Second Satellite Television Cost?

[SantiSuk]

I have True Vision Gold package in my living room and wanted to replicate it in my main bedroom (wife loves soaps and comedy series and I love sports - and we both love falling asleep to movies when nooky is not on the agenda).

My local Kantaralak True Vision peddler charged 6,000 baht for supplying a second box. It provided the full package for precisely one day and then the signal went on all but a few channels on both tvs. They came, fixed the living room signal and sent the bedroom box away to Bangkok for repair, but now report that it cannot be fixed. It seems like it was a 'copy box' that this company put together. They seem to be saying that now they can only offer a UBC set up for the second bedroom - for no extra cost, but with only 12 channels (and probably only the terrestrial ones). I can of course get my 6,000 baht back, but as there is no cable in the area and to the best of my enquiries no other satellite providers I seem to be faced with the ridiculous prospect of paying for a second Gold package or not hetting what I want. Surely not? Not sure how satellite works in the west - do you normally have to pay double for two televisions in the same house?

Arriving Thailand tonight and hope to sort it out now the football season is in full swing - all the above has the disadvantage of being an interpretation of what my wife is telling me and she does not really understand technology - come to think of it neither do I. Anyone got any advice?

[QED]

You can get a 'slave' to run on a second TV, not sure exactly but something like 2,000 to set up and 200 p/m on top of your normal bill.

I got them to cable into the bedroom when they installed mine for a few hundred baht. It means I can only watch the same as the main set, but if I fancy TV in bed I just set a few reminders so it switches channels automatically.

[rixalex]

You can get a 'slave' to run on a second TV, not sure exactly but something like 2,000 to set up and 200 p/m on top of your normal bill.

A good way of doing it but it does seem a bit of a cheek for them to be charging you extra every month - can't really see what for. You've still only got one receiver after all.

[Digitalbanana]

The extra cost by True is for the privelige of watching more than one channel at a time with one dish? Each TV would have it's own decoder? Myself included, most Thai's find it a rip off anyway at the fees charged hence the market for pirate boxes, alluded to by the op. Not sure what the problem was but they seem to run ok.

[rixalex]

The extra cost by True is for the privelige of watching more than one channel at a time with one dish? Each TV would have it's own decoder? Myself included, most Thai's find it a rip off anyway at the fees charged hence the market for pirate boxes, alluded to by the op. Not sure what the problem was but they seem to run ok.

Not if i'm understanding QED correctly. He has one receiver connected to his main TV and an extra cable wired from that receiver through to his TV in the bedroom - meaning he has to watch the same channel on both TVs, and to change channels when watching in the bedroom means either pre-setting or physically going to the receiver in the other room.

[sammycic]

I have True Vision Gold package in my living room and wanted to replicate it in my main bedroom (wife loves soaps and comedy series and I love sports - and we both love falling asleep to movies when nooky is not on the agenda).

My local Kantaralak True Vision peddler charged 6,000 baht for supplying a second box. It provided the full package for precisely one day and then the signal went on all but a few channels on both tvs. They came, fixed the living room signal and sent the bedroom box away to Bangkok for repair, but now report that it cannot be fixed. It seems like it was a 'copy box' that this company put together. They seem to be saying that now they can only offer a UBC set up for the second bedroom - for no extra cost, but with only 12 channels (and probably only the terrestrial ones). I can of course get my 6,000 baht back, but as there is no cable in the area and to the best of my enquiries no other satellite providers I seem to be faced with the ridiculous prospect of paying for a second Gold package or not hetting what I want. Surely not? Not sure how satellite works in the west - do you normally have to pay double for two televisions in the same house?

Arriving Thailand tonight and hope to sort it out now the football season is in full swing - all the above has the disadvantage of being an interpretation of what my wife is telling me and she does not really understand technology - come to think of it neither do I. Anyone got any advice?

I think you need to check out what is the deal on ubc website. It sounds to me like your local man is trying to set you up with a cheap copy at full price. I am able to look two different channels. you should have two ubc boxes and two cards if you want to do it legally.

[CNF55]

Absolutely correct - 1 satellite with a splitter + two boxes + two cards.

[SantiSuk]

Thanks for all the replies and for the simple reminder to check the website, which I discovered says that a second box can be installed for 283 baht a month (makes my one-off 6,000 baht a bit of a rip off). Your help means I am more confident about discussing options with wife and retailer.

If anyone else can confirm whether the second legitimate box (I assume it is legit if UBC/True promote it on their website) means you can watch two different channels that will complete my knowledge.

Edited October 15, 2009 by SantiSuk

[CNF55]

Yes, you can - we use the same set-up. 283 baht is the monthly fee but I am sure that you will still have to pay a deposit plus the installation fee.

[Digitalbanana]

(makes my one-off 6,000 baht a bit of a rip off).

Probably so as you would have been paying for an illegal service, but it seems to be the going rate to get connected so don't worry and get your money back if you can since it failed. Its a one off fee, and then you have access to as many channels as needed. However, to stay legit, follow the others in this thread.

[SantiSuk]

Resolution was.

Kantaralak True agent would not provide a second Gold signal - because I had bought the dish from them for the first package rather than renting it. What a load of b*ll*ocks. I said ok - let's start again, ignore the first dish and rent me the dish and 2 satellites. They said they 'had no authority from head office' (after ringing them up in front of us) to do that from Kantaralak and would have to go to a bigger agent in SiSaket

NEVER BUY ANYTHING IN THAILAND - RENT (to keep your options open). I should aslo have thought ahead when I bought the 1st package.

So I have junked 9,000 baht spent on a dish (idiot) and rented two Gold packages and a new dish/installation from Sisaket. Works fine but will cost 2,006 baht a month (1,413 for first package, 282 for second package plus 2 lots of service fee @ 155). Installation costs were 5,500 baht for 2 packages.

Paeng mahk - but at least I now have what I want and it's perfect being able to choose one's own programming and avoid those ridiculously overacted Thai soaps and comedy series.

The much cheaper option is to have a Thai-only channels dish/program as your second TV - if you can persuade your nearest and dearest that she can only watch the good movies in one of the two locations, which I could not! From memory that was 2,500 ish for installation and 850 baht per annum (for DSTV) plus house looking like Christmas tree.