How do two STBs work with a multi LNB satallite?

[baldobaldini]

Hi guys,

A noob question from a noob member..

I am seriously considering ditching cable and going to satellite but I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with. Please bear with me! What I would like to do is get a dish and box that are capable of providing both UK and Euro channels. I understand that I will need either a motorised dish or a multi LNB on the one dish. So...

1) I've been given a 60cm standard dish with one quad LNB. I've been told that I may need a 80cm dish in order to pick up Euro channels better. Is this correct?

2) Motorised or multi LNB? I've heard from a few installers that motorised dishes can be a complete nightmare; so I suppose a multi LNB would make sense. Is it a simple matter of fitting two LNBs on the one dish? I would then need to purchase an additional quad LNB.

3) This is what is confusing me most. Eventually I would like to get two STBs, both twin tuners at some point. Initially I would get the one just to be sure it works ok etc. Anyway, would I need to run two cables from each LNB into each box? So, if I had two LNBs on the one dish (one pointing to e.g Astra and the other pointing to Eurobird), I would need a total of eight coax cables run? Or should it be four? This bit is totally confusing me!

4) This is much less important, but could I record something on a Euro channel whilst watching something on a UK channel with a multi LNB setup? Not a deal breaker but just something else Im curious to find out.

5) I've looked at a few potential STBs to purchase and they have this listed which I guess is significant. Can someone please explain briefly what this is?! multiple LNB-Switching control (supports DiSEqC1.0/1.1/unicable/1.2/1.3(USALS) supported)

6) Finally, what are the two satellites I should point towards if going for a multi LNB setup? I think Atra 28/2 is one, not sure what the main Euro one is.

Thanks a lot for your input here. Again, apologies for all the noob questions. I've had a good look through the forums and whilst I have picked up quite a lot of useful info, it would be nice to get some specifics. Cheers!

[baldobaldini]

Blast! Ops - can you please correct spelling error in subject field? Should say satellite (not satallite) Thanks

[ramjet]

Hi guys,

A noob question from a noob member..

I am seriously considering ditching cable and going to satellite but I have a few questions that I hope someone can help me with. Please bear with me! What I would like to do is get a dish and box that are capable of providing both UK and Euro channels. I understand that I will need either a motorised dish or a multi LNB on the one dish. So...

1) I've been given a 60cm standard dish with one quad LNB. I've been told that I may need a 80cm dish in order to pick up Euro channels better. Is this correct?

2) Motorised or multi LNB? I've heard from a few installers that motorised dishes can be a complete nightmare; so I suppose a multi LNB would make sense. Is it a simple matter of fitting two LNBs on the one dish? I would then need to purchase an additional quad LNB.

3) This is what is confusing me most. Eventually I would like to get two STBs, both twin tuners at some point. Initially I would get the one just to be sure it works ok etc. Anyway, would I need to run two cables from each LNB into each box? So, if I had two LNBs on the one dish (one pointing to e.g Astra and the other pointing to Eurobird), I would need a total of eight coax cables run? Or should it be four? This bit is totally confusing me!

4) This is much less important, but could I record something on a Euro channel whilst watching something on a UK channel with a multi LNB setup? Not a deal breaker but just something else Im curious to find out.

5) I've looked at a few potential STBs to purchase and they have this listed which I guess is significant. Can someone please explain briefly what this is?! multiple LNB-Switching control (supports DiSEqC1.0/1.1/unicable/1.2/1.3(USALS) supported)

6) Finally, what are the two satellites I should point towards if going for a multi LNB setup? I think Atra 28/2 is one, not sure what the main Euro one is.

Thanks a lot for your input here. Again, apologies for all the noob questions. I've had a good look through the forums and whilst I have picked up quite a lot of useful info, it would be nice to get some specifics. Cheers!

1) yes, the bigger the dish the better , so 80cm to 110cm are adequate for most people

2) multi lnb on an lnb rack is fine for 2 to 4 sats close to each other, so say 13e + 19e + 28.2e , but motorised is excellent when setup properly and gives a lot more choices from a lot more directions

3) each tuner requires its own coaxial cable feed, so 2 boxes with 2 tuners is the same as 2 sly+ boxes and requires 4 feeds hence the quad lnb. they even sell an octo now with 8 feeds for those requiring even more feeds

4) its certainly possible to do this with the right box or boxes and multiple feeds

5) google will explain these options in great detail

6) astra 2 at 28.2e and 28.4e is our main one, and 13e hotbird and 19.2e astra 1 are the other 2 popular positions, but there are more than a dozen others too, like 39e and 10e and 5e and 0.8w and 30w

I also suggest you read my post here too http://www.digital-kaos.co.uk/forums...-setup-301108/

[baldobaldini]

Fantastic! Thanks a lot for your reply. Very helpful. I would definitely prefer motorised dish but the two potential engineers have somewhat put me off them a little bit by saying they can be very unforgiving and a ball ache to fix. My personal preference would be an 80cm dish. Anything in particular I should be looking at? Something south of ?100 would be of preference if that is at all possible. I'll have a look around the forum anyway as I'm sure there's loads of suggestions. Thanks again for your help ramjet!

[ramjet]

Fantastic! Thanks a lot for your reply. Very helpful. I would definitely prefer motorised dish but the two potential engineers have somewhat put me off them a little bit by saying they can be very unforgiving and a ball ache to fix. My personal preference would be an 80cm dish. Anything in particular I should be looking at? Something south of ?100 would be of preference if that is at all possible. I'll have a look around the forum anyway as I'm sure there's loads of suggestions. Thanks again for your help ramjet!

a triax or gilbertini 80cm or 88cm or similar dish will suffice, they also have bespoke lnb racks so you can add up to 4 lnb,s so a dish with a rack and 3 quad lnb,s should do what you require, assuming you dont have obstructions from the place you intend to put it

this will mean a lot of cables so use the shotgun ones (twin cables like used for sly+) , and use 4 way diseqc switches near the dish so that each switch gets all 3 feeds (one from each lnb/sat), allowing you up to 4 switches and 4 boxes in total, meaning up to 4 feeds are required from these switches to your receivers, and so thats one to four receivers depending what you buy and how they are cabled

a vu duo or solo2 will do a lot of what you require and can have internal sata hdd added to make them into a pvr like sly+ is

yes your installers are correct about the motorised system, which also only gets you what it is pointed at, so I use both fixed and motorised in order to gain brownie points from both

fixed - on the popular satellites I mentioned

motorised - to get the rest of the satellites that are less popular or more specific to my needs , like footy for instance

so the above dishes with a darkmotor and inverto ultra black lnb mounted on T-K brackets gets you more satellites but you have less cables and cannot really supply multiple boxes, maybe 2 at most

the trouble with getting one fixed dish and say 3 satellites is that when its up and running you find you want a football match or golf or whatever, you look for this and find its on a satellite you cannot choose or "see" , like pltv on 10e or diema on 39e, and then you feel you are missing out and want more, its addictive you see

my first sat dish was the standard one which was pointed at 19e back then (not 28e like now) for analogue channels

then you have one pointed at 28e like now, and the 19e one has a monoblock on it and you use a changeover switch to swap between dishes (a-b switch). then it grows and grows and you chop and change until you settle on fixed + motorised to give the best options from both systems

this is what you have to look forward to, it becomes a hobby and we are hobbyists who learn all the aspects it produces

good luck

[baldobaldini]

Wow you read my mind! Sport is a massive reason for moving to sat so the more I think about it the more a motorised dish seems to make sense. I'd have two; possibly three STBs at the absolute most.

One more thing. Is it possible to use existing coaxial cable that I have already routed in my living room? One cable goes into what used to be a fireplace. I guess I probably will as I'd still need two cables for twin tuner box. It'll be a bit of a bugger to route this. I'm considering the Amiko Alien 2 STB which seems to get a lot of good reviews and it seems very good value for money. If all goes well then I may go for the VU Duo at some point in addition to the Alien 2.

Thanks a lot. This information is invaluable to me!

[cactikid]

when you say existing coaxial of what quality or how old?,proper sat cable is better shielded to use and some coaxial cable i have the f connectors and they dont fit it.

[ramjet]

cable coax is fine but I would not use tv coax as its incorrect, different impedance and not designed for satellite

in any case you will be needing a shotgun cable for this, and ethernet from your router unless you use wifi adapters or homeplugs (you will require an internet connection for many reasons as you will find out later)

so many people like me have got multiple sat coaxial cables in, and ethernet access too

its not just the box , or the dish , its details like where the dish can be mounted on the property, if it has line of sight visibility of the satellites you wish to view, cables from the dish to the room or rooms you are viewing in , ethernet or wifi access to those same rooms , power points etc

logistics, thats what its all about, and in this day and age one feed from a tv aerial will not suffice

[baldobaldini]

Thanks again ramjet

It is cable coax and seems to be of good quality. My router is located right beside my current cable STB so web access via LAN will not be an issue. There is only one coax cable that runs through my fireplace wall and into the area where the STB will be located. This will be tricky to get a shotgun cable in here. I guess there's no way to join it up with the cable coax as it isn't siamese like the shotgun cable?

I'll have to take off skirting boards etc otherwise but I suppose in the long run it'll be worth it.

[baldobaldini]

when you say existing coaxial of what quality or how old?,proper sat cable is better shielded to use and some coaxial cable i have the f connectors and they dont fit it.

It's existing cable coax which appears to be of good quality.

[ramjet]

shotgun cable is designed to go through the same hole as a single standard coaxial cable, and uses different F connectors to accomodate the smaller diameter of the two cables in a shotgun cable compared to the standard cable

you can solder them together and use the single to carefully pull the double in, then cut off where you soldered them together by a cm or so to get back to good cable

[baldobaldini]

Mods - apologies I'm not sure if I'm able to post direct links to dishes so if that is the case please remove.

Does this tick the boxes? Triax 78cm Motorised Satellite DIsh Kit | eBay

Obviously I'll need to get the quad LNB as suggested earlier. Anything else I need other than the STB? Cheers!

[baldobaldini]

shotgun cable is designed to go through the same hole as a single standard coaxial cable, and uses different F connectors to accomodate the smaller diameter of the two cables in a shotgun cable compared to the standard cable

you can solder them together and use the single to carefully pull the double in, then cut off where you soldered them together by a cm or so to get back to good cable

Thanks. A friend of mine will be installing the dish for me and I wouldn't want to put him through this hassle so think I will just have to route a new cable. Cheers for that!

[baldobaldini]

As a matter of fact I have just found a new Triax TD78 without LNB for ?35 inc delivery. I guess I just need to add the motor and the quad LNB, then just get the dish installed or am I missing something else?

[baldobaldini]

Blimey, another question!

Inverto Black Quad or Quattro?

Quattro looks as though you can use one of the four connections for a twin tuner but I have no idea how this would work. Cheers again and sorry for all the total noob questions. I'm literally on the verge of purchasing these items so just need to make sure I get the right kit. Cheers!