Do you still watch cable or digital TV? Perhaps you are quite satisfied with the quality of such TV content or have you not heard of alternative methods? For example, what do you know about satellite television? After all, “satellite TV” is an abyss and a treasure trove of television channels, the number and quality of which cannot be matched by any cable or digital television operator!
In this article I will show you how to watch high-quality TV content from satellite without buying expensive equipment or overpaying. In particular, this article will be very useful for the Ukrainian consumer of TV content, because at the beginning of 2021, Ukrainian media groups are encrypting their channels.
Media Group Ukraine (TRK Ukraine, NLO TV, Indigo, Aesculapius TV), 1+1 Media (1+1, 2+2, TET, UNIAN, PlusPlus Bigudi), StarLightMedia (STB, New Channel, ICTV, M1, M2, KuyTB ), Inter Media Group (Inter, NTN, K1, K2, Mega, Pixel, Zoom, Enter-film) will encode their TV channels on satellites in mid-January 2021. Terrestrial television will remain freely available (in most cases, these are 32 TV channels), the rest will be offered paid satellite subscriptions (Viasat Ukraine or Xtra TV), cable TV, IPTV, OTT and other paid options.
At the same time, thousands and tens of thousands of satellites fly in space, supporting communication communications on Earth, including broadcasting television and radio signals over vast territories, both in the public domain and in encrypted form: for subscribers of satellite operators and even for operators cable or digital TV (terrestrial).
Let's try to connect to one of them in order to watch good TV channels in good quality and not overpay satellite or cable operators at exorbitant prices.
Let's connect to Eutelsat 36 degrees
High-quality TV content can be caught from the Eutelsat 36.0°E satellite. It broadcasts from such large satellite operators as NTV+ and Tricolor. Eutelsat 36 - hundreds of Russian-language thematic TV channels in HD quality! The satellite itself belongs to the French satellite operator Eutelsat; its signal covers the territory of Russia, the CIS and even Africa. Eutelsat 36.0°E is perhaps the most interesting satellite in orbit! We'll set it up!
Equipment
To receive a satellite signal, we will need standard equipment for such purposes, but nevertheless, pay attention to the details.
1) In Russia and Ukraine, the signal from Eutelsat 36.0°E is quite good, you can catch it even on small dishes, so that there are no quality issues, we take the most standard satellite dish with a diameter of 85 cm.
2) The amount of coaxial cable you need for the antenna for outdoor installation.
3) 2 pieces of F6 connector to connect the head to the receiver (if you are using a DiseqC switch - connect to another antenna, then take 4 pieces of F6)
4) 1 head (converter), but always circular polarization. Ask the seller for a “ Circular Polarization Converter ” - there should be the designation “ CIRCULAR ” on the packaging or labeling. This is not the head that goes on Hotbird, Amos or Astra!
Circular polarization converter (note the presence of
CIRCULAR on the package)
5) Satellite receiver (tuner), preferably from new models. Please note: it must have Internet support (possibly via Wi-Fi or LAN cable) and HD support!
Cheap Chinese receivers with HD support support card sharing perfectly
6) Card sharing operator - a cheap way to watch satellite TV over the Internet. The service distributes keys to open encrypted TV channels. You don’t need a powerful Internet or a lot of traffic—even if you watch TV intensively, you won’t use up a few megabytes per month (you can safely use mobile Internet)! Card sharing services are paid, but considering that the cost starts from $0.5 per month, it is difficult to call it a paid service.
Antenna setup
Setting up a dish on Eutelsat 36.0°E is almost no different from setting up on any other satellite. We assemble the antenna, attach it to a reliable support, connect it to the receiver or use a special device - a device for tuning satellite dishes (I use Openbox SF-5 ), which will allow us not to carry the TV with us!
A device for setting up satellite dishes (helps you quickly find a signal from a satellite without using a TV)
In the receiver settings, in the antenna settings, we look for the Eutelsat 36.0°E (in my receiver its full name is Eutelsat A/B (36E), the name is not so important, what is important is that the satellite is at 36 degrees). It is important not to get involved in any settings of the satellite (if it is already in your receiver), by default it contains all the necessary settings. If such a satellite is not in the list of satellites, you need to reflash the receiver (upload a dump into it) with a list of NTV+ and/or Tricolor (depending on what you are going to watch) . This will be much more productive than you yourself will configure the satellite parameters and search for TV channels on them.
Which is better: NTV+ or Tricolor? Some channels are duplicated in packages, but given the low cost of access (access to packages is paid separately), you can connect both packages, they are all on the same satellite. When faced with a strict choice (one of two), I would still advise choosing NTV+.
Eutelsat 36.0°E satellite settings in the receiver
If your receiver firmware already has a list of NTV+ and/or Tricolor TV channels, we find some open TV channel (in the search you can find open NTV+ and/or Tricolor TV channels ), as a rule, these are informational advertising TV channels. If there is no list of TV channels, we create a transponder with a frequency of “11977”, flow rate “27500”, polarization vertical or circular right.
So:
- Installed the antenna on the pipe/mount;
- Connect the head/converter to the receiver;
- In the receiver settings, we switched to the Eutelsat 36 satellite - to some open information channel;
- We begin searching for a signal by rotating the satellite dish to the maximum signal level and quality;
Finding directions
Finding a signal can take you from several minutes to several hours, depending on what experience you have and whether you know the direction to the desired satellite. You can find out the direction using a compass, GPS navigator, and even easier if you do this by focusing on nearby dishes tuned to other satellites.
- Satellite Antenna Alignment computer program useful ; it will calculate the azimuth and elevation required to install and configure a satellite dish at your geographic receiving point. You enter your geographic coordinates of the installation site into the program, and the program displays the calculated azimuth and elevation angles (elevation angle) of the antenna.
The Satellite Antenna Alignment program can accurately calculate the direction of searching for a signal from satellites
- If there are other satellite dishes nearby, then using them as a guide you can quickly find the direction to Eutelsat 36.0°E, especially if you are far from azimuths, GPS and compass. So, relative to the traditional trio: Hotbird, Amos, Astra, the beam of the Eutelsat satellite will be a little to the left.
Eutelsat relative to the traditional trio: Hotbird, Amos, Astra
It is worth recalling that in Russia and Ukraine the signal from the Eutelsat 36 satellite is of fairly decent quality, if you use a dish in the range of 80-90 cm, even taking into account weather conditions, this will be enough over and above.
Having caught a signal from the Eutelsat 36 satellite, we fix the antenna, achieving maximum quality of at least 80-90% on some open information channel. Now that all the ordeals with the antenna are over, we can move on to the software stuffing.
Some information about the Tricolor-TB satellite
The first thing you need to know before purchasing a digital television broadcasting starter kit is what satellite Tricolor TV has, its frequency and the ability to receive a signal in this region. No matter how extensive the operator's coverage, some regions remain uncovered.
The provider's signal is transmitted from three stations. Names of Tricolor satellites:
- Eutelsat-36C. Equipped with 70 transponders and 5 high-power beams. The latter are capable of retargeting.
- Eutelsat-36B. Equipped with 27 transponders operating in a fixed beam area.
- Express-AT1. The satellite has 70 transponders and 5 powerful directional beams.
Which satellite to tune Tricolor to depends on the region of the Russian Federation. The first two stations broadcast a television signal to the European part of the country. Settlements of the Urals and Siberia, as well as the territory of the Far East, fall under the coverage of the domestic Express-AT1.
Some users think that satellites receive television signals from somewhere in space. But satellites only scatter radio waves received from a ground-based television tower. The digital signal format allows you to transmit high quality images and sound.
Receiving equipment on Earth is divided into two types:
- Offset TV antennas. Such devices are now number one in popularity among city residents. The design of the plate allows it to be installed both on the roof and on the wall of the house, and the installed converter is not blocked by holders.
- Direct focus. The converter on such devices is located in the center using special mounts. Such devices are quite bulky and heavy, so they are used in private homes where there are no problems with placement.
Satellite signal cardsharing
99% of TV channels in NTV+ and/or Tricolor packages will be encrypted (black blank screen when trying to watch)! Cardsharing , a service for accessing paid satellite TV channels, will help you decode TV channels
We are looking on the Internet for a card sharing service that has the NTV+ and/or Tricolor package we are interested in. We register and top up the balance for the required number of months of viewing. As a result, the service will provide access of the following type: URL, port, login, password, etc. These settings must be entered into your receiver in the appropriate menu item. It is worth noting that almost all modern satellite receivers support cardsharing; no special knowledge is required to connect to cardsharing!
If you have questions of a technical nature, you can request a cardsharing test; as a rule, it is given for a day, this is quite enough to eliminate all kinds of technical issues.
Cardsharing settings in Chinese Sat-Integral receivers
By establishing a connection with the cardsharing service (the receiver must be connected to the Internet, not necessarily strong, but stable), you can watch hundreds of high-quality (in HD format) thematic TV channels, including sports, movie premieres, adult themes, etc.
If you are a connoisseur of not only a widescreen TV signal, but also sound, there is a reason to attach 5.1 format acoustics (connect to the TV via an optical or coaxial audio output). Watching movies or listening to music through such an audio system is a pleasure!
Acoustics 5.1 for TV
Program for determining the direction of the Tricolor satellite
Professional satellite equipment installers use a special precision tuning tool called SatFinder. The service is available in several modifications.
Mechanical version
Mechanical device. To use it, you will need a coaxial cable about 18-20 cm long with connectors at the ends.
The usage algorithm is as follows:
- Disconnect the wire leading to the receiver from the converter and switch it to the TO REC socket.
- Connect a short cable to the vacant connector and connect it to the SatFinder.
- Turn on the device, wait until it boots up, and set the arrow on the scale to 5.
- Turn on the receiver and wait for it to load.
- Slowly rotate the antenna. A sound signal will indicate the presence of a radio wave.
- Proceed with fine adjustments, monitoring the quality and reception power on the TV screen.
- Disconnect the device, connect the cord coming from the receiver back.
Best answers
Vlad Kudryavtsev:
Who knows, I also want to catch 45 and that’s normal (Z
Sergey BOROZENTSEV:
Menu - Settings - pin code - "Auto search" - search type - "Network search" PS - a lot of things will of course be encoded, but something will be added. A lot of unnecessary stuff will have to be removed through the “Organization of channels”.
Arsen Sandoyants:
All Tricolor receivers receive all channels encoded in DRE and all OPEN channels on any satellites. There is a good website lyngsat m/, where everything is described in detail
Sergei Klimenko:
Menu/installation/select satellite/single scan/auto scan and search for channels
Zurab Mammaev:
2) Select the “Settings” item, click the “OK” button
3) Next you need to enter the PIN code (standard “0000”) (if protection is enabled)
4) Select “Manual search”, press the “OK” key
5) Select the “Frequency” sub-item and dial the frequency there. Below we enter the symbol rate, even lower the polarization and lower, fec
