Thai Satellite Tv For Mom And Pops?

[nattydread]

the g/f mums UHF tv antenna got fried by a lightning strike a couple of days ago,,...now my g/f wants to get them a satellite system to replace it,are there any free to air thai channels that dont need a subscription?......what would be the cost and any other info from anyone who has gone down this route would be most appreciated.......thanks

[ajahnlau]

Every local village has a sat. dealer. 3,500baht and no mo. fees

[noise]

Ajahnlau has the right idea. We got ours directly from UBC, though, not a middle man. You may have to add a little for installation of the satellite dish and running the cable, but from then one you have "free" satellite TV with something like 30+ channels.

[nattydread]

there seems to be 2 choices of dish.........a small yellow one or a 1.5 metre black one.............anybody know which one to go for and is there a difference in the number of channels they pick up.......thanks

[PoorSucker]

Bought the PSI for my house up north.

7000 baht, 200 free channels, all crap.

[noise]

there seems to be 2 choices of dish.........a small yellow one or a 1.5 metre black one.............anybody know which one to go for and is there a difference in the number of channels they pick up.......thanks

For specifics on number of channels and channel content, you have to ask the provider directly. I think all the providers have hundreds of channels, that the competition is pretty level in what they offer.

But for Thai in-laws that really only want to watch Thai TV, I would suggest asking True/UBC because that is what we use and what I know about. All the providers are probably the same, though.

For about 5,000 baht you can get the satellite dish (24" diameter or so) installed, cable run, and a receiver with smart card. As I said earlier, you will get 30+ channels at no monthly fee.

I do not watch TV so I have no complaints about what is available. My wife and friends are all happy with their choices. My in-laws only choose a program on 1 of about 5 different channels, but then they are old and too many choices are probably too daunting for them.

It is not the dish that determines what you pick up, it is determined by what the provider transmits and what your smart card is programmed to allow to pass unscrambled. You want to watch premium movie channels and the Disney channel, etc., where you are there? Then your cost will be higher. I do not know if you can buy the smart card for those channels; you might have to rent it monthly.

[Crossy]

We have a Samart box, cost about 3500 IIRC, gets the Thai channels from UBC without a card or subscription, bung in a UBC/True card for subscription channels.

As above, talk to your local sat dealer.

Moving to the technology forum.

[Pib]

there seems to be 2 choices of dish.........a small yellow one or a 1.5 metre black one.............anybody know which one to go for and is there a difference in the number of channels they pick up.......thanks

The small dishes that are approx 75cm in size operate in the KU Band frequency range (approx 12-13Ghz) and are subject to rain-fade (i.e., lose signal when raining). The larger dishes, usually black, of around 5 ft or larger operate in the C Band frequency range (approx 3-4Ghz) are a basically not subject to rain-fade (i.e. only the weakest signals may lose signals when raining).

Since the g/f's mom was on using a TV antenna before then she was just picking up the core Thai channels of Ch 3, 5, 7, 9, NBT, etc....probably no more than a dozen stations. If the mom's residence has the space for a C band antenna I would go with that as you will pickup around 180 unencrypted channels (ie., free to air), with about 110 of these being Thai channels...only a few English channels in the bunch like Russia Today, farang religious channels, etc., but the Thai mom probably could care less about about English channels....and no subscription required for the hundreds of free to air channels. If going with a KU band type dish like TrueVisions and "not" paying a monthly subscription, then the choice of channels will be very limited with no Ch 3, 5, 7, 9, etc. Even their subscription package called TrueLife FreeView ain't really free, although there is no contract requirement and you can pay approx 300-400 baht month by month...kinda like a prepay setup....with TrueLife FreeView you would get approx 50 channels. See the TrueVisions web site for more info/channels list: http://www.truevisio...kage.aspx?id=37. This page will also show you which channels are free to air/unencrypted and which ones are not fee/encrypted/require a subscription....look at the color code at the bottom of the page.

Assuming you are going to point the C band or KU band dish at ThaiCom5 (which the great majority of folks in Thailand have their dishes pointed at) see the following web page for a summary of the channels on C band and KU band. http://www.lyngsat.com/thai5.html

On the web page, C band is from Freq 3408 (3.408Ghz) to 4168; KU band is 12272 (12.272Ghz) to 12745. Any place where is list "feeds" there will be multiple channels in the feeds but you usually need some type of subscription to get these channels regardless of whether it's C band or KU band...you'll usually see the "feeds" reference in the KU band range.

Summary: for dear ol' mom and assuming she has room for a larger dish, a 5.5 to 6 ft dish with some OTA (Over the Air) update receivers which keep the channel frequencies updated would probably be the best, the cheapest to install, and the cheapest to maintain (what little mx/failures may occur over the years). While a 5 ft dish, or there are even some 4 ft dishes around, would also work it will probably not clearly pick up some of the weaker channels depending on where you are located in Thailand. But seems at least a 5.5 ft dish usually picks up these weaker signals ( I have a 5.5 dish and get approx 180 C band channels clear as a bell) and a 6 ft dish would give a little more signal strength reception for a safety margin...you won't need anything larger than a 6 ft dish unless you are going to point it a some other satellite other than Thaicom 5 where the satellite signal strength may be lower. I base my recommendation on my own experience with my C band system (5.5 ft dish), by KU band system (75cm dish), and two of my in-laws C-band systems (5 ft dishes)...all of which I have adjusted and/or installed...and know they are properly aligned....I'm in Bangkok and the in-laws are about 50Km outside Bangkok....both the in-laws (one of which is the wife's mom) have reception problems on about 8 channels (some of the less popular Thai or non-Thai channels) with their 5 ft dishes, where I have no reception problem with these same channels on my 5.5 dish. The price difference between a 5, 5.5, and 6 ft dish is not much. Good luck.

[citizen33]

Option 1 – FTA satellite (e.g. with PSI equipment)

(1a) C band (big dish). Many Thai channels on the Thaicom satellite 78.5E

(1b) Ku band. Similar line up of Thai channels on NSS 6 satellite 95.0E (but not the basic 3,5,7,9,11 channels).

Option 2 – Thai Freeview (DTV) Small Ku dish on Thaicom satellite

(2a) Buy equipment/card from True

http://www.truevisionstv.com/package.aspx?id=13

(2b) Use your own Irdeto 2 receiver http://tveasy.tarad.com/product.detail_641598_th_3017564#

Option 3 – IPM Thailand – an alternative provider to True. This deal involves buying a special receiver and two dishes (big C band and small ku band). You can receive all the Thai free to air channels on NSS6 and Thaicom, plus a small number of encrypted channels. There is a one-off payment and no monthly subscription.

I don’t want to discuss ‘naughty’ options which are geared mainly to packages with a lot of English language content.

Edited March 19, 2011 by citizen33

[Groongthep]

Just buy them another UHF antenna.

[Pib]

(1b) Ku band. Similar line up of Thai channels on NSS 6 satellite 95.0E (but not the basic 3,5,7,9,11 channels).

Believe it or not, the basic channels mentioned above are on NSS6...they are "usually" encrypted....but right now (or at least as of yesterday) they were not encrypted. They are on TP/Freq 11131Ghz, "V" polarity, along with a bunch of other Thai and farang (SW/SE Asia) channels.

Over the last week I've been doing NSS6 Blind/Auto scans on several receivers to get all the channels working again since the switchover from ThaiCom2 to ThaiCom5 about six months ago, an I've been getting above mentioned basic channels and way over 100 other channels on NSS6...almost like scanning C-band ThaiCom5....I was picking up more channels than is even listed on the current LyngSat webpage for NSS6 at http://www.lyngsat.com/nss6.html. Even through the LyngSat page says above basic channels are encrypted on NSS6, the channels have not be encrypted at least for the last week or so....don't know if they have been unencrypted much longer or it's just a short term thing or the LyngSat page just hasn't been updated yet.

From looking at Thai documentation regarding general instructions to have NSS6 capability, it seems when people decided to install a KU Band LNB on the C band dish specifically to also pick up some NSS6 channels that was when the only unencrypted channels you could get on NSS6 was on TP/Freq 11653 and 11676, both at "H" polarity. This usually resulted in people installing a single output LNB to get the H polarity channels on the two H polarity TP's. When I hung my KU bank LNB on my C band dish to get some NSS6 channels, I installed a two output LNB so I could set my receiver boxes to look at both V and H polarity channels on NSS6. It appears there are now many more unencrypted channels on NSS6 (and not even listed on the LyngSat page yet), but a person will need to install a two output KU band LNB along with the appropriate switch (22Khz or Multiswitch) in order to switch between H and V. Personally I have my LNBs running into a 4 input/6 output Multiswitch.

[Pib]

Just buy them another UHF antenna.

That would definitely be the fastest and cheapest, but maybe the OP kinda feels like I felt about six months ago while visiting my Thai wife's mom. Dear ol' mom has been using an outside antenna for many years to watch her half dozen of so channels and the reception wasn't that good for some of the channels. So, I decided I would buy and install a two receiver box C band system for her. Now, she has access to about 170 channels with her 5 ft dish, about 160 of the channels always come in clear, and she still just basically watches her half dozen or so channels although she may be up to watching 10 different channels now. But when family members come over to visit they can now watch channels dear ol' mom never knew existed and slowly dear ol' mom seems to start watching an additional, new channel ever few weeks....at this pace she'll be up to watching 20 channels by the end of the year. My wife is a lot happier too since dear ol' mom now has that C band dish status symbol mounted on her house and can watch a lot more channels.

Heck, dear ol' mom now even occasionally watches the Red Shirt channel (i.e., Asia Update) and some of the other channels broadcasting a lot of news and Parliament mud slinging contests...my gosh, she is becoming a little more informed on just how the Thai political process works (or don't work) since she rarely reads a newspaper.

[citizen33]

Any place where is list "feeds" there will be multiple channels in the feeds but you usually need some type of subscription to get these channels regardless of whether it's C band or KU band...you'll usually see the "feeds" reference in the KU band range.

Just to help those who want to learn satellite 'lingo', feeds are broadcasts that contain non-public content intended for re-broadcast on a commercial service. Thus it is common with a live outside broadcast of a football match for the company providing the coverage to beam a feed back to the studio by satellite, which will then be re-broadcast on one or more regular channels. Feeds can be very handy for fans who, for example, want their choice of FA Cup games in the UK. There are hobbyist websites - like 'feed hunters' - which will post details of satellite and frequency when somebody spots a desirable feed. Although some feeds are now encrypted, many are just broadcast in a non-standard video format known as MPEG 4:2:2 (the standard one is MPEG 2), which few ordinary receivers will be able to pick up. The cheapest way of getting such 4:2:2 feeds is via PC DVB cards like Skystar 2 which can decode 4:2:2. Feeds may be found on both C and Ku bands. Many cable operators receive content in this way, often encrypted in PowerVu. There will be no subscriptions for feeds, although I have heard rumours of instances (not PowerVu) where there are cards in circulation.

People should not get feeds confused with the packages noted on Lyngsat, which contain many channels on a given transponder that aren't listed in full on say the Asia frequencies page. You would need to visit the Asia packages page to see what channels are available with these.

Edited March 20, 2011 by citizen33

[rotary]

Any option than messing with Truevision is good. Ha ha

[stoneyboy]

Any option than messing with Truevision is good. Ha ha

Are you having a True Visions moment.

Come on let it all out,get it off your chest,normal service will resume shortly.

[Gary A]

We had True Vision and when my wife asked me why we were paying for something that I didn't use, I told her to have it taken out. She then bought an IPM system for less than 1,500 baht including installation. There is no monthly fee and she is happy with the channel selections. It has been totally trouble free and it even has a few English speaking stations but they don't amount to much.

[Crossy]

We got a TrueLife+ box yesterday so Wifey can watch the free to air programs after our previous non-True (ok hookey) box began receiving fewer and fewer channels.

1380 Baht (just the box, it's about 3k with a dish and installation), including a simple co-ax splitter. Works like a charm so I am again in her good books

[jaiyenyen]

I have two, non-True (See above) boxes in my home. a couple of weeks ago we had a message across the screen saying that True signals will be upgraded to HD in early April. Two days ago we lost all our signals. Can't pick up anything. Oh well, it worked for five years, so I suppose we got our monies worth. Back to the drawing board.

[jcw]

1. PSI is about 3000- 3500 for instilation, the box, the dish.
   
2. No subscription, 200 crap channels incl free to air.
   

[nattydread]

1. PSI is about 3000- 3500 for instilation, the box, the dish.
   
2. No subscription, 200 crap channels incl free to air.
   

thats the one we got for them