Europe on Line possible with a minidish?

Kramer

Just rec'd my DVB PCI card from EOL.

Is is possible to use a standard Sky minidish & LNB to receive the signal from 19.2 East?

I'm in Limerick (city), so a fair way East.

I've 2 minidishes, & with the software on the PC I can get approx 59% signal strength from 28.2, but obviously, can't see or hear anything with the encryption.

I've tried moving the dish while watching the signal strength monitor on the PC, but can't get anything.

Is 19.2 to the left of 28.2, i.e. move the dish slightly left away from Sky, 28.2?

I can get my hands on a digital sat meter, but I'd like to be sure it'll work before hand.

I've also an old Sky analogue dish (0.8m I think). Could I stick the Sky digital LNB on the end of this, or do I need a universal LNB?

Any info appreciated lads

chernobyl

80cm @ an absolute min and 19.2 is right --->.

byte

As ya have an 80cm dish, I would recommend that and get yerself a Universal LNB. They're not too expensive. The neck of minidish LNB would prob not fit and AFAIK, the feedhorn on end of those LNBs are designed to suit the minidish.

martpp

Does anyone know if you can use this type of system for downloading from ftp sites, file sharing programs, audiogalaxy and mirc chat client. I am thinking of getting this.
thanks for any help

Martin.

donaloconnor

Originally posted by martpp
Does anyone know if you can use this type of system for downloading from ftp sites, file sharing programs, audiogalaxy and mirc chat client. I am thinking of getting this.
thanks for any help

Martin.

You can with the skybooster service they offer but its a rip off, even though not as bad as eircom. you can get speeds up to 768k/s with that.

donaloconnor

Originally posted by chernobyl
80cm @ an absolute min and 19.2 is right --->.

Even though i'm on a 55cm dish in kerry and getting signals of 50-55%. A miracle, never touching the dish again, thats the best i can get it at. But when the wet dark clouds of ireland come long sweaping over the mountains, i'm f**ked. Signal goes down to 20% which is no way good for downloading.

byte

I only get around 50% with a 80cm dish! Though my cable distance is quite long.

chernobyl

byte man, you are in Donegal which is really on the edge of the beam.
Really you should have a 120 dish and i would imagine that you are only pulling in about <= 12db on your 80cm dish which if you were looking for digital TV is about the limit.

byte

Damn. I thought 80cm would be sufficient. I have 2 of the damn dishes. Was considering swapping. One is horizontally ovoid and the other is a Triax vertically ovoid (bit longer than wide). Hmm. Ya think only 12dB? I was considering getting a Global priority switch to switch between receivers but these have a max 4dB loss. Methinks 4dB loss would make my signal next to useless? What about maybe a sat amplifier? My neighbours defo won't take kindly to a 120cm dish!

chernobyl

Well thanks to a tip jmcc gave me you may be able to do this.
If you mount the dish horizontally then you can basically disguise it.

I have tried this with a 1.1 Triax and fuk me it took hours to align it but once you have a signal simple dish rotation amps it up no end.

This is a very rough diagram but you will certainly get the idea.
The dish on the right is the conventional one (patronize me..will ya? ) and on the left is what you could aim for....?

byte

Wow! That's a very interesting concept! It would probably have to sit on ground which would open it to damage from local youngsters. I might get away with putting it on shed roof tho it's pretty close to back of house (dish is aimed at back of house). Then I could stick a hole at bottom of it to drain all the summer rain away! Will try getting my hands on sat meter next weekend and see how I get on with my spare 80cm Triax dish first!

mfield

A while back I was thinking of getting EOL, but was put off as I thought they had gone into liquidation. I would like to get some mor info from peeps who have it, is it any good for downloading big files and mp3z etc, any help is greatly appreciated!


mfield.:D

donaloconnor

Don't mention mp3s in FFM or u will be executed. But if u want to find info: www.eoninside.com

byte

Originally posted by donaloconnor
Don't mention mp3s in FFM or u will be executed. But if u want to find info: www.eoninside.com

Which is a terrible shame coz I like MP3 more than any other downloadables. I don't trust .exe files and with Win98 a lot of stuff zipped in rar format aren't worth a damn coz a lot of the elements don't complete. Of course, better than MP3 would be an image of audio CD album - legitimately of course

donaloconnor

Yeah I love mp3s. got over 2GB of them now, but were all either ripped or downloaded with my 56k. couldn't be botherered waiting 24 hours on the queue.

Nice site irishbyte - very informative

byte

Originally posted by donaloconnor
Yeah I love mp3s. got over 2GB of them now, but were all either ripped or downloaded with my 56k. couldn't be botherered waiting 24 hours on the queue.

Would be OK if I could get anything near 56k. Always stuck on 28.8kbps which makes MP3 take around 45mins!

Also looks like you'll get flamed on FFMchat for nearly anything. I spotted a guy asking for help coz nowt would download and was told basically to F off!

Nice site irishbyte - very informative

Thanks !

Kramer

Thanks for the replies lads

Fitted a second "standard" Sky minidish, aligned it with a professional digital sat meter (91% signal strength, 88% horizontal, 92% vertical), & ran to my PC.

Indicated signal strength on the PC is, as below, 67% - 77%, with the worst transponder still showing 55% - 60%.



Sorry the pics are sooooo big, just reinstalled OS, haven't loaded any pic software yet.

Signal is perfect, even through several downpours. TV reception excellent on PC, & looks brill on my projector (92"diagonal). Only problem is I can't get 16/9 ratio on the PJ.

I've used the Filefetch service a few times, & it's cool. Couldn't download some VOB files I wanted, saying "tried to download from server 5 times, file missing, server not responding" etc...

All in all, for €59 + €12 delivery, well worth it.

Sound quality from the radio stations is excellent. Audiomania is a VG station, nice music running while I surf, near CD quality.

If anyone needs anymore info, let me know. I'll try to help if I can.

But yes, a Sky minidish (inc supplied LNB), correctly aligned, is more than adequate as far west as Limerick.

Question for anyone who knows:

Is it possible to get a DVB PCI card for the PC, that will allow Sky digital to run directly from the PC.

I ask because I have to run the S-video output from my digibox into a TV capture card, run Dscaler (noise filter/deinterlacing software) B4 sending the image to my projector (fed VGA from HTPC - home theatre PC).

Thanks for any replies

Saruman

Originally posted by mfield
A while back I was thinking of getting EOL, but was put off as I thought they had gone into liquidation. I would like to get some mor info from peeps who have it, is it any good for downloading big files and mp3z etc, any help is greatly appreciated!


mfield.:D

You should do a search for europeonline... lots of posts of my own and others experience...

Basically its an excellent system... and you cant go wrong with €59 as yiu still get the card even if the service goes belly up.. just get netsystem anyway.. i have both.. (do search for netsystem, a few n Irelandoffline forum) Anyway i say go for it...

I've used the Filefetch service a few times, & it's cool. Couldn't download some VOB files I wanted, saying "tried to download from server 5 times, file missing, server not responding" etc...

Vob files? as in a DVD vob file thats a gig or two? Firstly please DONT request massive files like that.. it grinds eonline to a halt and spoils it for the rest of us... secondly its a 700mb download limit at a time... so find the vobs in rar format and download them individually!! does not slow down eonline nearly as much and you are unlikely to get a failed attempt message.

Saruman

Is it possible to get a DVB PCI card for the PC, that will allow Sky digital to run directly from the PC.

Yes, even the skystar 2 (eonline card) will do it BUT only for FTA channels... remember you need your sky card for most of them! So you need one with an interface for a card.. The hauppage series will do (NOVA is better than its big brother DVBS, faster if you are using for downloads too!)

Oh on a different note.. looks like you used a digital camera and took a screenshot.. in future its easier to press the print screen key on the keyboard... then paste it into mspaint! Sorted...

byte

Originally posted by Saruman

So you need one with an interface for a card.. The hauppage series will do (NOVA is better than its big brother DVBS, faster if you are using for downloads too!)

It won't be possible to get a Conditional Access Module (cardreader) for Videoguard encryption. They're only installed in Sky Digiboxes and unfortunately cannot be bought as CI CAMs

On a seperate note, my signal strength is 31% which is pretty lacklustre!

Dave Mc

Hi guys.
Iam very interested in getting Europe online and am trying to find out if its worth the effort, at the moment i have Eircom High Speed which is as slow as a wet week and costs a bomb.
does anyone know if it would be worth changing over to EOL from high speed?? and if so where can i get a sky mini dish and LNB cheap??
(i looked in satellite.ie for a dish but all sales are suspended??)

Cheers

DMC

Originally posted by Dave Mc

(i looked in satellite.ie for a dish but all sales are suspended??)

Tee hee, me guesses business is gonna pick up in the next few days!!

Kramer

Vob files? as in a DVD vob file thats a gig or two? Firstly please DONT request massive files like that..

Sorry, I thought it was a DOWNLOAD service.

Do you expect me to download 120 mb files @ 4 or 5 kb/s?

I know that there is a 700mb filesize limit, all VOB files I need are less than 150, just DD 5.1, DTS trailers etc...

Originally posted by Saruman


Oh on a different note.. looks like you used a digital camera and took a screenshot.. IN FUTURE its easier to press the print screen key on the keyboard... then paste it into mspaint! Sorted...

Yes sir !!!!!!!!!!

I have done this before

As I said, had just reinstalled OS, no MS paint, Picture It etc... at time of posting.

Thanks for the reply though.

Any idea if Dscaler software will work with any DVB PCI cards?

Saruman

Hey if they are only 150mb thats fine.. when i hear vob files i think in gigabytes lol!! Anyway though what i said still stands though... trying to fetch one BIG file, even 150mb will more often than not fail. Try and find them split into smaller rar files... it will be quicker to download on the Eon site anyway! If you dont have one yet... get a www.easynews.com account... $10 a month, 6 gigs of downloads for your $10, can cancel anytime you want so just sign up for a month, download 6 gigs and then cancel when you have what you want... There is almost nothing i cant get from there!!

Also on Dscaler... im fairly sure it works... best bet would be to ask on http://www.eoninsideboard.com/index.php
If anyone knows they will... also i assume you know what file fetch manager is? If not GET IT!! you can get it from http://www.eoninside.com/

Along with instructions... its file sharing basically.. anyone who fetches from EON using FFM will push it down to ALL users of FFM if they have it set to get that type of file... basically i leave my pc on all night and day... i go to work, come home and there is about 6gb if files there... some can be crap, have to delete a load of stupid porn but hey thats how i got Ep2 and a load of other gems. Scooby Doo is mostly down when i checked this morning. Be careful though.. very strict limits enforced on repushing... as in dont request something using FFM that has been requested before... you will be castrated and probably banned... if you think i was harsh over your vob files you have no idea what Chinook or *.* or polster will be like lol!! Respect their authoraty!!

Anyway have phun....

Tom

Hi Saurman,

Is it worth subscribing to easynews with a paultry 64kbps ISDN line?

Saruman

If thats all you have??? umm probably not.. depends... your average file will be 15mb... to make a movie that might be 36 x 15mb files or more even... so on ISDN, even 2 channels.. you will be looking at hours and hours to download a single movie. However combine your ISDN with Eonline's Skybooster service or even better, Nesystem and you will reduce this a lot... You could get a movie with netsystem running at between 30 - 40 kbs download speed in 3 - 4 hours... depends on traffic... With Europe online's 2mbs (can be up to 16mbs) your talking about 10 - 15 mins or so for a single file... or less download time for individual rar files... few seconds each but might be hours before they are all beamed out.. different times and all...

Tom

I have been looking at the europeonline website and the 59euro price includes access up until October 15 2002. But I cannot find anywhere on the site how much it will cost after the promotional period. Anyone any ideas of the cost?

Saruman

I have a cold and am forgetting stuff as a result so cant remember... but it will probably be posted on the links i posted above so check there.

byte

Originally posted by Saruman

Be careful though.. very strict limits enforced on repushing... as in dont request something using FFM that has been requested before... you will be castrated and probably banned...
Anyway have phun....

Umm. This I don't quite understand. Basically, what you're saying is, for example if Mr X scheduled a file for download and it downloaded, then I couldn't schedule the same file some other time? Why?

Anyhoo, as for RAR files etc, I delete all of them coz not all of the rar files download making them useless. Stupid WIN98 :mad:

Saruman

2 things Irishbyte,..

Firstly the solution to your incomplete downloads is simple.. install XP.. you pretty much can not use it in 98 as tis crap for downloading via sat.. in fact its crap for networking anyway... I had loads of incompletes on 98 but installed XP and at most i get 1 a week and its usually just an nfo file or something very small and not needed.

Secondly about the re-pushers thing... im only talking about using FFM which is freeware software and nothing to do with eonline so you go by Merlins rules (the guy who wrote and runs it). The idea is if its been fetched in FFM then you dont fetch it in FFM UNLESS you turn off sharing.. that way only you get it and your not a re-pusher... think about it.. if you request it again then everyone using ffm will also get it again filling up their drives with crap they either have or dont want... that happened with spiderman... repushed every day and a load of people were banned over it.. whole system ground to a halt.

If your not sure then use the normal eon website file fetch... you can refetch anything you like on that.

Tony

Originally posted by Dave Mc
Hi guys.
Iam very interested in getting Europe online and am trying to find out if its worth the effort, at the moment i have Eircom High Speed which is as slow as a wet week and costs a bomb.
does anyone know if it would be worth changing over to EOL from high speed?? and if so where can i get a sky mini dish and LNB cheap??
(i looked in satellite.ie for a dish but all sales are suspended??)

Cheers

Sorry about that I was away at world cup

Tony

DMC

Welcome back squire!

Saruman

Originally posted by Tony


Sorry about that I was away at world cup

Tony

Did you actually go to the world cup Tony?

ShaneOC

Welcome back Tony.

Come on we want a full report.

Supercell

me *sniffles* , Saruman you never say hello in FFM..i feel so lonely

As to mp3's , yes they are certainly flame bait in FFM, that said..if you dont set filters to stop receiving them..expect about 3gb's of the darn things... a day, more than enough methinks

Tony

Originally posted by DamoDMC
Welcome back squire!

Thanks

Tony

Originally posted by ShaneOC
Welcome back Tony.

Come on we want a full report.

Well the guys at Kirch broadcasting were great to work with ( we did not go drinkung to a japanese bar in Niigata I swear)

All the other stuff I did is not relevant to this forum

Tony

Tony

Originally posted by Saruman


Did you actually go to the world cup Tony?

I'm almost sure I did, perhaps I'll wake up any minute and realise we beat Spain:D

Tony

Dr.Seagull

im thinking of buying a dish for eol but i only want it so i can use ffm but the only worry id have is that the service might not be running much longer and i would have wasted my money buying a dish i dont think i could afford netsystem
does anyone know will ffm be running for much longer?id heard rumors that its stopping soon

byte

Originally posted by Saruman
2 things Irishbyte,..

Firstly the solution to your incomplete downloads is simple.. install XP.. you pretty much can not use it in 98 as tis crap for downloading via sat.. in fact its crap for networking anyway... I had loads of incompletes on 98 but installed XP and at most i get 1 a week and its usually just an nfo file or something very small and not needed.

Hmm, I know Win98 is cack fullstop. But my finances doesn't allow for buying a CD at ridiculous money. Plus, I'm not sure if my old Gateway hardware (P3 55o) will be compatible either.

Secondly about the re-pushers thing... im only talking about using FFM which is freeware software and nothing to do with eonline so you go by Merlins rules (the guy who wrote and runs it). The idea is if its been fetched in FFM then you dont fetch it in FFM UNLESS you turn off sharing.. that way only you get it and your not a re-pusher... think about it.. if you request it again then everyone using ffm will also get it again filling up their drives with crap they either have or dont want... that happened with spiderman... repushed every day and a load of people were banned over it.. whole system ground to a halt.

If your not sure then use the normal eon website file fetch... you can refetch anything you like on that.

Well, as yet I haven't pushed anything via FFM and I never use the chat as whenever I did, I was ignored. Where was Spiderman? Damn. Pushed many times and I have nowt. I have yet to receive a full RAR-compressed file. Spose it would help if my Windoze could handle at least 2 days constant running.:(

Longfield - 3GB of MP3 per day? All I seem to get is at most 15 MP3's per night. And they're cack euromixes.net stuff.:mad:

Dr.Seagull

Originally posted by Dr.Seagull
im thinking of buying a dish for eol but i only want it so i can use ffm but the only worry id have is that the service might not be running much longer and i would have wasted my money buying a dish i dont think i could afford netsystem
does anyone know will ffm be running for much longer?id heard rumors that its stopping soon

if someone knows can they please answer i want to get it setup asap if its woth getting

Supercell

FFM will still work for another few months at least, even if "Merlin" shuts down his gateway then (which i doubt he will) , there is another project, "Clone", being developed atm..which works in essentially the same way, and will replace it in due course..so sharing is not going to stop..the future of EON post October 15th is debatable ( this is the date for which the use of TP 103,113,114 & 115 has been paid up until) .

Looking at their site it is not even possible to subscribe beyond that date for the regular service, everything is done monthly atm, what happens after that is pure speculation, but wouldn't be suprised to see considerable price hikes in the subscription fee.

Dr.Seagull

thanks longfield
it sounds a bit risky i think ill leave it for a few months untill eon's future is known