New Member Free-to-Air Satellite Discussion Thread

[tdti1]

Originally Posted by laiv

I lam a new member who live in Toronto, Ontario and would like to know wether any of th e FTA receiver PANSAT 3500 , coolsat 5000, digiwave 7000 are ceritify equipment for used in Canada.

Furthermore I would like to receive the ATV Home Channel from Hong Kong and CCTV from China (both digital/clear in lyngsat website) and wonder if anyone has any experience in receiving these channel.

Thank You
Vicky

If the channels are free then yes you can get them, if thats all you want you can get a lower cost box like the traxis.

Try contacting a dealer for help:

[Danster]

TheCogs,
What do you expect to see from the FTA birds? Most of the programming is ethnic at best. On T5, there are lots of Arab channels, on T6, lots of mexican, and so on. If you want to see the networks like ABC, NBC and CBS, you would need a C-Band to pick them up. I suggest you go to the lyngsat website and look at the Ku birds and what they offer.

FTA is nice to complement what you already have as far as regular TV goes. If you want to see and hear weird stuff, FTA is the way to go. IT IS NOT A REPLACEMENT. Don't invest in it thinking so.

[miketv]

yes i agree the coolsat is the way to go for ku band. but i would go for the coolsat6000 over the 4000, way better guide. and just as easy to set up. for 30 bucks more you 32mb ram instead of 2 mb makes a world of differance...

i have coolsat5000 and 6000 awsome units either way you go..

[davidsage]

I am also new to FTA. I recently purchase a digiwave 7000 receiver and 33 inch digiwave dish. I am trying with no luck to receive T5. Can anyone give me any suggestions?
David

[Bunkhouse]

David, grab a SF-95 sat finder. It'll save you alot of trouble. FTA requires a bigger dish for a reason, weaker signal.

[inti333]

Had never really thought about satellite until we moved into our new house last year. The previous owner was in the business and has 4 small dishes on the roof (all 24" or so...one Bell Expressvu, one generic Sony and and two DirectTv). We recently added a StarChoice elliptical.

Anyway, I am interested in FTA. My wife is from Colombia, and I see from LyngSat that we can get a lot of MPEG2 / DVB encoded channels from there on the following: NSS 806 at 40.5°W. From the looks of it, we should be able to receive it here in southern Manitoba, but I really don't know. To all of you with experience with these things, could you let me know the following:

1) Will any of the 'not in use 24" ish dishes on our roof serve to receive FTA, especially from NSS 806 at 40.5°W?

2) What type of receiver should I be buying. I need somehting basic (cheap) but reliable and easy to use.

3) Can you confirm that this particular satellite looks 'receivable' in southern Manitoba.

Thanks all in advance for your help.

Cheers.

[taelyra]

I have a round Starchoice dish, one of the newer ones from last year.

I was told that with FTA a person can get all the channels, including ppv.

First off, is this true?

Also, what receiver would I need to pull in the starchoice satellite, and if my first question isn't true, then what channels would I get?

I live in Ontario, Canada.....not far from Algonquin Park.

[hugh]

taelyra, no its not true. For Starchoice questions, please visit the Starchoice forum and you should find all your answers.

[ryganwa]

I've been roped into helping my parents set up a new receiver in the Toronto area despite knowing next to nothing about satellite TV systems

They decided to change their receiver from a Malata MDS-300P to a Coolsat 6000 premium. We have two dishes outside, judging from from the model numbers they are both 75 cm dishes. On the old receiver there is CCTV. Based on this I'm assuming we're pointed at the 95.0W Galaxy for CCTV (have no real idea where the second dish is pointed at, but we get one or two Korean channels). But when I'm punching in all the info for the 95.0, I get no signal at all from the satellite or the line!

I've been trying to get as many of the settings off the old receiver as possible, but the only thing I can really get from it is the LNB frequency (10750).

Would anybody be able to offer some insight into what I'm doing horribly wrong?

[IndiJones]

Hi, I want to buy an FTA system but don't know which one. I live in East York in GTA at Victoria Park/Danforth and my apartment is facing east. I know that most of the satellites are on the west but a lot of apartments facing east (like mine) are aiming their dishes toward southeast and I heard that people are watching around 200 channels including some very good indian channels. I have the following questions and would appreciate it very much if someone could respond to these:

1) Is it possible to view both the NTSC and ATSC with full HD (1080i) channels using the same tuner? Which one do you recommend and how much is it going to cost?

2) Which one should I use if I don't want to go for HD (possibly cheaper)?

3) What size of dish should I use for better reception?

4) Can an OTA receiver like Samsung DTB-H260F be used for FTA viewing?

Best regards and thanks!

[jaescotia]

Interested in the FTA systems. Have someone offering the following package, however I know nothing and wanted some opinions.



Here is what is being offered:

1 Brand New Viewsat Extreme Reciever
2 Satellite dishes with dual output
1 Switch
Professional Installation
Coax Wires
Galvinized Nuts and Bolts
all sealed and insulated after installation.
Programing Wire
support orientation

All Brand New and all included, with a One time fee of Only $370 this price includes all taxes. No other hidden fees.




Second question... I remember a friend had satelite about 8 years ago and his satelite was never working. Always talking about "the card" was down. Is this the same type of set up... where I can't depend on the satelite working from day to day?


Third... I am in Oshawa, Ontario... anyone know about the signal in the area?


Thanks to all who repond.

[classicsat]

Your friend was talking of a pirate satellite TV system. We don't talk of those here.

Real FTA doesn't go down like that, although channels do encrypt.

[Nimiq 1]

A Viewsat Extreme can be found easily on line for $175 or less.

As for the Dish's, you will need a large Dish for true FTA reception, minimum 36" from my experience, bigger is better.

Lots of FTA out there but to access again, the true FTA, you would be better getting a motorized Dish so it can be driven around the sky.

Pointing at Express Vu's birds will result in only 4 or 5 channels unless you program the receiver, which then renders your installation ILLEGAL.

Try looking on lyngsat dot com at the FTA, work out if this is what you really want, or if you are prepared to break the law.

[sebhitman]

Hi guys

first off

I wanna thank you guys for putting such a forum for canadian users

it's amazing!!

very helpful!!


I have a question of my own!

Im very interested in the FTA --> satelitte > viewsat or other model

But i was wondering
I already got
Videotron HD TV , with many channels,



what will FTA GIVE ME?

> Can i get , Japanese channels? , Korean ?, Chinese? , French , Live international soccer games? like french soccer , Wrestling (besides wwe) ? like Lucha libre mexico? ,


what does it Bring , that Regular Tv doesn't?

let me know

thanks!!! alot!

[hugh]

what does it Bring , that Regular Tv doesn't?

Not much. As noted in this thread and others, lots of multilingual channels. Checkout lyngsat for lists of channels.

The better question is what are you looking for?