Satellite TV Update

[Chelseadons]

Bottom line here is as it has always been , caveat empore !! Do your research, make as many checks as possible, understand as best you can the technicalities of what your buying, look for references and then make a decision. Waiting around for a year isn't an option you might never find out who killed Lucy Beale !!!!

 

[Sparky]

Of course you will Chels....it will be in the Sun by the weekend .

 

[whaleywanderer]

You do of course need a decent WiFi connection - I am told that IBRed is fine, whereas Telefonica is not, but don't know if that is correct.

We are watching our TV using the FilmOn app on our Ipad, through our wifi connection provided by Telefonica with our telephone line, not sure what speed it is but it is fine, we have never had a problem. We are in the Gotmar area of PP.

 

[alcanadakid]

Just arrived in Alcanada and found that the BBC channels are pixalated when they weren't a few weeks ago. Presumably this is to do with the Earth's periodic wobble?

Has anyone else noticed this?

Is anyone with a new larger dish having problems?

 

[lollipop]

We have a large dish and no problems. The service on the normal dishes seems to be variable.

 

[Deanscroft]

I have installed a 1.8m dish. Apart from a few seconds of break up during a major thunderstorm reception has been perfect. It is debatable whether the wobble effect is something which affects the signal as the satellites are in geostationary orbit and should also 'wobble' at the same time. More likely that break up using a smaller dish is due to atmospheric conditions.

Note on dish size - Larger satellite dishes are oval and should be measured across the shortest diameter ie side to side. A 1.8m dish is 2m tall. There appears to be several satellite installers advertising dishes as 2m when they are really 1.8m and as 1.7m when they are 1.55m.

 

[alcanadakid]

I have installed a 1.8m dish. Apart from a few seconds of break up during a major thunderstorm reception has been perfect. It is debatable whether the wobble effect is something which affects the signal as the satellites are in geostationary orbit and should also 'wobble' at the same time. More likely that break up using a smaller dish is due to atmospheric conditions.

Note on dish size - Larger satellite dishes are oval and should be measured across the shortest diameter ie side to side. A 1.8m dish is 2m tall. There appears to be several satellite installers advertising dishes as 2m when they are really 1.8m and as 1.7m when they are 1.55m.

Thanks for the info. I read somewhere (cant remember where) that it was predicted that the signal would be worse about this month and last for a few months. I thought it was due to the earth's wobble relative to the satellite. Maybe the satellite is not exactly geostationary which would explain the problem. Just guessing, I am no expert.

 

[James]

A quick query for anyone who has had one of the new giant dishes installed in the PP area.

Do you still get a poor or no signal for Channel 4 and its sister channels and/or do you find BBC TV and radio still breaking up from time to time?

The ironic thing is that the original problematic channels at the time of the satellite switch-over were C5 and ITV and these are the only ones that (touch wood) I am not experiencing problems with!

 

[Belladonna]

Not quite an answer to your query, but we have a box of some sort installed as the block was too slow to get a dish before one person pinched the only available spot, pretty selfish but hey ho, done now. Anyway, the only channel working constantly is itv. Bbc is very temperamental, whichever one you try. We do get good signals for shopping channels and the good old movie channels. None of which we particularly want! Will be doing more research that's for sure, needed for January and February if no other month! You are lucky to get Ch5!

 

[its cd]

We have big community dish installed by Confort ....., was ok for all channels when last over in September

Will report back in a couple of weeks

Generally I find anything Confort install is fit for purpose and reliable , may cost a bit more but they are my PP John Lewis - ie my go to place to get good no hassle service at fair price

 

[lollipop]

Within our community we also have a 1.8 m wide dish , fitted by confort and all channels operate well. Occasionally if heavy rain as would happen in the UK you experience some break up. The equinox time of your year will sometimes affect signal strength.

 

[Belladonna]

Yes, would probably opted for Confort as we do for everything, but this was a community decision that didn't include everyone! Never a good plan. Will go round to Confort and see what they can suggest for damage limitation as now no space for large dish.

 

[Deanscroft]

Yes there are (hopefully short term) problems at the moment due to two causes. The first is that at this time of year the afternoon sun and the satellite are in line and the solar radiation interferes with reception. This is nothing new except this year it has coincided with an unusual increase it solar flare activity which has made the problem worse.
Even with our 2m dish we are experiencing some drop out.

When talking about the size of the larger satellite dishes it needs to be remembered that the dish is oval and should be measured horizontally with a straight measure across the shortest side. Measuring it this way a dish measuring 1.8m should give good reception in all but the most taxing of conditions (remembering also that there are lots of other factors that affect reception - size isn´t everything!). I do know that when Confort quote for a 1.8m dish that is exactly what it is ie it is actually 2m measured across the longest route. Some installers measure them the other way and what they quote as a 1.7m dish actually only measures 1.55m. These appear to work adequately in ideal conditions but start to drop out whenever there is heavy cloud. Also they are no good for HD. It really is a matter of you pay your money and take your choise. My opinion is that the 1.55m is fine for occassional use or holidays but to guarantee good reception for the vast majority of time means shelling out around 2000€ on a genuine 1.8m model.

 

[Nick]

Very helpful. Thanks.

 

[Belladonna]

Help please. When we had our TV installed by Confort, they also installed a TV ap or something on our lap top, which we could plug into the TV with a cable. And that's all I can remember! can someone remind me what it is please and do I connect to an email adds first to find it? Obviously holiday brain dismissed all info from last year! Thanks.

 

[GrandeMimosa]

Not a bit of signal at the moment. Rain and cloud. Anyone else having same problem.

 

[lollipop]

This is not unusual when it rains heavily with what ever size of dish you have. We lost our signal too.

 

[Sparky]

Even my Spanish satellite tv has been knocked out this morning.

 

[Belladonna]

Itv has just given up!

 

[howard]

I had my dish changed in March this year by Infinity and now I'm being told I need a 2m aluminium dish @1000€ as anyone else been told this.