USBound

Right.. I spoke to people in the know in the UK and apparently there are backups and bounce satelites that broadcast the Astra(1B & 1D) signal... the problem is that you need some rather advanced hardware to pick up the signal. We are talking a 2Meter dish with some serious black boxes backing it up including the ability to track the signal and decode the sky transmission. Apparently its something to do with live broadcasts??
Apparently the coding is so complex that it takes something along the lines of a dual 2Ghz machine to be able to handle both the decode of the transmission and the decode of the video format (akin to but not actually MPEG)... and this is with the correct decode key

so... the answer is

yes - sky does reach the US.. but no your receiver will not be of any use.

sorry.


I've not been to the site... but try
lyngsat for more info on what is available to US receivers.

madscientist

I don't think you'll have much luck in Texas, but I can tell you that you can get BBC America in some markets in Texas. I had digital cable in Austin and BBC America was part of the basic package. There was also an obscure drama channel (can't remember the name) that showed some British dramas. I remember clearly that it showed Coronation Street.

sibsie

BBC America no longer shows any of the British soaps. The scheduling is total crap.

madscientist

I never watched it myself. :-)

Muswell Hill

Consider yourself lucky. It is complete and utter shit. They only show changing rooms, gardenforce and the other DIY shows. No sport and only butched news programs from BBC world 2 or 3 times a day.
It is the worst channel on the TV, not including the relgious crap.

ScotsmanInTexas

Which brings us nicely to BBC America. Awful isn't it? I thought I had escaped the god-awful Trinny and Susanah but no there they are twice a day, sometimes three times a day because they pop-up on yet another channel too. Annoying also to watch episodes of Bargain Hunt from two years ago still with the previous bloke. I won't even mention god-awful Monty Python's which is never off that channel, but really was this ever funny? If they showed it on the BBC back in the UK right now the Director General would be stoned to death (probably). BBC America is in short a complete joke - the only decent show they have shown to date is Father Ted and let's face it that's from Channel 4 not the BBC! I've even started to watch Jonathon Creek (out of boredom) and I hated that contrived x-files clone back in the UK.

You will find that many of the channels here on cable are the same channels as back home, Sci-Fi, FX, Hallmark, Comedy etc. You will find a lot of Sky Sports programmes on the Fox channels, but even on channels with the same name the programmes are not in the same order. For instance I like Futurama, The Simpsons and King of the Hill back in the UK and on Sky 1 I can see them all, but on the channels here they put them all on at the same time which annoys the heck out of me! There is also the curious fact that they often show selected English/Scottish football matches in their entirety on say the Monday after the game - not just the highlights. The best evening news is the ITN news on channel 103 since it is the very same news as was broadcast in the UK earlier, BBC 'International News' on the other hand just doesn't do it for me. So even if your dish worked - which it won't, it would be pointless bringing it with you.

By the way, yes the dishes in the UK are much smaller now. Sky Digital dishes are tiny when compared with the old Sky Astra dishes. The reason the bigger dishes used to be required in Northern Britain is because the Astra satelite downlink thingmy was right above London. It doesn't seem to matter now though on the later digital system, same dishes everywhere. Although the current Sky Digital dishes do not pick up the German and other Euro channels as the old ones used to.

Pimpbot

They are all on FOX, so I guess you're watching syndicated older shows for them to clash.

ScotsmanInTexas

Hmmm OK, perhaps you are right and that is probably the reason. I don't quite understand how it all works or how it varies from place to place or package to package. I've got my TV Guide here now let's see... Well on KRIV here in Houston they show King of the Hill and the Simpsons one after the other from 6pm onwards, but Futurama is only found on the Toon channel at 10 pm and that conflicts with the other programmes some evenings.

Manc

http://67.15.12.206/forum/showthread...06#post1432906


well least USA is nearer and in the right hemisphere........

rincewind

Is this the same guy that wanted to bring his BT phone???

Ray

LOL... I remember that...

Lesley1020

ROFLMAO. Makes me think of how dumb I was when I packed my BT phone seriously thinking I could plug it in here and it would work.

nathan barley

It's probably already been said, but you have no hope of receiving Sky broadcasts. The Astra satellites, which Sky broadcasts on, have a tiny footprint which barely covers western Europe, let alone encompasses the Atlantic and gulf coast.

Get DirectTV and Tivo, never look back.

Edit: On an off note, I do miss my Eutelsat D2MAC decoder and the endless stream of 7pm uber-hardcore Swedish porn it provided me with not to mention uncut broadcasts of many quality hollywood movies, (some of which were banned in the UK at the time, eg: Clockwork Orange, Scum)