I've been eyeballing these satellite receivers on DealExtreme and reading a little bit about the freely available programming that can be had via satellite. Does anyone mess around with this?

I'm wondering if it is possible to us an old DirecTV dish for this kind of thing.


http://www.dealextreme.com/p/s16-dvb-s2-hdtv-1080i-pvr-digital-satellite-receiver-w-usb-hdmi-rs-232-rj45-gprs-black-141387?item=10

8/19/2012 1:39:56 PM

Unless things have changed in the last year or so, don't waste your money.

8/19/2012 6:15:33 PM

I used to do it a couple of years back when you could get all the Dish Network stuff for free. Once they put a stop to that, the channel listing wasn't worth it to keep it up. I'm pretty sure you could use just about any dish though. We ended up using one that my dad's co-workers found on the side of the road and through in the back of his truck as a joke cause they knew he was into "hacking satellites".

8/19/2012 6:18:07 PM

Hardly anything is broadcast "in the clear" without encryption. The best you'll get is NASA TV, which is broadcast online free anyways.

8/20/2012 3:17:05 PM

is this list no longer relevant?

http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html

I'm most interested in receiving foreign news channels

8/25/2012 1:52:13 PM

i was not aware this even existed

but it is now relevant to my interests, if that list is true

does that thing just sit inside like a cable box, or is there an outside element?

[Edited on August 26, 2012 at 9:42 PM. Reason : .]

8/26/2012 9:40:02 PM

It worked like satellite television works.

"Worked" being the important word in that sentence.

Past tense.

8/27/2012 10:08:52 AM

please be more specific in your assault on my dreams

what doesn't work anymore?
why? and when did it stop working?

8/28/2012 5:51:55 PM

the lack of information in this thread led me to dig deeper
I like Tech Talk's Socratic method

I'm talking about FTA, or Free-To-Air, Satellite programming

http://www.ftalist.com/master.php

I can't use an old DirecTV dish to tune it

so who knows about FTA satellite?
I'd love to set something like this up but don't want to spend much more than $100

8/30/2012 1:33:17 AM

We know what you're talking about.

I'm not sure there's any clearer way to put this, but let me try again:

FTA is dead. You are wasting your time.

8/30/2012 2:06:14 AM

Maybe I was a bit abrupt earlier figuring you just wanted "free Satellite TV", which isn't viable any more. If you're genuinely interested in FTA as a hobby there are definitely things to look at. Personally I always loved standing outside with a compass and protractor aiming a dish trying to catch a signal from some random satellite, it was just FUN.

To get started you'll need at minimum an FTA receiver (an older one is fine, since you're looking for in the clear) and a KU band dish and LNB. I wouldn't bother with other bands at first, they can get pretty technically involved for a beginner (not to mention HUGE dishes). Older receivers can be had for almost nothing, since all the people from the good ol days have one around they're likely willing to part with. I might even have an extra somewhere. Either way easily under $100, probably more like $50 if you're industrious. The most expensive part (for me at least) was all the damned coax cable that was needed to run from the LNB to my TV, heh.



If you get everything set up the first bird you'll want to try to aim for is 97W, or Galaxy 19. It's pretty much the go-to for FTA . . . . more channels in the clear than every other sat viewable from this part of the country combined. Almost all are in foreign languages and those that aren't are mostly evangelical Christian stuff, but as a hobby FTA is more about exploration and discovery than the actual content (chances are almost 100% that if its in the clear on a sat, you can stream it on the web for free).

8/30/2012 3:38:26 AM

Yes this is more about my interest in exploration than it is in my desire for a bunch of Jesus channels from overseas.

I think I have access to an old spool of coax cable somewhere so I can save money on that front.

Thanks for the info Carl.

Thanks for taking your time to respond too, WetBlanket.

8/31/2012 3:07:35 PM

cool info, fregac. i think i'll sit this one out after realizing everything would be online.

and Stein, thanks for dropping some knowledge on us.

[Edited on September 2, 2012 at 8:27 PM. Reason : .]

9/2/2012 8:26:09 PM