Satellite TV box without card

[Black Vinyl]

Hello everyone,
I'm new to this type of discussion regarding satellite TV, but was hoping someone can assist.
I was given an old box and cable that was used to view some old Greek stations. After about 6 months, no channels were available and they refused to pay another $300 to have the stations back. This happened about 2 years ago.
They now have another system and gave me the old box, remote and cable.
Is it any good to me? Can I somehow get it working again? Do I need a card? Is it only a subscription type thing or is there ways around that?
I believe there's an old foxtel dish on my roof with a wall socket.
Any information would be helpful before I start getting my hopes up on free satellite TV.
Thanks for your help in advance.
BV

[mtv]

Make & model of the box?

Depends on what you hope to receive for free.

Yes, there's still FTA satellite TV available, but most is from countries other than Australia and the majority are on C-Band, which requires a larger dish. eg: 2.4m+

[LeroyPatrol]

There is some free stuff on Intelsat 18 which you could repoint the foxtel dish to. But need to know what box you have.

Leroy

[Black Vinyl]

Hi and thanks for your response.
Here are the details of the box.

Strong
SRT 4663 XII

DVR Ready

Is it useful for anything other than a door stop?

BV

[Black Vinyl]

Hi again,
So is it worth anything to me?
I am interested in getting whatever channels are available without having to pay a monthly subscription.

Cheers,
BV

[OSIRUS]

Without moving the Foxtel dish (I assume you are pointed at Satellite Optus C1, D3) not many FTA channels here .... TVSN ... Foxtel Help channel .... Al Jazeera, ..... & some feeds from time to time

However you should try your STB with your Foxtel dish (before re-pointing it) first to see if you can get the above FTA channels on Satellites Optus C1, D3 ....... it will tell you if your STB & dish are working OK ?

After that you may want to re-point your Satellite dish to

1. Optus D1 160E (lots of ABC & SBS channels FTA ..... for all the States of Australia & all FTA ...)
2. Optus D2 152E (some FTA channels but not a lot in English)
3. Intelsat 19 166E (I have herd the may be some FTA channels on here for Ku band LNB (what you have))

There may be some more Satellites & some more channels FTA if you want to investigate these ..... (but I am really not interested in any others than the above myself)

Other than the above, you would need to Install a C Band Size Dish (2.3m & up) & a C band LNC to look at any FTA channels on Satellites viewable in our area of the sky

(someone may want to comment on C Band channels available in our area)

You can roughly check out what channels are FTA on satellites on

It can be time consuming Re-pointing the satellite dish & finding other Satellites ..... or you can get a professional satellite installer to re-point your dish for you

You also need to put the correct settings in your STB to tune into the either Ku Band or C Band Signals from the satellite ......

(It is your choice if you want to investigate it further ....)

Good Luck

(BTW .... most people are moving to IPTV now ...)

[Black Vinyl]

Thank you OSIRUS.
Heaps of info there.
Probably not worth all the mucking around for a handful of FTA channels that will probably not get much of a viewing in my house with all the dtv channels available.

IPTV? (Ears prick up)

Is this where you can watch certain channels via the internet and through your modem/router and ISP?
Internode is my ISP.
Does this mean getting one of those Fritz boxes or Fetch TV boxes?
No doubt an additional cost to watch some basic stuff.

I have heard of a dongle of some sort that allows you to watch countless channels on your tv via your internet connection, but at a loss for any additional info such as what you need to buy, from where and how much.

I guess more research and questions on forums such as these may help.

Thanks for your help.
I may stop investigating the Strong box and satellite thing since I can't get much.

Appreciate you help.
Cheers,
BV

[viewer]

You need to move to this area to brush up ( we are still learners so don't be afraid) on iptv

[Black Vinyl]

Thank you to everyone for their feedback and assistance.

I will not worry too much about satellite TV and read up on Internet TV.

Cheers,
BV