For anyone interested, I got the satellite installed this past weekend. The installation was very quick, but the receiver configuration took a while. There is a satellite called Galaxy 19 that offers free-to-air programming from around the world. All you have to do is buy a satellite dish and receiver, install and configure the dish to point in the right direction, and you're ready to watch. We had to set up multiple configurations to get all of the transponders dialed in for the channels I wanted, which took about 2 hours. And, I learned much more about satellites, transponders, frequencies, and global alignment than I wanted to, but in the end we got about 200 TV and 100 radio channels. Most of the channels are from the Middle East, but we got six free Thai TV channels:
- DMC - Buddhism/meditation channel
- TGN - Thai TV Global Network
- MKTV - a combination of Thai, Cambodian, and Lao programming. Their idea of hip-hop is completely insane!
- NATTV - so far as I can tell, this is a California-run TV station in Thai that is basically a QVC-esque shopping network channel specializing in herbal vitamins and health products. I won't be watching much of this at all.
- IDTV - Indochina TV
- Hitz & Health
The programming has been okay so far. Not mind-blowingly awesome, but better than nothing. Last night, TGN had some good shows, and I suspect this is going to be the best channel of the bunch, with IDTV and DMC in second and third place respectively.
There are two other channels listed in the receiver's program guide - Lakorn Thai and News1 - but they are both subscription channels. So far as I can tell by my research they are offered by ThaiTV.tv, but to access them you have to buy their proprietary receiver. This has not been 100% confirmed yet, but I have an email out to them and will report back if and when I hear from them.
I spent $400 total, which includes approximately $200 for equipment and $200 for the installation. Since it's all free-to-air programming I do not have to pay a monthly fee for service unless I want to try and get the ThaiTV subscriber channels. However, yesterday my wife and I bought a new 50" plasma flat screen TV. We're picking it up tomorrow night, but apparently it has a VGA connector on the back, so that means we'll be able to plug a laptop directly into the TV and watch programming from ThaiTV.tv's On-Demand service without having to purchase a new receiver. I'm going to try all of this out tomorrow night when the TV arrives and hopefully that will take care of all of our Thai television needs.