Tuning in German channels

jolo

Hi,

A friend has a Technomate TM 5200D USB satellite receiver, a Sky box(fully paid up and functioning) and a PRIMA by Pace Integrated Satellite receiver.

He uses the Technomate system for some foreign language channels. There aren't many channels - maybe 4 german, 3 french and a few arabic - none very interesting.

The PRIMA by Pace system appears to be no longer working(blue screen - 'no signal'). He used to use this system for many more german channels - ZDF, other news channels, current affairs etc.

I'm wondering if it is possible to eliminate the Pace system completely(particularly as we have no idea how to fix it) and get more relevant(to him) german channels on either the Technomate or Sky systems?
Is it possible to enter codes on the Sky system for example as one does with UTV to receive them?
If so how would I find out these codes?
Or is there anything we came do with the Technomate system? As I mentioned the channels he currently receives aren't very interesting and his interests are mainly in news and current affairs and history.
Is it posssible to get any Italian or French channels on these systems?

snaps

The prima by pace is an old analogue receiver, no signal because there is no analouge signal anymore, so its possibly still working but nothing to pick up anymore. If his dish is pointed at ASTRA 1 at 19.2 degrees the technomate once connected and channel scanned should pick up 100's of FTA stations (Dozens of German channels). I would hazzard a guess the technomate is looking at Hotbird satellite at 13 east as there is a handfull of German channels there along with Arabic ones.

Im not really sure what you mean about codes for the sky system, as you seem to have answered your own question as you said about UTV (Adding it via other channels)

byte

Just a correction - there are still a fair few amount of German analogue channels on Astra 19E. However most are now digital at this stage.

http://www.lyngsat.com/astra19.html shows all that's available on Astra, and I'd agree with snaps, that the dish currently used by the Technomate should be moved to Astra 1 19E, where most German channels are, and many are still free to air.

petronius

astra 19.2 E is the main satellite for german language.
The analog ones which are still alive are being phased out see http://www.analoguesat.co.uk/

There is a few german channels ZDF, RTL... on 13.0 East as well, and if your using it sat tv to brush up on your german you can change the Audio to German on some channels like Euronews

jolo

Thanks guys.

Yes the Technomate is tuned to Astra1 19.2E.

Is there any possibility he was getting more or better channels with the Pace system? He seems to thing he was.

I'm wondering is it worth trying to fix the Pace system. I'd prefer to simplify the whole set-up by eliminating 1 box(Pace). But if he's not getting the channels he wants that's defeating the purpose.

byte

I don't think there's any German channels on analogue that aren't on digital anymore. Besides 2010 sees the end of most of the analogue ones left.

There is something wrong somewhere, if the Technomate is using a dish aimed at Astra 1, yet only has 4 German channels. You absolutely sure the dish is on Astra?

Ronan|Raven

Sounds like hotbird...

byte

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Sounds like hotbird...

Inclined to agree.

Dish possibly on Hotbird, but the receiver is set to Astra 1 for scanning purposes, and returning bad results.

shaywest

there is a cheap sat system on sale in lidl this week €89.easily tuned to astra 19 plenty of german and french channels to choose from.not the answer you were looking for but its just a thought for you to consider
cheers!

byte

shaywest wrote: »

there is a cheap sat system on sale in lidl this week €89.easily tuned to astra 19 plenty of german and french channels to choose from.not the answer you were looking for but its just a thought for you to consider
cheers!

Since he already has a decent Technomate, I wouldn't be suggesting he replace it with an inferior Silvercrest box.

polyfusion

The whole story isn't there, but can't see how you'd think the dish is pointing at 13E. There is Ger, Fre and Ara channels on both 13E and 19E, but seeing as there was an analogue system in place (probably before the others), then I'd figure the dish is pointing at 19E.

Is it possible that the LNB on the dish is an old analogue LNB, and not capable of getting all the frequencies? Would need a Universal LNB to sort that out if that's the case.

Only reason to keep the Analogue system (IMO) would be for the analogue Eurosport on 19E with English audio; I think everything else can be got through digital freqs. (Not sure the analogue receiver would work with a universal though - I've no experience of analogue systems).

Also, the OP didn't say whether they tried autoscans to get all available channels, but I'd presume that's a given.

OP, you can find frequencies/channels etc on places like flysat or lyngsat, eg, http://www.flysat.com/astra19.php

jolo

Hi all. Thanks for the contributions.

The reason I said the dish was tuned to Astra1 19.2E is that when you go to 'choose satellite' option on Technomate it gives a list of only 2 - Hotbird 13E and Astra1 19.2 E and I generally choose The Astra1 option. Is this not the same thing - please excuse my ignorance?

I'll try to go up tomorrow to check what is actually available armed with the info from here. Last time I checked I reckon there are more channels available but he only has a handful saved to his favourites and therefore when he checks he thinks that's all he can get. So maybe this is why he believes he could get more and more interesting channels on the Pace. He's a little hazy on some such details.