help needed urgently please.....

[manuvaidya]

i am willing to buy Azbox premium HD as FTA reciever for my home. but since i am a noob here, i wanna know what are all the other things to buy along with it like tuners/cables-type & length/dishes-types & lengths etc etc....

i have sony 42" LCD HD tv & yamaha RX-V863 AV reciever with Wharfedale 9.6 FS speakers.... so if anyone here could guide me what are all the things i need to buy along with this FTA reciever including the small things which i may not be knowing.... i would be more than happy to listen to them...

please suggest me & guide me so that i can enjoy HD channels for free with FTA reciever.... please suggest me what all to buy along with Azbox premium HD or should i go for premium plus as it has got blind scan or can i get that feature using latest firmware as there is a new firmware which has been released & people have used it to get the blind scan function & to some extent they found it useful also....

 

[pedrogarcia]

Unless I'm mistaken your location only has 3 FTA HD channels on Measat 91.5 east C band or possibly BADR 6 Ku with a 3m+ dish. which satellites are you interested in?

 

[AcWxRadar]

i am willing to buy Azbox premium HD as FTA reciever for my home. but since i am a noob here, i wanna know what are all the other things to buy along with it like tuners/cables-type & length/dishes-types & lengths etc etc....

i have sony 42" LCD HD tv & yamaha RX-V863 AV reciever with Wharfedale 9.6 FS speakers.... so if anyone here could guide me what are all the things i need to buy along with this FTA reciever including the small things which i may not be knowing.... i would be more than happy to listen to them...

please suggest me & guide me so that i can enjoy HD channels for free with FTA reciever.... please suggest me what all to buy along with Azbox premium HD or should i go for premium plus as it has got blind scan or can i get that feature using latest firmware as there is a new firmware which has been released & people have used it to get the blind scan function & to some extent they found it useful also....

Manuvaidya,

We are very happy that you have come to join us!

Please allow me to clear the air for a moment and get you positioned properly.
What I mean by this is that no one can tell you the best system or components to buy. So you are going to have to take what I or anyone else tells you at face value and do your own research before you make any purchases.

I have my ideas and I like certain equipment, but others are going to disagree with me because they like something else equally as well.

That is my disclaimer. Now I can tell you what I like and you can compare what I say to what others say. I hope that is fair. Here is a list of my favorite components:

AZBox Elite, Premium or Premium PLUS.
Winegard DS-2076 dish with a Power Tech DG-280B motor or
GeoSAT pro 1.2 M dish with a Power Tech DG-380 motor.
Invacom QPH-031 LNBF.
RG-11 cable (for long runs) or RG-6 (for short runs).
Chieta 4x1 DiSEqC, DN SW21 or Ecoda multi-switches.
Samsung HD502HI HDD (this is a 500 GB drive, works great for an internal HDD with the Premium AZBox)
Maxtor One Touch 750 GB USB HDD (works great as an external HD for both the Elite and Premium AZBoxes)

Take my list and ask the other members their opinion about each component. I have had excellent luck with all of these components, but I am just one example. Compare the recommendations from the rest of the folks here with mine and compare the prices and go from there. You should do really fine.

I hope you enjoy the experience! It's a good time here.

RADAR

 

[AcWxRadar]

Manuvaidya,

I missed the fact that your location is India. That may make a difference regarding some of the components that I have recommended. Primarily the LNBF. You might be better served with a UNIVERSAL LNBF or something more befitting your satellite downlink frequencies. Also, I forgot to ask if you were concerned with Ku or C band transmissions. The dish and motors that I recommended would be for Ku band. Generally too small for C-Band reception.

Hope you can make the adjustments to the equipment that I listed.

I would be highly interested to learn what FTA channels you can pick up over there, that would be informative to all of us here.

Let us know what you dig up!

EDIT: If you can, go with the Premium PLUS AZBox. I cannot tell you anything positive or negative about it, but according to the specs, it sound like what I would want over the other models. I have one on order and they tell me that it will be in shortly (I have been waiting for a LONG time on this one).

RADAR

 

[manuvaidya]

thanks AcWxRadar & pedrogarcia for your valuable inputs. first of all i wanna ask you guys one thing, why do you people are concerned about my location ??? if i stay in india, cant i receive channels from satellite ? isn't that possible ??

if yes, i can find out the longitude & latitude of my place on this earth & i can direct my dish to whichever satellite which gives me HD channels & other best channels right ???

i just want to receive HD channels in India, tell me what i should do & where i can get the instruments to receive maximum number of channels just like you people do ....

i have heard about few people who managed to get HD channels & FTA channels around the globe especially like hongkong/germany/south korea & china...etc.

what do you guys want me to do now ???

 

[SatelliteAV]

Manuvaidya,

The satellites that we are able to see in North America are not visible in India because they are below your horizon. In North America, we are unable to see the satellites that serve India because they are below our horizon. Satellites are positions directly above the equator and service a specific region. Satellite signals only travel in a straight line and once you get to far around the globe, the satellite is no longer visible.

You now need to do some research on your own to determine what satellites are available in your region and what channels that you will be able to receive. A great place to start is Lyngsat.com. Look up your angle to each satellite listed using their angle calculator at http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/asia.html. Once you determine what satellites that you are able to see from your location, view the list of channels on each satellite to determine what programming is available at http://www.lyngsat.com/asia.html

Good luck with your research!

Old Chinese proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

 

[manuvaidya]

ok, i got a whole bunch of satellites in the region of asia & south pacific. but now how can i find what satellite serves which channel ??? all i can see is some degree angle & the name of he satellite... when i click on it, it shows the part of the map which is being covered by that satellite....

how should i proceed to find out which satellite transmits which channel.... as i can see several chinese/korean/hongkong/singapore satellites.... which means that i can able to recieve all these channels if i get a good length dish ???

 

[putney]

ok, i got a whole bunch of satellites in the region of asia & south pacific. but now how can i find what satellite serves which channel ??? all i can see is some degree angle & the name of he satellite... when i click on it, it shows the part of the map which is being covered by that satellite....

how should i proceed to find out which satellite transmits which channel.... as i can see several chinese/korean/hongkong/singapore satellites.... which means that i can able to recieve all these channels if i get a good length dish ???

If you followed the above link, you are on the sat tracker page. Click the 'frequency chart' in the middle.

 

[manuvaidya]

ok, here is one more doubt, most of the channels have DVB/DVB-S2/Nagra Encryption..... what to do now ??? i am not seeing any european channels as well as german channels.....

why is it like this ??? how can i receive european channels ??? if i use c-band dish + decryptor, will i be able to recieve encrypted channels from west ??? you know what i mean by that west... US/UK/CANADA/FRANCE EUROPE etc.....

all those channels name sound weird & i dont think if i recieve them also i may be in a position to watch them.... just for the sake of getting succeeded in installing FTA box i should switch it on....

anyone here who belongs to asia could please confirm what are all the channels they are getting ??

@putney: i am not seeeing any frequency chart there.... also can i receive Dubai based channels if possible ??? if yes, how ? please help me recieve some good HD channels from the places near to me if not from america/europe please.....

guide me.... fingers crossed....

 

[AcWxRadar]

Manuvaidya,

There appears to be several issues that are not familiar to you. We may have to take each one in a case by case discussion.

First item regarding the ability to receive North American (US or Candadian signals) or western European satellite signals from your location in India is not gong to be possible in most instances. As Satellite AV stated, the curvature of the earth does not allow this. Your satellite antenna (dish) must have a direct Line Of Sight (LOS) to the satellite in space. If a satellite is roughly 75 degrees or more further east or further west from where you live, you won't be able to receive a signal from that satellite as the earth will block the signal. Therefore, if you know what your site longitude coordinate is, you can roughly tell which satellites in the sky that you have a direct LOS to.

There is another obstacle here beyond the LOS issue. The problem being that even if you do have a direct LOS to the satellite, the antenna array or the transponders may not be aimed in your direction, so you still might not be able to pick up anything from the satellite if the company that owns the satellite is not "beaming" the signal in your direction.

The only way you can receive US or North American TV transmissions (via satellite) is if the signal is being picked up by other ground based antennas and retransmitted to another satellite and "hopped" across the globe and then re-transmitted via a downlink by another satellite in your location. I am sure that they do this, but not for very many channels.

You might be able to pick up some eastern European satellites in India, but I wouldn't know which satellites those would be without researching this on Lyngsat.com or some other source and then judging it all based upon the latitude and longitude coordinates of where you live.

When you start to discuss encrypted channels, you get into an area of legality. Here in North America, there are several satellite service providers which encrypt their signals. In order for us to view them, we must pay them a subscription fee in order for them to allow us to "descramble" these signals. Otherwise, we would be either unable to view these channels or else we would be viewing them illegally (theft of service). I have no idea what the laws are in India, but I am pretty sure that it is fairly the same idea the world over. Most signals are not simply FREE unless the government pays for it with your tax money and provides it that way or if a religious or educational organization receives monies through donations or grants to put it out there for free for you to view. Here on this forum, we do not condone anything illegal, so keep that in mind, no matter where you reside.

Another problem that someone in North America may have in assisting you with your setup in India, is that the satellites that serve your area may use different downlink frequencies and transmission modes. Some of the equipment that we use here, may not function for you and vice versa. People in Europe use the PAL system and most of their televisions are based on that, whereas we use NTSC formats, so that is another problem area. What receivers and LNBFs and setups that we may discuss here, may not be applicable to you, except in general theory.

For channel lists and satellite lists, you should consult with Lyngsat.com and SatCoDX and SatBeams.com. Take some time to research these sites and read some of their "tips" that will help you discover what satellites are available to you. They are usually really good sites and they may be even better for you than they are for us.

Navigating these sites takes some time to get used to. I can only recommend that you just start clicking on different items on their web page and see what they all lead you to. It is almost a maze or a labyrinth and I couldn't explain it any easier than just telling you to browse around on them and play.

I might also recommend the forum "Austech.com" as that is based in Australia. They have a section on their forum for satellite information. Not near as detailed as what we have here, but it would be more geared to your geographic location. That might help you out with some specific questions. Just remember that those folks down under will be looking at satellite angles backwards, reverse and upside-down from your point of view, since they are in the southern hemisphere.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you. We can get you headed in the right direction here, but you will have to research the really intricate items that are specific to your location in India on your own, mostly. Since we cannot test and confirm what data we would find from our standpoint.

Good luck Manuvaidya! Please keep us informed of what you find along the way with your endeavor.

RADAR

 

[manuvaidya]

thanks radar for that wonderful & detailed information. i really appreciate that. you have cleared almost all of my doubts....
receiving the north american channels is out of question for me using dish from my location, but can i use pc based HD card & internet to recieve all the channels you people are receiving there ???

if yes, can i get the picture quality just like you do there & what would be the minimum requirement for that ??? which hardware i should be buying for that??? what minimum speed of internet i should be using ??? please tell me....