Satellite Tv In Thailand

[mackes]

Can anyone help me with an technical overview of satellite TV systems?

I am about to purchase a satellite TV system and red a lot but is still missing

the full picture. Please don't point to a reseller, I can find them myself but

I need a description to make the right decision with the dealer.

C-band, KU-band, antenna, LNB, major providers, set top boxes, decryption cards etc etc.

I found the Openbox interesting as it supports HD and Internet. Any limitations?

I understand that the program providers send from certain satellites with different technologies

and that I have to choose satellite from the offers of respectively provider on that satellite.

And that I can use double LNB:s on one dish or moving dish.

What I don't understand is how for example IPM is founding their business as there are no

monthly fees, advertising? If so, annoying much?

[mackes]

OK, as nobody seems to know or want to share the knowledge I do it myself. I found most of the information on the Internet and there might be some glitches as I did not verified everything. And I omitted the illegal parts as it is not allowed here. Please if you see something that is apparently wrong leave a reply.

This is intended as a guide to purchase satellite TV and not as an installation manual and do not cover Cable TV. If you choose to purchase equipment and install yourself here is a warning: This is not easy stuff! You need some technical skills but most of all a technical interest and a will to fix things on your own. There is not much help to get as there are a lot of more money and less trouble to make selling ready packets from different providers. But you will get configuration and troubleshooting help on more technical forum than this on the Internet, for example this.

There are about 170 satellites placed near the equator around the earth in what is called geostationary paths, i.e. fixed positions relative to earth. From my place (in Korat) I can reach about 50 of those in an angel over 30 degrees above the horizon. Under that is a risk for something being in the way or the satellite being to far away to recieve a good signal. But there are 81 satellites in total that is reachable over the horizon here. You will need free sight to the satellite to receive the signal so for example a balcony will limit reachable units a lot.

The satellites are in most cases run by telecom operators who offer channel space to different program providers that send their contents from earth to the satellite on an "uplink" and then spread the signal in different paths depending on the satellite configuration. So it might be that you can not receive a signal although the satellite is visible for you. The signal coverage is called "footprint" and can be found on this link for Asia satellites. Here you can also find a lot of information about satellites and program sent from a certain satellite encrypted or not and on what channel. Just choose from the menu on the previous page.

The program providers are financed in different way, either they get means by monthly subscription of channels or they finance the operation by sending commercials within the programs or both. In case of subscription the channels are encrypted and you will need a decryption card to see the program. If not encrypted its called FTA TV (Free to air) and you need no card. This link show FTA TV from Thailand. Most are sent from satellite Thaicom 5 but there are others. On this link you find a list of content from Thaisat 5, free TV marked with an F. This is only one of 50 satellites...

There are two different bandwidth used to sending information, the traditional so called C-band and a newer band called ku-band. The C-band reach longer but demands a larger antenna while you can receive the ku-band with a fairly small antenna like the orange one you can see from true vision. The different band also need different electronics to receive the signals.

So the first thing you will need is a parabol antenna, size dependent on what you want to receive and where you are situated (signal strenght). A larger one for C-band or in the outer range of the footprint. If you want to view programs from more than one satellite it can be handy with a motor on the parabola to automatically change position when you change channel. The second thing is a LNB (Low noise block downconverter) to convert the air signal to be sent in the cable to the box. You need at least two LNB (or a combined) to be able to receive both C- and ku bands. It is possible to place multiple LNB:s on the antenna. This is a part where I am not fully clear what is needed but you can read more on this link.

The last but most important thing is the box. You need support for the functions you need and the channels you want to see. You need a card slot if you want to buy subscription of pay TV and you need support for automatic antenna motor if that is your choice. I chooses Openbox S10 as it is "open" (Linux based) with free updates and have support for antenna motor, HD and Internet TV like Youtube etc. More and more content is sent over the Internet and I believe this support will be crucial in a near future and it could be nice to have it all in the same TV set.

The easy way is of course to buy a packet with antenna, installation and program from a provider like True Vision, This is fairly cheap to start with but relatively costly in the long run if you want english spoken pay TV. And it is clearly limited to the interests of the provider. For True you will pay appx 2 000 Baht for installation and 20 000 Baht per year. There are also cheaper alternative, look at the webpages of for example Thaivisa sponsor Jsat for information about alternatives.

I purchased a motorized 6 Inch antenna with two LNB and a Openbox S10 receiver and payed appx 9 000 Baht in total. I'm looking forward to watching 100:s of free channels in English (and other languages) of my choice (not the provider) as a reward for the work I am going to do. And it might be that I purchase a card for watching movies or equal. Not to forget the amusement to browse through all satellites and channels as a new hobby when things getting to boring in Isaan.

[kropotkin]

thank you for your very usefull post

[longball53098]

Good posting. Please report back to us when the system is up and running. I would be interested to know about the hundreds of English language channels and what the program content is?

[mackes]

As seen your avatar I suggest you take a look at this link on Free TV produced in United states, there are a lot and many sent from satellites reachable in Asia. Have to do some research on footprints.

But I will be back, will take a while as I'm going home for a month in may and will not be up and running before that.

[petedk]

Thanks for the information. I am considering setting up a satellite dish so your information comes in handy.

Thanks

[Boksida]

I purchased a motorized 6 Inch antenna

Freudian slip?

[mackes]

I purchased a motorized 6 Inch antenna

Freudian slip?

He he, maybe so? Should be 6 feet

[Jeffrey346]

I have the Openbox S12 and get all the channels including HBO (all). In addition I get all the HD channels. I paid 3200B for the box and I must say I never had a clearer picture.

The box has the ability to upscale all channels to 1080 as well

[astral]

I'm looking forward to watching 100:s of free channels in English (and other languages) of my choice (not the provider) as a reward for the work I am going to do. And it might be that I purchase a card for watching movies or equal. Not to forget the amusement to browse through all satellites and channels as a new hobby when things getting to boring in Isaan.

I too will be interested to see a list of these 100's of channels in English.........

Channel surfing can be a time consuming hobby, but these days I think you will find

that most of the English channels are encrypted and you will need a card(s) to watch them

especially if you are hoping for HD

Please note that options that do not need card are illegal and cannot be discussed here

PS where I live in the Middle East I have access to over 2000 channels from 3 satellites

but only some 20 or so of the programmes are in English and Free To Air. Asia is worse.

I pay around $100 (Bt4000) pa for the privilege to watch F1 racing in HD,

worth every penny!!

[mackes]

Ok, up and running in a test. With 3 satellites there are 700+ channels whereas appx. 50% is encrypted.

One thing I missed was that the recievers Diseq control of antenna motor can't handle large antennas

(36 volt) so I had to invest in a controller between receiver and motor. Cost 1 500 Baht.

The antenna moves smoothly and automatic when I switch channel in receiver to a channel from a different satellite.

With another 50+ satellites it will take a while before I can present a list. But it will come after the summer.

Edited April 6, 2012 by mackes

[mackes]

It took some time to get the antenna in position and trimmed but here we are now with an early report.

I receive channels from appx. 10 satellites on C-band without too much work and all of them has English channels, not all of interest though.

The surprise was China that sends a lot of free high quality channels in English and also some sport channels in HD. I would say for me it's definitive worth the investment and payed back in less then a year compared to pay TV. And I still have the possibility to order pay TV with a choice of many different providers and countries.

[TwentyBaht]

mackes,

Would like to compliment you. Your original post was about 4-1/2 months ago. And, during that short time you have managed to go from novice to moving dish. Well done.

Would offer that, as reflected in your second post, your original post requested a vast amount of information and expertise. And, no one answered.

So, welcome to satellite tv. There are talented members on the forum. And, now that you have gained expertise, you can probably expect to get more response to future posts.

And yes, there are a lot of free content surprises when scanning satellites. I'll mention "Lotus TV" and "CinemaWorld HD" in particular. And, as you say, Chinese content programming is quite good. Often having English subtitle now.

And, would like to finish by saying that your posting is a great example for others interested in satellite tv.

Cheers

[mackes]

Thanks for the encouraging post. Actually the largest challenge was to get the antenna up on the roof, 6 meter above ground as that's the only place I have with free sights from east to west.

[mackes]

Some more info after looking up satellites and scanning after free English speaking programs. There are some trimming to do related to LNB position but that is a later one.

I have reception from 14 satellites mostly on C-band but there are two on KU band ( Thaicom5 and ABS1)

This resulted in some 1500 TV programs and 500 radio channels appx half of them free.

The following 20 quality English spoken TV programs are found

France 24 - Asiasat 5

Euro News - Asiasat 5

ZBTV - Documentaries - Asiasat 5

Asia Pacific - Asiasat 5

Dubai Sports - Asiasat 5

IRIB3 - Asiasat 5

Press TV - Asiasat 5

Marine biz - Apstar 2R

MRTV - Thaicom 5 KU

CCTV News - Thaicom 5 KU

CCTV 9 document. - Chinasat 6B

CCTV HD. - Chinasat 6B

Al Jazeera - Intelsat 10

NHK World SD - Intelsat 10

NHK World HD - Intelsat 10

Fashion O India - Intelsat 10

Voice of America TV1 - Asiasat 3S

News X - Insat 2E

Travel Trendz - Insat 2E

Leader TV - Insat 2E

Lotus (Movie) - Asiasat 3S

There are other channels In different European languages like RaiItalia and France24.

I understand from otger members that the LNB trim will give even more free english channels.

[TwentyBaht]

mackes,

Thanks for the update.

[longball53098]

Last year I invested in a Openbox system that required an internet connection to receive the Truevisions TV channels. As we all know that whole system has changed. I now have this Openbox S10 sitting here doing nothing.

All of you gurus,,can I load a new software in to this Openbox to receive the Free Thai TV from the Thaicom 5 sat?

This would be a legal method of receiving FREE TV

Where do I get the software?

Thanks

[TwentyBaht]

The Openbox S10 on a small dish (ku band) aimed at Thaicom 5 (78.5E) will allow you to look at the free (F) channels on transponders 12272 through 12562;

http://www.lyngsat.com/Thaicom-5.html

If you are not seeing any one of these transponders, then a rescan will be required. The current software should be capable of this.

Cheers

[pdebuck456]

The "free" channels from True are still encrypted and require either a smartcard for "freeview" or a freeview True receiver.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to source such a card without buying a True receiver, best bet would be the many Thai satellite installers or True itself.

The channels which are truely free (fta) on Thaicom ku band are very few. I think only the dltv channels and TNN.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sandman77]

After a long time looking the old Dynasat move system my motor setup is allready finish now can receive all satellites from 66 east to 162 east!

Old Dynasat dishes has much better quality , then the new ones!

[schoolies]

If you fancy getting away frorm the problems of sat tv and fancy the problems of ISP TV...

Get XBMC (at xbmc.org) then a free film on account (at their site). Download add ons via xbmchub.com e.g. expattv (free) 1 channel (movies and TV shows) Watch through TV connected to PC/laptop/tablet [hdmi] and away you go.

It is a hassle, a bit, to set up first but worth it in the long run. Check XBMC videos on YouTube (high view count/ most recent) for set up help.

I have recently gone Wi-Net (good, fingers crossed, so far) 10Mb/s download 0.5 Mb/s upload consistent even in evenings (may drop to 7Mb/s). This allied with XBMC gives all UK TV channels (not sky) but you can usually get these (Sky / BT etc.) via an XBMC add on called Navi-X. I watched F! Grand Prix on Sky's F1 channel (SD but OK for Free).

If you like rugby you can get Setanta sportsplus for 500 bht a month.

[sitta]

Hi,

Could you please give us the list of equipments that you use?

Some more info after looking up satellites and scanning after free English speaking programs. There are some trimming to do related to LNB position but that is a later one.

I have reception from 14 satellites mostly on C-band but there are two on KU band ( Thaicom5 and ABS1)

This resulted in some 1500 TV programs and 500 radio channels appx half of them free.

The following 20 quality English spoken TV programs are found

France 24 - Asiasat 5
Euro News - Asiasat 5
ZBTV - Documentaries - Asiasat 5
Asia Pacific - Asiasat 5
Dubai Sports - Asiasat 5
IRIB3 - Asiasat 5
Press TV - Asiasat 5
Marine biz - Apstar 2R
MRTV - Thaicom 5 KU
CCTV News - Thaicom 5 KU
CCTV 9 document. - Chinasat 6B
CCTV HD. - Chinasat 6B
Al Jazeera - Intelsat 10
NHK World SD - Intelsat 10
NHK World HD - Intelsat 10
Fashion O India - Intelsat 10
Voice of America TV1 - Asiasat 3S
News X - Insat 2E
Travel Trendz - Insat 2E
Leader TV - Insat 2E
Lotus (Movie) - Asiasat 3S

There are other channels In different European languages like RaiItalia and France24.

I understand from otger members that the LNB trim will give even more free english channels.

Hi

[joncl]

Go to any PSI shop in Thailand and order a C Band move dish at set top box ..