2970 Satellite TV

Hi Violetta,

BBC World and CNN are on the [url=http://www.satmania.com/eng/satchannels/13_0e/hot_bird_6/]Hotbird[/url] satellite and are free-to-air, so you don't need any special equipment or a card to view them; any cheap digital (DVB) satellite receiver and an 80cm dish (parabola) with LNB (the electronic bit on the arm of the dish) will do. The bigger hypermarkets often have package deals.

Once you've mounted your dish (on a part of the building with an uninterupted view of the sky to the south-east) the tricky part is lining-it up. Its probably best to get a local satellite contractor to do this for you; look for a shop with a Sky Italia dealership badge outside. There's quite a lot of German and French programming on this too.

If you want the full range of entertainment channels, then the best thing is to go for Sky Italia; the basic package, at €20/month provides dozens of channels and all of the American and UK sourced programmes have the original (English) sound track, as well as Italian. Sport and Movie packages are an additional €10/month each and installation is about €100. Your local Sky dealer will have more information, or follow this link to their web site;

[url]http://www.skytv.it/default.htm[/url]

There's also digital terrestrial, for which you only need an arial and a set-top receiver. I don't know much about this, but I understand it carries CNN and BBC World.

By the way, we just got the new [url=http://www.skytv.it/mysky/default.htm]MySky[/url] receiver, which incorporates a hard disk recorder; we're very impressed with its ability to allow you to watch what you want, when you want. I'd say its well worth the €7/month.

Marc, thank you so much for speedy detailed response. We are total novices in this department so really appreciate this. Crikey, don't fancy idea of clambering up on to roof to mount and then point dish ourselves. Think we'll definitely get a man in to do this part! Thanks again. V

any cheap digital (DVB) satellite receiver and an 80cm dish (parabola) with LNB (the electronic bit on the arm of the dish) will do.

Hi - I used to have an analogue receiver here in the UK with a dish pointing at Hot Bird. As you know Rai now only broadcasts on digital. Do you think I could use the original dish and just get a digital receiver, or would I have to have a new dish installed? I only ask, as the dish is on the top of the roof, and would be quite expensive to replace. Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks, Linda

Violetta; its worth mentioning that a satellite dish doesn't have to be on a roof or wall. If it would disfigure the front of your house, for example, you could put it down the end of your garden and run the cable down an underground tube. All you need is a stout metal pole cemented into the ground in a place where its southerly view is not obstructed by trees, hills or buildings.

Linda; broadly speaking, any dish will pick up any satellite as long as it is pointed in the right direction. The only problem is that its difficult to get, say, BBC1 in Italy as the satellite's beam is focussed very tightly on the UK. It is ... just ... possible to get it, but you need a very big dish.
I don't know if RAI is available in the UK with a normal-sized dish, but if it is, all you need is your existing dish to be pointed in the right direction and a Digital (DVB) receiver.

[QUOTE=Marc]

Linda; broadly speaking, any dish will pick up any satellite as long as it is pointed in the right direction. The only problem is that its difficult to get, say, BBC1 in Italy as the satellite's beam is focussed very tightly on the UK. It is ... just ... possible to get it, but you need a very big dish.
I don't know if RAI is available in the UK with a normal-sized dish, but if it is, all you need is your existing dish to be pointed in the right direction and a Digital (DVB) receiver.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Marc - that's good news. I'll have a look on ebay for a digital receiver - its for the UK by the way not Italy. You think the electric thing on the dish will be the same for analogue as digital?
Linda

These guys may be able to answer any technical queries regarding whether you need to change your LNB or not:

[url]http://www.london-satellite.co.uk/it_servizi.asp[/url]

Just want to point out I have nothing to do with this company, I just remembered seeing the add a short while ago on the italianialondra.com website.

[QUOTE=ferginitaly]any cheap digital (DVB) satellite receiver and an 80cm dish (parabola) with LNB (the electronic bit on the arm of the dish) will do.

Hi - I used to have an analogue receiver here in the UK with a dish pointing at Hot Bird. As you know Rai now only broadcasts on digital. Do you think I could use the original dish and just get a digital receiver, or would I have to have a new dish installed? I only ask, as the dish is on the top of the roof, and would be quite expensive to replace. Your advice would be appreciated.
Thanks, Linda[/QUOTE]

Hi Linda
If it is any help we were able to use the existing dish on our house to link up to Sky Italia.
Looking forward to meeting up with you at Easter.
Whoops! Should have read the next post before replying......did not realise it was for UK. Sorry!!

[QUOTE=Jay3gsm]These guys may be able to answer any technical queries regarding whether you need to change your LNB or not:

[url]http://www.london-satellite.co.uk/it_servizi.asp[/url]

Thanks very much for that link. They even have a facility to call them on Skype, which is the first I've seen. I called and the person was away from his desk, but asked for my number and I await his return call.

We have an English Sky box and card that we purchased in England although you can get them sent over. Its what is known as a freestat box similar to a freeview box. You need a box and card which we paid about £120 for brand new and a dish. With this we pick up BBC 1,2, 3 4, ITV1 and 2, Channel 4 and 5, CNN news etc, and also a couple of film channels. Also all the Radio stations. We do lose BBC and ITV sometimes but always have the others. We are in Verona so you may need a bigger dish depending on how far down you are in Italy. We have our dish on the terrace as we live in a block of flats.

If you need any more info let me know. We are moving back to England at the end of april and will be selling the box and dish but as mentioned we are in Verona so I don't know if that will help.

Valgee

I am not doubting your word on the channels you receive, how big is your dish - presumably on a terrace it isn't huge!
It all certainly depends on how far south in Italy you are - in mid/south Tuscany or Umbria/Lazio a 3 metre dish isn't big enough to pick up the BBC or ITV Channels, and I was under the impression that the "footprint" of these channels as delivered from the Astra satellite was minimised (for copyright/licensing reasons).
I'm amazed it gets as far as Verona!!

Don't rush into anything - certainly not Sky Italia!
I have been following this thread, and one post persuaded me to go out and buy a satellite magazine to confirm (or otherwise) my knowledge of the state of the art on receiving English satellite broadcasts in Italy.

Blow me if Satellite mag ([url]www.satellite.it[/url]) isn't giving full details of a satellite based at 28deg E throwing out all the BBC channels, all the ITV Channels (not 4 or 5), and a load of other specialist channels, CNN, Sky News etc in the clear (free to air) - you just need a bog standard digital receiver to get them.

They claim a 90cm dish will get all the channels with the exception of the BBC channels "throughout Italy", and a 90cm dish will get the BBC in "northern Italy".

This is a complete surprise to me, and I haven't got the kit to test the theory, but if anyone out there has got either a motorised set up or is willing to aim the dish at 28deg E (all the frequency data is in the April edition of Satellite), please be a hero and check it out!

[QUOTE=Relaxed]It all certainly depends on how far south in Italy you are - in mid/south Tuscany or Umbria/Lazio a 3 metre dish isn't big enough to pick up the BBC or ITV Channels, [/QUOTE]

Now that's really interesting. Driving around, all the satellite dishes around here (Val d'Orcia, southern Tuscany) are about 1 metre diameter. Italian friends of ours can get BBC World, Sky News and CNN but none of the domestic UK channels. I always assumed this was because they simply didn't want them but realise now perhaps it isn't possible due to dish size? So this means we have to obtain a big one? They must weigh a ton, surely? V

Relaxed, may we ask why not Sky Italia? We after all in Italy and OK some of the channels are rubbish but you do not have to watch them! We find that a Sky Package basic+films gives us more than adequate channels to help improve our Italian, news channels and BBC Prime for when we want to watch something in English and Films which can be watched in Italian or the language changed to the language of origin.

[QUOTE=Relaxed]I am not doubting your word on the channels you receive, how big is your dish - presumably on a terrace it isn't huge!
It all certainly depends on how far south in Italy you are - in mid/south Tuscany or Umbria/Lazio a 3 metre dish isn't big enough to pick up the BBC or ITV Channels, and I was under the impression that the "footprint" of these channels as delivered from the Astra satellite was minimised (for copyright/licensing reasons).
I'm amazed it gets as far as Verona!![/QUOTE]

Sorry, only just seen your reply. My dish is 85cm. I have friends in Ferara who have a 120cm dish and they pick it up very well although their's is on their roof.

We were worried about putting it on the terrace but we have put a few plants around it so it doesn't look too bad. It is attached to the railings and about half of it is above them. I think with a 3 metre dish (this would be huge) you could pick it up in Sicily! Anyway, I know quite a few people in the Ferara area who pick it up (including in flats) with no problem.

You are right about the Astra satellite, they try their hardest to keep it over England but it is commonly picked up all over Europe. There are a lot of sites telling you about this.

Why I suggested not "jumping into" a Sky Italia purchase is because there are options which bring (arguably, more attractive) English channels into Italy, and at lower cost.

One major shortcoming of Sky Italia (from the point of view of an English person in Italy) is that none of the English BBC radio channels are available as far as I am aware.
On the plus side for Sky Italia, as you say, are the Italian channels - but these are easy to come by with a very cheap (un Sky related) digital box either through the aerial or through a dish.

I haven't ever owned a Sky Italia digibox, but as far as I can gather from the satellite press in Italy you neeed a 22Euro/month subscription to get a word of English out of it!
That is costly in my book, when EuroBird/Astra 2 at 28degrees east has a load of ITV and BBC stuff free to air through any cheap digital receiver; or a very second hand non subscription English sky box will get you hundreds of English radio stations plus Sky News (and CNN I think).

It would be good to have a constantly updated faq on satellite related issues!!

Violetta - as you probably realised, I was very surprised Valgee was getting these channels in Verona. I think (hope Valgee might be able to confirm it) she has her dish focussed on the EuroBird/Astra 2 satellite at 28 deg east, and not on the one most Brits focus on which is Astra 1 at 19.2 deg east. Isn't it confusing that there are at least three Astra satellites!
I am going to test my theory quite soon on the 28 deg east satellite, and hope to get the UK domestic channels (except C4 and Channel 5) on a 1.2m dish (probably could even be smaller) in Tuscany: the Italian satellite press say 90cm is big enough in "northern" Italy.

Relaxed thankyou for your explanation as to why one should not jump into a Sky Italia purchase. Still find it strange that someone who supposedly has come to live in Italy because they like it here feels the need to acquire so much ENGLISH radio/television!! Agree it is great to have some but too much does not help with the language or immersion into the Italian way of life.

Yes we are pointed at the Astra satellite at 28 degrees and it works really well but we are in the north of Italy so it may be easier here although as I said I have friends further south who pick it up equally as well but with a 1.2 metre dish.

Why we want English television is because it is far far better than Italian television. My boyfriend is fluent in Italian but he cannot stand their TV. I am not ready to give up television and I admire anyone who can but I don't think I will ever get to that stage. I do try to learn Italian by watching their television especially Millionare (probably wrong spelling) which is helpful.

As for the radio again you can't beat English radio and even our Italian friends prefer to listen to English music and listen to the BBC over the internet.

Maybe its not what we are supposed to do when we live in another country but why not have the best of both worlds.

Maybe its not what we are supposed to do when we live in another country but why not have the best of both worlds.[/QUOTE]

You are right of course. Why not have the best of both worlds!

Hi,

Just joined in advance of move to Le Marche in June. I am hoping (getting desperate) that somehow I'll be able to see BBC1 with appropriate gear but as yet no one can tell me. (yes I do like football, yawn etc.)

Anyone have a clue?:

The information on this stuff is very flaky, and the info available in the UK (or via UK ex-pat satellite sites) is quite different from the info published in the Italian sat press.
There is a forum member in Verona enjoying all BBC and ITV free to air output on an 85cm dish.
I have not got around to fixing up any size dish, so I cannot be definitive on this stuff, but I'm depressed by how the "information" is clearly coloured by commercial interests........I can say nothing more than "suck it and see"!!

Relaxed is correct in terms of sucking it & seeing but the essence is that one needs a big dish & the old addage of [i]the bigger the better[/i] stands.

It's relatively simple to find the positioning information, then you just need to tell Mr Satellite that you want to point to XXXXX & he does the rest.

It's simple to find this kind of detail, but if you can't find this info, let me know

Has anyone had any experience getting English free view on Sky in Sardinia. I've taken over a box and free view card but even with a 1.5m dish cannot get a signal. I can get the free channels on Hotbird using a standard italian decoder, but absolutely nothing with the Sky box. I brought it home thinking it wasn't activated, but it works perfect in England. I don't want to buy a larger dish so if any techies can give me ideas or suggestions I'd appreciate it

[QUOTE=millerman]Has anyone had any experience getting English free view on Sky in Sardinia. I've taken over a box and free view card but even with a 1.5m dish cannot get a signal. I can get the free channels on Hotbird using a standard italian decoder, but absolutely nothing with the Sky box. I brought it home thinking it wasn't activated, but it works perfect in England. I don't want to buy a larger dish so if any techies can give me ideas or suggestions I'd appreciate it[/QUOTE]
I'm not a techie, but I have the same problem can't get my Sky Box with UK card to work in Abruzzo with 1.5 mtr dish.
Read somewhere you can change the settings on the Sky Box to the northern transponder to receive some of the Sky channels , however the BBC, and ITV broadcast from Astra 2D 28.2 East which is on a narrow footprint, bad news looks like a 3mtr or 4mtr dish for me :rolleyes: , I don't think so, spend all that time and effort for EastEnders,Strictly Dance Fever and
Homes Under the Hammer.:D
On a more serious note I can now watch my Sci-Fi DVD's while my girls read a good book.
It just doesn't get any better than this, beam me up scotty. :D :D

this link may help
[url]http://www.satcure.co.uk/2d/fprint.htm[/url]

does anyone know how far away from the house you can put a dish and still get good reception or does it all depend on the size of the dish?

Don't know the maximum, but we had no problems with about 30 metres of cabling from dish to box. Can't see the dish size would affect how far away it could be - it is the lnb and not the dish which is connected to the end of the wire!

[QUOTE=millerman]Has anyone had any experience getting English free view on Sky in Sardinia.[/QUOTE]

What part of Sardinia are you in? We have a house in the south east(Villasimius)

[QUOTE=Robert]does anyone know how far away from the house you can put a dish and still get good reception or does it all depend on the size of the dish?[/QUOTE]

Hi Robert you should be OK up to about 50M without too many problems.
However if you do loose strength/quality of signal in line amplifiers can be purchased from Sat dealers for less than £10.
Just ensure that you make the conections waterproof.

If you need anymore help please PM me.

Dave

Hi PAS 55, we are in Pula

[QUOTE=millerman]Has anyone had any experience getting English free view on Sky in Sardinia. I've taken over a box and free view card but even with a 1.5m dish cannot get a signal. I can get the free channels on Hotbird using a standard italian decoder, but absolutely nothing with the Sky box. I brought it home thinking it wasn't activated, but it works perfect in England. I don't want to buy a larger dish so if any techies can give me ideas or suggestions I'd appreciate it[/QUOTE]

Sorry if this seems like a really dumb question, but are you sure that your dish is pointing at the Astra 28 cluster? Its just that you mentioned that you could pick up Hotbird which is at 13 degrees. Unless you've got a motorised dish, or you can swing the dish round 15 degrees anti-clockwise manually and hope to hit Astra, you'll need a satellite man with the correct instrument to line it up.

thanks to Relaxed & dave for the info

I left the set up to the local satellite/electrician guy and he used his electric box of tricks to line up for the different satellites. he even installed multi LNB's so I could get different satellites. Not being techie on this sort of stuff I am completely in his hands so I am relying on his expertise. He said he has already installed English Sky for a couple a few miles away.

[QUOTE=millerman]I left the set up to the local satellite/electrician guy and he used his electric box of tricks to line up for the different satellites. he even installed multi LNB's so I could get different satellites. Not being techie on this sort of stuff I am completely in his hands so I am relying on his expertise. He said he has already installed English Sky for a couple a few miles away.[/QUOTE]
The plot thickens! If you have multiple LNB's, then either you'll have multiple cables (least likely) or you should have a receiver which can be set to switch between LNB's (most likely) I'm not certain about this, but I think that UK Sky boxes can't usually do this.

Multiple LNB's can be made to work where they are using the same dish to gather signals from two satellites which are fairly close together (Hotbird 13 and Astra 19, for example), but you may be stretching your luck with ones that are as far apart as Astra 28 and Hotbird 13 (15 degrees) I think you need to call the satellite man back and ask him to make sure your dish is pointed at Astra 28 and the principal LNB (the one at the focal point) is connected to your UK Sky box.

Much apreciated Marc. My wifes going out this Sunday so I will try and get her to pass on what you said. I would like to get Sky on as I still can't get used to the millions of crass game shows and political discussion programmes that are on all the time.

Hi

I will be arriving in Italy in Jan 07 for 6 months minimum and living in a motorhome, with a fully automatic satellite systems. Basically I switch on the Tv and the box, the satellite stands up, points at Astra and away we go

I found these sites useful

[url]www.astra2d.com[/url]

[url]www.satelliteforcaravans.co.uk[/url]

Rapide561

just to let people know that i have just installed a satelite system to receive english television. What i have found is that BBC 1,2,3 AND 4, ITV 1, Sky news and all the junk selling channels are about what you get. I am based in Barga in Tuscany, the dish i installed was a 1.5m offset with a 0.7lnb.
The picture is good quality, but be prepared for picture break up and even loss of picture in bad weather. Havnt tried sky yet, but intending to try some other free to air channels with freeview at some time in the future. Just to see if possible

[QUOTE=valgee]We have an English Sky box and card that we purchased in England although you can get them sent over. Its what is known as a freestat box similar to a freeview box. You need a box and card which we paid about £120 for brand new and a dish. With this we pick up BBC 1,2, 3 4, ITV1 and 2, Channel 4 and 5, CNN news etc, and also a couple of film channels. Also all the Radio stations. We do lose BBC and ITV sometimes but always have the others. We are in Verona so you may need a bigger dish depending on how far down you are in Italy. We have our dish on the terrace as we live in a block of flats.

If you need any more info let me know. We are moving back to England at the end of april and will be selling the box and dish but as mentioned we are in Verona so I don't know if that will help.

Valgee[/QUOTE]

How big was your dish? I'm moving to Verona in July and thinking of following your example of buying a freesat box etc. in Uk I know I will have a balcony in my flat which should have a clear view of the sky

For those interested, I returned to Sardinia last week and tried to sort out the satellite. The dish is pointed towards Astra 28 and using the "bog standard" satellite decoder I can pick up the usual Euronews, CNN, Sky News with a small amount of stream channels where I watched Wimbledone (live) and all the world cup matches (repeated). I also receive the channels from Eurobird. (Marc, I was wrong when I said it was Hotbird). When I connected the Sky decoder with free view card - nothing! All that I receive is the message saying no signal. I don't know what else to do as I do not want to install a larger dish. I think I will just stick to the channels I have got. Does anyone know of a reason for me being able to pick up channels from Astra 28 with a cheap decoder and not with the Sky decoder? (I have tried the Sky box in England and it works fine)

I live in Northern Umbria and after much trial and error (2m prime focus dish and 1.8m offset) have a 2.4m offset dish with a reflector attached and a Sky UK digibox. I get everything on Astra 2D, although some of the channels (ITV2-3&4 especially) are at times weak.
If there is heavy cloud cover, then we can also lose the beeb. I've found that if you channel hop between the BBC regional broadcasts, often the Channel Islands service on 988 is better, for example than London on Channel 974. Also, if there is the chance to watch something 'interactive' on the BBC by pressing the red button, BBCi is in fact broadcast on the Astra 2a satellite and the signal is very strong. I have a great satellite technician who comes from Pistoia who finally sorted us out TVwise. I have my doubts if the BBC can be received much further south than S. Umbria.

Selfish plea here, but I'd like to ask the monitors to make sure this thread is kept safely (in case you ever need to ditch some threads for storage space).

We don't yet need to use it but will probably think about adding TV next year and thanks to all these useful responses I think I now understand what our options are. When the time comes, I'll need to dig it out again.

[LEFT][quote=Licciana]Selfish plea here, but I'd like to ask the monitors to make sure this thread is kept safely (in case you ever need to ditch some threads for storage space).

We don't yet need to use it but will probably think about adding TV next year and thanks to all these useful responses I think I now understand what our options are. When the time comes, I'll need to dig it out again.[/quote]

If you want to PM me an email address, I can print the thread directly to a PDF file and send it to you.

[/LEFT]

We are living south of Rome between Castel Gandolfo and Albano and we would like to reach channel 4 uk. at the moment we occasionally get 20 secs inthe morning before it breaks up. we have a 120 cm dish with an LNB bought in Germany.Is anyone in Rome receiving channel 4 if so what dish do we need and any suggestion of an installer & tel . no ? Very desperate to have a bit of home tv !!! We know BBC is out of the question. Thank you
Isabelle De Bacco

[email]issydebacco@hotmail.com[/email]

Hello,

I've read through this thread with interest, and searched on Google for other sites were people have reported receiving UK programmes, and even spoken to Satellite installers here and received conflicting answers.

I am in Rome (Talenti, near Montesacro) and have been told a 100cm dish would suffice to receive ITV and C4 (I know I cannot get BBC without getting a HUGE dish... v. expensive and no room for it).

I already have a DS430N Pace Digibox and a Sky Free to View card with a little yellow house on it.

Is anybody in Rome receiving English programs with a 100cm dish or have you gone bigger, what progs do you receive and how clear are they?

we're on the wrong side of a hill just out of Genzano di Roma and the size of a dish we would need to receive BBC/ITV etc would probably be bigger than the house- I would be very interested Issy if you find the answer-there isn't much between Castell Gandolfo and Albano - I presume you are on the Rome side of the crater

I'd try asking here:

[url]http://astra2d.proboards31.com/index.cgi?board=Italy[/url]

I wouldn't count on a 100 cm dish being even close to big enough.

I don't know about the Rome area, but if it's any help to anyone from Milano and east to the Alps around the lakes, I have an Italian Free to Air box, and so do some British friends just around the spur at the bottom of the mountain where I live. Both of us - with the exception of really bad weather conditions - get a fair and consistent signal from the Astra 2D satellite. But...they only have an 80cm dish. I [I]did/I] have an 85cm one but reception was worse than theirs. I have now upgraded to a 120cm dish which is better than the last, but the technical guide that the shop I bought all the equipment from stated quite clearly that a 180cm dish [I]would be required for consistent viewing results.[/I]

The existing (new last year) base pole on my roof would not have supported a dish of that size. But having said that the improvement with the 120cm - even with constant heavy rain and very bad weather conditions over the last 72 hours has remained pretty good overall!

An Italian friend has mentioned Digitale Terrestre to me. She claims that you can receive BBC programmes on this.

Now, I don't know if I believe her. I don't know anything about it. Does anybody know anything at all about Digitale Terrestre?

[QUOTE=Elle]An Italian friend has mentioned Digitale Terrestre to me. She claims that you can receive BBC programmes on this.

Now, I don't know if I believe her. I don't know anything about it. Does anybody know anything at all about Digitale Terrestre?[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure but I think you have to pay for Digitale Terrestre - it's owned by Mediaset (aka Berlusconi....). Someone here will certainly have more details about it though.

[QUOTE=Elle]An Italian friend has mentioned Digitale Terrestre to me. She claims that you can receive BBC programmes on this.

Now, I don't know if I believe her. I don't know anything about it. Does anybody know anything at all about Digitale Terrestre?[/QUOTE]

Try;-

[url]http://www.dgtvi.it/stat/DGTVi/Page1.html[/url]

apparently BBC World is available on some channels

[QUOTE=Elle]An Italian friend has mentioned Digitale Terrestre to me. She claims that you can receive BBC programmes on this.[/QUOTE]
Live near Teramo in Abruzzo and I get BBC World on Digitale Terrestre. It [I]is[/I] the BBC, but not as most people know it.

Basically, a typical hour of programming consists of a news summary (similar to News 24 on UK digital terrestrial) then an equal amount of time spent on bloomin' sports reports, followed some sort of factual programme that's repeated (many times) -- "Hard Talk", "Talking Movies" and "World Business Report" seem to be on all the time.

It seems to me that the service is mainly aimed at UK businessmen in hotel rooms around the world who want to spend a few minutes catching up with the news as they shave and get dressed in the morning.

It's pretty poor, really, and I hardly ever watch it. I value the BBC news, but I get it from the website these days.

Al