Free to air and ftv guidelines for the newbie?

[yoda313]

I was surfing last night and bumped into satellite on the internet stuff. I had seen it before but didn't pay much attention to it.

Now I read up a little bit about free to air and free to view. Is there anything worthwhile to get from these sources? Also are there any "free" sources online to stream this content? The one I saw online was a one time fee pay service.

Are any of these shady sites? How do you determine legit from illegit?

Also are any of these online sites "live" or are they on-demand stuff?

Links and any for dummy guides would be appreciated.

If all online sources for fta and ftv are pay models what are the cheapest and what are non subscription one time services?

Thanks for the info.

[yoda313]

bump

so any advice on this?

Is it all a scam for online services that claim free-to-air and free-to-view video?

[filmboss80]

AFAIK, these "satellite tv" websites are just hubs that link to free sites you could probably find on your own. They basically charge you money to download their players and links--which is not necessarily a bad thing, since a lot of footwork is done for you. However, don't expect the same programming channels as you would get on cable or the DISH/DirectTV route. There are lots of foreign channels, and such, but you're not going to catch NFL games that are blacked out in your TV area. Also the kind of TV shows and movies available on these things can also be found on sites like Hulu and Veoh.

Not for me. I think they promise a lot more than they actually deliver.

[the_man_one]

what a wanna know? u in north america? if so ciel1 has history channel & biography, 81 has tuff tv & retro tv network, 97 has a variety of foreign (hispanic?) plenty of tv if u wanna try it out

[the_man_one]

oh btw, sports are the best in FTA, they are called wild feeds, u get more sports & no commercials... also most of the series (network) are passed over feeds with no commercials... lots of stuff up there

[edDV]

Reminds me of the old shortwave DX'ing.

Beware the internet integrators that bate you into a scam or spyware download.

The internet (or unencrypted sat) has many foreign relay feeds. Great if you want to catch local news in local language.

If you are into this, seek international DX forums for serious help.

[yoda313]

Thanks everyone. @ The Man One - yes southern Michigan.

@eddv - what is DX? Never heard of it.

So is there a recommended hub I should start with? I do like Hulu especially now that the hulu desktop is so slick and works with my mce remote.

[the_man_one]

http://www.sadoun.net/forums/ ... http://www.satelliteguys.us/ 2 real good sites... when looking for legit FTA look for true FTA... anything else is illegal... lyngsat is a good place to check out the programming... if u wanna know specifics feel free to pm me.. basically if u get a reciever, a motor, a dish & linear lnb u got it made.... for free u cant beat it

[edDV]

Shortware DX was a hobby where users would search and share frequencies and time slots for obscure radio broadcasts.

Satelite DX is a similar hobby. The issue here is finding unencrypted transponder channels.

Internet DX attempts to catalog internet broadcasts.

[yoda313]

@the man one - thanks. i don't have a dish however so this would be online only.

I'll check out the sites and see what I can do.

@eddv - Thanks for the clarification. Did dx stand for anything?

[edDV]

@eddv - Thanks for the clarification. Did dx stand for anything?

Many older AM plus most shortwave radios have a sensitivity switch, usually with selections for "Local" and "DX". "DX" was an acronym for distant station.

[yoda313]

Ok. That makes sense. Thanks.

[the_man_one]

a dish is simple to get & for the most part free also.... check ur area for old prime star dishes... any of their lnb's will work, look for their almost round (40"x43") dish.... or the 36"dishes on closed gas stations, fta needs a 36" or bigger dish... the fed gov't allows any dish 36" dish or smaller to be placed (as many as u wish also) without any flack from neighbors (housing agreements/ restrictions)

[edDV]

a dish is simple to get & for the most part free also.... check ur area for old prime star dishes... any of their lnb's will work, look for their almost round (40"x43") dish.... or the 36"dishes on closed gas stations, fta needs a 36" or bigger dish... the fed gov't allows any dish 36" dish or smaller to be placed (as many as u wish also) without any flack from neighbors (housing agreements/ restrictions)

Do you have some good starter links targeted to North America?

[the_man_one]

posted 2 earlier, i can also answer questions if needed... its a great hobby to pick up & relatively cheep as hobbies go... the single biggest cost is the reciever & now a days it goes for between 50 to 250 bucks for a sd reciever, 250 & up for a hd version... having a motor helps too ive seen them go from 70 to 150, it pays to shop around when buying equipment

[the_man_one]

http://www.mxmart.com/shop/?___store=m1 good place to shop too