Complete satellite newbie hoping to learn.

[cdy]

Hi guys, this is my first post on the forum though I've been visiting regularly for the past few weeks to read the stickies and various threads. I used to use a Starview cable box until the N3 change-over. For the past 12 months I've been a subscription-paying cable customer! I first heard about Dreambox satellite receivers recently and, after quite a bit of online searching, I came across this great resource. As I wrote above I've read the sticky posts but I honestly still don't understand much! I consider myself to have a reasonable level of comprehension, but I can honestly say that the info contained in the stickies has proverbially blown my mind! Getting up and running is clearly not going to be an easy process, but I'm here to learn. Confidence isn't high right now as I've read the stickies twice now and I'm probably more confused than when I started! Anyway, guys, I'm here to learn, and hopefully I've be able to contribute something eventually!
CDY

 

[cdy]

I've come to the conclusion that one needs something equivalent to a PhD in satellite technology to understand this!!
I'm dazed and confused from rereading the stickies.

 

[nistleboy]

The secret is cdy is one step at a time once u have your dreambox then try flashing it then adding channel lists, one step at a time.

 

[BIG-HOL]

it may look confusing at 1st mate, but once you have your box like nistle says, 1 step at a time and you'll be up and running in no time, if ya get stuck theres always someone on this site willing to help you, its really not that hard, i was in the same situation as you a couple of years ago, same as alot of us were, we all start somewhere, but you'll get by fine, what is it your looking to achieve, a static dish or motorised, sd or hd, if you tell us what your looking to for then we can start to help you!

 

[cdy]

Thanks for the replies, guys. Apologies for the delay in responding.
@ Big-Hol - I hadn't even given any thought to the type of dish! (It gets even more complicated!!)
Would I be correct in thinking that a motorised dish would only be necessary for receiving foreign channels? In terms of receiving standard UK channels, ie Sky channels, would a static dish be sufficient?
Many thanks again for the info provided thus far, fellas.

 

[BIG-HOL]

yes mate if all you want to receive is sly channels then a static dish pointed at 28.2 will do fine, have a look on ebay you can pick the sly dishes up for around 20 quid inclding bracket, fixings, lnb, cheap as chips!

Latest MK4 Sky Satellite Mini Dish with Quad LNB | eBay

 

[KhuramG]

That's right, you have more options to connect to different satellites with a motorised setup however a mini dish would be sufficient for sky!

Have you got a box yet? as BIG-HOL highlighted are you bothered about HD? PVR functionality? what's your budget?

 

[cdy]

yes mate if all you want to receive is sly channels then a static dish pointed at 28.2 will do fine, have a look on ebay you can pick the sly dishes up for around 20 quid inclding bracket, fixings, lnb, cheap as chips!

Latest MK4 Sky Satellite Mini Dish with Quad LNB | eBay

Thanks for the speedy reply, mate. That is cheap as chips! So, with standard static dish and a Dream Box configured correctly I could, hypothetically, receive all 'sly' channels? Thanks

 

[BIG-HOL]

correct mate, although if your going the way i think you'll be going, you'll also need that dreambox connected to your router, ie, internet, hypothetically anyway, lol

 

[cdy]

That's right, you have more options to connect to different satellites with a motorised setup however a mini dish would be sufficient for sky!

Have you got a box yet? as BIG-HOL highlighted are you bothered about HD? PVR functionality? what's your budget?

Hi Khurma, thanks for the info. Good to kknow that a mini dish would be sufficient for what I'm looking for. To answer your questions: No, I haven't bought a box yet. I'm still not tuned in enough to know what to go for; as to wether I am bothered about HD and PVR functionality (Is this something like a 'digital video recorder' such as Sky plus?), both would be a bonus, yes. I could live without HD but, if they're are boxes available with recording functionality I'd def go for it over one without. As to budget, I suppose I'm hopoing to not spend more than a couple hundred quid. I was planning to spend about £140. on a Kryptview cable box. Do Dreamview receivers cost a similar amount or should I expect to pay considerably more?
Many thanks

 

[cdy]

correct mate, although if your going the way i think you'll be going, you'll also need that dreambox connected to your router, ie, internet, hypothetically anyway, lol

Oh, I see. So the box uses the internet to receive the channels? I thought that was only with Kryptview and cable. OK, very good to know.Cheers!

 

[cdy]

Just noticed the ebay link, Big Hol. Thanks for that, mate.

 

[friendzi]

it is confusing at first, i just took the plunge and bought a dreambox and learnt along the way. dm500 is a good place to start IMO, i have a very simple setup, old sly dish and dm500s connected to the world wide web ;D

 

[cdy]

Thanks for your input. Does your set-up basically give you the full Sly package, if you don't mind my asking. Thanks again.

 

[cdy]

Is card-sharing the only option here, guys?
Many thanks

 

[gsmtech]

For SLY UK yes CS is the only option unless you have your own subbed card.

 

[KhuramG]

Hi Khurma, thanks for the info. Good to kknow that a mini dish would be sufficient for what I'm looking for. To answer your questions: No, I haven't bought a box yet. I'm still not tuned in enough to know what to go for; as to wether I am bothered about HD and PVR functionality (Is this something like a 'digital video recorder' such as Sky plus?), both would be a bonus, yes. I could live without HD but, if they're are boxes available with recording functionality I'd def go for it over one without. As to budget, I suppose I'm hopoing to not spend more than a couple hundred quid. I was planning to spend about £140. on a Kryptview cable box. Do Dreamview receivers cost a similar amount or should I expect to pay considerably more?
Many thanks

No probs, have a look at DM800SE (clone), costs approximately £155 - £200 and it has everything you need......HD compatible, PVR functionality, media player....lots of positive feedback and support is available for these boxes....as BIG-HOL highlights you need your dreambox connected to your router, ie, internet and a good server ;-)

 

[BIG-HOL]

Oh, I see. So the box uses the internet to receive the channels? I thought that was only with Kryptview and cable. OK, very good to know.Cheers!

technically no it doesnt receive the channels from the internet, you still get the stream from the dish, the internet is only used to pass the encryption keys from someones card to your receiver/softcam, very small amount of data every 7 secs or so!

 

[KhuramG]

Oh, I see. So the box uses the internet to receive the channels? I thought that was only with Kryptview and cable. OK, very good to know.Cheers!

No, the box uses the dish to receive channels.....internet is used to receive keys to unlock certain channels (cs).

Cheers

 

[BIG-HOL]

No, the box uses the dish to receive channels.....internet is used to receive keys to unlock certain channels (cs).

Cheers

lmao, we both posted that at pretty much the same second, lol