Documentation
Hosted & Virtual SAT>IP — What the Category Is, Who Provides It, and How to Choose
Quick reference guide to hosted and virtual SAT>IP, covering delivery models, tuner types, provider roles and what to check before choosing.
- 2026-10-09 11:17
- 2026-10-13 12:45
This is the quick version of the full, vendor-neutral category reference. SATLINE sells hosted reception, but self-hosting and other providers are valid choices.
What SAT>IP means
SAT>IP is a published protocol that lets client software request a satellite transponder from a networked tuner and receive its MPEG transport stream. It was published in 2012 by an SES-led consortium; the full reference identifies the current published revision as 1.2.2. It is not ETSI TS 103 205—that document concerns CI Plus extensions.
Satellite-over-IP is broader: delivery may also use HTTP, multicast, SRT or other transports. Ask for the actual protocol and output, not just a product label such as “cloud tuner”.
Four ways to get satellite reception
| Model | What you control | Usually best when |
|---|---|---|
| Self-build | Your dish, tuner hardware, server and software | The beam reaches you and you want maximum control |
| Colocation | Your hardware and software at a facility with dish access | You own equipment but need a different receiving site |
| Dedicated hosted server | A whole rented server with DVB cards and your software stack | You need a CAM in a tuner slot, GPU, disks or custom processing |
| Virtual / hosted tuner | A tuner endpoint; your client software consumes the stream | You need reception without administering a remote machine |
Fast test: Need a machine or equipment physically beside the tuner? Choose your own hardware or a dedicated server. Need only the stream? A virtual tuner may be enough.
Shared vs private virtual tuners
Shared: frequency-locked
Fixed to a position and transponder, already tuned when you connect. Good for a stable lineup and quick reconnects. It cannot scan the rest of the position while holding that lock.
Private: position-locked
Assigned to one position but free to retune among its transponders. Good for scanning, position-wide EPG collection and changing requirements. A new tune must acquire lock.
Do not confuse sharing with filtering: ask whether you can request the full multiplex using pids=all or select an explicit PID list. That affects both visibility of services and bandwidth.
Who provides which part?
- Satellite operatorssuch as SES and Eutelsat provide the signal and footprint; hosted tuner companies do not replace them.
- Hardware vendorssuch as Digital Devices and TBS supply tuners for a self-build or hosted server. HDHomeRun is mainly a home-oriented terrestrial/cable option.
- Softwareincludes TVHeadend, Cesbo Astra, Flussonic, VLC and Kodi. These have different roles: headend, streaming server or client/player.
- Hosting optionsin the full reference include SATLINE, XSServer, Skyhosting, managed TVHeadend services and general hosts with satellite feeds. SATLINE also publishes SAT>IP Servers Pro; this page is not an endorsement ranking.
Buying cards and running your own software is a legitimate architecture when the beam reaches your site and you have the team to operate it. Check each provider’s current positions, features and terms directly.
Nine questions before you choose
- Coverage: which orbital positions and receiving sites are available?
- Tuner: shared or private, and can you retune it yourself?
- Output: full multiplex or selected PIDs; who chooses?
- Special feeds: is multistream and T2-MI reception demonstrated for your carrier?
- Transport: RTSP, HTTP, multicast or SRT—and which works over your path?
- Conditional access: where does licensed descrambling happen?
- Resilience: what happens in rain fade or a receiving-site outage?
- Software: will your existing client connect without a proprietary dependency?
- Terms: what are setup charges, commitments and monthly billing units?
Most easily missed: a listed frequency does not prove that a provider can recover a multistream or T2-MI service from it. Ask for a working sample of the exact carrier.
When hosted reception is the wrong tool
- You have good local coverage and in-house DVB/Linux skills: self-build may offer more control at lower long-term cost.
- You need a legacy CAM physically in the tuner’s CI slot, a GPU or substantial storage: use your own hardware or a dedicated server.
- You must scan many frequencies continuously: a single shared, frequency-locked tuner cannot do that.
- You need only a few free-to-air channels at home: a consumer tuner and dish may be proportionate.
- You want to broadcast on a satellite rather than receive one: buy satellite capacity, not a hosted tuner.
Gleb Sazanov
Chief Technology Officer
Gleb Sazanov is an accomplished Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with over 20 years of experience in software development, system architecture, and cloud-based solutions. As the CTO of SATLINE, a leading provider of virtual and colocation services tailored to SATCOM businesses, Gleb drives the company’s technological strategy, fostering innovation and efficiency in data center services. His expertise spans various domains, including DevOps, system scaling, and high-performance infrastructure management. With a deep passion for cutting-edge technologies, Gleb plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of the SATCOM industry.