Aldi/Lidl satellite kit. don't waste your money.

St Senan

Silly season is upon us again.

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/special_buys3_12796.htm
http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100429.p.Digital_Camping_Satellite_System

As Watty just said over in the Foreign satellite thread
These are for suitable for France/Germany, in good weather to pickup the local TV (not BBC/Sky).
Ireland needs bigger dish than London, even for Sky.
It's been said before, many times here by experts. Don't buy these.

There are better satellite systems available nowadays for around the same price like this one http://satellite.ie/acatalog/Freesat_DIY_satellite_systems.html
or this http://www.freesat.ie/index.php?cat=Free-to-air
or this http://www.powercity.ie/?par=10-23-28212R&pages=2&prod=28212R&brands=PHILEX

This one http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100503.p.Digital_Satellite_Receiver is not a HD box you wont receive BBC HD or ITV HD.

AstralTV

Yep and a lot of people who buy them, then have a bad experience with installing, tuning, & then poor reception, are put off satellite tv & tell their freinds how bad it is,
I have a neatly folded pile of Aldi / lidl dishes round the back, taken from customers who have failed to install the above rubbish,

SIX PACK

Just get in Sky+ you can get it for €20 PM now;)

Bob_Harris

SIX PACK wrote: »

Just get in Sky+ you can get it for €20 PM now;)

No thanks.

TheDriver

not worth buying cheap dishes at all, I had one and replaced with a triax and it hasn't moved in 4 years and not a spot of rust etc on it.

cjt156

SIX PACK wrote: »

Just get in Sky+ you can get it for €20 PM now;)

Or get FreeSat for nada, zip, zilch, nuthin...

mgadget

Went to that Lidl warehouse clearance in Mullingar last month and there were 4 pallets of these mini dish kits at €39.99. They were all stickered as tested returns. Definitely not suitable for this country at all.

Trevord

I've used these succesfully in both Cork and Galway. They seemed to work well in favourable weather. Can't comment about whether rain fade is an issue.

At one level they are fine for a newbie as all the bits are in the box. On the other hand I can imagine plenty of problems if you have no previous experience of aligning a dish.

St Senan

Trevord wrote: »

I've used these succesfully in both Cork and Galway. They seemed to work well in favourable weather. Can't comment about whether rain fade is an issue.

At one level they are fine for a newbie as all the bits are in the box. On the other hand I can imagine plenty of problems if you have no previous experience of aligning a dish.

Trevord was it the camping kit with the small plastic dish that you setup in Galway. Also did you receive all available transponders when you did a scan for Astra 2 and was their any pixelisation on any of the Vertical high or Horizontal highband channels. I find it strange I am based in county Wexford closer to Astra2 and i have came across these camping kits setup and not all the available channels are receivable which means the Dish is to Small.
Why are people are still buying these poorly made systems when there are better systems available for the same price.

TheDriver

I find its any bit of wind makes mince meat of them and continuous hassle aligning them compared to decent strong stuff. Also its hard to beat a freesat box vs fta box anymore with convenience of epg and more importantly not rescanning every month or two

Trevord

Yes it was one of those camping kits from either Lidl or Aldi.

It belonged to a friend of mine who called into me in Galway in a camper van (obviously) last summer. He had problems with it and I showed him how to use it.

He spent the next two weeks trying to get it to work in various parts of the country with no luck. In the end I had to call to his house in Cork to satisfy him that he had not broken it.

Not sure whether there were problems with some of the channels. The BBCs and ITVs worked OK. Maybe I was just lucky with the weather conditions.

Trevord

TheDriver wrote: »

I find its any bit of wind makes mince meat of them and continuous hassle aligning them compared to decent strong stuff. Also its hard to beat a freesat box vs fta box anymore with convenience of epg and more importantly not rescanning every month or two

Think the OP is on about the small portable camping kit dish rather than the big "permanent" dustbin lid dishes that give all the trouble you refer to.

Interesting fact: According to Alan Sugar the original Amstrad dishes were made by a company that made dustbin lids.

slegs

scaller wrote: »

Trevord was it the camping kit with the small plastic dish that you setup in Galway. Also did you receive all available transponders when you did a scan for Astra 2 and was their any pixelisation on any of the Vertical high or Horizontal highband channels. I find it strange I am based in county Wexford closer to Astra2 and i have came across these camping kits setup and not all the available channels are receivable which means the Dish is to Small.
Why are people are still buying these poorly made systems when there are better systems available for the same price.

Because for some people cheaper always equates to good value. They dont even question that quality may be variable. In this case it isnt even cheaper which goes to prove that Lidl are very good at marketing.

St Senan

slegs wrote: »

Because for some people cheaper always equates to good value. They dont even question that quality may be variable. In this case it isnt even cheaper which goes to prove that Lidl are very good at marketing.

Buy cheap pay for it twice.

MBSnr

TBH my buying of the Lidl kit (SL65/12) a few years back was the 1st step into the world of non 28E satellites! Sure the dish is too small but the SL65 receiver isn't that bad really. But then I'm a techie and persisted until I figured out what was going on. I can see why others take it back saying it's rubbish.

I have since moved on to a larger dish and a HD receiver, but even so the dish and receiver is great for the father in law to watch France 2 from 5W for the rugby this weekend. Luckily that sat is pretty strong so rain fade "shouldn't" be an issue.... He said looking at the lashing rain on the window....

Tony

I remember standing behind a lady in Lidl who was returning one of these kits. Reason she gave was "It did not pick up sky sports":)

I agree with Slegs , Lidl are very good at marketing and do offer great value on most items so a lot of people perceive that anything they sell is good value/quality. On the positive side though Lidl selling satellite gear made me think of different ways to compete with them.

St Senan

Tony wrote: »

I remember standing behind a lady in Lidl who was returning one of these kits. Reason she gave was "It did not pick up sky sports":)

I agree with Slegs , Lidl are very good at marketing and do offer great value on most items so a lot of people perceive that anything they sell is good value/quality. On the positive side though Lidl selling satellite gear made me think of different ways to compete with them.

Very clever sales ploy by Lidl/Aldi they always sell this kit around the Bank holidays when people are heading to there Holiday homes. The amount of houses and mobile homes i see in my travels with these Crap dishes stuck up on them pointing to ground.

Tony

Sometimes its an oppurtunity. If I see a dish thats hanging down I sometimes knock on the door and ask if the householder would like a good quality replacement.

scaller wrote: »

Very clever sales ploy by Lidl/Aldi they always sell this kit around the Bank holidays when people are heading to there Holiday homes. The amount of houses and mobile homes i see in my travels with these Crap dishes stuck up on them pointing to ground.

RubyXI

http://www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100503.p.DVB-T_Indoor_Aerial

What about this?
Any good for anything?

goat2

AstralTV wrote: »

Yep and a lot of people who buy them, then have a bad experience with installing, tuning, & then poor reception, are put off satellite tv & tell their freinds how bad it is,
I have a neatly folded pile of Aldi / lidl dishes round the back, taken from customers who have failed to install the above rubbish,

yet in the store near me they are bought up in the first hour
i was tempted
thanks for the info

Tony

Yep for a tenner its ok

phi3 wrote: »

http://www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20100503.p.DVB-T_Indoor_Aerial

What about this?
Any good for anything?

Harry.c

scaller wrote: »

Buy cheap pay for it twice.

Now there is a line I have heard somewhere before!!!:):pac::)

true indeed, stay away from this rubbish and get someone that knows what they are doing, and has the expertise, not these Bob the Builder types, chancing their arms,

adm

Well I'll admit to being a sucker. I bought one today - spur of the moment.
already have FTA working off our old sky dish and thought i could get this for my uncle.
Receiver works ok as i plugged it to current dish. No luck at all getting a signal with the new dish. The manual is funny e.g - problem: dish is too small solution: buy bigger dish

St Senan

adm wrote: »

Well I'll admit to being a sucker. I bought one today - spur of the moment.
already have FTA working off our old sky dish and thought i could get this for my uncle.
Receiver works ok as i plugged it to current dish. No luck at all getting a signal with the new dish. The manual is funny e.g - problem: dish is too small solution: buy bigger dish

A complete Waste of Money. I would advise you to keep the receipt and Bring it back to the Store and explain it to the manager that this so called bargain is no good to receive all the available UK channels in Ireland. As i said before their is plenty of Better cheap budget kits available nowadays for the same money.

xTanyax

Actually I bought one of these boxs myself on Sunday & I am literally going round the bend! I cant pick up anything! I've spent days on end with it and all I get is signal intensity 80% and quality 14%! I've tried replacing the cables etc.. slowly moving the dish vertically and horizontly in small slight movements, Nothing!! I'm thinking of bringing it back but Im just wondering what to say is actually wrong with it because it actually says in the manual that you have to be experienced with this kind of stuff? Might just say I had a guy over and he says it was faulty..something along those lines.. Anyone else have similiar problems with this product? Anyone taken it back after opening it and getting a full refund?? I would be So thankful for any help please!

Finne1993

xTanyax wrote: »

Actually I bought one of these boxs myself on Sunday & I am literally going round the bend! I cant pick up anything! I've spent days on end with it and all I get is signal intensity 80% and quality 14%! I've tried replacing the cables etc.. slowly moving the dish vertically and horizontly in small slight movements, Nothing!! I'm thinking of bringing it back but Im just wondering what to say is actually wrong with it because it actually says in the manual that you have to be experienced with this kind of stuff? Might just say I had a guy over and he says it was faulty..something along those lines.. Anyone else have similiar problems with this product? Anyone taken it back after opening it and getting a full refund?? I would be So thankful for any help please!

Eh, did you read any of the above posts???
DO NOT BUY THESE, THEY WILL NOT WORK!!!

xTanyax

Unfortunetly I did on Sunday, only found these posts tonight. I am definitley going to take it back!

St Senan

xTanyax wrote: »

Unfortunetly I did on Sunday, only found these posts tonight. I am definitley going to take it back!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=65704819&postcount=24

MenloPete

I agree that they are not the greatest, but I have to say that I bought mine from Lidl several years ago and have had great fun with it.
Sure its only 60cm, but it brings in everything I want, despite the crows picking the cover off the LNB! I even motorised it a couple of years ago and now enjoy several satellites.
At the time I paid €99 when it was impossible to buy a complete kit for anything like that elsewhere.
So before you bring it back, have some patience, read about dish alignment and enjoy!

Tony

Thats fair enough but the system you bough had a 60 cm dish, the one mentioned by the OP is 45 cm.

MenloPete wrote: »

I agree that they are not the greatest, but I have to say that I bought mine from Lidl several years ago and have had great fun with it.
Sure its only 60cm, but it brings in everything I want, despite the crows picking the cover off the LNB! I even motorised it a couple of years ago and now enjoy several satellites.
At the time I paid €99 when it was impossible to buy a complete kit for anything like that elsewhere.
So before you bring it back, have some patience, read about dish alignment and enjoy!

meercat

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055857636&page=2
xtanyax try the last few posts on this link.might help.have these exact systems in motorhomes and can get free sat from achill dublin coleraine donegal and cork.its a cheap system but it works ideal for me.make sure you search for astra2.have a look at my last posts there.patience and once you get it up and running you will be able to get it again and again .cheers

homer911

Personally I found it a great intro to Free to View TV. Not knowning anyone who had one previously I didnt want to spend a lot of money on something that could have been a complete waste of time.

I managed to tune it fairly easily, although it was a bit of trial and error

Ultimately my dish blew off the wall, (bracket too weak) and I've since got a Freesat box instead, so I dont have much left to show for my investment other than the cableing!

Would I spend the money again? If I was in the same position, probably yes, but having learnt so much more about satellite since then I would say its worth spending the money and getting a decent piece of kit to start with

BTW, I was on the 4 Irish channels only before this so anything was going to be an improvement!

Tony

Thats very true it really raised the awareness level of free to air satellite and at that price level it was worth a punt. Its just a pity that they are now selling a 45cm dish rather than the 60 cm sold previously. 45 is fine in Germany but not so good here.

When these systems were first introduced in Ireland you could not by anything comparable at the price but thankfully this is no longer the case.

homer911 wrote: »

Personally I found it a great intro to Free to View TV. Not knowning anyone who had one previously I didnt want to spend a lot of money on something that could have been a complete waste of time.

RKQ

Good thread
Lidl / Aldi camper dish is too small for Ireland.

Their standard big dish can be delicate, easy to blow off signal or break.
The lidl receiver is very good (as long as the remote works - can be difficult to get a replacement remote).

Sky boxes can be tempermental, I'm on my third, might need a 4th soon. My Sky dish does rust but its a strong robust dish.
Just my two cents from personal experience.:D

TheDriver

the bloody sky dishes rust the minute the years warranty is up, awful eyesore of things. Good galvanised dish is the job, not a spec of rust or discolouration on it

Spudzzmurphy

TheDriver wrote: »

not worth buying cheap dishes at all, I had one and replaced with a triax and it hasn't moved in 4 years and not a spot of rust etc on it.

Same here;)

St Senan

TheDriver wrote: »

the bloody sky dishes rust the minute the years warranty is up, awful eyesore of things. Good galvanised dish is the job, not a spec of rust or discolouration on it

Or else get a good tin of matt spray paint for the rusty sky dish.
Around the coast i would prefer to install a Visiosat Fibreglass dish but people wont pay extra for that.

xTanyax

Just a little update.. i brought it back to lidl & i told the girl that i wanted a refund, she asked me was it faulty so i told her that it wasn't picing up any stations, so she just said ok its faulty & gave me my 80euros back!:) I was a little bit disapointed that i couldn't setup the dish, becuase the box (sl 65/12) was a great little box i heard & there was also a patch i had downloaded to pick up more channels, thats if i could setup the dish:o.. Happy that i got my few bob back, surprisinly enough though there was lots of them still there on sale! Thanks a million for all the help you guys! It hasn't by no means put me off freeview/freesat etc.. next time i would just invest in a decent sized motorised dish with about 2 to 4lnb's, but when that will be only God knows!

Tony

xTanyax wrote: »

next time i would just invest in a decent sized motorised dish with about 2 to 4lnb's, but when that will be only God knows!

Just so you know a motorised dish only needs one lnb, a fixed dish though can have several lnb's for different satellite positions.

Mike 1972

homer911 wrote: »

Ultimately my dish blew off the wall, (bracket too weak)

The bracket is the worst part of these "Lidl" systems.

The recievers and the LARGER versions of the dishes (used with a PROPER bracket) are okay for the money if one doesnt intend living at their current address long term

Rayzor187

Finne1993 wrote: »

Eh, did you read any of the above posts???
DO NOT BUY THESE, THEY WILL NOT WORK!!!

I have 2 of the SL65 boxes from LIDL and they work perfectly. Both connected to the one dish with the LNB provided. It takes some patience , that's all. They DO work.

Tony

Fair play, great first post

Rayzor187 wrote: »

I have 2 of the SL65 boxes from LIDL and they work perfectly. Both connected to the one dish with the LNB provided. It takes some patience , that's all. They DO work.

St Senan

Rayzor187 wrote: »

I have 2 of the SL65 boxes from LIDL and they work perfectly. Both connected to the one dish with the LNB provided. It takes some patience , that's all. They DO work.

Would you be able to post some pics of your dish and especially the back bracket thanks

Dindane

How well would these boxes work to pick up French or German channels?

St Senan

Dindane wrote: »

How well would these boxes work to pick up French or German channels?

The comag receivers will pick up European channels but the satellite dishes that Aldi/lidl sell are pure crap. Buy a good 80cm dish and a free to air box from a supplier see the sticky threads in the satellite thread

bigron2109

Right folks i need some advice..

Ive a sky dish in the house..We dont use sky no more and just use the free channels on it..The sky is in the sitting room and in my room upside, ive only 4 boring stations..

Now i want to get more channels into my room, but i dont fancy putting another dish onto the house,its my mam and dads house and i dont want the hassle of having to install it..

What can people reccomend me to do, and in simple terms as im not a techie wizzard and i really dont know much about this stuff.

Also i dont want to be watching the same thing as them down stairs.

Jarren

Well... get one of those http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9239827/Trail/searchtext%3EVIDEO+SENDER.htm

i'ts pretty straight forward installation

stephendevlin

I have a small Sky Sattelite Dish hooked up to a Dreambox. Its all about the tuner in the box guys! Cheap tuner **** reception. The dish doesnt have to be any bigger. Its cheap parts in the box thats causing the mayhem. I have a 120cm motorized dish which I used with a Technomate 5400+ which worked great. Moved house and need to set the motorized system up with the dreambox. The big dish is for further away european sattelites.

Also with the dreambox hooked up to my router I can view stations from any internet source with vlc player through wifi. So Multiroom not a problem! As long as your watching the same station.

St Senan

jarecki1976 wrote: »

Well... get one of those http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/9239827/Trail/searchtext%3EVIDEO+SENDER.htm

i'ts pretty straight forward installation

That is no good for the OP he said he dont want to watch the same channel as his folks

St Senan

bigron2109 wrote: »

Right folks i need some advice..

Ive a sky dish in the house..We dont use sky no more and just use the free channels on it..The sky is in the sitting room and in my room upside, ive only 4 boring stations..

Now i want to get more channels into my room, but i dont fancy putting another dish onto the house,its my mam and dads house and i dont want the hassle of having to install it..

What can people reccomend me to do, and in simple terms as im not a techie wizzard and i really dont know much about this stuff.

Also i dont want to be watching the same thing as them down stairs.

Replace your single lnb on the dish with a Quad lnb and run a cable from it to your bedroom and get your self FTA box or a freesat box for your bedroom

bigron2109

scaller wrote: »

Replace your single lnb on the dish with a Quad lnb and run a cable from it to your bedroom and get your self FTA box or a freesat box for your bedroom

Mate im not being smart,or rude, but could you explain that in simple terms please..