FTA Fever Free-To-Air Satellite Learning Center

How To Evaluate FTA Satellite Receivers

FTA Satellite Receiver Types

A Free-To-Air satellite TV receiver is designed to receive unencrypted Free To Air (FTA) satellite transmissions. FTA satellite receivers can decode the MPEG-2 data compression protocol used in most Free to Air satellite transmissions.

FTA Fever's Free To Air satellite receivers are standalone hardware boxes, which look very similar to Dish Networks or DirecTV receivers.

Evaluating Receiver Brands

FTA receivers are an investment, so it's important to choose a brand-name receiver that's manufactured and supported by a reliable manufacturer. For more information about our manufacturers, please see our Manufacturer Overview.

Don't fall into the FTA Receiver Clone Trap! A clone probably won't save you more than ten to twenty bucks. And you'll never find a clone receiver whose quality equals that of the unit it purports to emulate. For more information about clone receivers, see What You Should Know About FTA Satellite Receiver Clones.

FTA Receiver Features Evaluation Guide

Everyone's dream FTA satellite receiver wish list is different. Each of our Receiver Design & Features pages includes a model/price-point comparison to help you navigate the leading FTA receiver brands and models.

Here are some general questions to ask when choosing your FTA receiver…

• Does the receiver have Blind Search Power Scan which will find all channels transmitted by a satellite?
• Does the receiver allow you to zoom into a picture?
• Does the receiver support true picture-in-picture?
• Does the receiver have a built-in PVR (Personal Video Recorder)?
• Does the receiver offer USB compatibility for easy software updating and attachment of external multimedia devices?
• Does the receiver allow you to view High Definition channels?
• Does the receiver have dual tuners, which allows viewing and recording of two different channels simultaneously?
• Does the receiver have a PIG/PIP interface?
• Does the receiver have an Electronic Program Guide (EPG)?
• Does the receiver have S-Video output?
• Does the receiver have Dolby SPDIF output?
• Does the receiver have an On-Screen Display (OSD)?
• Does the OSD allow you to move, delete, and rename channels?

Additional Equipment You'll Need to View FTA Satellite TV Programs

In addition to a FTA satellite receiver, you'll need to evaluate brands, models, and price points with respect to these components:

• A satellite dish — either C-Band or Ku-Band
• A LNB (Low Noise Block)
• An antenna motor, if you wish to be able to turn your dish in order to receive channels from more than one satellite.