Job Discussion Forums

[simon_porter00]

Effing old biddies have prevented me in putting a 4 metre staellite dish on the blocks roof to pick up terrestial UK tv, so i need to turn my attention to English dialogue on Polish satellite providers. Does anyone have any info on satellite providers in Poland? Which are good/bad? English speaking (I can't rely on the mrs to get what i want - we'll end up with the bloody fashion and movie channels)? How many channels can be heard in English etc?

I know there's 'n' who have the most confusing website in the whole wide world ever and cyfra+ but are there any other operators? Also does anyone have sky from blighty?

Any useful answers will return a beer payment, in front of the tv, watching Match of the day or summat.

[Sgt Bilko]

I know it's not quite the same but I joined uknova (www.uknova.com) thanks to a tip on here and have since happily watched Match of the Day, Dr Who, Cricket on 5 etc. The only problem is that they're a day late - you have to build up points by seeding stuff and the fewer points you have the longer you have to wait to download - I'm on a 12 hour delay. They don't offer anything out commercially (on DVD) but you get stuff that will be on DVD but isn't yet.

Most of it is reality/soap dross but it's still a brilliant site - with broadband (1MB) Match of the Day downloads in about an hour.

When you try to register, you may find that it's fully subscribed but, apparently, they chuck people off fairly regularly if they haven't logged on for a while - I got on after a couple of days of trying. Early morning seems to be a good time to try.

The main benefit over satellite is you really pick and choose what you want to watch and don't sit there, remote in hand, trying desperately to find something worthwhile to watch and ending up watching the same news on BBC World over and over again just because it's there.

[simon_porter00]

Cheers for the advice but, i'm already on it. Thanks to britians got talent i've got a score of 86 and a delay of 46 minutes. However (OK, and now you'll get an idea of what kind of lazy bugger i am) it's takes a little effort to do all that stuff. I just want to flop down on the sofa and aimlessly channel surf.

[Harry from NWE]

[simon_porter00]

I'm up for that, pm sent.

[simon_porter00]

Right I've done some research and fitted my own satellite system so I can watch ITV, channel 4, channel 5 etc from the comfort of my armchair and this is how I did it. If you've got any questions, comments, please feel free to contribute:

Receiving English TV via satellite

There are two ways to do this.
1) With a normal free to air (FTA) digital receiver. You�ll get all the free channels transmitted in space
2) A sky receiver. You�ll get all the free channels in space and channel 5. Channel 5 is free to view (FTV) not FTA so you need the little box of tricks in the sky receiver to watch channel 5
The satellite dish will have to be pointed at the Astra 2 cluster of satellites at 28.2 degrees. Astra 2A/B/C/D and Eurobird 1 (at 28.5) carry the English channels. All channels carried by these satellites are here: http://www.lyngsat.com/28east.html

Sky TV

As you�re aware, Sky is the satellite provider for the UK and they broadcast from the Astra 2 satellite cluster. You are technically not allowed to watch Sky outside the UK however there are some ways around this. As regards satellite dishes, in Poland an 80/90cm dish will suffice. (You only actually need a 50cm dish see here: http://www.brymar.co.uk/info/Astra/astra.html however, in poor weather conditions you will lose signal and picture quality. With a bigger dish, this will be avoided.)
There are a number of ways of watching Sky in Poland:
1) A 2nd hand sky receiver with card. With a card you can watch channel 5, without a card you can�t. The card has to be the one that originally came with the receiver as the card is �matched� to the receiver. A card which isn�t �matched� will not work for long if at all. For a review on Sky boxes see here:
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Sky-Digibox-History-and-Buyers-Guide_W0QQugidZ10000000004210152
I�ve got a Pace 2600CI with card which I bought for 33gbp through ebay. It�s recognized as the best out-of-UK receiver due to its sensitive tuner. These are only available 2nd hand as they're not produced any more. It would be helpful if the box has recently been used as you will have the latest hardware updates. If not the receiver will update itself over the course of the week as the updates are sent on a weekly basis via the Astra satellites.
Sky�s channel guide is found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_channels_on_Sky_Digital_in_the_UK_and_Ireland
Please bear in mind that most of the channels you�ll get without subscription are crap. However. worthwhile channels IMHO are:
Five, Sky 3, Zone reality, zone thriller, zone romantic, film 24, five US, fiver, zone horror, true movies 1&2, movies4men 1&2 (not porn but war films etc), simply movies, 10 or music channels, setanta news (sports news), sky news, bbc news, other news networks.
The other channels you get for free � religious, shopping etc are all "low interest". Lots of soft porn as well if that�s your thing although it should be noted there�s no hardcore shown for free on the astra 2 satellite � so I�ve been told.
Subscription channels on Sky
Getting the better quality content is difficult and takes some planning but there are some options open to you .New system have to be installed by Sky into a UK household, the bill has to be paid through a UK household and all new systems have to be connected to a phone line for the first 12 months. However, there are a few ways around this:
1) Pay a company to set up a sky account. Lots of companies will do this and you�ll get subscription packages. You�ll have to pay the cost of the package and rather hefty margin to the company as well as an absurdly expensive set up fee. You're basically paying for them to diddle the phone line connection and use their UK address.
2) Get someone to get a sky system at home in the UK and leave it there for a year and once past the 12 month requirement for it to be attached to a phone line ship it to Poland whilst the person who had it installed continues to pay the bill on your behalf. Obviously you�re without the sky system for a year before you get your hands on it. Alternatively if you�re lucky enough to know someone who will give you there old receiver and card and you can get them to continue the subscription you�re in luck.
There is another way to get subscription content:
Freesat: A freesat from sky card costs 146,81 GBP. All channels for freesat can be found here: http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/freesat-tv-choice-all.aspx this gives you standard channels for free plus the ability to add on subscription packages.
A 'Pay once, watch forever" card which costs 73,40 GBP. Although if you know someone who already has a receiver they can get this card for 20 GBP.
How the two and freesat (see below) compare: http://www.freesatfromsky.co.uk/pay-once-how-it-compares.aspx
However, all systems bought new, according to sky are delivered, installed and tested by sky engineers and they then have to be connected by phone line for 12 months.

Why can�t I get BBC, ITV or Channel 4 on an 80cm dish?

These signals are only transmitted from the Astra 2D satellite which has a very narrow footprint which covers the British Isles. It is therefore only available to watch in Warsaw with a 3metre satellite dish. You can watch these channels in other areas of Poland with smaller dishes. For more information see here:
http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellite/sky-uk-platform-astra-28-2e-astra-2d-fringe-reception-tech/42583-bbc-fta-reception-poland.html

How can I get ITV and Channel 4 on a 80 cm dish?

Yes, I know I�ve just told you it's impossible, but you can. Confused? There are some tv station feeds which are broadcasted but not disclosed. They are only found by satellite geeks (to whom we are truly thankful) who scan the sky. Apparently some cable operators still require some tv feeds to be sent via Astra 2 A, B or C and therefore we can pick them up. For a list of them and how (which includes ITV and Channel 4) see here: http://www.wildsat.com/astra.htm
These have to be added manually to your sky receiver and accessed through the receiver menu i.e. they will not appear on your online sky tv guide or EPG.


I�ve heard of freesat. What�s that?

If you can put up a 3 metre dish, you can get freesat and therefore all the channels that freesat comes with. For more info go here:
http://www.freesat.co.uk/
Channel list: http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=whatson.Main

Can I watch Polish satellite TV as well?

You may want to watch Cyfra + or �N� as they offer documentary channels and film channels in English. All Polish satellite traffic is transmitted via the Hotbird satellite cluster at 13 degrees. In order to only use one dish to get signals from hotbird and astra you need a dish with a 20 degree capture and a multi LNB bracket. Basically, you need one LNB per satellite and these LNB�s sit on a horizontal brace at the end of the satellite dish arm. This brace allows you to position more than one LNB on it thus allowing you to get signals from more than one satellite. The dish is also specially shaped in order to achieve this. The dish I use is the Triax 88 TD with a 20 degree multi LNB bracket which was ordered from www.satellitesuperstore.co.uk in the UK. Their website is excellent for everything satellite related. You are very unlikely to get Hotbird and astra 2 on a normal satellite dish because they are 15 degrees apart in the sky.
You can of course use two dishes if you want.

[hrvatski]

I have N, it's just fine. I pay 48zł a month for the usual suspects plus sport, lifestyle and science. The antenna cost 150zł and I think the box was only 100zł on special or something.

I hear Cyfra is the only one which offers a few channels where you can turn off the Polish dubbing, but I suppose not having that option has improved my Polish greatly.