VAST - Viewer Access Satellite Television.

• Are you suffering from poor or NO TV reception? 
  
• Or, do you travel to remote and regional areas of Australia in a caravan or motorhome and sick of the poor TV reception performance from your antenna?

 

The VAST satellite service was officially launched in December 2010 and is primarily intended to provide travellers, blackspot, rural and remote viewers with the same range of digital TV channels (via a satellite dish) as can be received by those living in good signal areas (via a traditional antenna).  If you already have the older Aurora system (Imparja, Seven Central, ABC and SBS), all you need to do is disconnect the old satellite decoder and replace it with the new VAST satellite decoder.  The VAST service can be broken down into 2 main channel groups - Eastern region and Western region. 

EASTERN REGION - viewers in all states EXCEPT WA

ABC1, ABC2/4, ABC NEWS24
SBS HD, SBS2
SEVEN CENTRAL (SEVEN NETWORK), 7TWO, 7MATE
IMPARJA (NINE NETWORK), GO, GEM
TEN CENTRAL (TEN NETWORK), ONE HD, ELEVEN
REGIONAL NEWS FEEDS

WESTERN REGION - WA viewers only

ABC1, ABC2/4, ABC NEWS24
SBS HD, SBS2
GWN (SEVEN NETWORK WA), 7TWO, 7MATE
WIN (NINE NETWORK WA), GO, GEM
TEN WEST (TEN NETWORK), ONE HD, ELEVEN
REGIONAL NEWS FEEDS

This exciting new service offers the viewer the full suite of digital channels via satellite. 

Who can get VAST ?

 

 

1. Those of you living in remote parts of Australia (WA excluded - see bullet point 2 for WA) can access the VAST service straight away (be sure to check eligibility at www.myswitch.digitalready.gov.au ).  Poor or no signal areas are indicated in yellow on the map below.Anyone who lives in a blackspot area, anywhere in Australia, who has an active, official Aurora smartcard that has been registered for all channels in their current address can convert to the VAST service immediately.

2. Anyone living anywhere in WA who has an active Aurora smartcard that has been approved for commercial channel access can convert to the VAST service immediately. Please call/email us if you live in a remote area of WA and do not have an active Aurora smartcard.
3. Anyone living anywhere in Australia that is in a blackspot area AND who currently watch TV via an Aurora smartcard and satellite decoder can convert to the VAST service straight away (providing the smartcard is registered at the current TV blackspot address).
4. Travellers and grey nomads can access the VAST service very easily too.  Simply purchase a VAST decoder from us and activate the smartcard online.  Once activated, you'll have 6 months of access.  Prior to the expiry of this access certificate, simply jump back online and renew your certificate by entering your name and smartcard number...easy.
   

To check your eligibility visit www.mysattv.com.au and click on the Satellite Decoder online Registration button.  You will then be directed to the DigitalReady website. Enter your address, click on Go and check satellite eligibility.  Travellers in caravans are well catered for too and can use the VAST system as they travel.  Travellers access to the service is easy and is switched on for 6 months at a time with no fees.  After the 6 months, simply re-apply. 

 

 

Altech UEC have released an upgrade pack that enables the DSD4121 satellite decoder to record your favourite shows direct to a hard drive thus making it a personal video recorder (PVR) - requires an external harddrive or USB flash drive (not included).  The upgrade pack includes a new design PVR remote control and serial number to enable recording to an external drive.  Keep in mind that this decoder, being a single tuner, can only record one program at a time (whichever program the decoder is set to).  You cannot record a program while watching another.  You can however watch a recorded program while recording another channel so this is useful.  Of course, full PVR functions such as rewind, fast forward, pause etc are standard.  If you'd like this PVR option, please choose it from the option box above where the 'Add to cart' button is.  We also have available, 32GB flash drives which can hold up top 10hrs of HD recordings or up to 30 hrs of SD recordings.  If you'd like one of these brand name, quality flash drives, choose it from the options above as well.

NOTE - For those of you who have already purchased a DSD4121 VAST decoder who would like to upgrade the decoder to enable the PVR functions, an upgrade pack is now available from this LINK.

END OF UPDATE--------------------------END OF UPDATE

 

   SatPlus are specialists in Aurora and VAST satellite TV.  If you purchase this decoder from us, we will provide any technical support or backup necessary to get your system up and running. 

 

 

What's the best way to connect the VAST decoder to my TV?

The UEC VAST decoder can be connected to your TV or flat panel via the supplied composite (AV) cables colour coded yellow, white and red and will work on ANY TV with AV sockets.  However, as these decoders (and many of the new channels) are high definition, if your TV/panel features a HDMI socket, then our recommendation is to connect using a HDMI cable.  This single cable will carry high definition pictures (and audio) to your TV and let you view them the way they were supposed to be viewed, in crystal clear high definition.  HDMI sockets look like the following picture:

 

 

Can I watch the new channels on multiple TV sets?

It is possible to feed the signal from the VAST decoder to other TVs in the house but keep in mind that you'll be restricted to watching the same channel on the additional TV sets.  If you want to watch different channels on separate TVs then you'll need to purchase additional VAST decoders, one for each TV.  To send the same channel to additional TVs, you'll need a modulator.  The new UEC DSD4121 VAST decoder is high definition and doesn't have any RF (antenna) outputs.  We have a device called a modulator which enables you to connect the AV output on the back of the VAST decoder and converts this to an RF signal which can then be fed to another tv or even multiple TV's.  You'll find this under AV Accessories.

By using a modulator, the video and audio signal can be converted to an RF signal and distributed to another other TV in the house via standard coaxial cable.  The TV is then tuned in to receive the signal from the modulator just like a standard analog TV channel.  An example diagram is shown below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What if I already have satellite Pay TV at my home?

For those of you who already have a satellite dish on your roof and have pay TV, connection of the new VAST decoder is quite simple.  All that needs to be changed is the LNB (device on the end of the dish) and an additional coaxial cable to follow the pay TV cable down to connect to the new VAST decoder.  The VAST service is on the same satellite so there's no need to re-align the dish.  Simply replace the old LNB with a new TWIN OUTPUT LNB.  See diagram example below:

 

If you have MyStar, you'll already have 2 satellite cables coming in to the MyStar decoder.  Simply disconnect the cables at the back of the decoder, connect them to our MULTISWITCH, then connect three short cables from the multiswitch - two cables to the MyStar decoder and one to the VAST decoder.  Simple.  We recommend the Spaun 2 in/8 out Multiswitch.  If you need more information, contact us on the email or phone details below.

What if I'm a traveller?

Travellers are well catered for and can access the new VAST service regardless of where they live.  Registrations can be completed at www.mysattv.com.au and click on the travellers button to register.  Access is granted by way of a temporary reception certificate which lasts 6 months.  The certificate can be renewed an infinite amount of times and there are no costs associated with registrations. 

 

More information:

Viewers in the VIC, TAS, WA and SA region - vic@satplus.com.au or 03 9772 8318