A DSAT box of some sort, be that a Sky Digibox, a Freesat box or a generic FTA box. A cable with F type connectors at each end to link the wall socket to the DSAT box. A fully wired SCART cable to link the box to the TV, so you can use RGB not baseband video and a TV (or monitor capable of displaying standard TV frame and line rates) of course. B-)
That's not totally true. Any viewing card inherited from an ex subscriber will usually work as a FTV card as long as it has the yellow house logo, and it wasn't deactivated by Sky for non-payment etc.
Have you misread "The card only can be..." as "The card can only be..."?=
Tis true but the last time I looked on fleabay yellow house cards would =
regulary go for more than =A320 and you have no real guarantee that it hasn't or isn't about to be deactivated.
I have got all that, except the cables, but they are available locally.
Thanks
Dave
On Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:13:05 +0100 someone who may be Dave wrote this:-
The only thing to add is to use water-resistant connectors for outside. Either rubber boots of self-amalgamating tape.
You may, optionally, want to get a signal strength meter, like . The positioning of a dish has to be fairly precise and a meter helps get the ideal alignment.
The other thing to consider is whether you want a dual feed. Recorders need two feeds if they are to record two things at once, or record one thing while you watch another. As you haven't put up anything yet I suggest you consider getting a twin LNB, for example
which is connected via two cables to two sockets. There are then two flying leads between the sockets and receiver. There is a fashion not to fit sockets, it is claimed this gives a better signal though I suspect it is more to do with saving cost. Provided they are fitted properly sockets are fine.
Recorders are fairly expensive, but useful. They can occasionally be picked up one from the likes of Lidl for more sensible prices
Yep slipped my mind, automatic to use self-amalgamating tape on any permenant connection outside. IMHO boots never seal properly. I've taken (cut) SA tape off conections that have been outside for many years and you wouldn't know it.
Does that one beep? I find that the variable tone is much easier to use when perched on top of a ladder than something you have to look at fairly closely to see the small changes on a meter as you do the last final adjustments.
Sky boxen have a built it signal/strength quality meter but that does required you to be able to see the TV and they are pretty slugged as well but it can be done that way.
Good point, a twin LNB as a minimum but if you even have thoughts of recording and having a set in another room then a quad is a better bet. Fully cable it up into the house even if the unused cables just get coiled up somewhere. Running cables through walls and being up ladders is the hard bit, do it all in one go.
In the case of Sky installers saving time is probably more important. Terminating a cable to a face plate and fitting a surface mount box would add 5 to 10mins and when you have 1/2 a dozen installs to do in a day and travel time between 'em you don't want to be messing about doing a neat job and certainly no time for hiding cables in walls or cutting out for back boxes and flush sockets...
There is a bit of loss associated with every joint you have so keeping them to a minimum is sensible but a home run from LNB to a face plate and single lenght of cable (per connection) from there to the box shouldn't be a problem. Always use good quality satellite rated cable though not yer average UHF down lead. Quality cable is *much* more important.
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:45:03 +0100 (BST) someone who may be "Dave Liquorice" wrote this:-
It doesn't beep, but rather it gives a tone which varies according to the signal strength. Far easier to listen to than watch a needle.
The dish and installation were provided by the company that rents out the house that the dish is bolted to, next door. The cables are attached to my house to get to the house on the other side which is also rented. I wrote about the legality of this dish over hanging my property earlier this year, but I have not yet pressed my message home
No need, the installing comp did all that for me :-)
We have one feed to a socket that has 2 sat outputs on the front of it, so I'll have to look at that later.
Many thanks for your input. Sky are due this Thursday.
Dave
On Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:20:17 +0100 someone who may be Dave wrote this:-
Unlike television and radio signals, satellite feeds cannot be split. Well, they can be split physically but they will then not work properly. Splitting them upsets the control signals which are sent to the dish (or the multiswitch in a larger system). At best one of the receivers will only be able to get roughly a quarter of the available stations. Hopefully if you take the socket apart you will find that the cable just goes to one of the outputs.
The way to connect two receivers is to connect the socket to the first receiver and then use the output connector from that to connect to the input of the second receiver. Only one will work at one time, but both will get all the channels.
Thanks for that bit of info, I think I can now get by when the receiver arrives.
Dave
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