Our satellite Receiver and Dish

PSI Sat's D-Move set

We decided to go with the very basic, yet extremely popular set, which is locally know as D-Move. It consist of the digital (only) DP-303 satellite receiver with an LNB C1, AC 18" actualator and an DMF213/M satellite dish with an 7 feet diameter.

If you have been anywhere in Thailand in the last couple of years, you must have noticed the advertising banners on, not only every odd electronics shop, but also in big supermarket chains like Big-C, Lotus, Carrefour, etc. The price for this satellite receiver set in such places is 17.000 ThB, as is the list price from the manufacturer PSI sat. Following the links to some of our favorite Satellite equipment suppliers could very well save you up to 20% (see menu on the left).

Why this particular satellite TV viewing set?

We had the following details to consider: We needed to connect dual Television sets on different floors and preferred to have the actual DP-303 satellite receiver downstairs, while we would use a link remote upstairs. If you ever need to purchase a link remote, make certain it comes with an extra remote control for, in our case: the DP-303 satellite receiver, so you won't loose valuable zapping time while trying to find the satellite receiver's remote that your partner just took to use upstairs.

Placing the satellite receiver downstairs turned out to be a bit impractical, but more about that later. As everyone would be, we were interested in getting the maximum possible in both number of satellite TV stations, as well as quality or, better yet, "freshness" of the offered content on these TV and Radio stations.

Having said such, I think it's a public secret, at best, that it is possible to receive certain channels from subscription based DSTV providers in Asia. Apparently there are certain satellite receivers that have decoders, decrypters or de-scarmblers build in to them and that do not even require the occasional entering of code or other forms of payment verification. I believe that the XSAT 430 satellite receiver and the XSAT 410 satellite receiver are a few of the more popular models here in Thailand, that have such capabilities. It Sounded like a done deal: Just hook up the XSAT 430 with both an Ku-Band Dish, as well as the C-band dish (or a combination satellite dis) and no more good night sleep's for us! Helas: we were informed that this XSAT 430 does not have an RF (standard TV antenna plug) output, making it impossible to connect the required Link-remote. We quickly turned to it's younger brother: the slightly less advanced XSAT 410 satellite receiver.. Ok, basically it's the same thing and you'll never notice the difference in daily use.. This remark reminded me of the days when we were active in computer retailing, so we decided to let all the info sink in and ponder on it for a while.

This proved to be a wise decision, because fter a few days we suddenly realized that it was mentioned that this satellite receiver does not support a move function for the C-band dish, thus greatly reducing the number of FTA (free to air) channels we would be able to receive. A difficult choice followed in our trilingual household: being able to view all the premium movie-, sport- and series-channels in english (possibly with 3rd language subtitles), or being able to watch the several dozens of international satellite TV stations that broadcast in languages we were in need of hearing, practicing or learning.. As you already know, we chose the latter.

Even if we would be able to overlook the fact that watching satellite pay TV for free probably means breaking the law, there are no guarantees that this decrypting system in the satellite receiver would still be accessible (and thus free) in the, even nearest, future. (** updated information on this matter is on our news page!)

Of course, the fact that this D-Move set plus an additional small Ku-band dish and additional satellite TV receiver would be able to give us all we wanted in the first place, whenever we are ready for it and that for only a slightly higher price as the initial XSAT 430 setup, may have sped up our decision process by a notch or 2.

Other options:

There was a quick mention and show of another brand of satellite receiver, which does have the ability to move the dishes and receive and decode encrypted Ku-Band signals, although not fully automatic (by entering a code once a month, I was told). I believe it was the Dynasat 7200 satellite receiver that was shown, but this option was quickly dismissed after we heard the mention of "might have some problems after just a bit more than one year". I 'll let you guess what the warranty period of this satellite equipment was. We were not surprised to learn that there would be hefty "gasoline" charges it they would have to come over to service this product. **Note that none of this is from personal experience and that it's just hear-say.

Which device should go where?

As mentioned in the beginning of this page, we made a minor mistake when we chose to put the satellite receiver downstairs. This situation is particular to us, but it could be worth mentioning. The principal of the link remote is based on the fact that it will receive it's TV signal through a regular RG-6 (aka regular antenna) cable which is connected to the satellite receiver's RF-out connector. The downstairs television set will, for maximum picture quality and least signal loss, have to be connected to the video & audio output on the satellite receiver. As most televisions have dual audio / video input plugs, this should not interfere with already connected DVD / VCD or other Video and audio devices. At least, that was the theory. We have seen that even when the DVD player or Video is in standby mode, it still gives of a signal which will interfere with the quality of the satellite receiver's picture. Quite possibly this is caused by the combination of DVD player and the surround set that the satellite receiver and the DVD player are both connected to. However, this problem would not have occurred if we would have placed the DP 303 satellite receiver with upstairs television set and near the satellite dish, as the upstairs VCD player is usually turned off anyway and does not have the same problem.