rob86 2 Report post Posted June 9, 2009 Anyone out there into FTA stuff? I don't really watch the free tv, just acquiring more toys to play with! Too bad about 'ol Nagravision3.. wonder if it will be cracked? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Watermonkey 0 Report post Posted July 11, 2009 Anyone out there into FTA stuff? I don't really watch the free tv, just acquiring more toys to play with! Too bad about 'ol Nagravision3.. wonder if it will be cracked?Well, actually, I've been into "FTA" for at least a year now. And, yes N3 is a bummer, but now we're talking about something altogether different, aren't we... I packed up my 90cm dish for our move so I'm stuck waiting, but if I had it out I'd be in business on Galaxy 15 or one of the several other birds that broadcast in English. Good luck with your wait. Which receiver do you have? I've got the VS 7000 PVR. It's been pretty good so far but couldn't handle the motor on the antenna. I'm looking at upgrading to VS 9000 HD PVR in the future. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob86 2 Report post Posted July 11, 2009 Well I never watched too much T.V. FTA or "Non FTA".. so N3 isn't bothering me too much. The fun for me was in pointing the dishes and the thrill of finding something up in the sky. I had one of those old BUDs: Big Ugly Dishes for true FTA.. but the receiver to control the motor went kaput. I have a VS9000HD and a VS Platinum. I think you'll like the 9000HD, provided there's ever something to watch on it again. It had a great HD picture and a very nice modern looking GUI. There's a newer viewsat alternative to the 9000 as well, called the VS MaxHD, maybe you've heard of it. I've never tried it, I think it's like the 9000 but costs a bit less. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Watermonkey 0 Report post Posted July 11, 2009 Well I never watched too much T.V. FTA or "Non FTA".. so N3 isn't bothering me too much. The fun for me was in pointing the dishes and the thrill of finding something up in the sky. I had one of those old BUDs: Big Ugly Dishes for true FTA.. but the receiver to control the motor went kaput. I have a VS9000HD and a VS Platinum. I think you'll like the 9000HD, provided there's ever something to watch on it again. It had a great HD picture and a very nice modern looking GUI. There's a newer viewsat alternative to the 9000 as well, called the VS MaxHD, maybe you've heard of it. I've never tried it, I think it's like the 9000 but costs a bit less.Without looking, I think they downgraded it by removing its PVR capability or pulling one of the tuners or something silly like that. It's like a 9000 Lite, basically. I've thought along those lines, but really don't shell out money for half a$$ products like that. I've been thinking about the CaptiveWorks CW-3000 HD which is basically a desktop computer running Linux. I just found out that model has been discontinued though. I wonder why... I hope they're releasing an improved version or something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob86 2 Report post Posted July 12, 2009 I'm pretty sure the MaxHD kept the PVR capability but only lost the OTA tuner, which is a feature in the VS9000 that I personally have never used anyway and I think you have to remove the Over the air tuner and install the 8psk module in it's place anyway. Whichever receiver you choose I think now is when the prices are about their lowest with the N3 drama going on, though its a bit risky spending money on an HD receiver which may never be able to reliably pick up HD channels (or any non fta ones..) I don't think there are any true fta hd channels.. not sure though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Watermonkey 0 Report post Posted July 12, 2009 Well if that's the case, you've made a good case for the MAxHD, but I'm kinda liking that CW4000 HD now that I've looked at the specs. Apparently those even work with IKS which is the only N3 solution out there at this time. They're not giving them away either. I thought I'd see better bargains right now with the current situation, but I'm not. Still around $500 for either the 9000 or the 4000. Say... Do you know anything about the LNBs Dave uses on the HD setups? I was thinking of looking at that antenna with my receiver and see what might be showing up on it. Seems like a few sats should be there. It's the five bird antenna that looks at 99, 101, 117, 119, and I don't recall the fifth even though I used to work for them installing the things. Oh, I think it was 105. That rings a bell. The reflector is huge, but I'm wondering if it's big enough to see FTA birds like Galaxy 15 or whatnot. No time to test it right now, though, going to Seattle for a few weeks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Indou 0 Report post Posted July 13, 2009 Question, what is Free to Air TV? o-O An internet thing, or general TV? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rob86 2 Report post Posted July 14, 2009 I haven't looked myself but I've heard talk of 9000HD's being sold for $200US with an 8psk adapter pre-installed and the MAXHD's were always cheaper. $499 is about the price they were the year after they first came out and dropped after that so it's weird that you're seeing them for $500. I don't know much about Dave equipment, being from Canada I've only used starchoice and belltv stuff. I don't think you can get much on dave birds with a fta receiver. http://www.lyngsat.com/ is a helpful website to see what you can pick up.Indou: There are lots of satellites in space broadcasting television channels, maybe more than you'd think. You can aim any old satellite dish at these and pick up free channels all you need is a satellite dish with an LNB (the thing on the end of the pole), a dish, a free-to-air receiver (viewsat is a popular one), and a tv (and the cord to connect the things, but that should be obvious) -- and a little bit of knowing where to point the thing (a compass is handy)I'm not sure what you can get in the UK, but there must be something. You can look on http://www.lyngsat.com/ to see what is available in your part of the world.Your selection of legally free channels might not be so great, it's mostly a hobby to find them, but a lot of people in north america use FTA receivers with 3rd party software to obtain free tv from the big tv companies BellTV (Codename: Bev or BTV) which is on the satellites named "Nimiq" and Dish Network (Codename: Charlie) located on EchoStar satellites and this is why they're extremely popular. This isn't exactly legal but some people do it anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ramzzz 0 Report post Posted July 15, 2009 Anyone out there into FTA stuff? I don't really watch the free tv, just acquiring more toys to play with! Too bad about 'ol Nagravision3.. wonder if it will be cracked?In internet no craked version. Buy it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Time Warner Cable SUCKS 0 Report post Posted July 23, 2009 putting FTA in the same sentence as cracked means you're pathologically incapable of copping to being a media pirate -- in the truest sense of the phrase... unlike fetching Tv episodes from the interweb Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
