Connecting PC to a Dish Antenna

Caballero75 · Postby **Caballero75** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 6:02 pm

Hi everybody, I am new in this forum and would like to get some help if it's possible, thanking all of you in advance.
I just bought a new toshiba laptop, with vista premium 64 bit.
I want to watch tv on my laptop, that's why I installed "DVB Dream" software on it, but I was told I need to connect my laptop to to a dish antenna in order to use it (my laptop) as a receiver.
Anybody can tell me what I need to do? what kind of set-up do I have to do? what accessories do I need to buy?...etc.
Many thanks to all of you

genpix · Postby **genpix** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 7:56 am

LOL.
It's a good one.

I'm sorry to bring a bad news to you:
toshiba satellite laptop has nothing to do with satellite television.

check the webster.
Among several definitions of word Satellite, only one is related to satellite television (and it is even not the first one).

Caballero75 · Postby **Caballero75** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:22 am

Hey, I am not stu***! When Isaid "Toshiba satellite" I didn't mean it has something to do with satellite TV !!!! I just wanted to know if I need a special tuner or video card.. or it's already built in, because my laptop has a slot for "express card" .

LOL.
It's a good one.

I'm sorry to bring a bad news to you:
toshiba satellite laptop has nothing to do with satellite television.

check the webster.
Among several definitions of word Satellite, only one is related to satellite television (and it is even not the first one).

genpix · Postby **genpix** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:58 am

if you are not stu***, you have to know that you need a receiver for signal reception.
Every receiver has to have a tuner.
Your laptop does not have it.
Cause there is no single laptop in the world which has satellite tuner inside.

there reason is very simple: laptop battery does not have enough juice to do that.

Caballero75 · Postby **Caballero75** » Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:17 am

I am not mad at you buddy , I just wanted to clear things to you. Anyway, thanks a lot for your reply. But can you please tell me waht's the use of installing "DVB DREAM" software on a laptop or a desktop pc ?! Isn't it for watching TV ?!
Its menu looks like in a receiver: "channel list, channel scan, sat list, frequencies...etc".
Thank you for your help.

TheKrell · Postby **TheKrell** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:09 pm

But can you please tell me waht's the use of installing "DVB DREAM" software on a laptop or a desktop pc ?! Isn't it for watching TV?!

That is correct. But your laptop or desktop needs a compatible tuner in order to tune in satellite or terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasts. As genpix said, these are not normally supplied with computers unless they were specifically designed for video, such as a HTPC or MCE.

Have a look at the tested/supported devices here.

Esperanza75 · Postby **Esperanza75** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:03 pm

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Thank you very much my friend, "TheKrell". I was told that "skywalker 1" is the best , but I think it's a little bit expensive. I just want to know if there is another DVB-S card not really expensive, but something that will help me get channels from sats such as: "61.5W, 110W & 119W. I am not looking for HD TV or something special!!
Another thing regarding "skywalker", does it come with a remote control or not? thanks

TheKrell · Postby **TheKrell** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:13 am

I was told that "skywalker 1" is the best , but I think it's a little bit expensive. I just want to know if there is another DVB-S card not really expensive, but something that will help me get channels from sats such as: "61.5W, 110W & 119W.

Well, yes there is. I personally own a PCI bus Twinhan 1025, which IIRC was around $40-$50 new.

Now I don't know if you're into piracy, but I can warn you away from those Dish Network satellites. You would have to hack their system to see much of anything. Only a few channels are still broadcast in the clear, including the NASA channel, Angel 1, PirateTV, the Info channels (good for the occasional Charlie Chat), various PPV slates of no interest whatsoever, and only one CD-quality audio channel of Hawaian music. When I bought my Twinhan, I was expecting to use it to grab satellite radio and save it to disk. Dish used to broadcast most if not all of their low-fi Musak channels, and about 40 CD-quality music channels, ITC. No longer!

And if you ignore this warning and try to hack their encryption anyway, be forewarned that they're now most of the way through a smart-card swap to better security. So what might work right now will not work for long.

Esperanza75 · Postby **Esperanza75** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:55 am

Thank you my friend once again, for your reply. You have fully answered all of my questions and you've given me all the informations I was looking for. Thank you so much.
If I won't be able to watch channels such as: Fox Sports, Encore, Starz, PPV.. and Latin Channels...etc, so it doesn't make sense to waste money just to watch the "left-over channels" also called FTA

Many thanks to all of you

TheKrell · Postby **TheKrell** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:49 am

You are most welcome. Even though Dish Network sats are not a good prospect for FTA signals, if you can handle a 1m dish, preferably with a rotating mount to "hit" multiple satellites, there are a whole lot of other sats that are. In north America, these are mostly foreign language and religious channels, along with some wild feeds for commercial TV that come and go. You might take a look here to see if there are any channels worth the expense and effort.

Esperanza75 · Postby **Esperanza75** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:19 pm

Thank you so much.

Connecting PC to a Dish Antenna

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