Caravan satellite TV. Decided to join the 21st Century.

[PTA]

After years of snobbery ("can't understand why people take a TV away with them when we can read books" etc), we have decided to sell our souls and buy a TV and satellite system for our Elddis Crusader Mistral. We have a good sized Omnisat dish and will buy a decent Avtex, or similar, TV. Any suggestions for a quality, caravan friendly, box would be helpful. We have a Sky Q Box for our home TV,but I'll be damned if I am going to transfer that to our caravan every time we go away....quite apart from the contractual issues,

Any advice for this non-technical, amateur, would be most welcome.

 

[Jcloughie]

Ask yourself what you will be wanting to watch. A sat set up is cumbersome and time consuming. Avtex TVs are poor in picture quality compared to home TV’s and are very heavy. The only advantage it the 12 volt. Do you need it?

Free view gives great choice. WiFi and Fire TV boost this to more channels than you could need. And you may be able to access your Sky.

A cheap hard disk can give you many hours of your own recordings if nothing else works. A BT speaker enhances and gives quality sound, radio and music as well.

I like to keep things light, cheap and simple.

John

 

[otherclive]

There have been a number of posts where the correspondents have said how good Cello TVs are. Some are even 240/12 v and are domestic sets, but have several useful features such as DVD and built in satellite receiver thus keeping the number of boxes down. We always used a domestic set, our last one being a Beko which still does occasional duty at home being over 10 years young.

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[woodsieboy]

We have LG with built in satellite, 24 '' screen from Argos, from memory less than £200. so don't need a box, will get Freesat not Sky. The best thing I invested in was a decent satellite finder, the sort with a screen and signal strength display, mine is Primesat FS 700, we were in Brittany for past 2 weeks and had sharp, picture and took approx 10 mins to get it working

 

[Buckman]

We have a satellite dish fitted on our caravan and use a Smart 28" LG 240v TV no issue. Can watch Prime. Brilliant picture. We also have 21" Avtex and a brilliant picture. The LG is a lot cheaper than the equivalent Avtex TV. We hardly ever go off grid.
Get a second hand Sky+HD box and leave it permanently in the caravan. Take the Sky Q card with you as it will work in the Sky+HD box.

 

[Woodentop]

Agreed in general with Buckman, except you can do it easier and cheaper. Go find a local branch of Cash Converters. Most will have Sky+HD boxes in stock which they will sell you for around a tenner complete with remote and a guarantee. Better still if you can get a Sky 2nd room box which is smaller and lighter as it doesn't have a hard disc but might cost you (literally) a couple of quid more. With luck you may find that the previous owner's Sky card is still in the slot. Whilst this won't get you anything other than the FTA channels it will have the correct regions for your home area on 1 and 3 or 101 and 103. When you first power it up on an aligned dish it may tell you it cannot find some channels - Ch4 or Five are the popular ones. Just leave it connected and powered up for 48 hours and the channels will appear. Alternatively you can get a used Freesat box but more expensive. You can input a postcode for wherever you are in the UK to get the local region, and you can get a recording version, a feature which you cannot do with Sky unless you pass a tenner a month across their palm.

 

[Buckman]

With the proper Sky HD+ box and not the 2nd room box you can still record with your Sky Q card so an added advantage. 👍

 

[Woodentop]

Agreed B but I was talking about getting a stand-alone Sky box specifically for the caravan. It will need a Freesat-from-Sky card which costs a once off £20. A Sky box will work without a viewing card but shows BBC London and ITV Central West. If it has an expired viewing card in the slot (all of mine have had one present) it will put the correct regions in BBC1 and ITV (101 and 103) for the area in which the box was last registered for use. If purchased from a local branch of CC the likelihood is it will have the right card for your area in it.

(Sorry about 1 and 3 in my earlier post. Its six years since we last used satellite!)

 

[Kevin M]

Years since we used a sat dish, best advice I could give (probably outdated now) into buy a good compass (probably an app for that) and a good inline sat finder. Never failed to lock on.
Now we use free view and an amazon firestick if mobile signal allows.

Kev

 

[Jcloughie]

Having not bothered with satellite equipment for many years I am surprised that some think they are still useful and relevant. Surely Sky users can access their content via an app. I can with Virgin. A VPN might be useful if abroad.

John

 

[Woodentop]

Having not bothered with satellite equipment for many years I am surprised that some think they are still useful and relevant. Surely Sky users can access their content via an app. I can with Virgin. A VPN might be useful if abroad.

John

Most mobile providers are now limiting your usage to 12GB per month in Europe irrespective of how much data you have available.
In the UK there are few places where you cannot get Freeview BUT if you are receiving from a relay transmitter you will only get 14 stations. That is where satellite comes into its own.

 

[Jcloughie]

I can see it may be still of use in Europe, at least the northern part. But we don't know if that is the OP’s need.

John

 

[otherclive]

Most mobile providers are now limiting your usage to 12GB per month in Europe irrespective of how much data you have available.
In the UK there are few places where you cannot get Freeview BUT if you are receiving from a relay transmitter you will only get 14 stations. That is where satellite comes into its own.

Can you not buy “booster” data packs when in Europe.

 

[otherclive]

Can you not buy “booster” data packs when in Europe.

We are with EE and our contract pre dated July 2021 so we can use all our allowance whilst abroad. Post July 2021 you can pay £2 day or £10 month to use your data and calls allowance in 50+ countries.

 

[Dustydog]

I’m a dinosaur😜 My Maxview 65cm elliptic dish with quad LNB has served me well using various sky boxes over 15 years . Currently and forever the SKY hd plus box using our domestic SKY card gives us full Sky channels. I have a semi professional satellite locator thanks to Sproket. Usually within 30 seconds we are locked on. I see no need to use anything else see the dish in the photo two weeks ago

 

[Fraseb01]

Sorry to hijack this thread but i was wondering is it possible for me to take my sky q box from home and use it in the caravan if i purchase a dish and lnb ?

Cheers.

 

[Dustydog]

Sorry to hijack this thread but i was wondering is it possible for me to take my sky q box from home and use it in the caravan if i purchase a dish and lnb ?

Cheers.

No . sky q must be permanently connected to Wi-Fi. Another Sky ploy to stop you using it remotely. But as said by others buy a Sky HD Plus box , take your Sky card , set up dish , bingo

 

[otherclive]

No . sky q must be permanently connected to Wi-Fi. Another Sky ploy to stop you using it remotely. But as said by others buy a Sky HD Plus box , take your Sky card , set up dish , bingo

Arent Sky now moving away from new dish installations where there is WiFi?

 

[Buckman]

Agreed B but I was talking about getting a stand-alone Sky box specifically for the caravan. It will need a Freesat-from-Sky card which costs a once off £20. A Sky box will work without a viewing card but shows BBC London and ITV Central West. If it has an expired viewing card in the slot (all of mine have had one present) it will put the correct regions in BBC1 and ITV (101 and 103) for the area in which the box was last registered for use. If purchased from a local branch of CC the likelihood is it will have the right card for your area in it.

(Sorry about 1 and 3 in my earlier post. Its six years since we last used satellite!)

However it seems that they have Sky Q at home so why buy another card when they can use the Sky Q card in the SkyHD+ box?

Having not bothered with satellite equipment for many years I am surprised that some think they are still useful and relevant. Surely Sky users can access their content via an app. I can with Virgin. A VPN might be useful if abroad.

John

With the Sky app you cannot watch BBC and some other channels. Same applies with NOW TV. Also if travelling to Europe data costs could work out quite expensive never mind using it in the UK.

Sorry to hijack this thread but i was wondering is it possible for me to take my sky q box from home and use it in the caravan if i purchase a dish and lnb ?

Cheers.

Yes but you will need a Sky Q LNB and it can be difficult to lock onto the signal which is why using the SKY Q card in a Sky HD+ box may be a better option as signal easier to lock onto or so I am told by people who have Sky Q. We do not have Sky Q at home although we do have a Sky Q card.

No . sky q must be permanently connected to Wi-Fi. Another Sky ploy to stop you using it remotely. But as said by others buy a Sky HD Plus box , take your Sky card , set up dish , bingo

I do know of people who take their Sky Q box away with them and have no issue. You can get Sky Q satellite systems for caravan or motorhome so no wifi is required.

 

[Dustydog]

Thanks John. Things must have changed a lot since Q was first introduced. But using Wi-Fi connection on your mobile needs 4 or 5 G . Data streaming I thought was very expensive. Not all parts of the UK or Europe have good Wi-Fi access. We have the full Sky package but stuck with the HD box because of issues using Q in the caravan. Maybe I need to investigate further 👍

 

[Buckman]

Thanks John. Things must have changed a lot since Q was first introduced. But using Wi-Fi connection on your mobile needs 4 or 5 G . Data streaming I thought was very expensive. Not all parts of the UK or Europe have good Wi-Fi access. We have the full Sky package but stuck with the HD box because of issues using Q in the caravan. Maybe I need to investigate further 👍

We found it cheaper to have the Entertainment package and subscribe to NOW for Cinema. With NOW no 18 month contracts and can cancel at any time. At the moment Sky offerings are rather dire.

 

[Dustydog]

Arent Sky now moving away from new dish installations where there is WiFi?

Wi-Fi is mandatory but available everywhere.Data streaming if you have 4or 5 G may be expensive and again subject to signal availability. My set up is free, easy to use and works even in the remotest parts of the Highlands

 

[Fraseb01]

However it seems that they have Sky Q at home so why buy another card when they can use the Sky Q card in the SkyHD+ box?



With the Sky app you cannot watch BBC and some other channels. Same applies with NOW TV. Also if travelling to Europe data costs could work out quite expensive never mind using it in the UK.



Yes but you will need a Sky Q LNB and it can be difficult to lock onto the signal which is why using the SKY Q card in a Sky HD+ box may be a better option as signal easier to lock onto or so I am told by people who have Sky Q. We do not have Sky Q at home although we do have a Sky Q card.



I do know of people who take their Sky Q box away with them and have no issue. You can get Sky Q satellite systems for caravan or motorhome so no wifi is required.

i saw the sky q dish for sale and thought this was possible too, just thought it was an option i might have incase the 4g was unavailable for my fire stick to work.

 

[otherclive]

Wi-Fi is mandatory but available everywhere.Data streaming if you have 4or 5 G may be expensive and again subject to signal availability. My set up is free, easy to use and works even in the remotest parts of the Highlands

Some while back the satellite footprint was changed to give more emphasis in northern climes. Prior to that change we could get satellite signals in a 55 cm dish when in Carcasonne.

 

[Dustydog]

This is an excellent appraisal

Best Caravan Satellite TV/Sky Q Setups

If you want to watch free satellite TV in your caravan or motorhome you have a range of options. However, for SKY Q your choice is more limited.

www.hortoncommon.co.uk