duffer

So Astra 2F is now at 28.2E degrees.

http://www.ses.com/4233325/news/2012/13553882?name=news

The change over from Astra 1N to 2F will start tomorrow, Friday 23/11/2012. It has an expected lifespan of 15 years. After which time I presume everyone outside of Italy would be getting television fed directly from their superfast fibre-optic internet connection rather than a satellite dish.

Mr_Jackson

Cheers Duffer, am going to go on a scavenger mission over the next couple of weeks to see what I can pick up on the cheap, or even better stig of the dump style, what I wouls really like is a 180 dish with dual lnb. Lets wait and see what treasures I can uncover.

Isakat

Still waiting to loose all my UK channels.
OH thinks that it will happen in the next few days. I hope he is wrong.

duffer

The Astra 2F satellite is currently testing some data channels before the switch over starting this weekend.

Anyone with a non Sky decoder care to tune into this frequency and care to report back with the -

1. signal strength,
2. signal quality,
3. location and
4. dish size

please -

11.023 H, SR 23.000, FEC 2/3, DVB-S2 8PSK frequency

So far, things not looking good for Italy...

HADENOUGHPIZZA

Please don't shout at me .. We have Italian Sky but we also have a Wii console that runs Internet though the TV so if I set up a VPN could I watch UK Tv on our TV using that ?

duffer

Yes, not TV per se but catch up and/or on demand TV like iPlayer and Netflix. Not just a Wii but also Xbox360, Smart TVs and Bluray players, WD TV Live media player, etc.

Setup a VPN on a suitable router and connect any of the above devices directly to the router. You can also create a VPN directly on an iPad as well.

Isakat

So, it is happening. Channel 5 is gone this morning, so is 4HD and ITV1HD.
The others will probably follow.

duffer

Yes they have changed over those channels today according to the SES facebook page. Many more to follow, I am hoping that the Sky UK channels don't migrate to the UK beam but onto the Pan European beam otherwise that's the end! I can't really get a bigger dish...

duffer

I've checked this lunchtime and I still have all those channels available on my Sky UK decoder.

Isakat

Personally, I think if the SKY channels are moved as well, SKY UK will loose a lot of business from all expats in Europe, so maybe they would not do it?

duffer

The general consensus is that Sky UK will stay on an European beam because like you say, there are a lot of expats with subscriptions all over Europe but also because their signal is encrypted therefore they don't have the problem of UK rights issue and making sure nobody outside of the UK accesses the signal free of charge.

tinca

If Sky moves to the Pan European beam is this likely to mean an improved reception for the Sky channels. At present I can only very rarely pick up more than a handful of the movie channels and cannot get Sky Sports 4 and Sky Sports News. Would a move to the Pan Europoean mean that I will have a better chance of getting these channels?

duffer

Maybe but the Sky channels are still on Astra 2A and 2B which are already European beams, however these are not due to transfer over to the new satellite until around the middle of 2013. Being a newer satellite it could be possible the signal is improved but there is nothing concrete at all. The channels being moved are those originally from Astra 2D which has now stopped broadcasting (and temporarily moved to Astra 1N) and I don't believe any Sky channels were on that.

Changing to higher quality cables or changing the LNB could improve the reception. I'd wait before thinking about changing dish though.

tinca

Unfortunately my wires run through the walls in the house from the roof on the third floor to the ground floor. I don't know if it is possible to replace them that easily. I have recently upgraded my LNB and when I was in South Marche a couple of weeks ago was able to get ITV and Channel 5 which had previoulsy disappeared. I only have a 85cm dish so I will lose them again now that they are on Astra 2F.

Scratcher

I didn't want to start a new thread so I thought I would ask a quick question here. Will a TV bought in the UK with a built in digi box work in areas of Italy where they broadcast digital tv?

Scratcher