Italian satellite tv-help?

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for dog and ulcer
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Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by for dog and ulcer »

My son who lives in E.Belfast wants to install free to air Italian satellite tv in order to improve his Italian language skills. Where or what system can I get for him as a Christmas present? He will set it up, mount dish etc himself. He already has a SKY+ set-up. I can see a kit in Maplin's but the dish is only 46cm- is this sufficient? ANY HELP APPRECIATED.
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cables
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by cables »

Had a quick look at the satellite footprint for Hot Bird 6, 8, 9.

For a Belfast location it would seem that the 48 would be too small - below recommended.

Unless you can get tested and tried info, I would suggest a 65.
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by Rooster »

cables wrote:Had a quick look at the satellite footprint for Hot Bird 6, 8, 9.

For a Belfast location it would seem that the 48 would be too small - below recommended.

Unless you can get tested and tried info, I would suggest a 65.
HotBird 6 and 8 with a 90 cm dish 9 out of footprint
http://www.dishpointer.com/satellites/

Direction if you fill in address here and satellite
http://www.dishpointer.com/
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by mikerob »

The website http://www.lyngsat.com is a good resource with all the satellites and channels listed on them so for example these are the free Italian TV channels: http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/Italy.html

RAI 1, 2 and 3 are on the satellite "Hot Bird 9" :) and there are a bunch of other Italian channels on "Hot Bird 6" and number of other satellites like Atlantic Bird 1. "Hot Bird 9" is at 13 degrees East and there are a number of calculators on the internet to determine where you should point the dish (Azimuth & elevation) based upon your latitude and longitude.

I don't know if 42" is big enough for a hot bird (phnarr, phnarr... ) but I suspect the bigger the better.

He'll also need a satellite receiver. You can manually program in channel settings to a Sky box (assuming the dish is pointed in the right direction) but you won't be able to record these so you may be better getting a Freesat receiver with hard drive for a TV or a satellite receiver to view and record using a PC.

All the big electronics retailers (Argos, Amazon, Maplins etc.) will sell freesat receivers but I don't have any particular recommendations.

The forum on the website digitalspy.co.uk is the place for hardcore techy questions.
for dog and ulcer
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by for dog and ulcer »

Thanks for help Cables and Mikerob :salut: Very useful information indeed!! A BIT OVERWHELMED!! It will take me some time to digest it all. Rather more to it than I suspected!! I found this set-up for £75 plus £13 p and p- what do you think? There are packages advertised online specifically for Italian TV- at £149- is there any real difference? Or would it be better to buy a bigger dish and separate receiver and fittings etc?

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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by Rooster »

mikerob wrote: RAI 1, 2 and 3 are on the satellite "Hot Bird 9" :)
Wee girl in ice cream shop has Hotbird 9 but has a 1.5m dish to receive it, so it is possible as long as you are not surrounded by buildings as angle is pretty low.
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cables
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by cables »

hotbird9.JPG
hotbird9.JPG (43.06 KiB) Viewed 1962 times
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by Rooster »

Conflict of reports then cables with different sites :?
One thing sure is it is receivable, just dish size is the variable that is in dispute and also dogs location and possible problems of obstructions.

A phonecall to these guys could well be a good idea fdau
http://www.satellitesuperstore.com/hot.htm
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by mikerob »

If he is going to be using the dish for serious study, then a receiver with hard disk for recording would be very useful as he can do timed recordings of particular programs and rewind/replay to listen to stuff again. Having said that, it may be an idea to try a cheaper receiver or Sky box initially to see how things go.
for dog and ulcer
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Re: Italian satellite tv-help?

Post by for dog and ulcer »

Thanks for all the help guys- now I see a good reason for the usual Christmas presents- so much easier to buy socks and Bushmills!!
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