Astra 19.2 channels on a Digibox

[Chris Coulson]

I am getting Sky Digital fitted next month, and I'm keeping both dishes
installed- Astra 1 and Astra 2. Is it possible to receive digital Astra 1
channels such as free to air German, French and Spanish channels by removing
the dish connection cable from the back of the Digibox for Astra 2 and
replacing it with the one for Astra 1E - G? Are the connectors the same so
it should be a simple swap the cables job?

Thanks in advance

Chris

[Keith Mitchell]

Chris Coulson wrote:
>
> I am getting Sky Digital fitted next month, and I'm keeping both dishes
> installed- Astra 1 and Astra 2. Is it possible to receive digital Astra 1
> channels such as free to air German, French and Spanish channels by removing
> the dish connection cable from the back of the Digibox for Astra 2 and
> replacing it with the one for Astra 1E - G?

In principle, yes (but see below).

> Are the connectors the same so
> it should be a simple swap the cables job?

The connectors are the same, but you will probably need to upgrade your
Astra1 LNB to
a Universal one, so it can pick up the higher frequency transponders
that carry the
digital signals on Astra1.

I have done this using a dish with 3 LNB locations on it, pointing at:
13E Hot Bird
19.2E Astra1
28.8E Astra2
with a pair of DisEqC switches via two downleads (rather than a pair of
hands !)
to select between the positions.

However, my Pace Digibox could only receive the "Astra Info" channel
from 19.2E, and one RAI
Italian multiplex from 13E. And was very temperamental doing so. I am
not sure why this is, but
presume it is some (probably deliberate) failure of the Digibox to
comply with DVB standards :-(

Since the last upgrade, I have been unable to get anything on-Astra2,
but if you go into the
installer menu, and select "New installation", then you get a choice:

1 Astra Installation
2 Other Installation

but selecting "2" does nothing. Can anyone cast any light on this ?

Keith Mitchell
www.linx.net/contact/keith/

[Fernando Porta]

What if after the installation on Astra the dish (not a motorized one) is
left on Eutelsat 13 east. I am assuming that the installation only included
the terrestrial channels and so no subscription was paid to Sky.

If this worked one could still pay only £ 100
and get at least 50 extra channels on the Digibox (thus reaching that
maximum allowed by the software itself of the machine).

Has anyone tried this?
Does the "freezing" happen on returning on the Astra satellite or by turning
it on the first time after "other" channels were downloaded?

maybe soemeone should experiment and let us know the precise results.
Still a digital receiver for just £ 100 would be worth using it!

Ferdy