satalite, digi box help please

[Tractor Boy]

Hi All, I have just bought another motorhome and it is fitted with a satalite dish, I have a non digital telly, can anyone tell me what I need i.e digibox or whatever to get up and running. I have seen digiboxes on e-bay for about £20 but do I need a certain type for a motorhome. Thanks, Gary

[HarryM1BYT]

Digibox usually refers to a terrestial digital conversion box, to enable an older analogue TV to work with the digital transmissions.

If you already have a sat dish in place, you need a digital satellite receiver box or unit of which there are two general types - Sky or Freesat.

Sky needs some sort of subscription, FreeSat does not. FreeSat will give you 400-600 free channels, including all of the usual BBC ones, ITV ones and hundreds more which you probably will not be interested in. It also includes all of the local transmissions, so you can select BBC North, BBC Wales, BBC Londan etc.. You choose which one(s) you want, whereas the Skybox makes this decision for you.

FreeSat is what we have used in the caravan for the past six or so years and it has worked great everywhere we have tried it. We also have the option of digital terrestial, which has not generally worked at all in the places we have been. We bought a 'Satellite in a Suitcase' kit - receiver, LNB, cable, small plastic dish + various mounting adaptors and a sat finder - as sold by Maplins, sometimes lidl, sometimes Aldi. The latter is just combined compass, level indicator and a dial to select the satellite you want to receive, plus the name of the nearest large city.

Instead of using the mounting kit, I adapted a 2 foot long tent pole to enable the dish to mount on top. I just hammer the pole into the ground, fit the dish and line it up. I can usually have it set up and working within 5 minutes, much less time than it would take me to try to get a terrestial system set up, scan for channels and assuming there was a signal to be had.

In Wales a couple of weeks ago, I had it set up and working in a couple of minutes. Guy next to us had a motorhome fitted with a massive steerable dish, which on seeing me set mine up without any fuss, he tried to get his working. He spent the next two weeks on and off, fiddling about trying to get it working and failed. Our tiny dish works fine, providing you accept that if the clouds get too thick the signal will fail.

So far as the actual Sat receiver box goes, I would suggest you get one able to run on mains or 12v. Ours can run from either, but it stays running on the 12v and can run straight from the battery or inverter/charger when on mains.

[Tractor Boy]

Originally Posted by HarryM1BYT

Digibox usually refers to a terrestial digital conversion box, to enable an older analogue TV to work with the digital transmissions.

If you already have a sat dish in place, you need a digital satellite receiver box or unit of which there are two general types - Sky or Freesat.

Sky needs some sort of subscription, FreeSat does not. FreeSat will give you 400-600 free channels, including all of the usual BBC ones, ITV ones and hundreds more which you probably will not be interested in. It also includes all of the local transmissions, so you can select BBC North, BBC Wales, BBC Londan etc.. You choose which one(s) you want, whereas the Skybox makes this decision for you.

FreeSat is what we have used in the caravan for the past six or so years and it has worked great everywhere we have tried it. We also have the option of digital terrestial, which has not generally worked at all in the places we have been. We bought a 'Satellite in a Suitcase' kit - receiver, LNB, cable, small plastic dish + various mounting adaptors and a sat finder - as sold by Maplins, sometimes lidl, sometimes Aldi. The latter is just combined compass, level indicator and a dial to select the satellite you want to receive, plus the name of the nearest large city.

Instead of using the mounting kit, I adapted a 2 foot long tent pole to enable the dish to mount on top. I just hammer the pole into the ground, fit the dish and line it up. I can usually have it set up and working within 5 minutes, much less time than it would take me to try to get a terrestial system set up, scan for channels and assuming there was a signal to be had.

In Wales a couple of weeks ago, I had it set up and working in a couple of minutes. Guy next to us had a motorhome fitted with a massive steerable dish, which on seeing me set mine up without any fuss, he tried to get his working. He spent the next two weeks on and off, fiddling about trying to get it working and failed. Our tiny dish works fine, providing you accept that if the clouds get too thick the signal will fail.

So far as the actual Sat receiver box goes, I would suggest you get one able to run on mains or 12v. Ours can run from either, but it stays running on the 12v and can run straight from the battery or inverter/charger when on mains.

Many thanks for your reply Harry, Freesat it will be then, any recomendations of where to buy. Cheers, Gary

[SapperGB]

I think you do get the free to air channels with a sky box but freesat will give more including the free HD channels should you wish.

Humax have a good reputation for satellite boxes.

[gefary]

If you have a laptop with windows 7 you can get a thingy to fit in the USB port to turn it into a TV that will receive freeview and record.
Made by Hauppauge.
Cheaper than buying a top box.

[coolcat]

Originally Posted by gefary

If you have a laptop with windows 7 you can get a thingy to fit in the USB port to turn it into a TV that will receive freeview and record.
Made by Hauppauge.
Cheaper than buying a top box.

Freeview is broadcast and received via an aerial, Freesat is via a dish that the op has on his motorhome.
Not sure if you can get a satellite usb dongle but you never know

[gefary]

The idea is to plug the aerial into into the dongle.

Just trying to save on the price of a top box and give something with extra features.

[coolcat]

I follow what you're saying.
It's just that Gary said he has a satellite dish not a tv aerial on the motor home .
So no aerial, no freeview reception

Gary, Freesat boxes can be bought from most Electrical retailers (including me!!)and cost from around £30.00 upwards depending on what you want. I.e, Standard Def (SD) High Def (HD) or recording capablilty (PVR)
Genuine Freesat equipment has this logo.


Worth noting that there are also Satellite boxes called Free To Air (FTA) boxes, these will also get Freesat channels but lots of other countries broadcasts as well and don't always put the channels in the correct Freesat Channel allocation which may or may not bother you.
Hope that helps.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by coolcat

Freeview is broadcast and received via an aerial, Freesat is via a dish that the op has on his motorhome.
Not sure if you can get a satellite usb dongle but you never know

My desktop came with a combined Freeview and FreeSat receiver card.