LG TV Free to air Digital satellite 47LA6610 Questions answered

Hi,

Great website you have going here, highly informative. I have an LG LA6610 that according to LG customer care it is a satellite TV, see an email extract I got from them below.

Dear (Name withheld),

Thank you for your mail
The TV is a satellite TV.
The LND must be connected to a dish, and depending on the direction of the Dish, the TV will be able to pick signals.
If the dish is facing same direction as Dstv, it will not pick any signal.
…

So my question is does this mean that all I need is a satellite dish & my TV will be able to pick free to air satellite channels? If so, how much will it cost me to set this up?

Also, this might sound silly but the only reason I’m considering free to air satellite over Dstv or Zuku is because:

1) I’m not really a typical TV person (I’m not into sports channels, entertainment channels etc like most people who get Dstv & other pay TV services). I just watch TV for local news & also enjoy documentaries from channels like Discovery, Nat Geo etc which are usually hard to find online BTW. Anything else (movies & series) I just download and watch directly on my TV from the hard drive. So paying every month for Dstv or Zuku for only 1 or 2 channels isn’t practical really.
2) I hate having multiple remotes so I’d like to watch TV without a separate decoder so I can utilize some of the features I bought the TV for like its DVR, EPG integration among others. Do this free to air setups have an EPG like Dstv?

So what do you think, I’m I looking at the wrong solution here? Kindly advice.

Cheers!
(Name withheld)

Hello (Name withheld),
Thanks for your email; I’m sorry I could need reply to you sooner because I have been busy. Secondly I would like to congratulate you for owning An LG Smart 3DTV as this means you ate doing well financially.
I will respond to all issues you raised by quoting your email and the response below.
The TV is a satellite TV.
The LND must be connected to a dish, and depending on the direction of the Dish, the TV will be able to pick signals.

First of all I think the term LG were looking for is LNB (Low noise Block) and not LND. The LNB is usually mounted on the dish and not electrically connected. The work of an LNB is to receive all the microwaves reflected by the dish, amplify them (with ideally no noise induced at all) and down convert the signals to RF.
It’s true it the dish should face a particular direction in order to receive the TV stations on that satellite. For this to happen the satellite footprint must cover your location with a strong signal. If the signal is weak then the solution is to use a larger satellite dish and a higher gain LNB.
If the dish is facing same direction as DSTV, it will not pick any signal.
This is not true at all, if your TV is connected to a properly installed Dstv dish pointed at the Dstv satellite it will pick the signals. But you will not be able to view any Dstv channel as they are scrambled. You will however receive all the free to air channels on that satellite like Dish on TV promo, CCTV News, CCTV 9 Documentary, and Love World Plus. Note that I have only listed English Language channels only.
Does this mean that all I need is a satellite dish & my TV will be able to pick free to air satellite channels? If so, how much will it cost me to set this up?
You will need a satellite dish, LNB and enough length coaxial cable. On top of this the dish will have to be installed to point at a particular satellite depending on the free to air TV package you want. A 90cm dish costs around Ksh2000 and a standard LNB around Ksh400. A 70 Yards coaxial cable costs around Ksh1000.
Do this free to air setups have an EPG like Dstv?
All free to air satellite TV is digital TV and so applications like Electronic Program Guide are available. But this will depend on the provider, so some channels have EPG while others do not. Also there are some channels which broadcast in HD while others in SD. I know your TV being a Full HDTV can handle all that is High Definition and Standard definition.

So what do you think, I’m I looking at the wrong solution here? Kindly advice

Having a free to air satellite TV is a good thing first because it is free and you can use the otherwise pay TV subscription money to do something else constructive. If you already have an existing Dstv/Zuku dish and cable intact, then all you need is the installation only. There are satellites that cover East Africa and have some good free to air channels like International news channels, entertainment and religious TV stations. You mentioned that you mostly watch TV for local News, so do I but I also get to enjoy other TV stations from Africa apart from the daily politics on Kenya and enjoy what they have to offer.

“Channels like Discovery, Nat Geo are usually hard to find online” Here is a solution http://www.docuboxlive.com/

Thanks in advance.