Satellite TV Update

[fil6699]

I said it before and will say it again" Don't panic Mr Mannering" I am sure once the satellites all settle down and everything is in Place our very capable satellite engineers in the Port and it the Old town will have the solution. Not convinced buying gizmo's and gadgets to use vie the internet is the way to go hold on to you money for now

 

[Sparky]

I agree with you Phil, i am hearing that some people have lost it all but then it came back, others are saying it comes and goes according to the time of day, one who has lost it all said that a neighbour about 50 meters away hasn't lost anything. I certainly wouldn't pay out a load of money yet .

 

[lollipop]

I am currently using a laptop and HDMI leads to the computer and getting Filmon, for the times when what signal we have fails as last night in the winds.

 

[Mark]

With 'British TV Anywhere', a pay as you go programme, they list several UK IP addresses which, when you put into the VPN settings on the Ipad, allow you to watch ITV player, BBC IPlayer, etc. these don't always transfer onto the big screen (don't know why!) but are watchable on the Ipad. I have opted for an initial 6.49€ which will last for 1 month, when hopefully I will have found a more permanent solution.

A lower cost VPN that works is Witopia personalVPN™ (Basic) at $5.99 month or $49.99 per year which is only about £30 GBP or 36 Euro for a year.

It's a VPN service so your IP address appears to be wherever you want in the world
Also they take paypal which feels a lot safer then entering card details.

(not allowed to post the link so google for it if interested )

 

[JMD40]

I agree with Phil that the best thing is to wait a while and lets see what the news in when the satelite has settled down.
I am managing to get, in my lounge, using the freeview box. channel 30, ITV from Channel Islands.
In the bedroom upstairs with a skybox, I cannot get any of the UK channels apart from good old Sky News.
We shall need a solution to this before the summer season starts and visitors are upset not to receive their fav. uk channels.
Meanwhile, those of you who have spanish TV, remember to go under menu, audio settings and choose to watch the programmes in the V.O. - original version... Divinity is a particularly good channel for easy watching American programmes and remember most of the films are American too. Failing that, watching TV is a great way of improving your spanish.
Suerte!

 

[El Gordo]

This is all getting so complicated. What are the bars doing then? I assume they're all showing football on Sky? How are they doing that?

I believe that Sky "paid for" channels are broadcast on a European beam, not the beam focused just over the UK.

 

[goldilocks]

We are coming out to our apartment in May and wonder whether anyone has tried a search for channels on the new satellite? Would be interested to hear if anyone has attempted this.

 

[lollipop]

If you have your own dish and freeview,sky or freesat you may well have channels but may not have BBC or ITV . This is variable around the port. Some people are able to access other regions than they usually use e.g NI or Southern channels.

 

[goldilocks]

Satellite

Thanks lollipop!

 

[majprop]

As a matter of interest last week I went into a satellite installation shop in Pollensa and asked about replacing our 1.3mts dish for a 1.8mts dish on our roof terrace, I explained that I wanted a platform built just for the new dish which would be too large to put on the wall, or more to the point, in a strong wind would bring down the wall, just for this work I was told the cost would be 2,400€!!!, I staggered out to my car and phoned a friend of mine who put me in touch with another installer that he knew, this I did and he said that if I get the platform built he would supply a legal dish for 450€, I then got hold of another friend who said he would build the platform for 100€ including materials. Oh and the dish supplier would also realign/tune. he also said that if it did not work he would remove the dish at no charge at all. All are local people.

 

[El Gordo]

...............friend of mine who put me in touch with another installer that he knew,............... All are local people.

Please keep us informed............

 

[Deanscroft]

Majprop

Could you please send me a PM naming the Companies you have had quotes from?

Deanscroft

 

[fil6699]

Majprop

Could you please send me a PM naming the Companies you have had quotes from?

Deanscroft

Can you also let me know who you have used if you have used anybody and if it worked for you
thanks

 

[Deanscroft]

Before buying a big dish - a word of caution.
Not all dishes are the same. As with most things in life you get what you pay for. The performance of a satellite dish depends upon the curve of the dish being accurately formed in order to reflect the signal captured on any part of the dish exactly onto the point of the lnb. Any slight variation in the curve will mean that the reflectance from that area of the dish will miss the lnb and reduce the signal strength. Traditionally dishes were manufactured either from one piece of spun aluminium or hand built in layers from glass fibre. This is why the bigger dishes in particular are so expensive. Recently dishes have come onto the market manufactured from sections riveted together. These dishes are generally allot cheaper to manufacture but because the curve is not perfectly formed there performance can be inferior. It is not uncommon for a 1.5m spun alluminium dish to out-perform a 1.8m sectional dish.
Before you hand over your hard earned cash make sure that what you are buying does what you need it to do. If possible do not pay anything untill it is in and working. And remember - make sure it works when there is thick cloud.

 

[Papillon]

I have a friend who has a villa in Estepona and he says he has lost the satellite signals but more importantly so has Gibraltar who are up in arms about the loss of service. There are suggestions that the footprint can be modified to include that part of Europe.
The other side of course is that the beam can be modified at anytime so buying a larger dish may be a bit premature if there is any refinement over the next year or so.

 

[Deanscroft]

So are you suggesting that the people in Gibraltar are paying the UK TV license?

 

[El Gordo]

This thread has gone quiet.....Does that mean everyone has sorted out their problems??

Or have they taken up some other activities instead!!

 

[Sparky]

I have noticed a lot of my expat FB friends are recommending a company called "Gntv Satellite Entertainment Systems", i don't know anything about it but it might be worth Googling them .

 

[alcanadakid]

I have ordered one from Amazon (£69) and will bring it out in a couple of weeks time. I also ordered a mini-keyboard (£13) to go with it as the reviewers said it was preferred although not essential.

We will see. (anyway it is more boy's toys to play with!)

I've got this box and it works in the UK but it is quite tricky to set up. We are out at the end of next week so will try it for real then. We also have a sling box for back up but it all depends on our broadband speed. We also have a VPN connection, but it works on the iPad but not the laptop.

There is a lot to play with ......

 

[Papillon]

I spoke to Pedro from Confort and he sent the following reply.

As I said here is why we don't recommend iptv receivers.

Need to explain: for occasional use, and if you don't expect to much from them, they can do the job. But don't expect the same quality as the satellite.

What Is Traffic Shaping

Traffic shaping (also known as "packet shaping") is a computer network traffic management technique which delays some or all datagrams to bring them into compliance with a desired traffic profile.[1][2] Traffic shaping is a form of rate limiting.

Traffic shaping is used to optimize or guarantee performance, improve latency, and/or increase usable bandwidth for some kinds of packets by delaying other kinds.

For more info go to Traffic shaping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Why do they shape?

All internet providers use the same model – basically they over-sell their capacity and legally they can do this up to 10:1. They do this on the basis that not everyone will be using the service at the same time. When traffic volume increases the ISP’s use shaping to maximise their infrastructure capacity and performance.


So when they shape, the packets of iptv are delayed.

If you google "traffic shaping" there is a mass of information for anyone contemplating using the internet for TV.

Thanks to Pedro for his helpful advice.