Info on free to air

[snoopy]

A friend just told me he was doing this and this is a guy who wouldn't if it weren't reasonably easy so I'm immediately interested. Is anyone here doing it? If so, what's the most reliable forum for information?

[stanger89]

FTA, in it's most pure form, is simply recieving/viewing "clear" (ie unencrypted) satellite signals. My understanding is that there's a decent amount of true FTA in Europe, but there's really not a whole lot in the US.

The easiest way is to get a dish (Dish Network DishPro equipment will work), and a DVB-S card and start playing. It's really not a lot more difficult than over the air, except the dish pointing needs to be more precise.

A word of caution, "FTA" seems to be often used to describe something other than viewing unencrypted broadcasts...

[Apap]

Here is a good site to start your research.

http://www.lyngsat.com/

[mattdcknsn]

Originally Posted by stanger89

The easiest way is to get a dish (Dish Network DishPro equipment will work), and a DVB-S card and start playing. It's really not a lot more difficult than over the air, except the dish pointing needs to be more precise.

Thanks, I was looking into this as well. I'll try to do some research but do you know if DirectTV dishes are good enough? Thanks

[stanger89]

Dish uses (basically) standard DVB, DirecTV doesnt. DirecTV dishes should be fine, but the LNBs probably won't work, or at least not well.

[hemicuda]

The LNB's are the same for both. I have a friend that has used them interchangeably. FTA will work on either one out-of-the-box on unencrypted signals.

The DishNet "Super LNB" is different, but thats the latest/greatest system on the market.