Free To Air Satellite

Steve Costa Azul

I love Rocky's Ribs!
Jul 15, 2006
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0
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Looking for information on free to air sattelite or any DR friendly :) satellite. Both dish size, availability, receivers, installation, cost etc. Anyone with any information to pass along would be greatly appeciated.
Thanks in advance.
Steve
 

Eddy

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
219
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Viewsat xtreme is the only one working here in Canada, the others have left us holding onto boat anchors with no scripts.
I have 3 Kusats for sale cheap.....not giving up on my Viewsat it works.

Wud,
even the old Pansats 2500A work and have auto-roll. Don't throw anything away.
 

Eddy

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
219
0
Looking for information on free to air sattelite or any DR friendly :) satellite. Both dish size, availability, receivers, installation, cost etc. Anyone with any information to pass along would be greatly appeciated.
Thanks in advance.
Steve

Steve, stop by the bar.
 

tflea

Bronze
Jun 11, 2006
1,839
164
63
Fta

I just heard of this FTA stuff today and wanna put one at the house.
Great info. If anyone has additional info, let it flow. I'm new on this one.
Living in Sosua. Eddy, you've got all the hook ups. How does it work for you?
Costs, materials, any monthly fees? whatever. thx in advance. I'm done with Lancer and DirectTV and DishTV. I really just need FOX, SPeed Channel and CNN and I'm happy. Can I stream it from my PC with a projector? I"m basically ignorant on such things. Give it in layman's terms if possible.
 

scotpgot

New member
May 26, 2004
61
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www.jazzwriter.com
Please be aware that the FTA receivers are slightly more complicated than the commercial plug and play that you would get from Dish or any other company. They do require upgrading from the internet and also some programming once they are hooked up.

Also, they DO GO DOWN from time to time. They are not guaranteed free tv.
 

Domwolf

New member
Mar 22, 2004
72
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Free to air FTA the skinny

If you want to go with Dishnetwork ( Charlie ) you need:

2 dishes ( parabolas ) one of 6 feet and the other can be of 4 feet ( best both be 6 feet ) or you can have one 6 feet dish and put and bracket adapter to run both satellites of the same dish ( me and several people i know have it this way and it runs perfect, some people say you get a weaker signal, i find it to be a non issue )

If you want to go with Bell Canada (BEV) you need :

1 6 foot dish ( parabolas ) ( i can only confirm the viewing of one of Bev's satellite in Santo Domingo )

In any case i recommend a professional installer :)

For Both you also need.

You need a FTA box, this could be a Pansat, Viewsat, Sonicview, Coolsat, Extremeview. etc., just read online there are many sites that review each ( bear in mind this is like a religion for some people and will swear up and down on one unit and curse the other, i have several units all have there pros and cons, it all comes to taste and the one YOU like, just don't buy old units buy newer models with better features and most likely last longer )

You need a PC with internet and knowledge of unzipping files to download new files and update to the boxes software when dishnetwork or bell canada change the way the send the feed to avoid use seeing it. Some units can use USB Sticks to install new software or SD cards. But most need to be connected to the PC via a serial cable ( They come with it ) newer PC don't come with the serial port you may need to buy a USB to Serial cable.

FTA is good, i find it better than the old methods and once you learn ( very simple) you can cut the middle man ( that guy you had to pay every so often to reprogram your card )

For FTA please you do not need to pay a guy to program the box when it goes down , learn and you can do it yourself, the files are free and located in many many forums on the net, each FTA model has it own forum with plenty of info and there are many forums that serve all boxes hashhu.com being one of them.

Join the forum and read read read before you decide. Hope this helps.

Dom Wolf
 

Eddy

Silver
Jan 1, 2002
3,668
219
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Dom Wolf has told it like it is. Also, depending on you needs, ie. HDTV and local stations, you need up to 4 dishes.
 

jackieboo

On Vaction without a return ticket!
Mar 18, 2006
362
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For those of us that aren't techies.....

For those of us that aren't quite up to speed, here are a few simple questions:

1. Where does one go to find an installer for one of the above systems? For me, that would be the Puerto Plata, Sosua, Cabarete area.

2. How much should one pay for one of the afore mentioned systems? Specifically here, this question applies to purchasing the equipement here in the Dominican Republic, if you know how much it costs in another country please hold your fingers.....

3. Please explain the differences between the above options. Preferably in English (that's stupid talk for the average bear).

If the above questions are too idiotic I apologize in advance, however I'm searching for something other than the local cable company for television.

Jack