Free to Air Satellite or "FTA"

[EncoderHouse]

What is an FTA receiver?

Free To Air satellite is a term used to describe satellite signals which you can legally receive without a subscription. Free To Air satellite programming is not encrypted, but it is encoded with MPEG-2. At one time, most Free To Air satellite content was transmitted on C Band, but Free To Air satellite programming has now mostly migrated to Ku Band. Unlike satellite television programming which requires a subscription, such as Dish Networks or DirecTV, Free To Air satellite channels are not encrypted and can be received with an MPEG-2 compatible FTA receiver. Free To Air satellite is often abbreviated as FTA satellite.

More info at http://www.kingfta.com/Products_list.asp

My question is, can SageTV work with this, as far as EPG, serial turner plugin, ect... has anyone used this with SageTV if so i would love to hear from you.

[CollinR]

You need to buy a capture card and try it. What you want to do is find a hardware capture device that replaces the set top box.

Originally Posted by SageTV Current System Requirements

Supported DVB Tuners (requires SageTV V6 or later):


Windows
Cinergy 2400i DT Capture
Dvico FusionHDTV USB
FireDTV DVB-T/CI (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
FireDTV DVB-C (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
FireDTV DVB-S (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
FloppyDTV T/CI (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
Hauppauge WinTV Nova-T-Stick USB
Happauge WinTV Nova-T-USB
Kworld VStream DVBT100
Kworld VStream XPERT DTV-DVB-T PCI
Leadtek DTV1000
Nebula DigiTV (DVB-T tuner)
Pinnacle PCTV Dual DVB-T Pro PCI
Provideo's PV913
Technotrend Budget C-1500 (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
Technotrend DVB-T/C 1300 (supports PayTV through CAM/CI)
Technotrend S-1500
Technotrend S-2400
Technotrend S2-3200
VisionPlus/Twinhan TwinhanDTV (VP-3021)
Most USB Stick devices using the Dibcom 7700 Chipset should work, but not all of them have been tested.

Most other BDA based DVB-T/C/S cards should work with Version 6.2 or later but may not have been tested. If you have tested a specific card that is not listed, please report your findings to us at support@sagetv.com.
Linux
Tuners that have a Linux kernel DVB-T driver should work; but not all tuners have been tested.

Always current located:
http://www.sagetv.com/requirements.html


I assume it can be done but I haven't bought an FTA setup to figure it out.


Also you certainly can connect the set top box to an analog encoder.

There is a network encoder add-on for MyTheater, so it's most certainly possible.

[nielm]

See http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26402

There is also a user using encrypted satellite (using a DVB-S card with a CAM interface)

[EncoderHouse]

analog encoder i got plenty of.. 2 PVR 250's and a PVR 500. before i jump and try out the FTA setup and spend more $$$ i wanted to see if any of the Sage users had done this before. Looks like I’ll be the g$nny pig.

Thanks for the quick reply

[ke6guj]

I looked at FTA once when my friend got one set up. I figured the hardest part of the system would be to get an EPG set up. I figured that I would need to do some sort of XMLTV setup to build my own EPG. At the time, there was the problem with the memory-leaky Java 1.5 builds and the XMLTV program I was looking at needed Java 1.5. I ended up getting digital cable and was able to use my STB via firewire. So I dropped the idea and didn't procede.

[CollinR]

My biggest concern would be programming. I only speak english and I have been ~hearing~ there really isn't much content out there.

[heffe2001]

If you're using the true FTA feeds, I'd bet you'll have a hard time getting guide info from a FTA STB, with a PCI DVB card, you can pull any guide info from MyTheatre, and use one of the xmltv plugins to feed that info Sage.

Any other FTA use in NA would be against the rules here to discuss.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by nielm

See http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26402

There is also a user using encrypted satellite (using a DVB-S card with a CAM interface)

Not in North America. There are no CAM-compatible Satellite systems in NA, unless you know something I don't, in which case I'd like to.

Originally Posted by heffe2001

If you're using the true FTA feeds, I'd bet you'll have a hard time getting guide info from a FTA STB, with a PCI DVB card, you can pull any guide info from MyTheatre, and use one of the xmltv plugins to feed that info Sage.

Any other FTA use in NA would be against the rules here to discuss.

Which brings up the point I thought about mentioning earlier. The term FTA is used to describe two things (near as I can tell), receiving free, unencrypted signals from satellite (true FTA).

However "FTA" is also used in the context of decrypting encrypted satellite via "non-sanctioned" means, which is not legal.

[majortom]

You can get an external FTA box and feed the signal straight into your tuner card without any problems. The Sagetv program is far superior than the programming guide on any FTA box. You would need to get a usb-uirt to get the tuner card to change the channel on the FTA box. There are alot of good "legal" FTA boxs to choose from.

[Toddupton]

Yes it works and yes you can use a DVB-S card and CAM or a STB. If you have a hauppauge the ir blaster will work fine on a pansat for sure. Let me know if you need anything else!

[pjpjpjpj]

Hey guys - I know *nothing* about FTA (this thread is the first I had heard of it)... but now I'm curious...

I went OTA-only when I got Sage, leaving DirecTV. But I still have the dish on my roof with the coax run into my house (just sitting there, "abandoned"). Could I get a (legal) FTA box of some sort that would allow me to get FTA channels in Sage using that dish?

From what I have read online about FTA (since seeing this thread), it seems like a lot of the channels are at different compass directions and would require a rotor... so this would negate the DirecTV (permanently-mounted) dish anyway, right?

Any use to my old dish, as it is now?

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Hey guys - I know *nothing* about FTA (this thread is the first I had heard of it)... but now I'm curious...

I went OTA-only when I got Sage, leaving DirecTV. But I still have the dish on my roof with the coax run into my house (just sitting there, "abandoned"). Could I get a (legal) FTA box of some sort that would allow me to get FTA channels in Sage using that dish?

Probably not with a DirecTV dish but I'm not sure. If you had a Dish Network dish, which uses DVB-S, you could get some stuff that's truely FTA, but not much, and you'd probably have to re-aim your dish.

From what I have read online about FTA (since seeing this thread), it seems like a lot of the channels are at different compass directions and would require a rotor... so this would negate the DirecTV (permanently-mounted) dish anyway, right?

Correct, that or a bunch of dishes pointed at different satellites.

Any use to my old dish, as it is now?

Not really.