Satellite Receiver bargain

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

Just picked up what appears to be a bit of a satellite receiver bargain.

A new Lidl store opened in town today and they have a FTA satellite
receiver
on offer for 39.99 (59.99) with dish or 29.99 (39.99) for just the
receiver.

As I have a spare LNB cable left over from my SKY+ install I decided to buy
one to see what it is capable of. The receiver is a "SILVERCREST
SL65" free
to air digital receiver.

Manual can be found at
http://www.comag-ag.de/software/silvercrest/cmg_SL65_man_EN.pdf

A list of the FTA stuff on Astra 28deg can be seen here
http://www.satcodx2.com/0282/uke/customize.cgi?

Box was already preprogrammed with some of the Astra28 FTA channels and
connecting it up and selecting 617 gave me BBC1. OK, so the choice of FTA
stuff isnt that wide but it does enable you to free up your digibox for
stuff you have to pay for rather than having a family member watching a
free
channel. Also lots of radio stations.

What appealed to me was

TV Scart - supports - Composite - RGB - Component YUV (Yippee I now own a
bit of kit that supports YCrCb.... just need a display now!)

S-Video output - operate irrespective of the TV Scart settings so ideal for
KAT5 distribution

Digital Audio output which also supports 5.1 if broadcast.

There is also an RS232 port that can be used for updating the box. Both
software updates and editing the channel list via a PC application (havent
tried that yet). Not sure if the RS232 port gives out any status info as I
cant find a null modem cable at the moment.

When using menus the picture is still visible as a small inset bottom left.

For anyone with a spare LNB cable this may well be worth a look. It
supports
DiSEqC so can also switch between LNBs if you have suitable equipment
already. Might be handy as a source for those building their own Media PCs.

No connection etc.... other than having just bought one to play with

Regards

Keith