I'm looking into getting a DVB pci card, perhaps with CI if necessary. I just wanted know what English language channels can be received with a pci card. I would more than willing to pay for Sky Digital, but I understand the it only works with the Sky digibox. I am located in northern Poland (or will be once I move back to Europe, in the US right now). I would really like to get Sky1! but that unlikely, so I'll settle for the channels from BBC, ITV, C4, E4 etc... Thx for the help.

LD

I've been doing some research. It isn't clear if you need a sky box for the FTV card?

Thx

OK, some channels (especially BBC) are on the UK Beam which you surely cannot receive in poland.

All others on 28.2°East should be fine with a dish larger than 90cm probably...
http://www.kingofsat.net/en/beams.php?s=52&b=40

That website states that ppl further east are receiving 2D with only a 150 cm dish. I was willing to go upto 300 cm ( have a tone of room, 1000 acres!), the only problem is putting somewhere it can't be seen easily. But 150 cm would be easy... I'll prolly go with a 2m dish to safe. I've been reading up and it seems that without a sky box I can't get the FTV channels, only the FTA channels. I might as well get a sky subscription then. Thx

LD

Even in Berlin you need a minimum of 150cm. The more eastern, the more much bigger...

Just note that reception varies depending on the type of dish, LNB (and feedhorn) and in some cases the receiver used. For example a good quality 80cm dish, low noise LNB,high quality cabling and properly terminated connections can easily outperform a budget 1.5 meter dish, noisy LNB, budget cabling and improper termination. Channel Master, Funke and Triax are known good dish makes. Invacom 0.3dB and MTi 0.3dB are known high quality LNBs. When choosing cabling, ensure you get high quality foam filled cabling to avoid any chance of water running down in the middle.

Also, if you plan on getting a 2nd hand dish, be sure the dish is in good condition and if it is a prime focus dish, make it comes with its original feed horn. A dish's own feed horn is designed to 'see' up to the circumference of the dish, where as universal replacement feedhorns may only see a certain portion of the dish, or may even see beyond the edges of the dish and thus pick up stray radiation. Finally check for dents or warps. A large dent can reflect stray radiation (such as from another satellite) on the LNB and thus degrade performance. A warped dish (even if very slight) will not tightly focus the radiation onto the LNB properly.

Just be warned that if you do plan on taking up a Sky subscription, you will need someone in the UK to do this and get them to send over the box. Sky will not offer subscriptions to those outside the UK or Ireland. Also, any features that require the box to be connected to the phoneline will be unavailable.

Good luck

Thanks for the info on the Dish/LNBs. I have an address in the UK, so not a problem. What I really wanted was to setup a media server for my house that I could use to stream TV/Video over Cat6. I'll prolly just go with one LCD projector and thats it. Do any sky boxes have Component outputs or DVI/HDMI? Or is it just scart?

The current series of Sky Digibox's only have scart outputs. The majority of LCD projectors have a composite video-in, so you will need a scart->composite conversion adaptor (scart plug with Video and Audio L/R phono-outs) and connect a phono cable from the Digibox to the projector and the left & right audio channels to a stereo amplifier. Some projectors such as my Panasonic PT-AE500E also have a scart in. The advantage with a direct scart connection is that it can carry the red, green and blue video channels separately, which makes a significant improvement to the picture's colour rendering.

Sky+ boxes also have SVHS and Dolby Digital outputs. SVHS gives a significant picture improvement over composite by carrying the luminance and chrominance on seperately, thus giving a picture much like that of separate RGB channels down scart. While many projectors do not have a scart input, most do have an SVHS input.

Unfortunately, neither the Sky nor Sky+ boxes have component, DVI or HDMI output. Sky do however plan on launching HDTV services from 2006, so the next generation of boxes will likely have DVI and/or component outputs on them.

While there are conversion boxes available to convert video to Ethernet and vice versa, these are generally quite expensive and in my opinion would only be useful if you plan on transferring video over a long distance, e.g. 30 metres.

Gahhef you can get sky one without any problem.

By far the easy way it to get a basic (good one, check reviews and other stuff on the SKY boxes). Get a basic card, free-view card or a standard subscription, there are companys that can help you out with this.

For example http://www.solsat.com/

Your biggest problem will be reception, since you are so far away from the "footprint" of Sky Digital.

Do check out this side, will provide you with lots of awnsers.

http://www.satelliteonline.co.uk/sky_abroad.htm