Comag SL 65

Author's product rating:   

Ease of Use	Average
Ease of Installation	Average
Range of Features	Above Average
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Free to view at a highly affordable price
Disadvantages:	No SKY but not in itself a bad thing

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Thanks to Rupert Murdoch, most Brits think 'Satellite TV = Sky TV" - well it doesn't!

First of all, there's more than one Satellite, and secondly, he doesn't own all the channels (well not yet anyway!)

Certainly, in the UK, Sky are the only people seriously promoting Satellite TV, but there's literally hundreds of stations, in dozens of languages, and you can pick them all up perfectly legally without taking out a subscription.

That's where the Comag SL-65 comes in.

The SL-65 is an entry level digital satellite receiver, which connects to a dish at one end of a wire, and your telly at the other.

If you don't mind being stuck to one satellite, you can connect it to an existing dish instead of a Sky box, but with the right kit, you could be surfing up to a couple of thousand channels a night!

There's four main communities who would probably like this unit.

The first is people who may have subscribed to Sky at some point, but have handed their box back, because they don't want to subscribe to the encrypted channels the service offered. You can still get the normal BBC terrestrial stations, as well as the 'digital' ones (three, four, parliament etc)

You can get most of the ITV stations, although periodically they may change the rules and encrypt them (that was the case for a while, but most are now 'clear')

You can even get regional variations; BBC2 early Thursday evening in the Scottish region often put on a couple of Gaelic programmes when the rest of the UK gets 'Masterchief' - there's nothing to stop you picking up the Yorkshire, or Midlands variations if that's your preference.

It also lets you view regional news - if you're from the Northwest but live in, for example London, there's nothing to stop you from watching the news from Manchester.

If you're trying to learn a foreign language, then Free to Air (FTA) services are available in almost every tongue and dialect.

The Mrs and I have recently taken up trying to improve our French, and have been watching their version of 'Treasure hunt' on a Sunday afternoon (thankfully no Aneka Rice stumbling hysterically round
National Trust properties!)

The trouble is, different parts of Europe tend to be based on different satellites.

France and Germany, for example, tend to use a satellite at 19' east, wheras most of the English ones are based on one at 28'.
Turkish stations are often found at 42', although that's a bit low on the horizon for many people to get easily.

Unfortunately to change satellite, you need to realign your dish every time - which might involve getting the ladders out as well as a set of spanners!

Thankfully, there's a far easier way - you can get a motorised dish mount which automatically realigns you every time you change satellite (it's a bit harder to set up, but not beyond everyone)

Comag rebadge their receivers for a number of retailers, most famously in Europe for the LIDL discount store, and are branded 'Silvercrest' - it's the same gubbins inside the box. A standalone unit usually costs around £30, and one complete with dish, static mounts and cable can be had for about twice that.

A dish rotator can be had on ebay for around £40 - you'll also need a compass and a signal detector, both of which can be had for around a fiver each.

The third community who'd be interested in this box are 'non Brits' who want to watch the telly from 'back home' - again, you'd need to make sure you've pointed the dish in the correct direction, but most of the accession EU states are well represented.

The last group of people who'd love this box are like me, complete propellerheads!

TV isn't real, it never was. Most often, it portrays a lifestyle the programmers believe the viewers aspire to (take the shopping channels for example, or religious stations) or, more interestingly, a lifestyle the controllers believe the viewers SHOULD aspire to!

I used to listen to Moscow Radio on the shortwave in my teens. I didn't buy into the Soviet propaganda then, but I understood it was a carefully managed message specifically for westerners.

Whilst the 'old guard' departed nearly twenty years ago, I find Russian TV utterly fascinating - whilst not entirely 'state controlled' - it s nonetheless slavishly uncritical of the Putin regime. Programmes are a mixture of western-format hits such as 'Who wants to be a millionaire', they have their own 'Riki Lake'etc - in the 'graveyard' shift between 2am and 6 they often show ex-soviet variety shows at the weekend (almost like rerunning Morcombe & Wise in the UK)

Wheras we have the 'Gadget Show' for consumer goods, they have similar offerings but the emphasis is on military hardware.

In short, it's a window into Russian living rooms, and some of the messages which come from that part of the world are far more easily understandable if you appreciate their mindset.

The SL65 is capable of all of that.

It DOESN'T have a 'CAM' slot (ie no room for a SKY card) - it WON'T show encrypted services, but it WILL show a range and variety of programmes which are virtually unobtainable through any other means for the price.

Along with the unit comes a pretty cheap looking remote control. This allows you to navigate the emnu systems.

Firmware can be updated via an RS232 link, or via satellite if you have it pointing to the right one!
PC software is available free off the net which allows you to (more easily) set favourites etc.

There's quite a few sockets and plugs on the back of the set, offering SCART, RCA and optical output. As this isn't a High Definition system, there's no HDMI output.

If you HAVE a dish rotator, it supports DiSEqC protocols, if you don't want to go 'satellite surfing' that probably doesn't matter.

The principal advantage of this unit is price - it offers a huge range of features, but to take full benefit, you'd have to be pretty technically savvy.

It doesn't get SKY, but in my book, that isn't a bad thing!

In summary - this offers just about everything you could want, except
High Definition and access to SKY, at a price which is comparable with conventional terrestrial Digital boxes.