Aldi - Digital Mini Satellite System

Panie Janie

As an apartment dweller where satelite dishes aren't allowed I am thinking the mini- one on sale next week in Aldi might be useful.
Have an east facing balcony with a clear view and should be able to attach it and remove it easily when I want to use it without it being a permanent
fixture.

I know nothing about satelites so question is - is it any good and what am I likely to pick up in Dublin?

Ulsterman 1690

What size is the dish ?

The strongest satellite signal in Dublin would be Astra 2 (28 East) which has all the BBC and ITV stuff but for reliable reception you need a 42cm dish (bigger as one travels West or North)

fat-tony

Panie Janie wrote:

As an apartment dweller where satelite dishes aren't allowed I am thinking the mini- one on sale next week in Aldi might be useful.
Have an east facing balcony with a clear view and should be able to attach it and remove it easily when I want to use it without it being a permanent
fixture.

I know nothing about satelites so question is - is it any good and what am I likely to pick up in Dublin?

A key issue may be that your balcony faces east.. Ideally you need a clear view to the south-east to see the SKY satellite location. If you can see the sun from your balcony at about 11 o'clock, you should be ok as this is the direction of the SKY satellite cluster. . Dish size is the other issue, plus the fact that you have to mount and dismount the thing and find the satellite each time. You might be better off looking for a disguised dish such as a digiglobe (but I don't know how well they work in Ireland (signal is much stronger over the UK)).

wil

They have a pretty small dish, I reckon 35 to 40cm max, comes in a carry case.
The Lidl equivalent on sale a few weeks ago got a mention over on the Satellite forum and sounds like some people got them to work.
I am tempted to buy one just to give that dish a try.:)

wil

Well what can I say, I bought one yesterday, tried it out and it works.
Took about 2 minutes of assembly most of that finding a length of cable and putting f-connectors on it cos I didnt want to unroll the cable that comes with it. Switched on pointed and took about 20 seconds to locate Astra 2 : BBC1,2 ITV etc crisp and clear.
Didnt need a satfinder, didnt even bother with the onboard signal strength meter, just balanced the dish on my windowsill, moved it around a little where I thought Astra2 was, heard a voice, went back to that point, hey presto BBC1.
We're talking about a 35cm dish here, an extra large dinner plate, a big shallow wok, that folds up
So 35cm dish, Sky, point proven went to bed. More anon. Hipasat here I come ;-)

Just a few points, receiver very compact, power supply not much bigger than standard phone charger, doesnt seem to have full list of sky ftv channels but will deal with that, has 2 scarts, audio but no separate video out. Not bad for a box size little bigger than a broadband modem.
Guess as with most electronics the bottom end of the market is rapidly coming up to par with the mid range.

watty

Huge difference on Non-2D depending on part of country.

Which region are you wil ?
Also BBC/ITV are on 2D. Movies24 / Moives4Men might not work.

Try it on all the channels in the rain in Galway, Sligo, Donegal, West Cork & Kerry before you praise it.

It's really a quite usless size dish for Westerly regions on non-2D channels.

wil

Yup thats what I would have thought watty.
I am in South Dublin and also have another small dish 55 cm circular dedicated to Sky and I thought that was already on the limit for getting a decent signal. It is borderline in very heavy rain. Lidls at 20cm less gave just as good reception last night, though I didnt yet get a chance to compare signal strengths.
Someone else posted in the Lidl thread, also Sth Dub, also worked no prob.
All in all for what it is and that price, certainly for Dublin with no rain it is by far the easiest quickest set up from purchase to picture I have experienced, and packs into a neat large laptop type carry bag.
For the average flat dwelling Dublin punter it probably is ideal.
The dish is small enough that it might not even be noticed for planning permission issues.
They sold out pretty quickly. Too late to look for commission ;-(

While it is small and compact I have no plans yet (unless sponsorred) to do a round trip of Ireland with it

But to get back to the original question, yes Panie Janie, this may well do the trick, at least when not raining

wil

Not intentionally thread hogging, just like to be thorough & complete.
I would like to take an opportunity to debunk a few myths here.

Myth1 You need a large dish to pick up decent signal from Sky especially in rain.
Myth2 You cant use a satellite dish indoors
Myth3 Experts are always right.

It is currently lashing rain in Dublin, kids are gone to bed so I have time to play around with my Aldi micro-dish and receiver.
I can pick up an very decent signal for BBC1 through a single pane of glass in the rain
I will repeat - lashing rain, ground floor window pane, indoors, handheld micro-dish 35cm, BBC1 from Sky.
I am just as shocked. Even got ITV and a few others until I couldnt keep my hand from wavering.

(Regular thin glass will only attenuate the signal a small percentage, havent tried double glazing, but glass with a metallic coating would have a problem)

And I picked up Hispasat.
Admittedly that was off an 80cm dish, but the Aldi receiver does appear to be more sensitive than my original as it is picking up more channels with more stable picture.
So I guess a small well formed dish combined with a sensitive receiver will do wonders.
(Same applies to digiboxes, my Pace is way more sensitive than my Panasonic)

And for the naysayers - when I checked Sky on it yesterday with dish on a stable mount, yes some channels were breaking up, but it was a surprisingly small number and quite insignificant for anyone just looking to get most of the regular channels but not too bothered if they missed out on a few shopping channels (sorry Ulsterman) Horses for courses. As someone pointed out, people were paying hundreds a few years ago to avail of a small number of very poor channels from illegal deflector systems. No need anymore.
People in many areas dont have to be put off the joys of basic satellitery for fear of a large ugly dish.

watty

Myth1.
Depends where you are in Ireland and which channels, the hieght of rain and what you mean by large

2D channels will work on a 45cm dish in rain in the West.
many other "Sky" channels in West on other satellites at 28.2 are only good in south east (Leinster) on a very small dish (< 48cm).

A 65cm dish is not large.

65cm to 80cm is medium

90cm is bigger

1.1 and more is large.

Myth2
Through glass at a significant angle and some double glazing won't work. Attic through tiles won't work.


Please don't promote cheap rubbish as good quality nationwide on the basis of unscientific testing at one good location.

Hispasat is actually very strong in the south (Dublin) but poorer in North. Look where Spain is and Satellite is.

The receiver does NOT set the sensitivity. The Dish mostly does that with a small impact from LNB.

BUT. some receivers have poor Intermodulation/AGC, so a strong signal on 2D (very strong all over Ireland) will make a Eurobird channel weaker. Similarly in Spain a strong non-2D channel can cause problems for 2D reception of BBC/ITV.

You should research this a bit more. The important "front part" of the receiver is the LNB. The box in your living room is less important IF and decoder.

If ANY channels are breaking up the dish is too small or misaligned, period.

Astra / Eutelsat can instantly move channels from one transponder to another on same frequency but different beam and then you can lose your channel.

Or even on a different frequency, where Sky Digibox is told new settings and FTA box viewers need to rescan.


Basically you are creating mis-information due to lack of nationwide and transponder testing. Also low heavy rain can be much less loss than high drizzle. Do you know how much attenuation the rain was?



In summary your post is not helpful and may encourage people to install inadequate systems

snaps

Wil, I thought it was quite interesting what you have discovered and wrote. I am surprised you get any signal at all on that dish. I can see where watty is coming from, Its not ideal for a permanant set up, But someone mlike me would be very interested in using this for camping/back garden etc.

kilinick

Set up the Aldi system in co Laois yesterday and was v impressed. Signal strength was 77% and qulaity was in the 60/70s. Got all the BBcs and Itvs. Can you get Channel 4 or film 4? And if so how do you get it. I didnt spend much time on the fine tuning and the top of a tree may have been interfering. If i spend more time will i get these? Think its the Astra 2e (Or 2d?) All in all it made an old man who has only ever had 4 channels v happy!

tapfit2004

you cant get ch4 without a sky box and card. but you can get film4 its on 10729v s/r 22000 fec 5/6. its on astra 2d so should be a good signal.

dobsdave

A bit off topic,but Im in Dresden,Germany.Can I get any signal, what size dish etc should I need?

Cheers

Dave

watty

Which channel / Satellite?

For ZDF a 43cm or smaller maybe . for BBC1 / ITV1 TV about 1.2m or 2m (very approximate)

dobsdave

It was for the English channels, thanks

watty wrote:

Which channel / Satellite?

For ZDF a 43cm or smaller maybe . for BBC1 / ITV1 TV about 1.2m or 2m (very approximate)

Ulsterman 1690

Just noticed the Lidl "camping systems" are back

The asking price is £70 (although last time they had them for £50) and yes its the same old 35cm dustbin lid for a dish.

I suppose if one is unfortunate enough to livein an apartment block where permanent dishes are banned by the Gestapo anywhere below a line from Dublin and Cork it might be worth considering provided one isint expecting to recieve much other than Astra 2D (most of the BBC and ITV channels)

Anyone else should buy a proper grown up system

watty

yes

gusg

wil wrote: »

Well what can I say, I bought one yesterday, tried it out and it works.
Took about 2 minutes of assembly most of that finding a length of cable and putting f-connectors on it cos I didnt want to unroll the cable that comes with it. Switched on pointed and took about 20 seconds to locate Astra 2 : BBC1,2 ITV etc crisp and clear.

Hi Wil. I know it's along time since your post..but, I just bought one of the aldi things and can't get it to work. tried everything. Did u remove the white plastic thing on the receiver? i.e. I'm wondering if that plastic thing is a protective cover and needs to be removed.

any tips appreciated. I'm living in south dublin, with a fairly good south-east view from the roof.

signal strength seems to stick on 14% all the time.

cheers

wil

Wow, almost the first anniverary of that post, memories. For that reason alone I wont get too sarcy with you dragging up old threads, or point out that there is a whole stickie in Satellite dedicated to this particular receiver (much to the chagrin of some).

Unfortunately I am having real difficulty recalling any piece of white plastic attached to the receiver that might require removing and how it could possibly interfere with the workings.
Are you sure you have things set up as in the instructions and photos with the system?

Most likely reason for signal at 14% is because you are simply not picking up any signal because you havent got the dish pointed at the correct (or any) satellite.
If you look at the stickies or some of other posts you should find plenty of pointers on how to go about finding the correct satellite and getting a good signal from it.
In the meantime, you will just have to elaborate a little before I can offer any more advice on that white piece of plastic you refer to.