Satellite Programming for Free? 39
Frank Winstead asks: "I stumbled upon some "Free to air" (FTA) satellite television references on the web, mostly selling equipment. There seems to be a lot of non-English programming available subscription-Free on the Ku band. The English programming seems to be a mix of religious shows, network feeds, and unexplained content from American over-the-air TV stations. Is it worth a one time ~$200 investment for equipment? Is the authoritative info on FTA?"
Why not? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I'd love... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'd love... (Score:1)
If nothing else (Score:3, Funny)
AHH SHHADDUPP! (Score:2, Funny)
Lots of stuff in FTA satellite feeds (Score:4, Interesting)
There are all sorts of tv shows that you can pick up, such as:
- news feeds
- live feeds
- tv show feeds (for example, you can watch the episodes of "24" at least a couple of days before they are shown on the regular chanels)
There are plenty of websites that give frequencies, polarizations and longitude for the various satellites out there. I won't provide any, but they are a mere google search away.
As for equipment, $200 sounds about right for a good setup. Check eBay, you can find good deals there too.
There was a session at last year's (2003) defcon about FTA satellite tv.
Hope this info helps
Re:Lots of stuff in FTA satellite feeds (Score:4, Informative)
- news feeds
These are the best if you're bored, because the newspeople go live on the satellite many minutes before they go live on the network, to make sure the link is good. The correspondents and crew say some pretty funny and embarassing stuff when they think noone is watching them.
So, if seeing your favorite political corresponant talk about how "this town is so fucking boring" when they're covering caucuses in Iowa strikes you as funny, get a BUD.
Oh, and most people are giving them away, so don't pay $200, take it down for free for somebody who got DSS.
Re:Lots of stuff in FTA satellite feeds (Score:2)
Using the 1992 presidential election as his springboard, documentary filmmaker Brian Springer captures the behind-the-scenes maneuverings of politicians and newscasters in the early 1990s. Pat Robertson banters about "homos," Al Gore learns how to avoid abortion questions, George Bush talks to Larry King about halcyon -- all presuming they're off camera. Composed of 100% unauthorized satellite footage, Spin is a surre
Free-to-Air listing (Score:5, Informative)
Lyngsat (Score:5, Informative)
Need a good reason? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:2, Informative)
Actually, 1m and smaller (Score:2, Interesting)
A few restrictions for historic buildings, safety concerns, etc.
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:1)
Think of a better reason. (Score:3, Interesting)
Second, there's the "loser has to pay costs" thing. Slashdotters keep bringing this up like it's some kind of holy w
Re:Think of a better reason. (Score:1)
But you're right, I've no interest in fighting them.
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:1)
My HOA isn't as bad as many out there. But it has been enough that when I move, I'm moving somewhere without such silliness. I lobbied my parents for over a year when they were contemplating a move to avoid these things like the plague. I won the day when I pointed out that they can control what sort of plantings you have in your yard. And then said that according to most covenants, if you don't rip out your contraband flowers
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:2)
Also, I was unaware that calling something silly was being a dickwad. The general consensus among people whose sole preoccupation is [b]not[/b] the value of their property and keepi
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:2)
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:2)
My wife and bought a house in a HOA, but at the signing there was no copy of the bylaws to even read through, let alone sign. It was months after we moved in that the HOA dredged up an old copy of the bylaws, and only then because of the annual change in the committee and my wife took on some secretarial duties. We
Re:Need a good reason? (Score:1)
Why not (Score:1)
Re:Why not (Score:2)
Sometimes you can find some of that stuff on cable too. Occasionally my local cable company had a channel not listed in their lineup that would have rough versions of future ads on it. Another time they had the full pilot episode of Viper without any ads weeks before it first aired on television.
SatCoDX (Score:3, Informative)
I don't want to freak out my neighbors (Score:2)
Re:I don't want to freak out my neighbors (Score:3, Informative)
The times, they are a-changin' (Score:5, Interesting)
First, my credentials: I worked in satellite transmission about 19 years ago and had a pretty good handle on what was what back then. I currently work for a national television network out of NYC. I know what has changed and what will be happening in the next few years.
On all satellites in Clarke orbits (Geostationary, first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke yes that one) the transponders are simple "Repeat what you just received" gizmoes. On the older ones, they'll continue to send back FTA stuff as they receive it but there is a movement afoot to cheapen the use of satellites by digitizing signals and using the bandwidth better by compression. This started happening first with C band satellites because C band is so expensive. C band also is less prone to rain fade and atmospheric problems.
Presently, the K band is on the chopping block (as in let's chop this one transponder by digitally-encoding several signals into the space of one) and you will notice, as time goes by, that a lot more transponders will "become encoded." This is not all about preventing you, dear reader, from getting the signals. It is being done for cost reasons alone.
At the network level, it is believed that the viewer cannot see the difference between the compressed and uncompressed signals and the non-compressed signals. While this may become a factor with the adoption of HDTV by the consumer, the network executives just don't care that much about quality these days. The assumption is that the viewer will tune in regardless.
So look for a steady decrease in the number of signals your big dish can pick up as time goes on.
Re:The times, they are a-changin' (Score:2)
Why can't you just decode the compressed signal? (Score:2)
Re:Why can't you just decode the compressed signal (Score:1)
I suppose one could say that compression is a type of encryption if you do not know how the signal was compressed. For example, Sony's Digi-Betacam uses DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) to compress the signal as it goes down on tape. But they also make a machine that uses MPEG, another that uses M-JPEG and I think there is another format in there as well.
You'd wind up having to try out one decoder after another to figure out how the signal was compressed. That hardly winds up being cheap just to view FTA s
Set one of these up a week or two ago (Score:1)
My neighbor is from Iran, I live in the United States.
He brought his wife here about 3 years ago, and he thought it would be a cool gift for her.
He can watch soccer games, news, and she can watch soap operas and many of the Arabic 'MTV' channels. It looks like any other Dish/DirectTV setup.
He bought it for $250 with some accessories at the Arab market in Dearborn. We set it up outside, ran a new cable to his TV, turned on the reciever...
Free to Air porn (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting that this is in Europe and Asia, but not the US. Mmm hmm.