First Set-up

[elliswr]

Technically my first set-up, but my mom had the BUD back in the day, so I have had contact with FTA.

I am moving to a newly constructed house in a new subdivision where there is no cable available. I could go with Dish or DirecTV, but I don't want the monthly subscription. I had hoped to find a guide to explain how the FTA set-up works. Whether I could say, subscribe to just HBO and have non-subscription otherwise or if it's not possible to get HBO, Showtime, or SciFi, but I couldn't seem to find one. So I assume this is not possible.

Fair enough, I still want to take the FTA plunge and get Thai channels for free (the wife would enjoy those). And of course I will enjoy the freeness. I would like a PVR, I already own a Tivo. OTA for HD of course as I have read that there is not much FTA-HD, so I am looking at an SD-PVR and noted that the Visionsat IV-200 was recommended. But I can't seem to find that one or the IV-300 for sale on their website (which doesn't seem to have been updated since 07) or anywhere else for that matter.

What are your suggestions? I am all ears.

 

[Anole]

Visionsat IV-200 was sighted on Ebay by a member just the other day.
Pretty good price, or offer him a little less.
(the IV-300 does not exist)

Are these Thai channels good enough, or do you need to subscribe to something more fancy?
There were some Asian subscription channels that the Visionsat was capable of handling, but I don't think they were Thai.

edit:
Woops, Tan TV is Korean. My mistake.

If there are any Thai subscription channels on GlobeCast, you'd have to use their crummy receiver.
It runs hot, does not have a hard drive, and you cannot use their subscription card in the Visionsat.

Are you free to install a C-band BUD? 8..10..12 foot dish...?
There are some subscription cable-channel programming on C-band, with a 4DTV receiver.
I don't keep up with all the details of the providers you sign up with for 4D.
But, maybe this exerpt from our C-band FAQ will help:

Programming Providers
Programming Center
National Programing Service
Superstar/Netlink/Turner


Programming Resellers
SPS -Satellite Programming
Skyvision
Netlink
What Is Hits?
4dtv Receivers
Big Dish Info

4dtv on a mini BUD
4dtv/Hdtv on a mini BUD

 

[elliswr]

C-band

Thanks for the help. I found a list of thai channels on sadoun and they are all listed as Ku-band with some repeat C-band streams. And my back yard will be so small that I will not have the room (and I am sure the wife will not agree) to have a BUD.

So did Visionsat go out of business? I am just curious, I know their site seems to be out of date.

I'll have to read up on 4dtv, never heard of that.

But that should be it right? If I get the IV-200, and the house already has coax run through it, I should be able to through up any dish (cause a dish is a dish right???) with a universal LNB and I should be in business right?

How hard would the trainable dishes be to setup? Will the receiver automatically move between satellites to record programs, how does the PVR know when to record the shows, or does it not work like Tivo.

So many questions, thanks for the help.

 

[phlatwound]

Not sure what happened to Visionsat, if they still exist they are keeping a real low profile. It would be a shame if they are gone, the IV-200 is a nice box.

If you are going to use the existing you need to make sure your coax is RG-6, RG-59 is not acceptable.

You need a minimum 30" dish for Ku-band FTA viewing, and you want a standard (not "universal") LNB, L.O. 10750. The little DN and Dtv dishes will not work.

I don't know much about recording but I don't think you'll find that the typical FTA setup that is as simple as operating a Tivo, you can record stuff, just takes more effort.