Freesat question in new house.

mattyfez

mattyfez

mattyfez

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Hi all.

recently moved house, I have a new LG smart tv with freesat, and a sat dish from the previous owners.

When I scan for freesat channels on the TV it finds a hundred and odd channels, and loads them into the menu/schedule.

But if I try to watch anything it just says 'invalid service'.

I have 2 cable feeds from the dish and have only tried one cable so far.

I hope its not a skyQ issue and just a setting im missing on the TV.. I'd have thought if I need to replace the LNB It wouldn't be able to scan any channels at all?
The TV is connected to my bb wi-fi though for streaming channels, so im not sure if that has anything to do with it.

Thanks for any advice.
 
The 2 cables coming from your LNB will be horizontal and vertical channels so I would connect them both up. I believe it wont work without the horizontal working
 
mattyg said:
The 2 cables coming from your LNB will be horizontal and vertical channels so I would connect them both up. I believe it wont work without the horizontal working
Click to expand...

Thanks but the TV only has one input socket for a satelite cable, so I could try plugging the other one in? but I'm not sure it would make any differnce?

Thanks again.
 
mattyg said:

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This might be closer to the problem
Click to expand...


Ahh crap.. i'll try the other sat cable tomorrow when I have time... Thanks for your input.

... but I suspect its a SKY-Q job, so i'll have to get the ladders out and fit a better LNB or just fit a proper dish/LNB combo. :( :(
 
As you've probably sussed out, the LG TV is looking for a signal type from the older-type Sky LNB from before Sky Q. This is the type where each cable provided the full service but it's he TV or receiver box that directs the LNB at the end of the cable which band and polarity it should pick up.

Replace the Q-type LNB with a standard Quad LNB. That should see you right and at minimal cost too.
 
Thanks... It's a new model LG OLED but it only has one satellite in socket and one old school aerial coax input.

It's not the end of the world as the TV is hooked up my pc and the TV has prime and Netflix etc built in anyway.

Would be nice to have the addition of free sat.. But I'm now debating whether it's worth the bother..

It would be handy in the event of a local internet outage I guess
 
Whether your TV has a single or two sat connectors is largely irrelevant to the issue at hand. It's the type of LNB signal that's important. You could replace with a single output LNB for around a tenner. IMO that would be a false economy given that Quad units are available from under £15. Swapping would take about 30 minutes in total for a competent novice.

Although we talk about an LNB, it's only the single output versions where the thing you're looking at is a single LNB. Anything with more than one socket is multiple LNBs in a single housing. Hence the Quad is four LNBs which you would probably guess from the name - Quad - and the Q LNB is a dual output unit, though they work in different ways with the Q LNB being wideband.

I can empathise with "is it worth the bother?". Not so much from the cost and time perspective - it's a small job and the cost isn't much - but more about whether there's anything good to watch on either Freeview or Freesat. I've already ditched Sky on that basis when I realised I watched one film from the service over the course of a month, and that was it. I watch mostly Prime, Disney+ and Netflix when I have the time to view.

There are still a few things stopping me ditching Freeview and Freesat completely
  • I still have to pay the TV licence if I want to watch iPlayer. It's a good service, and there's content at HD and UHD resolutions
  • Trying to watch live TV via the other catch-up IPTV, IMO, still a woeful experience
    • The free services are either full of junk or the picture quality is terrible, or both!
    • I can't get regional programming; there's no local news for example unless you live in London/SE
    • Some services are selective in what the include/exclude which means hoping between providers instead of simply changing channels
    • The better services are all subscription. Am I cutting the cord or simply moving the leash?
If I'm going to have to pay the TV licence fee for iPlayer then I might as well benefit from Freeview and Freesat thrown in with the deal. It's £13.50 per month. I'd pay more than that in multiple IPTV subscriptions and end up with a worse service. Everyone has their own priorities though so do what works for you.
 
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