Free-To-Air

[Amadeus]

I got a feeling there are members here who know all about this. Purchasing the right receiver, the right dish. But most importantly the hardware and places to go to get codes for premium channels. Anyone?

[Amadeus]

Guess not. But as an after thought I've been doing considerable research on the subject.

A dish like the one below, a 75 dollar receiver and regular signal maintenance will give you over 600 free channels.

Standard for North American:
110
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110.html
119
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish119.html

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[emuler]

Do you know which satellite will you be pointing this thing at? Not all the free to air channels are available on the same satellite; IMHO each satellite out there has a few.

You'll probably either need a separate dish for each satellite that you want to receive, or invest in elaborate auto aligning equipment.

[Amadeus]

Do you know which satellite will you be pointing this thing at? Not all the free to air channels are available on the same satellite; IMHO each satellite out there has a few.

You'll probably either need a separate dish for each satellite that you want to receive, or invest in elaborate auto aligning equipment.

It is true, the more dishes, the greater number of stations, however, 600 will keep you busy. Where I'm at the position is true South. Most dishes are sold with a signal strength meter. The two little clones on the dish above are called LNB's: a satellite-reception component. Which basically decide which channels you'll get. LNB's come in a variety of ranges. The more of them you have, the most stations you'll receive.

[Image]

or...

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There are also Domes sold for RV's and Boats, which automatically lock onto satellites no matter where you're at. Start at about 800USD however.

[FLL]

A dish like the one below, a 75 dollar receiver and regular signal maintenance will give you over 600 free channels.

Standard for North American:
110
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110.html
119
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish119.html

But all those channels are encrypted... which means you need special hardware and/or codes to make them viewable. Not really "free".

It's been years since I followed the game of cat and mouse between DirecTV/Dish Network and the many people modding their receivers to show extra channels. Never had such a beast but a friend did. I remember "Black Sunday", when just before the Super Bowl DirectTV sent codes down to their boxes that detected modified cards and shut them off completely, embarrased and pissed off a lot of people. The thing about the Sat TV companies is they have historically been much more aggressive in going after end users who aren't paying than even the RIAA and MPAA. Maybe things have changed, but most of the bookmarks of sites I followed back than are invalid, shut down. So P2P has always seemed better to me than SatTV.

[Amadeus]

A dish like the one below, a 75 dollar receiver and regular signal maintenance will give you over 600 free channels.

Standard for North American:
110
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish110.html
119
http://www.lyngsat.com/packages/dish119.html

But all those channels are encrypted... which means you need special hardware and/or codes to make them viewable. Not really "free".

It's been years since I followed the game of cat and mouse between DirecTV/Dish Network and the many people modding their receivers to show extra channels. Never had such a beast but a friend did. I remember "Black Sunday", when just before the Super Bowl DirectTV sent codes down to their boxes that detected modified cards and shut them off completely, embarrased and pissed off a lot of people. The thing about the Sat TV companies is they have historically been much more aggressive in going after end users who aren't paying than even the RIAA and MPAA. Maybe things have changed, but most of the bookmarks of sites I followed back than are invalid, shut down. So P2P has always seemed better to me than SatTV.

Well the premium channls I'll go after later. Directtv nor others can touch a FTA receiver like Viewsat. They can only zap their own.

It's also true there is some work involved. Getting the codes, networking with other Rookies. But free tv as a whole is probably worth the few minutes a week or month to download new Bin files. I've only been an active member at a forum called dssrookies two days, and already have enough information to make a purchase and begin set up.

Now what I wanna know, is how many of those free stations from the links posted, air from different countries the films we like to see?

[FLL]

Well the premium channls I'll go after later. Directtv nor others can touch a FTA receiver like Viewsat. They can only zap their own.

It's also true there is some work involved. Getting the codes, networking with other Rookies. But free tv as a whole is probably worth the few minutes a week or month to download new Bin files. I've only been an active member at a forum called dssrookies two days, and already have enough information to make a purchase and begin set up.

Ah, that just shows how out of date I am on the subject, at the time I was following it noone had worked out (or was saying) how to decode it on a third-party receiver.

Now what I wanna know, is how many of those free stations from the links posted, air from different countries the films we like to see?

That I can't tell , though it sure looks like almost all those channels are for distribution in the US because they're on a DISH network sat. Maybe some of the Spanish-language stuff, Sundance, IFC, I just did a quick glance through. Any chance other satellites are available at that forum?

[Amadeus]

Any chance other satellites are available at that forum?

Definitely. Most forums have a separate section for discussion and downloading codes for every imaginable sat/receiver. Not sure what the preferred dish for Europe is, but the dish network is all over. The standard frequency range for the US is 110 through 119. [That's what those little round things on the arm pick up.] For Europe it's just a matter of getting the right Frequency thingy [LNB's] to go with your dish. Free-To-Air receivers are a snap also. I purchased a new one [Viewsat Ultra Lite] for a little over 100USD. They're designed to be comparable with just about any LNB satellite frequency.

OK, so I've invested 100USD in the receiver, 80 for the dish, a little bit of reading, now I'm ready to watch 600+ channels for $0.00 a month. Once I'm more proficient, I'll add premium channels with just a few modifications. 40 premium channels plus 600 regular channels, that'll cost you 150USD a month through most networks.

[Amadeus]

Success!

Better than I imagined. It took me awhile to figure it out, but I'm happy to report I now have 100's of free channels, dozans of premium PPV channels. And still have more frequencies to scan.

Wow! I'd really like to get others involved in this. Stop paying for cable. Buy a dish, download some codes, point your dish at a birdie, and watch TV till you puke.

Now if you'll excuse me. The Golden Compass is on PPV now.

[ghost]

Lucky guy

I hope we will see you again if you can move your ass away from your TV