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New sat box - how easy to tune for UK stations


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OK - I'll admit it - I haven't a clue about modern techno - have real problems.

We need a new satellite decoder box - and we need it for UK tv.   Please don't give me a hard time about this;  OH is in early stages of Alzy and watches a lot of UK tv......

I know I will be the one who has to buy a new box, sort out all the leads etc etc.

Can anyone give me advice as to what I should be looking for in a new box - just want simple, fairly basic box.

And how easy will I find it to tune into the UK channels ?  That's my biggest concern.

The tv itself is a reasonably new 45" flat screen thingy - and the sound level is horrible.

Am thinking of also buying a soundbar. 

Would sound-bar have to be connected to the decoder box? - or will that simply fit into back of tv - which seems to have lots of sockets and scart outlets.   I'm totally confused by them all, but I'm assuming that there's a socket for a soundbar, but does the sound bar also need to be connected to decoder....- which would mean, presumably, that the decoder will need a socket for a soundbar - or am I totally confused ?

Oh dear;  sounds a bit muddled but I'm sure all you extremely clever people on here will be able to give me clear, simple advice.    I'm really on my own here, feeling out of my depth and would welcome any help.

Thank you.

Chessie

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Provided your dish is pointed at the right satellite, it should not be difficult to plug in a new box, input jack from the dish out to the TV. I have a Humax box, a basic one for Freesat which I think tuned itself and has worked perfectly.

Check out Humax on Amazon UK.

Not aure about the sound bar though.
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Buy a simple cheap reconditioned Sky- box on eBay. If you don't want to subscribe to Sky get a free sat box, if you have an existing satellite dish, the box will tune itself just plug and play. We have a soundbar it just plugs into the TV. If you don't have an dish I would suggest getting your local electrical shop to supply a dish and set the whole thing up and just explain what you need. I'm not sure your local man would be able to supply a free sat box or indeed a SKY box, but he will know the setup, boxes are plentiful on the internet. As Wooly says the Humax box is excellent.
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chessie, it isn't clear whether you already have a satellite dish and box for UK TV or whether you are asking about a completely new setup.

You will need a satellite dish which points to the satellites at 28°E to receive the UK channels. That dish will need to be precisely aligned, which is the difficult part. As you are in department 47 you are going to need a largish dish (possibly 1m or larger) as the signal that far south is not very strong. You might still have problems with some channels and when it is wet of heavy clouds. If you have them, you might want to check with any UK neighbours about their dish size and reception quality.

Once the dish is aligned a FreeSat box will tune automatically (and retune if the channel frequencies change). I would suggest a Humax FreeSat box.

The soundbar will connect to the TV and I think will come with a cable.
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Chessie, I'm a gurl and I did it myself. Sub-twenty quid freeview box from Tesco or similar, connect to telly with appropriate lead and it pretty much organises itself. It might need you to search for the channel it's transmitting from on your telly (like channel 0 for example) - but once you've done that, it will pop up with a menu which will let you fill in a few details (like where you are in the "UK" - wink, wink) so you can get your "local" news preferences etc., and it will then merrily tune itself to all the available stations and off you pop, Robert est ton oncle.
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Freeview boxes work in the UK because they use terrestrial signals from an aerial on the roof (or similar). So they are really no different from plugging an aerial feed into a TV and letting the TV find the channels.

Freesat boxes need a signal from a satellite, of which there are many across the whole arc o the sky. The satellite dish needs to be pointed directly at the correct satellite (so aligned correctly both for east-west and angle of elevation) which is transmitting the (mostly UK) channels. To do that it is a lot easier with some sort of meter. Once the dish is pointing at the correct satellite the boxes will then find the channels.

There is no need for the dish to be mounted high up; it can be at ground level. The Astra 2 satellites are about 36000 km away, so a few extra metres isn't going to make any difference. That makes it easier to adjust the dish.
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They work in France too. With a dish, obvs. I'm oblivious to the difference between freeview and free sat, except that basically I'm able to watch free to air uk to in both countries, and I took the box mentioned above to France and plugged it into my telly as described and it worked as described. Yes, through a dish. I just assumed, in the way of a gurl, that as Chessie has been in France for a long time and mentioned needing a "new" box, that the whole dish malarkey has long since been sorted chez Chessie.
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[quote user="chessie"]OK - I'll admit it - I haven't a clue about modern techno - have real problems.

We need a 'new' satellite decoder box - and we need it for UK tv.   Please don't give me a hard time about this;  OH is in early stages of Alzy and 'watches a lot of UK tv'......................

Chessie
[/quote]

From the above I would take it that Chessie is already in possession of a sat-box and is seeking a replacement.

Perhaps if she can post the make and model number, if they do actually have one,  it might be possible to find an identical replacement which would, hopefully, assist her in the task of installing and setting up the replacement as the cables and remote control will be the same.

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I'm sorry everyone - I wasn't very clear was I.

Yes, we live here in France, and have done so for quite a while.

When we first came out, we had a couple of Sky boxes, which we had indeed 'set up' for local area in the UK; we were able to continue using those for quite a while, with UK subs paid from UK address - but then there were questions. and we had to stop the subs !!

So we bought a Humax from a UK ex-Pat who lived locally, and it's worked fine.  But when it was installed the metal fitting on the co-axial satellite cable didn't match the fitting at the back of the box - and there was a Heath Robinson connection 'adaptation' which worked - but it's become loose and the decoder can't be connected up any more.   And he's 'lost' the metal fixture component that was on the co-axial cable. 

Having looked at the fittings available from Amazon I can't see any that match this old Humax box. This is why I thought if I bought a brand new box, with brand new cables that all fitted together properly, easily and simply, which I could cope with myself, unaided, then that might save a lot of aggro and difficult behaviour from OH who has problems. 

Love your attitude YCCMB - I feel really out of touch with modern techno but I'lll say if YCCMB can do it, then so can I !

Thank you everyone for your helpful advice;  I'll check out the recommendations given me;  presumably all these boxes come with the right cables - need the satellite cable fixture from the satellite box in the wall to the decoder - or do I have to have that as separate item ?

And thanks also for reassurance about the sound-bar - hope that one will be simple to instal.

As always, extremely grateful for help and advice - thank you.

Chessie

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[quote user="chessie"]  And he's 'lost' the metal fixture component that was on the co-axial cable. 

Having looked at the fittings available from Amazon I can't see any that match this old Humax box.

[/quote]

As your present box is a Humax I think you will find THIS is the connector required to connect the coaxial cable to the box.
It is a 'screw on to cable' male type F plug and you will find the instructions on how it is fitted are within the #5 image on the left of the Amazon page. As long as the female connection on the box is not damaged they should connect.

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Cajal - that's exactly what we need - aren't you clever.   Thank you so much for taking the time to find this connector for me - that's really so good of you, and I do appreciate your help.   Now I know what to look for.

Couldn't find it before - didn't know how to describe it...which would have helped !!

Have checked the Humax - there's very little on the box - except the word 'Foxsat-hd'....but nothing more. 

But you've been an amazing help - and seems as though you may have saved me from buying a new satbox.   So double thanks from me.  (Should be a bottle but there isn't one listed !!)

And to everyone who replied with help - thanks so much - it's always appreciated.

Chessie

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