Alan_Smith
New Member
I'm planning to spend quite some time in the Med. Can anyone tell me the equipment needed to receive UK TV channels (Sad eh!) and the cheapest method?
Uk TV reception in the Med
- Thread starter Alan_Smith
- Start date
Richard10002
Well-Known Member
Slingbox + broadband at home, (needs to be very reliable... we've moved from Orange to Zen), + wifi on board. This gets you all the Freeview channels.
Amazing, (but probably simple), technology.
might not be the cheapest, but it's the answer for us.
Otherwise it's a big dish.
Amazing, (but probably simple), technology.
might not be the cheapest, but it's the answer for us.
Otherwise it's a big dish.
Alan_Smith
New Member
Thanks Richard, though I'm not sure what the equipment is you refer to as I am a real novice to this. Are you in the main marina at Lagos? A good friend of mine and his wife have been there for the last year or so.
Richard10002
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Thanks Richard, though I'm not sure what the equipment is you refer to as I am a real novice to this. Are you in the main marina at Lagos? A good friend of mine and his wife have been there for the last year or so.
[/ QUOTE ]
berth N22 the bit away from the main block, near to the supermarket, (Pingo). I'm in Manchester at the moment, but return to lagos 21 march.
What's the name of your friends boat?
THE GIZMO
http://uk.slingmedia.com/page/home
£150 PC World
you get a box which you plug into your broadband and aerial, sky box, whatever. load the software on your laptop and make sure it works. take the laptop to the boat, (anywhere in world), connect to wifi, watch TV.
It has a built in Freeview decoder, so it doesnt need to be connected to anything at home but, if you connect to your Sky Box or whatever, the software has a facility to act as the remote control... havent tried this yet, but we watched UK TV for a week, (not 24/7), in Lagos in January.... amazing!
Cheers
Richard
Thanks Richard, though I'm not sure what the equipment is you refer to as I am a real novice to this. Are you in the main marina at Lagos? A good friend of mine and his wife have been there for the last year or so.
[/ QUOTE ]
berth N22 the bit away from the main block, near to the supermarket, (Pingo). I'm in Manchester at the moment, but return to lagos 21 march.
What's the name of your friends boat?
THE GIZMO
http://uk.slingmedia.com/page/home
£150 PC World
you get a box which you plug into your broadband and aerial, sky box, whatever. load the software on your laptop and make sure it works. take the laptop to the boat, (anywhere in world), connect to wifi, watch TV.
It has a built in Freeview decoder, so it doesnt need to be connected to anything at home but, if you connect to your Sky Box or whatever, the software has a facility to act as the remote control... havent tried this yet, but we watched UK TV for a week, (not 24/7), in Lagos in January.... amazing!
Cheers
Richard
charles_reed
Well-Known Member
There are many ways
of getting TV.
Using the internet as suggested, probably the most reliable.
Using satellite - most cruising liveaboards, I found, bought a 2nd hand set-top box in the UK and used that with a shoreside dish.
Whilst watching local foreign TV abroad is a great way of picking up the language, I have to agree that our broadcasts are a much higher general standard than other countries - so not so sad.
of getting TV.
Using the internet as suggested, probably the most reliable.
Using satellite - most cruising liveaboards, I found, bought a 2nd hand set-top box in the UK and used that with a shoreside dish.
Whilst watching local foreign TV abroad is a great way of picking up the language, I have to agree that our broadcasts are a much higher general standard than other countries - so not so sad.
alan
Well-Known Member
Depends where you are in the Med if you are thinking of Sat TV.
At home ( 50 Km South of Rome) I cannot get the Astra/Sky channels that are on the Northerly beam even with a 1.2m dish (e.g. BBC, ITV e.t.c.). I have recently bought a 30cm dish for use on the boat (comes in a plastic box and takes apart real easy), with this I can get BBC Prime (card needed, which costs around £85 a year from the BBC) from Hotbird and any other free to view channels from that satellite; Hotbird has good signal strength throughout the Med. Of course you need to keep the dish pointed to the satellite - not a problem in port!
But I have been experimenting with TV via Internet (so I can watch the Rugby) and there is a good feed from "LiveTV.UK", which gives BBC1,2, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5; this costs £30 a month and you can buy monthly over the net. There is also LiveTV Sport where you can buy only the game that you want to watch: football, rugby, cricket e.t.c.
In the pipeline there is also "Joost" which is TV streaming from the guys who started "Skype"; this is not available yet (or at least only for testing) and if I understood correctly could be free and payed for by advertising. This could be the one for the future, if it works as well as Skype does for voice communications.
I would recommend a PC based system, as I would guess the time you would be interested in using it will be in port and probably in range of a WiFi network. This cuts down on the amount of hardware you need to buy/accomodate. I have my Notebook connected to a 19" monitor which is mounted on the bulkhead and the notebook is closed and in the chart table [also used for second plotter!!]; of course you can also play DVD's and music; the audio is connected to the radio/CD player which was already on the boat and so get half decent audio, 'cause the notebook audio is very poor and "too far away" from the listener.
The future is TV via Internet in my opinion.
Alan. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
At home ( 50 Km South of Rome) I cannot get the Astra/Sky channels that are on the Northerly beam even with a 1.2m dish (e.g. BBC, ITV e.t.c.). I have recently bought a 30cm dish for use on the boat (comes in a plastic box and takes apart real easy), with this I can get BBC Prime (card needed, which costs around £85 a year from the BBC) from Hotbird and any other free to view channels from that satellite; Hotbird has good signal strength throughout the Med. Of course you need to keep the dish pointed to the satellite - not a problem in port!
But I have been experimenting with TV via Internet (so I can watch the Rugby) and there is a good feed from "LiveTV.UK", which gives BBC1,2, ITV, Ch4 and Ch5; this costs £30 a month and you can buy monthly over the net. There is also LiveTV Sport where you can buy only the game that you want to watch: football, rugby, cricket e.t.c.
In the pipeline there is also "Joost" which is TV streaming from the guys who started "Skype"; this is not available yet (or at least only for testing) and if I understood correctly could be free and payed for by advertising. This could be the one for the future, if it works as well as Skype does for voice communications.
I would recommend a PC based system, as I would guess the time you would be interested in using it will be in port and probably in range of a WiFi network. This cuts down on the amount of hardware you need to buy/accomodate. I have my Notebook connected to a 19" monitor which is mounted on the bulkhead and the notebook is closed and in the chart table [also used for second plotter!!]; of course you can also play DVD's and music; the audio is connected to the radio/CD player which was already on the boat and so get half decent audio, 'cause the notebook audio is very poor and "too far away" from the listener.
The future is TV via Internet in my opinion.
Alan. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Alan_Smith
New Member
I have a freeview box already onboard, but I guess its too much to expect it to work anywhere, even with the right dish?
Looks like I'll have to buy a laptop then, not really a problem, I have been considering wether I needed one or not anyway. Steve's boat is 'Layla'.
Looks like I'll have to buy a laptop then, not really a problem, I have been considering wether I needed one or not anyway. Steve's boat is 'Layla'.
Alan_Smith
New Member
Re: There are many ways
Hi Charles. Well it looks like a PC is the way to go. I will obviously need a laptop to keep in touch with things anyway. I have the Freeview box, not sure about the receiver for it as there are so many different gadgets on my radar arch I've still to discover what they are for. As you have probably guessed, I have only had this boat a short time (since September last year) and am still a novice in the equipment department.
Hi Charles. Well it looks like a PC is the way to go. I will obviously need a laptop to keep in touch with things anyway. I have the Freeview box, not sure about the receiver for it as there are so many different gadgets on my radar arch I've still to discover what they are for. As you have probably guessed, I have only had this boat a short time (since September last year) and am still a novice in the equipment department.
Richard10002
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
I have a freeview box already onboard, but I guess its too much to expect it to work anywhere, even with the right dish?
Looks like I'll have to buy a laptop then, not really a problem, I have been considering wether I needed one or not anyway. Steve's boat is 'Layla'.
[/ QUOTE ]
Do you mean a terrestrial freeview box? If so, it will only work via an aerial, and will only pick up local freeview.... e.g. Portugal doesnt have terrestrial freeview yet.... it's supposed to be happening in 2007, but I've read that was supposed to be happening in 2001,so who knows?
If you mean a freeview satellite box, you will only get what is free to view, and you will only get what your aerial will pick up... this seems to be a function of aerial size.
To get Sky, it seems that for Southern Europe, you need a big dish, 1.2m and more. I decided this wasnt practical until they make one that can be dismantled easily.
I'll keep an eye out for Layla... the name rings a bell.
Cheers
Richard
I have a freeview box already onboard, but I guess its too much to expect it to work anywhere, even with the right dish?
Looks like I'll have to buy a laptop then, not really a problem, I have been considering wether I needed one or not anyway. Steve's boat is 'Layla'.
[/ QUOTE ]
Do you mean a terrestrial freeview box? If so, it will only work via an aerial, and will only pick up local freeview.... e.g. Portugal doesnt have terrestrial freeview yet.... it's supposed to be happening in 2007, but I've read that was supposed to be happening in 2001,so who knows?
If you mean a freeview satellite box, you will only get what is free to view, and you will only get what your aerial will pick up... this seems to be a function of aerial size.
To get Sky, it seems that for Southern Europe, you need a big dish, 1.2m and more. I decided this wasnt practical until they make one that can be dismantled easily.
I'll keep an eye out for Layla... the name rings a bell.
Cheers
Richard
st599
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Do you mean a terrestrial freeview box? If so, it will only work via an aerial, and will only pick up local freeview.... e.g. Portugal doesnt have terrestrial freeview yet.... it's supposed to be happening in 2007, but I've read that was supposed to be happening in 2001,so who knows?
[/ QUOTE ]
The UK was an early adopter (indeed the BBC built the first "freeview" transmitter and receiver to prove the idea worked over 10 years ago). A lot of the EU countries which are just starting with DVB-T (the real name for freeview) are using MPEG4 rather than MPEG2, so a UK freeview box may not pick anything up.
Do you mean a terrestrial freeview box? If so, it will only work via an aerial, and will only pick up local freeview.... e.g. Portugal doesnt have terrestrial freeview yet.... it's supposed to be happening in 2007, but I've read that was supposed to be happening in 2001,so who knows?
[/ QUOTE ]
The UK was an early adopter (indeed the BBC built the first "freeview" transmitter and receiver to prove the idea worked over 10 years ago). A lot of the EU countries which are just starting with DVB-T (the real name for freeview) are using MPEG4 rather than MPEG2, so a UK freeview box may not pick anything up.