Lidl FTA Receivers Dec 30th - €70

Zaphod

http://www.lidl.ie/ie/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20041230.p.Receiver

Mossy Monk

thats great, right after christmas and just before new years

where is one to get the monies required

Zaphod

Robbing banks is currently in fashion.

DMC

Erm.... it doesnt say anywhere on that ad that its a satellite receiver, let alone an FTA one.... ?????

All the other bits i.e. Dish, LNB, sat meter and wall fitting are there.... http://www.lidl.ie/ie/index.nsf/pages/c.o.oow.20041230.index

Very odd piece of advertising...

Zaphod

Poor description alright. If you look in the item description though it mentions DVB radio reception + teletext. Anyways the pic is of a Comag SL55 which they had last time.

Tony

nice price especially with optical and coaxial digital audio out

kazzer

I know its probably been asked before, but what sort of channels can you pick up with this? Would it be possible to do a DIY install?

Zaphod

Best bang for your buck is Eurobird 1 - Astra 2A - 2B - 2D.
www.flysat.com/tv-uk.php

DIY should be OK with the satfinder. Just watch out for low-flying reindeer.

Valentia

Can you just whip out your Sky box and replace it with this one?

Colm80

You certainly can just FTA stuff you get.

Greenman

Valentia wrote:

Can you just whip out your Sky box and replace it with this one?

Yes and then do a scan of FTA free to air stations!!!! To get full value connect it to your hi fi if you have one!!!:D

trap4

I know very little about Satellite television and so would greatly appreciate answers to the following -

1) Can people who have seen the advert tell me if these are good quality units?

2) Are they good value or is their better value to be got elsewhere in Ireland?

3) Are these two items of equipment all I'll need to view digital satellite TV programs? Or will I require extra cabling, etc?

4) What channels will I be able to view? And are they free to view? In particular are there any Spanish language channels (as I'm currently trying to learn the language?).


Lidl are also offering two other items that they call 'Essential Accessories' - a Sat-Finder for Eur9.99 and a Single LNB for Eur9.99.

5) What is the benefit of these, especially the LNB?

6) Are they really 'essential'?


Thanks

eth0_

The LNB is what picks up the satellite signal off the dish, so a dish without an LNB is useless. Also, you'll find it difficult to align the dish without a sat finder.

You won't get Sky channels on this setup. Mostly european stations.

eth0_

In fact someone already put a link to the channels you can receive on this sort of setup. http://www.flysat.com/tv-uk.php
It pays to read the thread before posting :P

Ernest

I bought the receiver when it was last on sale in October and it is an excellent receiver but it is not for DIY installation!. The LNB and the 80 cm dish were fine too. The Sat Finder I found to be useless and had to have the whole thing installed by an expert - and these guys are very hard to find and some of them highly unreliable, I speak from experience.
If its Eurpean Mainland languages like French Spanish German etc you want, this offer would be well worthwhile but maybe you should find an installer first - a reputable one who will actually come out when arranged and agreed. If you find one of these let me know and I will pay a finders fee!

dbyrne

the last time these came up you couldnt get your hands on them, people were queing in the middle of the night for them, especially foreigners so that they could get there own channels.

anyone in the d15 area have one and is it any use. can you get all the channels from the link above on it

are they worth leaving dublin and going to kildare or wicklow to get them or does anyone know of a lidl that isnt really that busy and i might have a chance. Blakestown, finglas and blanchardstown or out of questions as i find them too busy.

trap4

eth0_ wrote:

In fact someone already put a link to the channels you can receive on this sort of setup. http://www.flysat.com/tv-uk.php
It pays to read the thread before posting :P

Yes, I realise that now but the "Eurobird, Astra, etc" lingo put me out - I'm a newbie you see and that stuff doesn't mean anything to me. So, sorry about that and thanks for the answers lads - I think I'll make my way to Lidl tomorrow morning then

byte

If it's free Spanish channels you're after, I suggest Hotbird at 13°E.

On Astra2/Eurobird at 28°E, it's mostly English speaking, though I think Euronews contains a Spanish audio soundtrack if that's any help?

Ronan|Raven

Im off now to pick up another one of the recievers and a bracket or 3. Oh and some of that nice double chocolate ice cream

DMC

Bah. Work.

Couch Potato

DMC wrote:

Bah. Work.

Huge Queues this morning ... 50/60 at 08:30 in Blanch ...

Sure they are all gone now !

Pal

the Spanish channel TELESIERRA is the best !!!!!!

very enjoyable after 11pm.

free to air

---

Does anybody know if i can just buy the LNB on it's own from LIDL. i want to add a sat to existing setup.

Is it difficult to squeeze 16e in between hotbird13e and Astra19e on a bracket ?

DMC

As discussed before, thats why there are too few Lidl's per population in Dublin. Trim or Edenderry would've been good bets for those with a car and dont mind travelling an hour or so. Edenderry was where I got mine before, but I still had to queue, but not as near as many as you'd get in Blanchardstown or Finglas.

LNB....They were advertised separately.. so yes.

Has anyone got one yet?????

rockbeer

Ernest wrote:

I bought the receiver when it was last on sale in October and it is an excellent receiver but it is not for DIY installation!

Just in case Ernest has put anybody off, I also bought the complete rig from Lidl. I had absolutely no satellite TV experience and I'm officially the world's worst DIYer (just ask the girlfriend!) but I was able to set it up myself in a couple of hours with very few problems. If you don't mind going up a ladder, can drill four holes in an outside wall, and have or can borrow a set of spanners you should be able to install everything fairly easily.

Ernest wrote:

The Sat Finder I found to be useless

I found the sat finder absolutely invaluable. The trick is to turn the dial way down to just one or two LEDs, then adjust the dish gradually - very gradually - until all the LEDs light up and the high pitched whine gets loud enough to start to annoy you. Of course it helps to have a rough idea what direction you're facing to begin with - if you're looking for Astra 2 (28.2 E), then pointing the dish towards the sun at about 10 a.m. is a good start. And remember:
- you only have to move the dish a tiny amount to make a huge difference to the reception
- when set correctly the dish will probably point much lower in the sky than you expect. To the naked eye my dish actually looks as though it's pointing at the ground rather than the sky, so don't let this take you by surprise.

Ernest wrote:

...had to have the whole thing installed by an expert - and these guys are very hard to find and some of them highly unreliable, I speak from experience.

It's a great shame you ended up having to go this route. To anyone else having installation troubles, I suggest reading these two threads:

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=147912&page=1&pp=25

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=181365&page=1&pp=20

and posting here with any questions. It can be done fairly easily - believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. My advice is don't waste your money on professional installers when you could be spending it on equipment.

savemejebus

just picked up the kit (minus the receiver as i've an old sky box and fta card) in Lidl in Nenagh and they've at least 15 left (dish and receivers) if anyone in the tipp area is looking for them.

Haven't gone about sticking it up yet but took a quick look at the Lnb and it seems to look the same as any others i've seen and says "universal" on the pack so i can't see why it wouldn't work on a different dish. Of course how you would mount it (2 on 1 dish) could be a different story

Ronan|Raven

If anyone can get to Ballinasloe they have some recievers and dishes left as far as I know. I was the last in the queue (about 30people) and yer man said they had "tonnes" left.

Picked up two of them and a reciver, 3 brackets and an lnb. Oh and a case of Stella and Ice cream.

DMC

LOL @ Ronan. Good one!

Pal

LIDL Moore Street. Lunchtime

100 dishes left.

0 receivers

0 LNBs

Ronan|Raven

I told a few people ahead of me in the queue who seemed to think they could watch sky one on the reciever that they couldnt. They still replied with "sure we will see" Still good for the FTA channels. I got the dish just for 28east tbh will keep the overlords happy with BBC'S and can finally get rid of the last horrid chorus box we have and get full control of my dish back

trap4

Rockbeer, thanks for the great advice and invaluable links!

I went and got all the gear this morning - there was only about 20 people in the queue 10 minutes before opening time. Ah, the advantage of living 'out the country'

Now, to prove that I really live 'out the country' can I just ask another stupid question. Yes, I have give a quick read through the links supplied and so on but can't find an answer and need a very quick answer so I can go back to Lidl right away if necessary...... so, can you only 'tune into' one satellite at a time? I presume you have to point the LNB at one satellite only? So, do I have to get a second LNB to be able to 'tune into' two satellites at once? If so, is it easy and 'normal' to mount a second LNB on my (new) dish?

Thanks for your patience

qBot

So can u pick Eurobird 1, Astra 2A, 2B and 2d all at the same time or do u have to pick on of them. Sorry for the stupid question but I dont know much bout satellites. Someone also mentioned that euronews had a spanish soundtrack, is there any version of it in english

Tony

rockbeer wrote:

and posting here with any questions. It can be done fairly easily - believe me, if I can do it, anyone can. My advice is don't waste your money on professional installers when you could be spending it on equipment.

you dont really mean "waste" do you

Tony

you can tune into one orbital position at a time IE you can get eurobord and astra 2 as they are both at 28 degrees, it is possible to get two poistions but this needa a second lnb bracket and switch .

Hope this helps

trap4 wrote:

Rockbeer, thanks for the great advice and invaluable links!

I went and got all the gear this morning - there was only about 20 people in the queue 10 minutes before opening time. Ah, the advantage of living 'out the country'

Now, to prove that I really live 'out the country' can I just ask another stupid question. Yes, I have give a quick read through the links supplied and so on but can't find an answer and need a very quick answer so I can go back to Lidl right away if necessary...... so, can you only 'tune into' one satellite at a time? I presume you have to point the LNB at one satellite only? So, do I have to get a second LNB to be able to 'tune into' two satellites at once? If so, is it easy and 'normal' to mount a second LNB on my (new) dish?

Thanks for your patience

Tony

qBot wrote:

So can u pick Eurobird 1, Astra 2A, 2B and 2d all at the same time or do u have to pick on of them. Sorry for the stupid question but I dont know much bout satellites. Someone also mentioned that euronews had a spanish soundtrack, is there any version of it in english

you can get them all at the same time, euronews has an englsih soundtrack, check out itv news and bbc news 24 as well

rockbeer

trap4 wrote:

can you only 'tune into' one satellite at a time?

Basically, yes with one dish, one LNB and no motor you can only tune into one satellite at a time.

trap4 wrote:

I presume you have to point the LNB at one satellite only? So, do I have to get a second LNB to be able to 'tune into' two satellites at once? If so, is it easy and 'normal' to mount a second LNB on my (new) dish?

I've read conflicting opinions on the value of mounting multiple LNBs on a single dish. It's one way to get extra satellites, but I don't think it's easy - you need special mounting brackets and I couldn't say whether the Lidl LNBs fit the brackets. The preferred option seems to be a DISEqC motor. Bear in mind I haven't tried either method so you might want to check out other opinions before you spend any cash.

qBot wrote:

So can u pick Eurobird 1, Astra 2A, 2B and 2d all at the same time or do u have to pick on of them.

You can access all these satellites simultaneously as they all occupy the same region of the sky (28E).

Hope this helps.

Hashbrown

All the LNB's appear to be gone from Dublin shops anyway. anyone advise on were to pick one up at a good price and what to look for, are all LNB's univerisal fitting etc?

Pal

Since LIDL are sold out, redcross.ie can have my €100

suppose just queue earlier next time.

Galway

There were quite a few receivers dishes,sat finders,wallbrackets etc left in the Galway store at well past 11am. I got one and a sat finder . Have sky + so am using one of the feeds from the quad LNB in the study so i can keep an eye on things from my pc. I can connect up to motorised dish in sitting roomif i need to do a sftware upgrade from 19 e. Its basically just a cheap FTA for 28.2 E as I have sky + (UK sub) in sittin room and old digibox takin feed 3 from quad LNB in kitchen with freeview UK card. I didnt bother wit the dish as it looked fairly crappy as I am using FUNke 1m for motorised system and solid black Channel MAster 80 cm fixed for sky - rather than minidish, Using syntec .3 LNB and and .5 respectively. High winds today so not so good.

john_graydon

dbyrne wrote:

the last time these came up you couldnt get your hands on them, people were queing in the middle of the night for them, especially foreigners so that they could get there own channels.

anyone in the d15 area have one and is it any use. can you get all the channels from the link above on it

are they worth leaving dublin and going to kildare or wicklow to get them or does anyone know of a lidl that isnt really that busy and i might have a chance. Blakestown, finglas and blanchardstown or out of questions as i find them too busy.

Some people dont know what there buying, They are only Free to Air channels on these receivers. They think they can get premiership matches and movies & Po*n. You can pick up FTA receivers fairly cheap 2nd hand. I would advise anyone to get a receiver with a common interface slot on the receiver as you will probally want to upgrade when you find out that FTA stuff is not what you want. Then you can get a CI cam and chose what you want to view at a later stage. 80cm dish wont pull in Kiosk channels on 1 west either. MBC @ 26east show movies a few years old but your dish size might have to be increased to at least 88cm. So my advice is to get some info on what you want to view before you purchase a FTA receiver from someone with some experience of satellite equipment. It will save you queing for something that you really dont need. On the other hand if its FTA stuff your looking for well then yes its a good bargain.

channelsurfer

I was going to just by the receiver and get a quad lnb and use it as an additional receiver on top of sky but I am not sure as to wheter I can do that and how hard is it to do. arent quad lnbs nearly as expensive as the receiver.
any advice as to wheter its compatable with a sky dish or on what type of lnb I would need.

x in the city

hi folks

sick of having 2 channels and crap tv3/tng reception. what channels can i receive with this and can i hook the existing co-ax from the aerial into the receiver?

also can i get rai or canal+.?

thanks.

ezza

Charles Slane

You can get a compatable quad lnb for 89 Euro on www.satellite.ie (is that how you spell "compatable" - it looks weird !!)

DMC

People are discussing it in this thread already.... Threads merged. (Dave, deleted your post )

Drag00n79

Bought what appeared to be the last receiver in Sligo Lidl this evening at around 4.30. They had no LNB's or dishes left, just the brackets and the sat-finders. Noticed a sign up beside them saying only one item per customer.

Capt'n Midnight

There were 4 receivers left in Lucan at 6:45pm - fair few brackets and about 15 sat finders

x in the city - Italian channels FTA
you don't get La7,
on RAI3 the region is Lazio.
F1, calcio and film premiers are usually encrypted
- otherwise you get just about everything you would get with a TV aerial over there eg: Napoli / Videolina / Sardegna 1 & 2 - and several music channels - and the shopping channels sell real stuff (carpets / fitted kitchens / TV's beds etc. not that QVC crap) -

Also IIRC RAI 1,2,3 are still available on Analog so a very old sky dish & receiver could pick them up.

duridian

I am quite surprised that so many post that they thought the satfinder useless. I thought it was a gift of a gadget. I though I might post the technique that I use for successful dish alignment with this device, in the hope that it helps someone. I've tuned in the Astra2/Eurobird, Astra1 and the Hotbird satellite clusters very successfully this way:
The first thing I do is face the dish in the general direction of the midday sun, with the arm of the dish just slightly raised above horizontal. Obviously you aren't going to land right on a satellite yet this way(unless by a pure fluke) but at least it's in the right neighbourhood. Tighten the nuts and bolts just enough that the dish doesn't move of it's own accord but not so tight that you can't move it with a slight pressure.
Next connect the cable from the sat receiver to the Satfinder and the short little cable to the LNB on the arm of the dish.
Now nip back inside the house and power on the receiver. Press the "SAT" button on the remote and from the menu select whichever satellite you are seeking. For most people this would be Astra2 because it has the BBC and the most English stations.
Now you must select one of stations that are already preset in the receiver for that satellite. For Astra2 I'd recommend using one of the BBC stations like BBC1 or BBC2 because they don't change frequency, so whatever was preset at the factory is likely still accurate info for these channels. For Astra1 or Hotbird I'd advise using CNN for the same reason.
Now back outside check that the Satfinder is working by briefly turning the sensitivity up to nearly the max. This should result in a loud whining tone and all the leds should light up.
Now turn the sensitivity down just to the point where the tone stops or is very, very faint and you have either no led light or just 1 barely lighting. Now begin to slowly rotate your dish to the east, I emphasise slowly! As you rotate east you can also slightly lower the LNB arm(in other words tilt the dish forward a tiny bit as you are kinda trying to follow the curve of the Earth) until at most it is just slightly below horizontal.
If you are coming fairly close to a satellite with the Satfinder set at this relatively high level of sensitivity you should soon begin to hear the tone rise again and see the line of leds lighting up again.
This next bit is the most important detail of all for good alignment!
Now that you are coming close to a satellite only move the dish one way at a time (either rotate the dish or tilt it slightly, do not do both together). You must again turn down the sensitivity of the Satfinder so that the tone dies out again and the leds also.
Try and move even closer to the signal again and repeat the procedure of lowering the Satfinder's sensitivity and trying to position the dish so that the tone and leds rise again. When you have done this about 3 times you should be fairly close to bang on with the alignment. Check to see if you have found the right satellite by the channel on the tv. If it isn't then move the dish slowly off that satellite, turn up the sensitivity and begin using the same method on the next satellite along the line until you find the one you want.
It can be fairly annoying I know if you are new to this but this approach should work for anyone if they give it a chance. The basic principal behind all of what I have said above is that on high sensitivity the Satfinder will respond when even a hint of a satellite signal is detected. Once you start turning down the sensitivity it takes a stronger signal to make it respond so in this way the gadget tells you if you are getting nearer to perfect alignment.
Hope what I have written is of use to someone.

Gadgie

Charles Slane wrote:

(is that how you spell "compatable" - it looks weird !!)

'Compatible'.

There were plenty of receivers left in Lidl Waterford when I picked one up at about 2pm today. They were right at the back of the store on the end of the middle row.

Had a play around with it this evening, seems like a good little receiver. Want it for the bedroom so I can listen to the digital radio stations. It supports DiSEqC 1.2 too.

I noticed it wasn't picking up some of the transponders on Astra 2 so I 'reset all settings' and that fixed it. If you are going to do that though be warned - it'll reset the menu language to German, so (unless you speak it!) note down the menus you have to go through to change the language back to English beforehand.

zenith

Hi,

Just want to say: picked one of these up today, no satellite installation experience, and just tipped away and got it mostly working.

You'll need a correct size drill bit - a 12mm worked for me with different rawl plugs than they supplied - and the right spanners - I bought a 13mm. I p*ssed away an hour trying to do that job with the wrong tools.

Also, you'll need sat coax and connectors for the run from the dish to the unit - I needed about 4 metres. That was the only extra cost for me. About 4.50.

(bought it to *hopefully* get Cbeebies for kids on not main telly, to allow hassled wife time to watch something she might want to watch, fyi)

>> I noticed it wasn't picking up some of the transponders on Astra 2 so I
>> 'reset all settings' and that fixed it.

Satfinder will find Astra 1 okay, but I'm having problems finding Astra 2: I presume that I just tend more south - but at approx same level - to find it?

Could this be the problem ('missing transponders') that I'm having? What chanel did you use to tune that did work?

thanks,
zenith

Tony

duridian wrote:

I am quite surprised that so many post that they thought the satfinder useless. I thought it was a gift of a gadget. I though I might post the technique

great post

duridian

Thanks Tony

daveirl

This post has been deleted.