FTA (Free over the air) Satellite

[GeauxLSU]

Is anyone using it and are you happy with it?
If I could get about a handful of select stations I'd be a happy camper.
Free TV from United States - LyngSat

 

[SLOBuds]

Try a bit more research on the internet - I spent some time doing research a few months back and the feedback was marginal at that time.

The technology and practice is being debated as to its legality. It involves individuals recording broadcasts and then broadcasting them over the internet. It's all grass roots activities using the same concept as internet file sharing.

The availability of programs is not guaranteed. A person who broadcasts Green Acres this morning, may not do it tomorrow morning because he needs to mow the north 40. Or his server went down. So if you are looking for your 8:30pm broadcast to be there at 8:30pm, every night, 365 days a year, you probably won't get that.

Maybe the technology has improved since when I last did my research. So be sure to take a look at what people are saying now.

 

[GeauxLSU]

I believe you are talking about TV over the internet? That is not what I'm talking about (though there are links to that on that site). FTA is simply satellite, NON ENCODED broadcasts that are intentionally transimitted that way and it is 100% legal. Been around for quit a while. I can see where the internet thing is a bit shady.
It was apparently started as a means to get foreign language broadcasts into the U.S. (so the foreign company's paid for it) and for example several Chrisitian stations, but has expanded beyond that as you can tell from the linked list of stations.
Requires a small dish (depending on satellite) and box. No subscribtion.
I don't have internet service where I want this hooked up so the questionable internet TV thing wouldn't work for me anyway.
Thanks.

 

[JPCjr]

I had a C/Ku band satellite receiver for a few years and it worked well. I couldn't take it with me when I moved, so I gave it away. But I enjoyed it, so I'll probably have one again one day. The NASA channel was really neat when the space shuttle was in orbit. Most or all of the free channels are the first generation broadcast, so the picture quality is very good. These are the same signals that the cable companies and digital satellite companies receive and then re-broadcast over their system, making their signals second generation.

There are a few down sides. First, there are only a few free channels on each satellite, so channel surfing isn't really easy. The satellite receiver has to physically aim the dish at different satellites. So, if you're watching a channel on one satellite and you want to watch a channel that is on a different satellite, it can take ~30 seconds sometimes to change the channel, depending on the satellite location. Second, there are many different video signal formats now, so one receiver won't get them all. In order to receive all of the different formats (NTSC, DVB, Digicipher, etc..) you'll need a few different receivers and that gets a little expensive. Finally, channels moved around a lot and often changed format, so I had to keep looking for an updated channel list. I think a lot of this was due to channels switching to a digital format. Maybe things are more stable now.

 

[schmism]

i read a story a few years ago that you could get C/KU satallite (big dish) as a "comercial customer"... you could buy ALLL the discovery network channels for like $20 a year.

They networks used to upload there shows to the bird with just a 5-10 sec break in the feed for the local station to instert comercials. but now i think they put a 3 min blank spot in so you still have to watch an hr long show in an hr but with black (or otherwise) patches were the comericals should be....

Id like to get a C/KU dish.... but to many irons in the fire at the moment.

 

[willywildes]

it works, but you are stealing someones signal!! witch could land you in federal court. win lose or draw you pay. its no free lunch

 

[GeauxLSU]

it works, but you are stealing someones signal!! witch could land you in federal court. win lose or draw you pay. its no free lunch

What I am inquiring about is NOT illegal. We may be talking about different things.
Free-to-air - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Soundguy]

it works, but you are stealing someones signal!! witch could land you in federal court. win lose or draw you pay. its no free lunch

You have an am/fm radio in your car??? Are you 'stealing' the signal??

Sheesh! ( hand smacking head sound..)

Soundguy

 

[Redneck_Randy]

I would steer clear of the ViewSat FTA. Dish Network and Nagrastar have gone after VS for helping people mod the units to recieve a unlocked Dish Network SAT signal. You would not believe the amount of FTA hack forums on the net. Hacked FTA's are BIG business here in the USA and Canada. So be very carefull who you buy a FTA unit from.

 

[RonMar]

it works, but you are stealing someones signal!! witch could land you in federal court. win lose or draw you pay. its no free lunch

Not if it is unencrypted you arent. Unsecure transmissions are free to whoever wishes to get the equipment to receive them. This has been ruled repeatedly in federal court. If you want to control access to something you transmit over the air, then you must encrypt it and control access that way. One case in particular that comes to mind was a local cable company suit against a homeowner for theft of services. However, this man didn't tap into the cable. What he did was use a directional antenna and amp pointed at the cable distribution box hanging on the telephone pole near his house and harvested the Rf energy being emitted from the distribution amp in the box. The cable company lost. This was of course in the early days of cable TV. This type of "harvesting" of signal is no doubt one of the reasons that cable TV is now encrypted.

Now if you build or modify a piece of equipment to decode the encryption of a signal without paying for the rights to do so, then you ARE violating the law.