First topic message reminder :

A question: Where can I buy a satellite box in Veliko Turnovo? I tried Vali computers but got sent to Bulsatcome! Tried Technomarket and got sent next door to Praktiker!!!! My box (Voltel) seems to have died. I had all the free programmes through it plus BBC World and Euronews which Bulsatcom doesn't have anymore! The rest are mostly foreign but I do miss the news and a couple of money market programmes. English TV sadly lacks most European news and I like to watch first thing in the morning with my cuppa in bed. Any ideas? Winter's coming on so I would really like my news back. I hate CNN!

Not to worry it appears the dish is too small

We bought a satellite package and had it installed last week - sales man told us there were many English channels and films etc. This is completely wrong the package cost 140lev fitted . It has 23 channels 5 of them are English speaking,but they are alll news channels, no films what so ever. Dooped again :: A total waste of money.

And to top it all after about about 5 minutes of being on it freezes and the only way it clears is to unplug and reboot - same things happens next 5 mins or so.

it's about time you got out of that village you live in sell up and buy in a village where you can get good reception on the internet and away from those that rob you either in the shops or by going to your home.
I am really sorry to see you are continuing with these problems over and over again but time for you to look at the signs i feel and do the best thing for your selves

Have to say I agree with Chrissy.

oddball wrote:

We bought a satellite package and had it installed last week - sales man told us there were many English channels and films etc. This is completely wrong the package cost 140lev fitted . It has 23 channels 5 of them are English speaking,but they are alll news channels, no films what so ever. Dooped again :: A total waste of money.

And to top it all after about about 5 minutes of being on it freezes and the only way it clears is to unplug and reboot - same things happens next 5 mins or so.

The freezing is probably due to poor reception, either re-align or move the dish, a bigger dish could solve the problem too, but if the trees are in the signal line, a bigger dish wont cure it. Moving to another village will also solve the problem but is a bit extreme [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I've been following this thread with some interest of late..I totally understand the frustration some of you are feeling. I've just been out and measured my dish, checked all the details of my contract and feel it's time to share my experiences with the setup.

My dish is 62cms in diameter, it is pointing almost due south and is aligned approx 23 degrees above the horizon. My contract is with Bulsatcom and I've been with them almost 3 years now. For 34 lev per month I get around 95 tv channels and 15 or so radio stations. The whole system cost me zero money to have installed and although most of the tv programs are in Bulgarian, there are many that are not. I experience some outages during a local thunderstorm andin the winter I have reception problems if I let the snow build up on the dish. I used to be with Germanos and the service was very similar but fell off the perch somewhere along the track.

Before someone jumps up and says 'but you live the city and that's to be expected', just let me say that I don't! We use cable when we are in residence there (and it's nowhere as good). The system I am talking about is installed almost 30 kms to the NW of Plovdiv.

Funnily, when Germanos stopped operating, no-one ever came and collected all the stuff, so I have a box, a dish, cables etc in my barn.

I'm happy with what I have..very clear, sharp screen and instant response to any input made via the remote.

Just thought I'd share that with you.

bgbazz wrote:

I've been following this thread with some interest of late..I totally understand the frustration some of you are feeling. I've just been out and measured my dish, checked all the details of my contract and feel it's time to share my experiences with the setup.

My dish is 62cms in diameter, it is pointing almost due south and is aligned approx 23 degrees above the horizon. My contract is with Bulsatcom and I've been with them almost 3 years now. For 34 lev per month I get around 95 tv channels and 15 or so radio stations. The whole system cost me zero money to have installed and although most of the tv programs are in Bulgarian, there are many that are not. I experience some outages during a local thunderstorm andin the winter I have reception problems if I let the snow build up on the dish. I used to be with Germanos and the service was very similar but fell off the perch somewhere along the track.

Before someone jumps up and says 'but you live the city and that's to be expected', just let me say that I don't! We use cable when we are in residence there (and it's nowhere as good). The system I am talking about is installed almost 30 kms to the NW of Plovdiv.

Funnily, when Germanos stopped operating, no-one ever came and collected all the stuff, so I have a box, a dish, cables etc in my barn.

I'm happy with what I have..very clear, sharp screen and instant response to any input made via the remote.

Just thought I'd share that with you.

Thanks Bazz when you are up this way hint hint (Silistra garden party approaching) you will have to come and sort this pile of rubbish out

I'd be happy to help out Bernie, but I know that very shortly someone else will come up with something even better.

I have Bulstat in the UK with a 1 metre dish, the satelitte is on the horizon (with the dish actually pointing downwards) without issues, so any village in Bulgaria should get good reception. The hole in the sky (pointed at) is about the size of a lev coin, slightly off and it effects the picture massively. Your receiver will have a facility to give signal strength and other details (that i cannot recall) to allow an exact alignment

oddball wrote:

We bought a satellite package and had it installed last week - sales man told us there were many English channels and films etc. This is completely wrong the package cost 140lev fitted . It has 23 channels 5 of them are English speaking,but they are alll news channels, no films what so ever. Dooped again :: A total waste of money.

And to top it all after about about 5 minutes of being on it freezes and the only way it clears is to unplug and reboot - same things happens next 5 mins or so.

Update: we finally managed to contact the engineer and he came out that same day to check why it keep freezing he tested everything and all seems fine and the ruddy thing did not freeze while he was here - He said the problem is our electrics - Now this I was not having as our son sorted out the electrics from when the builders were here, they left live wires all over the place so he checked everything and made sure we were safe etc. Told the engneer this is not the case it has to be the set up box - he reset it then said it was the euro channel causing the problem again I told him that does not help us perhaps a new set up box might be an options - He considered this but decided the one we have is ok and if we get the problem agian call him. 5 minutes afer he left he channel went again so I called him. He came back and said ok will get a new set up box. Have this now and all seem to be going well no freezing only have the news channel everything else is in a different language but at least we can keep up to date with the outside world. Amazing

Amazing this year we have dongle internet and sattilite tv in our villa - we have come a long way in seven years. Look forward to proper internet and cable tv next year.

One step at a time Berni..even if they are little steps!

oddball wrote:

Amazing this year we have dongle internet and sattilite tv in our villa - we have come a long way in seven years. Look forward to proper internet and cable tv next year.

We also have a dongle internet and satellite TV and just as the Winter has appeared to start we are watching more TV. Only trouble is our Vivacom programmes seemed to have changed for the worse, up until 9 pm there is only one film channel in English and that is usually a repeat, the other seven are in French, German or Italian. This in stark contrast to the Summer when nearly all the film channels were in English. We have looked at the cost of Sky over here and without an English card from a friend or relative it is rather on the expensive side. So I will be reinstalling our Turkish dreambox with a new dish and home in on the Dubai films that we got in Turkey, they are good and not repeated very much.

itchyfeet wrote:

oddball wrote:

Amazing this year we have dongle internet and sattilite tv in our villa - we have come a long way in seven years. Look forward to proper internet and cable tv next year.

We also have a dongle internet and satellite TV and just as the Winter has appeared to start we are watching more TV. Only trouble is our Vivacom programmes seemed to have changed for the worse, up until 9 pm there is only one film channel in English and that is usually a repeat, the other seven are in French, German or Italian. This in stark contrast to the Summer when nearly all the film channels were in English. We have looked at the cost of Sky over here and without an English card from a friend or relative it is rather on the expensive side. So I will be reinstalling our Turkish dreambox with a new dish and home in on the Dubai films that we got in Turkey, they are good and not repeated very much.

Eric, does your dongle stop you using Filmon? All the usual channels and free to boot. You need to connect your computer to TV with a cable though.

Equinus wrote:

itchyfeet wrote:

oddball wrote:

Amazing this year we have dongle internet and sattilite tv in our villa - we have come a long way in seven years. Look forward to proper internet and cable tv next year.

We also have a dongle internet and satellite TV and just as the Winter has appeared to start we are watching more TV. Only trouble is our Vivacom programmes seemed to have changed for the worse, up until 9 pm there is only one film channel in English and that is usually a repeat, the other seven are in French, German or Italian. This in stark contrast to the Summer when nearly all the film channels were in English. We have looked at the cost of Sky over here and without an English card from a friend or relative it is rather on the expensive side. So I will be reinstalling our Turkish dreambox with a new dish and home in on the Dubai films that we got in Turkey, they are good and not repeated very much.

Eric, does your dongle stop you using Filmon? All the usual channels and free to boot. You need to connect your computer to TV with a cable though.

We can't use Filmon on the dongle, in fact we can't use the video on Skype or You tube either, takes an age to connect and when it does it just breaks up.

Awww what a shame. I must admit, though, if it hadn't been free we probably would not have bothered. I just have to remind myself of that when the internet goes down!!!!!!