Red7
Hello.
I've been wanting to ditch the cable guy for some time since the quality of channels really suck.
Since we're nearly in 2018, access to TV must have improved even in this shithole we call home.
What are my best options if I want News, Lebanese, French and a handful of other channels in HD.
I have a 50GB 4MBps plan and not much experience in setting up satellite hardware.
The setting should not require regular maintenance since it's a waste of time.
Thanks.
xazbrat
You have a few options:
1. Get a satellite receiver with subscription from somewhere and get dish pointed at Hotbird. Your internet usage might me 10 meg per month. Pros: lots of HD stations in all languages (mainly Polish, Italian, and some French). Have stuff like HBO, AXN, Comedy and Scyfy channel as well as others. Cons: when it rains or the weather is bad, you don't get TV (I guess that applies everywhere though) and no internet, no scrambled channels.
2. Subscribe to one of the local services---cablevision or econet. CV will have the OSN and Bein channels and they do look good in HD. CV costs around $300 per year with everything, so costs about $25 per month. Econets prices are a little cheaper but they have packages which allow you up to 4 receivers for another $3 per month each. Problem is that Econet broadcasts in 720p so picture not as good as CV and it broadcasts OSN channels also, but not Bein.
3. Subscribe to Bein or OSN directly--the latter is expensive, but Bein has more reasonable packages $20-$25 per month with sports and some movies and other channels.
Anyhow, whatever choice you pick, get someone to install the dish and the wiring and just worry about watching your new TV.
Red7
Thanks for the reply.
I don't watch BeIn or OSN so that's ok.
Does the first option use a lot of data (GBs) and is it reliant on the internet speed (streaming) ?
I remember reading a topic here about the full process/installation but couldn't find it.
Can the antenna be installed in a room or balcony as well (pretty high building) ?
According to our cable guy our cables might be too old, not sure if its' true and if it is, if a new installation will include this.
I sent a mail to Econet a while back and they didn't answer.
xazbrat
The first option only relies on internet usage to unscramble the channels--you watch the channels on your receiver. Like I said, internet usage is minimal and I have used my phone before as a stopgap when my internet decides to misbehave. You are going to need or want a bigger dish--120 cm's at a minimum to get more of all of the stations, so putting it on a balcony probably wouldn't be a good option. That option is more suitable to getting the local channels or pointing it at nilesat or arabsat. And if you get someone to install a dish, consider getting buying and installing another small dish at the same time pointing at CV. The reason for this is that you can get the local channels as they are unscrambled on their end (since you like news). If you do it at the same time, it won't cost you much extra except for the dish itself and the equipment used to set it up. You will then need to get a diseqc too which helps your receiver read from multiple dishes, and the costs associated with that shouldn't be more than an extra $30/$40 at most for the extra dish.