell, and thanx so far

 

[jfm]

Re: nerly there - details

markc presum you do not have to buy a dish. LS23 will have a motorised dish in a sphere on the radar arch. So all he needs to buy is a non-subsidised Pace-box wth a card slot in the front. Then he plugs the coax from the sphere into the Pace-box, and plugs the Pace-box into the tele, and shoves the card in the Pace-box, and hey presto, right?

 

[deejames]

In order to get a subsidised box and installation, you must agree to a connection between your STB (set-top-box) and your phone line for one year (although you don't have to use any of the subscription services). However, if you pay full price for your box, and get a free-to-air viewing card (from the BBC) you don't have to make any connections. Only problem with Sky is that you won't get ITV channels ...ITV has it's own DTT (Digital terrestrial TV) and won't pay Mr. Murdoch shedloads of money for access to his satellites.
Theoretically, you should not use your STB outside the UK, but once you have bought it, then nobody knows where it may have been taken.
Have a look at :
www.satellitesuperstore.com where there's lots of info, and where you can buy dishes which will work in incredibly expensive marinas in the Mediterranean, and www.retra.co.uk/digitaltv.htm where there's some other stuff.
Also, the BBC website (bbc.co.uk) has some useful info.
I wouldn't buy an integrated digital TV at the moment - it limits your options for the future, but I would get a widescreen TV, as digital TV is mostly designed for this format.

deejames

 

[Guest]

Re: cheers

I will check it out. Thanx

 

[markc]

Re: nerly there - details

Right! In answer to Matts question I'm not sure what free to air channels there are in all - Sky One is NOT free to air - stuff like CNN, BBC News, Euro Sport are. Many more chans are becoming part of a Sky package - recently for example was MTV. If I can be bothered I can remove my card and see what chans I am left with

M

 

[Guest]

Re: so..

1. If I buy an unsubsidised box and a cheapy package of sky (which come on a card) the installer man will put a dish outside and the box inside.

2. If I buy a an unsubsidisied box, no pakage at all, I won't get a card, but can nip off to france with it to watch BBC1 and CNN (which is two more channels than we can get now in France =0)

And the box we are talking about is a DVB thing, as I understand.

 

[BarryD]

Re: so..

Matt don't be a skinflint - buy the thing from Dixons/Web get the free install etc.. and 3 months of everthing (good for all the movies over Christrmas) then decide what to watch - Discovery and SailTV are nice. Take the box to the boat and hook it up to a dish the nice Italians have installed for you.

If they can't dial you up to check you're telephone service is plugged in don't fret tell them a short person unplugged it - and then just plug it in when you're at home. You only have to stall them for 12 months.

Result: Cheap Sky at home and on the boat, you're a cool Dad again, and even cooler in the med when you can watch CNN / and Simpsons.

Barry D.

 

[deejames]

Re: so..

Your Sky box won't work without a card - even for the free-to-air stuff. But ... what the man in Dixons probably won't tell you - either because he doesn't know or because he's on a commission for Sky subscriptions - is that you can get a card from the BBC which will get you the free-to-air services for no money. (except ITV)
Ondigital (the ITV digital terrestrial service) which comes through your normal TV aerial needs a box, but doesn't need a card and doesn't need to be plugged into a phone socket. Obviously, it won't work in Spain.
There's some very helpful stuff on the new Digital television group website - www.freetoview.co.uk.

An alternative is to get a bit of kit to turn a PC into a digital receiver - the US company Hauppauge has released the Nova -T USB DVB-T (for around £150.00). Not only can you watch TV on your PC, but you can also record to hard-disk so you won't need a VHS machine cluttering up the saloon.
So ...... you could be posting to this forum at the same time as watching News24 in quarter-screen mode. You'll need a Pentium 3 or higher, a free USB slot, 64Mb of RAM, 64Mb of hard disk for the MPEG2 software decoder, a graphics card, sound card, CD ROM drive and Internet Explorer 5.0 However - I think this ONLY works with DTT services (ie NOT satellite / Sky).

Confused ? Not surprising that the majority of the UK population still thinks that "digital" TV is what you have to pay for, and "analogue" TV is what comes free (once you have paid your licence fee).

The third alternative is cable, which gives you true interactivity ('cos there's a return path) and lots of choice. From reading the forums, I gather you have a largish boat. Why not put one of those huge drums on the front with a few miles of fibre-optic cable on it, and then you could remain permanently connected wherever you went. Could also double up as a drogue in heavy weather ?

Cheers.

deejames

 

[ArthurWood]

Re: so..

Matt, I think you can get the pay-per-view stuff without the phone line, but if you eventually plug into a phone you will get a big bill for all those naughty movies!