Hi so basically I moved in my current house 9 years ago the guy I bought the house from had a satellite dish and viewsat pro and told me if I wanted to have all these reqlly good channels he will leave the satellite dish I just had to buy my own viewsat pro box so yea I told him I'd keep it and .. and he told me I had to update the bin everytime it blacks out I use to get my bins at satnow website but as you may know thats been closed for the longest now. Basically as you may know Viewsat Pro bins stopped working like 4 or 5 years ago so I am now finally trying to get a understanding of what I can use this satellite dish for if Viewsat Pro doesn't work I basically had this satellite dish sitting outside doing nothing for past 5 years now I need to know should I just trash it or can I benefit in some way from it? Please help.
[Viewsat] Need Information Help with FTA and Viewsat Pro.
- Thread starter MrMajesty
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First off we must be clear on something - this site is for true FTA (Free To Air) reception only, meaning we only talk about, recommend and use legal equipment to receive channels that are ITC (In The Clear). If you are interested in seeing what you're able to receive legally then welcome to the site. To determine if your dish can be used for FTA we'll need to know a little about it (size, ku or c band, brand if known).
We
Oh sorry Well ok lets keep it on a legal level than how do I go about getting free channels... but I really don't know anything about the satellite dish I just know it maybe like 14 inches and if im correct has 3 lbns thingys on it umm I don't recall a brand on it.
Sounds like you have either an old DirecTV or Dish Network dish. Depending on the size some people experiment with them and receive some channels but they are too small for good fta reception. A 90cm minimum (36") dish is required to receive reliable FTA reception on the KU band. If you are in the country and can put up a larger dish (6 foot or bigger) you can receive c band FTA which has quite a few more channels - with fta the general rule is the bigger the dish the better. You can often find used c band dishes that people will give you just for removing them from their property. I believe the Viewsat Pro is a DVB receiver. Many broadcasters are changing to DVB-S2 transmissions. Not to say you can't try to use your old receiver but you will not get all the channels that are available. Here is an idea of the channels that you can get free: KU Band (http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistKuBandUS.html) and C Band (http://www.global-cm.net/MPEGlistCBandUS.html). So, if you still want to try FTA you should get a larger dish and probably a new receiver. Here are a few examples:
Oh, I don't know. He was given the equipment and apparently the instructions on how to get the 'updates'. Doesn't sound too hardcore.
Hey man ok so I might have the wrong size in mind its pretty big it just looks smaller I guess from where I always glance at it but keep in mind the fact I use to get like alot of "special" channels from this thing so you said I can still use viewsat pro box to get legal channels? Am I supposed to update anything? I'm assuming you don't just turn the box on and get them right? Because I would've noticed the legal channels... I just know I get decent signals but blank screens The knowledge I gained from that guy about FTA satellites is verrry basic what is the best reciever that you would recommend?
No you can't just turn on a legal fta receiver and get channels - I wish it was that easy
. You need to aim the dish at the satellite you want to receive channels from and scan them in. As you can see from the lists I posted the links to above, the channels are spread out over a number of satellites. For this reason many people install a motor, which automatically goes to the satellites as you select a channel. As I said above, unless you have an old Primestar dish your probably gonna be disappointed with FTA reception on the dish you have. The Dish Network and DirecTV satellites are high powered compared to most other FTA signals up there and use smaller dishes. You need larger dishes to get the FTA signals. Not saying you might not be able to get something but it will require changing your dish azimuth, elevation, lnb skew and very likely modification/replacement of the lnb. If you want to try that there are threads on here about doing that. I would highly recommend a dish and receiver like those above to someone who is starting out. Here is another receiver that someone else found on ebay tonight. It might be a good low-cost starter for you: If you want to try to use your old receiver it will need to be reset to factory condition. Here is a thread on doing that: http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/thr...e-file-for-a-viewsat-pro-pvr-receiver.259460/ Post #7 has the link to download the cleaner software. Again, if you use your old receiver, keep in mind that you will not receive all the channels that you could with a DVB-S2 receiver and as broadcasters continue to switch there will be even less. Sorry if this sounds negative, don't mean it to be, just the facts of fta reception. There are a lot of channels available (and even feeds of sports, etc) if you have the right equipment.
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I see thanks I have a better insight on my this stuff now so I'll roll on with these things in mind.
Welcome, MrMajesty. FTA4PA laid it all out pretty good, but if you could post up a picture of your dish we could probably tell better if it's usable for FTA or not. It does sound like you have an old DT or DISH Network dish that would most likely need to be replaced. Or at the least, modified to use a different LNB. If it's under 30'' in diameter, then it would be a troublesome dish to use for FTA.
I appreciate
I see well I appreciate the replys but I heard FTA channels are not that interesting in terms of my interests I'd really only put forth the effort towards learning about satellite dishs if I could retrieve direct tv and dish network type things from it. Ty anyway
There is nothing FTA from the Dish or Directv satellites, those days are long over. Thankfully the providers have secured their signals so that crap is done with. For any FTA you need a different dish like the advice above was given. You never know, might find something interesting to watch or even try a mini-bud for C-band reception. That is what makes the hobby so fun, you will probably see something new everyday with a good setup.
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