Results 1 to 9 of 9

Thread: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

  1. #1
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    51
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    This may sound incredibly stupid...

    I have just moved into a new house and have noticed 2 black leads coming out of the wall. They have screw on connectors are the end with a needle like pin in the middle.

    I also noticed a satellite dish outside so I am guessing its for satellite TV?

    I tried to connect my digi box to the normal aerial socket in the house and the reception was really poor (only got a few programs).

    I was wondering whether I could use this dish thing to get freeview? I can't seem to find any way of connecting it on the back of my digi box?

    Will I need to get a contract or something or can I just buy a new box? Or should I just get a Signal booster for the standared aerial socket and leave the dish/2 pin thing alone?

    Many thanks in advance!

  2. #2
    Pseudo-Mad Scientist Whiternoise's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Surrey
    Posts
    4,274
    Thanks
    166
    Thanked
    386 times in 233 posts
    • Whiternoise's system
      • Motherboard:
      • DFI LANPARTY JR P45-T2RS
      • CPU:
      • Q6600
      • Memory:
      • 8GB DDR2
      • Storage:
      • 5.6TB Total
      • Graphics card(s):
      • HD4780
      • PSU:
      • 425W Modu82+ Enermax
      • Case:
      • Silverstone TJ08b
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell 23" IPS
      • Internet:
      • 1Gbps Fibre Line

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    Unless they were spies, you can safely assume it's for satellite TV.

    Check out freesat, sounds like what you want: http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?p...tallation.Main

  3. #3
    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Last Aerie
    Posts
    10,857
    Thanks
    645
    Thanked
    872 times in 736 posts
    • shaithis's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8Z77 WS
      • CPU:
      • i7 3770k @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 32GB HyperX 1866
      • Storage:
      • Lots!
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Fury X
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX850
      • Case:
      • Corsair 600T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2 x Dell 3007
      • Internet:
      • Zen 80Mb Fibre

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    You need to buy a Sky (or Sky+) box.

    www.freesatfromsky.co.uk

    They will sell you a "freesat" card for £20 that is basically a life subscription.

    The Sky+ functionality is £10 per month if you want it though (and you have a Sky+ box)
    Main PC: Asus Rampage IV Extreme / 3960X@4.5GHz / Antec H1200 Pro / 32GB DDR3-1866 Quad Channel / Sapphire Fury X / Areca 1680 / 850W EVGA SuperNOVA Gold 2 / Corsair 600T / 2x Dell 3007 / 4 x 250GB SSD + 2 x 80GB SSD / 4 x 1TB HDD (RAID 10) / Windows 10 Pro, Yosemite & Ubuntu
    HTPC: AsRock Z77 Pro 4 / 3770K@4.2GHz / 24GB / GTX 1080 / SST-LC20 / Antec TP-550 / Hisense 65k5510 4K TV / HTC Vive / 2 x 240GB SSD + 12TB HDD Space / Race Seat / Logitech G29 / Win 10 Pro
    HTPC2: Asus AM1I-A / 5150 / 4GB / Corsair Force 3 240GB / Silverstone SST-ML05B + ST30SF / Samsung UE60H6200 TV / Windows 10 Pro
    Spare/Loaner: Gigabyte EX58-UD5 / i950 / 12GB / HD7870 / Corsair 300R / Silverpower 700W modular
    NAS 1: HP N40L / 12GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Arrays || NAS 2: Dell PowerEdge T110 II / 24GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Hybrid arrays || Network:Buffalo WZR-1166DHP w/DD-WRT + HP ProCurve 1800-24G
    Laptop: Dell Precision 5510 Printer: HP CP1515n || Phone: Huawei P30 || Other: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Pro 10.1 CM14 / Playstation 4 + G29 + 2TB Hybrid drive

  4. #4
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    51
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    that sounds pretty good. Shame I just bought a digi box recently!

    Can i get any type of these freesat boxes? Or does it have to be sky Only?

    Cheers!

  5. #5
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    51
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    sorry to ask more.

    But do I get more channels with freesat than normal digi box? If I went for no subscription that is

  6. #6
    Anthropomorphic Personification shaithis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    The Last Aerie
    Posts
    10,857
    Thanks
    645
    Thanked
    872 times in 736 posts
    • shaithis's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P8Z77 WS
      • CPU:
      • i7 3770k @ 4.5GHz
      • Memory:
      • 32GB HyperX 1866
      • Storage:
      • Lots!
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Fury X
      • PSU:
      • Corsair HX850
      • Case:
      • Corsair 600T (White)
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 x64
      • Monitor(s):
      • 2 x Dell 3007
      • Internet:
      • Zen 80Mb Fibre

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    No, it doesn't have to be a Sky box....but a second-hand Sky box is very easy to pick up dirt cheap.

    There are probably extra channels over terrestrial freeview, although apart from the HD channels (BBC, C4, ITV - which need a HD sat box and TV) I couldn't name any.
    Main PC: Asus Rampage IV Extreme / 3960X@4.5GHz / Antec H1200 Pro / 32GB DDR3-1866 Quad Channel / Sapphire Fury X / Areca 1680 / 850W EVGA SuperNOVA Gold 2 / Corsair 600T / 2x Dell 3007 / 4 x 250GB SSD + 2 x 80GB SSD / 4 x 1TB HDD (RAID 10) / Windows 10 Pro, Yosemite & Ubuntu
    HTPC: AsRock Z77 Pro 4 / 3770K@4.2GHz / 24GB / GTX 1080 / SST-LC20 / Antec TP-550 / Hisense 65k5510 4K TV / HTC Vive / 2 x 240GB SSD + 12TB HDD Space / Race Seat / Logitech G29 / Win 10 Pro
    HTPC2: Asus AM1I-A / 5150 / 4GB / Corsair Force 3 240GB / Silverstone SST-ML05B + ST30SF / Samsung UE60H6200 TV / Windows 10 Pro
    Spare/Loaner: Gigabyte EX58-UD5 / i950 / 12GB / HD7870 / Corsair 300R / Silverpower 700W modular
    NAS 1: HP N40L / 12GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Arrays || NAS 2: Dell PowerEdge T110 II / 24GB ECC RAM / 2 x 3TB Hybrid arrays || Network:Buffalo WZR-1166DHP w/DD-WRT + HP ProCurve 1800-24G
    Laptop: Dell Precision 5510 Printer: HP CP1515n || Phone: Huawei P30 || Other: Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Pro 10.1 CM14 / Playstation 4 + G29 + 2TB Hybrid drive

  7. #7
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    51
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    that's great. thanks a lot for the help. I will see if I can get one cheap

  8. #8
    Overclocking Since 1988 nightkhaos's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Sydney, AU
    Posts
    1,415
    Thanks
    93
    Thanked
    127 times in 106 posts

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    Alternatively you could get one of these.
    Desktop (Cy): Intel Core i7 920 D0 @ 3.6GHz, Prolimatech Megahalems, Gigabyte X58-UD5, Patriot Viper DDR3 6GiB @ 1440MHz 7-7-7-20 2T, EVGA NVIDIA GTX 295 Co-Op, Asus Xonar D2X, Hauppauge WinTV Nova TD-500, 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB in RAID 0, 4x Samsung EcoDrive 1.5TB F2s in RAID 5, Corsair HX 750W PSU, Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos Sport (Custom), 4x Noctua P12s, 6x Noctua S12Bs, Sony Optiarc DVD+/-RW, Windows 7 Professional Edition, Dell 2408WFP, Mirai 22" HDTV

    MacBook Pro (Voyager): Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.6GHz, 4GiB DDR2 RAM, 200GB 7200RPM HDD, NVIDIA 8600GTM 512MB, SuperDrive, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, 15.4" Matte Display

    HTPC (Delta-Flyer): Intel Core 2 Q8200 @ 2.33GHz, Zotec GeForce 9300-ITX, 2GiB of DDR2 Corsair XMS2 RAM, KWorld PE355-2T, Samsung EcoDrive F2 1.5TB, In-Win BP655, Noctua NF-R8, LiteOn BluRay ROM Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, 42" Sony 1080p Television

    i7 (Bloomfield) Overclocking Guide

    Quote Originally Posted by Spock
    I am not our father.

  9. #9
    HEXUS.social member 99Flake's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    1,713
    Thanks
    30
    Thanked
    94 times in 60 posts

    Re: satellite dish on my roof?! What's it for?

    Look in your local paper/freecycle if you have that. People often give away standard Sky boxes when they upgrade to Sky+/SkyHD.

    As mentioned above you will need a freeview card for it to recieve Channel 4/5 and I think a couple of others, you should get the other channels without a card (or maybe that was with an old Sky viewing card).

    We did it at an old house and it was a cheap and easy way to get freeview with a good picture, plus sky boxes are generally far faster in the menus than freeview boxes.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. I wanna watch satellite TV on my PC
    By Cov in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 29-03-2009, 04:35 AM
  2. Replies: 9
    Last Post: 06-06-2008, 03:58 PM
  3. bear on the roof
    By DR in forum General Discussion
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 06-10-2005, 09:59 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •