Author Topic: Cable/sat tv boxes (Read 552859 times)

Frank. · « **on:** December 29, 2010, 06:49:57 pm »

Cancelling sky as it's costing me far too much, want to get one of the boxes which get all the normal channels but the foreign ones too for the footy.

Considering getting a HD one for main room and 3 for each of the bedrooms, any advice would be greatly received on which ones are the best etc

Edit by Harinder - Have wanted to get rid of that word for ages

FiSh77 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2010, 08:34:22 pm »

dreambox 800hd or vu+ duo for the main room

the dm800 will set you back around £200 for a clone depending on where you get it from, you can find them cheaper if you don't mind shipping from china but there's always the hassle if something goes wrong, it only has a single tuner so you can't watch a channel and record another although channels on the same multiplex (frequency) are made available when recording but there's not normally much choice, i have one and it's a decent box

the vu+ duo is a hd box with twin tuners and costs over £300, i've seen them as cheap as £310 going up to just under £400

the dm500 might be the best bet for other rooms, genuine boxes are no longer made but you can find clones for under £50

for foreign channels you'll need at least an 80cm dish plus a motor, you'll also need a lnb with at least 2 outputs, 1 connected to the main box and the other going to the bedrooms and using a splitter, i don't know if this will weaken the signal too much so you might be best off with a quad output lnb and run cables to all 4 boxes, you need an internet connection as well for each box, the dm800hd can use a wireless adapter but mine is hardwired to the router so i'm not sure what dongles work and if the drivers work on all images, same for the vu+ duo, the dm500 has no usb ports so you need to hardwire it so homeplugs will be the best solution

i also take it you're looking at card sharing to cut down the costs? the main problem you'll have is that most people selling lines don't like you using them on multiple boxes so you'd need to find someone willing to cut you a deal if you want full sky on all 4 boxes unless you don't mind paying £40-£50 a month, the main server i'm on only has sky + espn & setanta ireland and has just gone up to £12 a month but it is glitch free on hd channels and is well worth the money, i was thinking of putting another box upstairs but i'd have to pay another £12 p/m for a 2nd line, i have a 2nd server i pay roughly £20 for a 3 month sub for which has all the foreign stuff on as well as sky but i cancel this during the closed season, i've seen servers as cheap as £7 p/m though but doubt they will be glitch free

Frank. · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2010, 09:03:43 pm »

Thats brilliant mate. Think we're just going to get the main box downstairs and keep it at Freeview in the rooms, 2 of us wouldn't use it much anyway.

So i'll probs get the DB 800HD. How much will the Motor+Dish cost? (Got a standard Sky dish on my roof at the moment) If I pay the £12 a month for the Sky, ESPN, Setanta one does that include Sky 1, and movies etc. Also do I need a 2nd server for the foreign stuff if I have the dish?

Nice one!

FiSh77 · « **Reply #3 on:** December 29, 2010, 09:31:05 pm »

anywhere between £60 & £80 for a 80cm dish plus motor, do a search on google or look on ebay

you can find servers on cs-kings.com, most of them have loads of different packages including sky and all the foreign one's you'll need but i'm not sure of the quality, the main one i'm on is run by a guy called the_dude and is spot on but only has the full sky package so i also have a cheaper one for the foreign satellites but the sky hd on it is very glitchy, the best bet is to register and look through the servers and read what people say about them, they all offer 24 hours test so you try them out first without shelling out and try to find a good one

Frank. · « **Reply #4 on:** December 29, 2010, 09:36:53 pm »

Thanks a lot mate!

Trada · « **Reply #5 on:** June 13, 2011, 01:41:55 pm »

I'm thinking of getting the dreambox 800hd and a 80cm dish plus a motor.

Must admit I don't know much about this. Do you have to set up the box with software to use card sharing and which way would you have to point the dish to get the Sky channels and the foreign football is it in the same direction as the sky dish?

FiSh77 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 13, 2011, 03:18:28 pm »

the box is pretty easy to set up but it depends on what image (bit like an operating system) is installed on it, some don't come with any cams installed so you might need to manually install cccam which is a case of accessing the plugins/addons menu on the box and selecting what you want to install

to set it up for card sharing you use a program on your pc called dreambox control center, all you need to do is open the cfg file for cccam and copy/paste the line for whatever servers you're using

if you're not sure about setting the motor up then it's probably best getting someone to do it for you, you need to get it facing 180 degrees (south) but the angle of the dish must be spot on as well which depends on where you live, easiest way to do it is get it pointed bang on south then set it up on the box for any satellite and let it move into position then just tweak the angle of the dish until you get a good signal, once it's working you should be able to set it up for any other satellites you want to receive and it'll pick them up straight away, the settings are pretty simple all you need to do is select a satellite you want to get, change the DiSEqC mode to 1.2 and enter the longitude and latitude of where you live, all other settings are default, do this for all other satellites you want to pick up then whenever you select a channel that's on a different satellite it'll move the dish automatically

Trada · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2011, 11:34:24 am »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 13, 2011, 03:18:28 pm

the box is pretty easy to set up but it depends on what image (bit like an operating system) is installed on it, some don't come with any cams installed so you might need to manually install cccam which is a case of accessing the plugins/addons menu on the box and selecting what you want to install

to set it up for card sharing you use a program on your pc called dreambox control center, all you need to do is open the cfg file for cccam and copy/paste the line for whatever servers you're using

if you're not sure about setting the motor up then it's probably best getting someone to do it for you, you need to get it facing 180 degrees (south) but the angle of the dish must be spot on as well which depends on where you live, easiest way to do it is get it pointed bang on south then set it up on the box for any satellite and let it move into position then just tweak the angle of the dish until you get a good signal, once it's working you should be able to set it up for any other satellites you want to receive and it'll pick them up straight away, the settings are pretty simple all you need to do is select a satellite you want to get, change the DiSEqC mode to 1.2 and enter the longitude and latitude of where you live, all other settings are default, do this for all other satellites you want to pick up then whenever you select a channel that's on a different satellite it'll move the dish automatically

Thanks for the info I should get my box today or tomorrow and then the fun and games begins.

I just checked on the compass on my phone that south is the same way the Sky dish is pointing is that right not that I don't trust my phone.

What satellites can you pick up with a 80cms dish pointing that way.

Sorry for all the questions.

Oscarmac · « **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2011, 11:44:19 am »

must look into this too.

dikwad · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2011, 12:00:35 pm »

Got one of these a couple of months back,works a treat. And finally got it working through windows media centre now so am well happy

FiSh77 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2011, 03:10:56 pm »

Quote from: Trada on June 21, 2011, 11:34:24 am

Thanks for the info I should get my box today or tomorrow and then the fun and games begins.

I just checked on the compass on my phone that south is the same way the Sky dish is pointing is that right not that I don't trust my phone.

What satellites can you pick up with a 80cms dish pointing that way.

Sorry for all the questions.

on a proper compass the sky dish should be pointing at around 152 degrees (28.2 degrees east of true south) with a fixed dish pointing in that direction you'll pick up all the freeview and sky channels which are on Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D

to get any other satellites you'll need a motor

here's a list of most of the satellites you should be able to get with a motor depending on size of dish and things like trees or other obstacles that might be in the way, you can click on them and see what packages/channels are available, if you're just interested in getting most of our matches which aren't shown on uk tv then 19.2e and 13e will be all you need

Trada · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2011, 06:22:49 pm »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 21, 2011, 03:10:56 pm

on a proper compass the sky dish should be pointing at around 152 degrees (28.2 degrees east of true south) with a fixed dish pointing in that direction you'll pick up all the freeview and sky channels which are on Eurobird 1 & Astra 2A/2B/2D

to get any other satellites you'll need a motor

here's a list of most of the satellites you should be able to get with a motor depending on size of dish and things like trees or other obstacles that might be in the way, you can click on them and see what packages/channels are available, if you're just interested in getting most of our matches which aren't shown on uk tv then 19.2e and 13e will be all you need

Thanks for all you help my box arrived today so I think I was just get it working on the Sky dish first and then upgrade to a motor dish in a month or two.

Kashinoda · « **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2011, 06:49:18 pm »

If I just want to get the Sky package will a basic satellite like this do?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sky-Satellite-Dish-w-Quad-LNB-20-meters-Cable-Kit-/310310519455?pt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&hash=item483ff2c29f

I'd couple it with a Dreambox 800S HD and a cardsharing sub from these guys. Had a cable set up a while back and that all went to shit thanks to the new encryption

are the old Dreambox 500Cs worth anything?

Cheers

FiSh77 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 21, 2011, 07:12:37 pm »

Quote from: Kashinoda on June 21, 2011, 06:49:18 pm

If I just want to get the Sky package will a basic satellite like this do?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sky-Satellite-Dish-w-Quad-LNB-20-meters-Cable-Kit-/310310519455?pt=UK_ConEle_SatCableFreeview_RL&hash=item483ff2c29f

I'd couple it with a Dreambox 800S HD and a cardsharing sub from these guys. Had a cable set up a while back and that all went to shit thanks to the new encryption are the old Dreambox 500Cs worth anything?

Cheers

yeah that'll be fine, the only thing i'd question is the sub as i can't find out any info on that site, it's $8 a month though so it's not much to lose if it's shite plus i can recommend you a very good server which is £12 p/m or works out less if you pay for 3, 6 or 12 months

Upinsmoke · « **Reply #14 on:** June 21, 2011, 07:17:23 pm »

Our cable box fucked up a while back (starview) and no keys work for it

any new boxes about that work??? Or is that it done with for dodgy cable boxes?

FiSh77 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2011, 07:53:23 pm »

there's a couple of cable boxes that work through card sharing, starview 6 & 7 and kryptview a780, i've no idea if they're any good but there's been a thread on the rattle over the last few months and it sounds like they've been on and off all the time

also i've heard that they're auditing all the cabinets on street corners and disconnecting any houses that don't subscribe, not sure how true it is but the guy i heard it off says they repaint the box white/grey once it's done and renumber it

Upinsmoke · « **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2011, 07:58:58 pm »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 21, 2011, 07:53:23 pm

there's a couple of cable boxes that work through card sharing, starview 6 & 7 and kryptview a780, i've no idea if they're any good but there's been a thread on the rattle over the last few months and it sounds like they've been on and off all the time

also i've heard that they're auditing all the cabinets on street corners and disconnecting any houses that don't subscribe, not sure how true it is but the guy i heard it off says they repaint the box white/grey once it's done and renumber it

Cheers for the heads up anyway lad. Looks like these dishes are the way forward then...

sounds a bix complex for me though $:-\$

Graeme · « **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2011, 08:01:06 pm »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 21, 2011, 07:53:23 pm

also i've heard that they're auditing all the cabinets on street corners and disconnecting any houses that don't subscribe, not sure how true it is but the guy i heard it off says they repaint the box white/grey once it's done and renumber it

The process of disconnecting non-subscribers has been ongoing for years, when I was working there back in 2006 I went out for the day doing just that. Many of the cabinets just have a pile of untagged cables onto each tap bank, I've seen the engineer yank every single cable out and leave. The customers who call and complain get reconnected, those using the service fraudulently obviously don't get in touch.

There's no truth in the cab painting bit, it was part of the planning consent that they were green. Some occasionally get painted white or grey if they are prone to overheating as the lighter paint reflects the sunlight, some councils get very arsey over that and I've seen council letters ordering them to be painted green again or they will remove them.

Some useless information for you there

Socrates7 · « **Reply #18 on:** June 22, 2011, 07:32:33 pm »

I was thinking of cancelling sky and getting a motorised dish installed. Only thing is can you watch 3pm saturday kick offs on free to air foreign channels or would I need to buy a card for the foreign subscription channels to be sure of catching our games? If so, which card would you recommend? Also are most premier league matches on these foreign channels available with the option of english commentary?

Kashinoda · « **Reply #19 on:** June 22, 2011, 08:52:44 pm »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 21, 2011, 07:12:37 pm

yeah that'll be fine, the only thing i'd question is the sub as i can't find out any info on that site, it's $8 a month though so it's not much to lose if it's shite plus i can recommend you a very good server which is £12 p/m or works out less if you pay for 3, 6 or 12 months

Cheers mate could you PM me the details?

FiSh77 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 22, 2011, 09:11:08 pm »

Quote from: Socrates7 on June 22, 2011, 07:32:33 pm

I was thinking of cancelling sky and getting a motorised dish installed. Only thing is can you watch 3pm saturday kick offs on free to air foreign channels or would I need to buy a card for the foreign subscription channels to be sure of catching our games? If so, which card would you recommend? Also are most premier league matches on these foreign channels available with the option of foreign commentary?

there's a few fta channels but if you're after our games then you're better off getting either a legit sub, tring plus is the cheapest i've seen at around £200 for 12 months, or going down the card sharing route, a site i go on has it's own server which costs £10 a month and opens up loads of the foreign channels so you'll never miss a game, alot of them have the option to switch commentary to english

Socrates7 · « **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2011, 09:59:59 pm »

Thanks Fish I've been doing a lot of reading this evening and came to the same answers! Much appreciate the advice though. I've come across a few CS sites but as a newbie its hard to know which is reliable..... which site do you go on?(PM me if its against RAWK rules). Cheers

Trada · « **Reply #22 on:** June 22, 2011, 11:13:43 pm »

Got my Dreambox up and running tonight just using Sky and after a few problems I got it up and running with a free days free viewing of a card sharer some glitching so will try another one tomorrow but so far looking good.

And Tracy likes it she can watch the Red Soxs playing rounders.

Wish I did this ages ago can't wait to ring sky to cancel and blame it all on Gary Neville.

Fanxxxxtastic · « **Reply #23 on:** June 22, 2011, 11:19:14 pm »

Quote from: Trada on June 22, 2011, 11:13:43 pm

Got my Dreambox up and running tonight just using Sky and after a few problems I got it up and running with a free days free viewing of a card sharer some glitching so will try another one tomorrow but so far looking good.

And Tracy likes it she can watch the Red Soxs playing rounders.

Wish I did this ages ago can't wait to ring sky to cancel and blame it all on Gary Neville.

It's great I can see the Red Sox, even though it's crap tonight.

But Jesus, fucking wept, as soon as I pick up the handset and press a button I'm fucked! Too many options. God knows how I'll cope if/when he gets a motorised dish. I imagine it'll be a complete nightmare when there are more channels to choose from.

FiSh77 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 23, 2011, 02:07:47 pm »

Quote from: Fanxxxxtastic on June 22, 2011, 11:19:14 pm

It's great I can see the Red Sox, even though it's crap tonight.

But Jesus, fucking wept, as soon as I pick up the handset and press a button I'm fucked! Too many options. God knows how I'll cope if/when he gets a motorised dish. I imagine it'll be a complete nightmare when there are more channels to choose from.

my missus was the same when i first got mine, it's not too bad once you set the favorites up

press the bouquet up button (big button with + sign on right of exit button) then the blue button, here you can press the menu button and add directories like sport, movies, music etc, press the green button then select 28.2 east services, highlight a channel you want in your favorites and press menu then move to bouquet and put it whichever directory you want, once you've moved all the channels you want you can move them into any order you want by going into the directory and pressing menu then enable move mode, once you get used to it you'll start to remember what number your favorite channels are like on mine all the sports channels are 68 to 74 so i just put the number in on the remote without having to go into the channel menu

nevarc · « **Reply #25 on:** June 23, 2011, 04:18:05 pm »

Quote from: FiSh77 on June 21, 2011, 07:12:37 pm

yeah that'll be fine, the only thing i'd question is the sub as i can't find out any info on that site, it's $8 a month though so it's not much to lose if it's shite plus i can recommend you a very good server which is £12 p/m or works out less if you pay for 3, 6 or 12 months

Could you PM me mate? The server am on at the moment is very glitchy which i got from one the the guys on cs-kings. I am mainly looking for sky it and nova gr.

Trada · « **Reply #26 on:** June 24, 2011, 09:58:15 am »

Got another days free days viewing today and it is very good all the Sky channels including HD plus ESPN USA, Setanta Ireland, Setanta sport, Premier sports and for some reason the Red Hot porn which is really not that Red Hot all for £50 a year and hardly any glitching. I think I will take him up on that offer.

Still got one problem I had a spare hard drive that works with the unit put the hard drive in went to the menu's and got the drive initialized but can't work out how to record to it when I use the record to option in the menus it still only sees the flash memory.

AnfieldIron · « **Reply #27 on:** June 24, 2011, 01:06:32 pm »

Really interested in getting one of these but I'm not entirely sure where to start.

Tried Googling it but I just got confused. Does it show the Sky/Football HD channels?

Teapot · « **Reply #28 on:** June 30, 2011, 06:58:48 pm »

Im currently paying $ky about £100 a month, do you think its worth my while changing to one of these boxes?

Ideally i'd want HD, the equalivent to sky movies and all the english/spanish football. i'd also like another HD box in another room (like sky multiroom).

HD is a big thing for me, i love my HD movies and HD sports. what is the HD quality like using one of these boxes/satellites?

does the pc need to be on while using the satellite box?

How much (roughly) do you thing i could save a month if i ditch $ky?

thanks in advance!

Upinsmoke · « **Reply #29 on:** June 30, 2011, 07:02:09 pm »

Quote from: Teapot on June 30, 2011, 06:58:48 pm

Im currently paying $ky about £100 a month, do you think its worth my while changing to one of these boxes?

Ideally i'd want HD, the equalivent to sky movies and all the english/spanish football. i'd also like another HD box in another room (like sky multiroom).

HD is a big thing for me, i love my HD movies and HD sports. what is the HD quality like using one of these boxes/satellites?

does the pc need to be on while using the satellite box?

How much (roughly) do you thing i could save a month if i ditch $ky?

thanks in advance!

100 quid?

holy shit lol

i cant answer your question but fucking hell, that is alot.

fletched · « **Reply #30 on:** June 30, 2011, 07:15:57 pm »

A guide for stupid newbies to all this would be welcome

Interested in all this myself but dont have a clue where to begin

Teapot · « **Reply #31 on:** June 30, 2011, 07:18:15 pm »

Quote from: fletched on June 30, 2011, 07:15:57 pm

A guide for stupid newbies to all this would be welcome

Interested in all this myself but dont have a clue where to begin

I second this!

Logistiks · « **Reply #32 on:** July 3, 2011, 04:40:36 pm »

Quote from: Teapot on June 30, 2011, 07:18:15 pm

I second this!

Thirded! I've read card sharing forums and really am quite interested in how it all works, especially if I could buy a card for my microserver (HTPC) instead of having a set top box.

Trada · « **Reply #33 on:** July 3, 2011, 05:08:04 pm »

Quote from: Teapot on June 30, 2011, 06:58:48 pm

Im currently paying $ky about £100 a month, do you think its worth my while changing to one of these boxes?

Ideally i'd want HD, the equalivent to sky movies and all the english/spanish football. i'd also like another HD box in another room (like sky multiroom).

HD is a big thing for me, i love my HD movies and HD sports. what is the HD quality like using one of these boxes/satellites?

does the pc need to be on while using the satellite box?

How much (roughly) do you thing i could save a month if i ditch $ky?

thanks in advance!

I was paying £86 quid a month for my Sky.

I got my Dreambox 800hd box from Ebay for around £140 including P+P.

I signed up to a card sharer for £50 a year for that you get all the Sky channels, all the ESPN channels, Setanta Ireland channels, RTE 1 & 2, PPV stuff like the boxing and wrestling, Chelsea TV and MANU TV I guess they will be good when these teams lose. The Redhot TV channels and this include the HD channels.

Right now I am just using my Sky dish may upgrade to a motorised dish in the future.

Tracy rang up Sky and got all the stuff cancelled apart from the broadband and Sky talk and now it will be £22 a month.

So it will pay for its self in a few months.

Wanted to make sure I got Setanta Ireland I heard they show a lot of Liverpool games.

I guess some people may get a bit confused with having to use FTP to put stuff onto the Dreambox.

Lucky I had a hard drive that fitted the dreambox and in the end managed to get it working and can now record programs etc the only down side you can't record a program and watch another channel like on the Sky box not on the Dreambox I have anyway.

griffic · « **Reply #34 on:** July 3, 2011, 05:11:28 pm »

Can anyone recommend somewhere to buy an HD dreambox from, either an online store or e-bay seller?

Just cancelled sky this week and am looking to get a dreambox set up.

AnfieldIron · « **Reply #35 on:** July 3, 2011, 07:29:55 pm »

Quote from: Trada on July 3, 2011, 05:08:04 pm

I was paying £86 quid a month for my Sky.

I got my Dreambox 800hd box from Ebay for around £140 including P+P.

I signed up to a card sharer for £50 a year for that you get all the Sky channels, all the ESPN channels, Setanta Ireland channels, RTE 1 & 2, PPV stuff like the boxing and wrestling, Chelsea TV and MANU TV I guess they will be good when these teams lose. The Redhot TV channels and this include the HD channels.

Tracy rang up Sky and got all the stuff cancelled apart from the broadband and Sky talk and now it will be £22 a month.

Kinell. That's class. What's the card sharing thing though? Is the picture quality of the Sky HD any good like?

arsestar · « **Reply #36 on:** July 3, 2011, 07:57:24 pm »

Quote from: AnfieldIron on July 3, 2011, 07:29:55 pm

Kinell. That's class. What's the card sharing thing though? Is the picture quality of the Sky HD any good like?

the picture will be the same as the service from sky, the card sharing part is like sharing my sky card with other people over the internet.. my sky card will be connected to my server/pc and you will be able to access it and therefore obtain the keys to open the channels.. there will/might be glitches depending on who's server you go for.. there is also the option of free card sharing servers which if you can find a good one you don't have to pay anything.

Teapot · « **Reply #37 on:** July 3, 2011, 09:34:33 pm »

Quote from: Trada on July 3, 2011, 05:08:04 pm

I was paying £86 quid a month for my Sky.

I got my Dreambox 800hd box from Ebay for around £140 including P+P.

I signed up to a card sharer for £50 a year for that you get all the Sky channels, all the ESPN channels, Setanta Ireland channels, RTE 1 & 2, PPV stuff like the boxing and wrestling, Chelsea TV and MANU TV I guess they will be good when these teams lose. The Redhot TV channels and this include the HD channels.

Right now I am just using my Sky dish may upgrade to a motorised dish in the future.

Tracy rang up Sky and got all the stuff cancelled apart from the broadband and Sky talk and now it will be £22 a month.

So it will pay for its self in a few months.

Wanted to make sure I got Setanta Ireland I heard they show a lot of Liverpool games.

I guess some people may get a bit confused with having to use FTP to put stuff onto the Dreambox.

Lucky I had a hard drive that fitted the dreambox and in the end managed to get it working and can now record programs etc the only down side you can't record a program and watch another channel like on the Sky box not on the Dreambox I have anyway.

This is exactly the thing im after, thats a cracking deal you have there, how easy (noob friendly) is it to sign up to these card sharing things? do they charge extra for the "multi room" service? you mention you can use your sky dish, does this suffice with gettin all the channels? id love to use my own sky dish as it would save me climbing roofs and all that!

Is there any web sites that can clue me up abit like an FAQ or something? im totally confused when it comes to things like this

Also, does the pc need to be on all the time??

i really appreciate the help! thanks

Harinder · « **Reply #38 on:** July 3, 2011, 09:53:19 pm »

Hi

I'm in the same boat as the other paying sky too much and looking address this. If we have a setup that has 8 connections back to a Sky dish am I right in thinking we could setup a dreambox and run in parallel?

Harinder · « **Reply #39 on:** July 3, 2011, 10:18:05 pm »

ok - now this has really got me interested :-)

regarding recording and watching. I see limitation mentioned here in regards to if recording one channel you can't watch another. Is it because of the box or because of the way card sharing etc works? Any known way of overcoming it? Like most men, I'd like to be able to watch something else whilst my wife records something really enjoyable for her but mindnumbing and painful for me