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Need advice before joining Sky

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  • 29-07-2014 12:15am
    #1
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭


    I've been using Windows Media Center for TV for many years. Have a satellite dish at the back of the house pointed at the Eurobird satellite and it also has an antennae on it. I run 2 sat cables for UK Freeview and 2 antennae cables for digital terrestial running to the Media Center PC in the living room which has a 4-tuner TV card. Tuner card has been acting up and skipping some channels and as Microsoft no longer support Media Center, I'm reluctantly changing my setup.

    I have UPC broadband and it's brilliant but having used Horizon and heard the horror stories, I just can't bring myself to go for it, so am thinking Sky is the best option.

    We don't watch that many channels or that much TV overall but do like being able to record a decent amount and to watch remotely as we're often travelling with work.

    Looking at the Sky bundles, the basic seems fine, might be tempted for the documentary channels on the Variety Bundle, but BBC, ITV, RTE don't seem to be listed, would I need a separate box for those or can they easily be added to the Sky box?

    Will Sky use my existing satellite (on a bracket at back of house pointing over the roof, rather than being visible from the front of the house)?

    Only channels I really need in HD (as they're what we mainly watch) are BBC, ITV, RTE, Channel 4 - do you need the HD Pack in order to get these in HD?

    I like the sound of the HD box but at €149 with the HD Pack it's steep, at 249 if not taking the HD pack, it'd be way too pricey.

    Given I don't need sports, movies, or many channels outside the core channels, is getting Sky the right option at this point or is there something that a different PVR box and/or XBMC (which didn't have easy live TV/PVR functionality last time I checked a couple of years ago) that I would be better off going for?

    New joiner deal ending Thursday basically gives no hardware or setup costs....Bargain Alerts thread focuses mainly on renewal deals, are there any extra new joiner deals the resourceful folks on boards have uncovered?

    Thanks for any pointers


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    #2
    greasepalm
    Registered Users Posts: 5,252 ✭✭✭greasepalm


    for those channels like rte,ch4,bbc,itv can all be got on a combo box in hd sat and saorview sky hd is expensive ,combo box one off payment.plenty of boxes out there for other things.
    you can add external hdd but might only be able to view saorview while recording sat and vice-versa.

    you mentioned remotely no homeview only.


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    #3
    lertsnim
    Registered Users Posts: 9,717 ✭✭✭lertsnim


    Channel 4 HD is also not on the Irish Sky EPG.


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    #4
    eezipc
    Closed Accounts Posts: 534 ✭✭✭eezipc


    Get yourself a good free to air combi box and you will have all Irish/BBC/ITV/Channel4 channels. Includes ITV/UTV HD, BBC 1 & 2 HD (BBC 3 HD as well I think), Channel 4 HD.
    No need to pay for Sky my friend.


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    #5
    ftakeith
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,251 ✭✭✭ftakeith


    FrankGrimes wrote: »
    I've been using Windows Media Center for TV for many years. Have a satellite dish at the back of the house pointed at the Eurobird satellite and it also has an antennae on it. I run 2 sat cables for UK Freeview and 2 antennae cables for digital terrestial running to the Media Center PC in the living room which has a 4-tuner TV card. Tuner card has been acting up and skipping some channels and as Microsoft no longer support Media Center, I'm reluctantly changing my setup.

    I have UPC broadband and it's brilliant but having used Horizon and heard the horror stories, I just can't bring myself to go for it, so am thinking Sky is the best option.

    We don't watch that many channels or that much TV overall but do like being able to record a decent amount and to watch remotely as we're often travelling with work.

    Looking at the Sky bundles, the basic seems fine, might be tempted for the documentary channels on the Variety Bundle, but BBC, ITV, RTE don't seem to be listed, would I need a separate box for those or can they easily be added to the Sky box?

    Will Sky use my existing satellite (on a bracket at back of house pointing over the roof, rather than being visible from the front of the house)?

    Only channels I really need in HD (as they're what we mainly watch) are BBC, ITV, RTE, Channel 4 - do you need the HD Pack in order to get these in HD?

    I like the sound of the HD box but at €149 with the HD Pack it's steep, at 249 if not taking the HD pack, it'd be way too pricey.

    Given I don't need sports, movies, or many channels outside the core channels, is getting Sky the right option at this point or is there something that a different PVR box and/or XBMC (which didn't have easy live TV/PVR functionality last time I checked a couple of years ago) that I would be better off going for?

    New joiner deal ending Thursday basically gives no hardware or setup costs....Bargain Alerts thread focuses mainly on renewal deals, are there any extra new joiner deals the resourceful folks on boards have uncovered?

    Thanks for any pointers

    the documentary channels on the Variety Bundle are terrible because those documentaries tv channels mostly are fly on the wall documentaries
    just stick to the original bundle for 28euros
    most of the best documentaries are on channel4, more4, bbc4 and bbc2


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    #6
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭FrankGrimes


    Much obliged, thanks for the pointers folks.

    I can do without ability to watch/schedule remotely from outside the house. Would be nice to be able to stream live TV or at least recordings to Xbox and/or laptops around the house, but not a deal breaker if it's the difference between going with a free to air option and paying a subscription to Sky.

    So, it seems I need to get a free-to-air combi box, given the saving on the Sky subscription, I'll probably invest in one towards the higher-end, so what would be good options to go for? While it would be good to be able to record Saorview while watching Freesat, or vice versa, it's not a deal breaker.

    I have a Windows Home Server on my local area network with all my DVDs ripped, recorded TV (from Media Center), photos, music etc. Is it possible to stream these to a good combi box?

    Netflix is also another consideration: worst case, I'll just flick back to the Media Center box for Netflix and web browsing, but if these were covered by the combi box, that'd be sweet.

    I see mention of XBMC on another thread. My previous experience was that it didn't do a great job on a HTPC as setting it up to work with a TV tuner was troublesome. But in this scenario would it be more the case that you install XBMC as an app on the combi box so that the box itself takes care of the live TV recording and then the XBMC app just provides a nice UI for accessing your media stored on an external HDD or streamed on the network (e.g. from my Windows Home Server)? That could actually be a perfect solution for me if it's possible!


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    #7
    Johnboy1951
    Registered Users Posts: 13,990 ✭✭✭✭Johnboy1951


    I've been using Windows Media Center for TV for many years. Have a satellite dish at the back of the house pointed at the Eurobird satellite and it also has an antennae on it. I run 2 sat cables for UK Freeview and 2 antennae cables for digital terrestial running to the Media Center PC in the living room which has a 4-tuner TV card. Tuner card has been acting up and skipping some channels and as Microsoft no longer support Media Center, I'm reluctantly changing my setup.

    You don't have to change the hardware just because MS are no longer supporting some software.

    IMO you should try running Openelec on that hardware, using TVHeadend backend for the tuning, and see if the tuners behave with that software.


    IMO, going pay TV without any real gain needs to be considered more closely.
    ;)


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    #8
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,534 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    Some of the higher end, Linux based, combo boxes allow you to watch/record 2 satellites and a terrestrial at the same time. Have 7 day EPG for all in one list and can stream live or recorded material across your home network. All for a once off payment. They do need a bit of know-how to set up but are well worth the effort. See the threads in the terrestrial forum for the likes of the Amiko Alien 2


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    #9
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭FrankGrimes


    Johnboy1951 wrote: »
    You don't have to change the hardware just because MS are no longer supporting some software.

    IMO you should try running Openelec on that hardware, using TVHeadend backend for the tuning, and see if the tuners behave with that software.


    IMO, going pay TV without any real gain needs to be considered more closely.
    ;)
    Thanks for this and it definitely gave me cause for reconsidering and on reflection it does seem there's no real need for us to pay for Sky, given free-to-air and Netflix is all we really watch.

    Your Openelec/TVHeadend suggestion is very interesting but how much time would be needed to read up on it and work through setup/configuration? I've sunk so much time into Media Center over the years (which when it worked was brilliant) that I'm not sure I have the heart or the time to go through learning & testing/tweaking a new platform unless it's relatively straightforward (which would be great as it'd give me the ideal combo of PVR for live broadcast TV and XBMC for my other media all through one interface).

    I have the niggling feeling that there may be an issue with my Blackgold TV Tuner card hardware as it was working perfectly in Media Center for ages, then just started not being able to display certain channels, with others working perfectly sometimes but then channel change not working at other times. Wonder could it be a problem with dish getting misaligned in a storm?


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    #10
    basill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,348 ✭✭✭basill


    Linux combi box such as the Amiko Alien 2 would satisfy your needs as mentioned above. Much of the initial pain has been taken away as our resident experts have uploaded images that can be loaded onto the box and get you up and running from the get go. You can stream it to your iPad whilst in bed, using a DNS service as no-ip you can even access the box from abroad and watch TV in a hotel room should you like. There are many addons which as iptv, YouTube etc which take it to the next level. Networking the box will enable all your TV recordings to be available wherever you are in the world.


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    #11
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭FrankGrimes


    basill wrote: »
    Linux combi box such as the Amiko Alien 2 would satisfy your needs as mentioned above. Much of the initial pain has been taken away as our resident experts have uploaded images that can be loaded onto the box and get you up and running from the get go. You can stream it to your iPad whilst in bed, using a DNS service as no-ip you can even access the box from abroad and watch TV in a hotel room should you like. There are many addons which as iptv, YouTube etc which take it to the next level. Networking the box will enable all your TV recordings to be available wherever you are in the world.

    Brilliant, thanks for that. I spent some time reading some threads on the Amiko Alien 2 last night and though I certainly didn't pick up everything, I think I got the jist, but good to see your confirmation that the above features are available.

    So I'll go for one of those unless there's a better box to invest in (want to ensure smooth HD TV playback is not a concern), e.g. some of the higher-end Technomate models look interesting (but if the AA2 is best given the image options available, I’ll get that). Looks like I need the triple tuner version and the 2+ version is the one to go for?

    Is there a limitation on the size of the external HDD that can be used? I have a 3TB external HDD, though it’s currently NTFS formatted and stores PC backups, so I’ll probably just get a new external 3.5” HDD at whatever capacity the AA2 can work with.

    SatWorld are located near to me and have the Amiko Alien 2 Triple Plus for €177 here and can build it with Enigma 2 installed, so seems like that might be a handy option for me to pick it up?

    Last question would then be what image to go for that gives the right balance between rich features and being stable (wife acceptance factor has been strained due to the recent outages so getting up and running and stable quickly is a priority)?

    Thanks again for the help.


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    #12
    Gerry Wicklow
    Registered Users Posts: 4,534 ✭✭✭Gerry Wicklow


    I would recommend the current ChampionC Hyperion 4 flavour of enigma as the most stable for starters. There is a newer OpenATV but it is a work in progress. The beauty of the AA2 is the ability to take backups of your existing enigma image and swap around until you find whatever one takes your fancy. Re-flashing only takes 2 minutes.


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    #13
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭FrankGrimes


    Gerry Wicklow wrote: »
    I would recommend the current ChampionC Hyperion 4 flavour of enigma as the most stable for starters. There is a newer OpenATV but it is a work in progress. The beauty of the AA2 is the ability to take backups of your existing enigma image and swap around until you find whatever one takes your fancy. Re-flashing only takes 2 minutes.

    Perfect, thanks for that. I'll call SatWorld and arrange to purchase it ASAP so. Will go ahead with the image you recommended.

    It will be connected to my network via ethernet cable and output will go into my AV Receiver via HDMI and then video output from that will go to the TV via HDMI also. Other than a USB key to do the image loading, is there any other hardware/tools I need to get for the setup (want to avoid that situation where you're ready to go and find you're missing that one simple thing :)).

    Will also order an external HDD online, any thoughts between 2.5/3.5" and if there's a max supported capacity?


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    #14
    basill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,348 ✭✭✭basill


    Don't think there is a drive size limitation at all. I have a seagate 1tb portable drive but others rave about the external samsungs. A higher rpm will help out if your budget can stretch to it. You could use a NAS instead which would open up lots more opportunities eg: your recordings will be available across the home network.


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    #15
    FrankGrimes
    Registered Users Posts: 4,028 ✭✭✭FrankGrimes


    basill wrote: »
    Don't think there is a drive size limitation at all. I have a seagate 1tb portable drive but others rave about the external samsungs. A higher rpm will help out if your budget can stretch to it. You could use a NAS instead which would open up lots more opportunities eg: your recordings will be available across the home network.

    Thanks. Have ordered it and will collect it today/tomorrow, looking forward to getting to play around with it. I think the threads on the Terrestial forum are probably best place to start on how to install the relevant image?

    The NAS point is intriguing....would my Windows Home Server work in the same manner (i.e. have the AA2 record over the ethernet network to my WHS)?


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    #16
    basill
    Registered Users Posts: 1,348 ✭✭✭basill


    Cannot see why not. You either map the AA2 to a network drive or else tell it to point to its USB port if using an external plug and play HDD. So long as your server is on the same network as the AA2 then it should be able to "see" whatever network drive you want it to. The guys in the terrestrial forum will know for sure.


  • Options
    #17
    Bishop22
    Registered Users Posts: 66 ✭✭Bishop22


    Good evening folks,

    Off topic but related to the AA2. Can I ask a question please regarding the Amiko Alien 2 - I have the box in my attic so that its situated close to the internet router and an SLX 4 way distribution box. I have coax running to 4 TV's from the attic. Problem I have is the picture on all the TV's is very poor (compared to the HDMI output on the Alien which is excellent). I am using the red, white and yellow phono outputs on the back of the Alien (is this called 'composite'?) and running these into a RF Modulator to create an RF signal to travel into the 4 way SLX and down the coax to all TV's. I temporarily have a tv in the attic so that I can trick with the AV setting on the Alien to see what works best. It appears the highest res I can set on the Alien is 576, anything higher and there's no picture displayed on the tv. There's no possibility of rewiring the house at this stage, to run HDMI cables or CAT5 to each of the TV's.

    Anyone got any ideas or suggestions, convertors, wireless solutions etc. that would solve the problem?? Here's hoping icon11.png


  • Options
    #18
    Mayo Yid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 366 ✭✭Mayo Yid


    Bishop22 wrote: »
    Good evening folks,

    Off topic but related to the AA2. Can I ask a question please regarding the Amiko Alien 2 - I have the box in my attic so that its situated close to the internet router and an SLX 4 way distribution box. I have coax running to 4 TV's from the attic. Problem I have is the picture on all the TV's is very poor (compared to the HDMI output on the Alien which is excellent). I am using the red, white and yellow phono outputs on the back of the Alien (is this called 'composite'?) and running these into a RF Modulator to create an RF signal to travel into the 4 way SLX and down the coax to all TV's. I temporarily have a tv in the attic so that I can trick with the AV setting on the Alien to see what works best. It appears the highest res I can set on the Alien is 576, anything higher and there's no picture displayed on the tv. There's no possibility of rewiring the house at this stage, to run HDMI cables or CAT5 to each of the TV's.

    Anyone got any ideas or suggestions, convertors, wireless solutions etc. that would solve the problem?? Here's hoping

    RF is nearly an obsolete technology, why waste any time with it, your setup is outdated. Send a combined satellite and terrestrial signal down the coax and add a box at each TV


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    #19
    Bishop22
    Registered Users Posts: 66 ✭✭Bishop22


    Jees Mayo Yid, that's not exactly what I was hoping to hear :-)
    RF may be well established however coax isn't outdated as far as signal transmission is concerned?

    I really couldn't have 4 x STB's cluttering up the house. Eco friendly + Wife and all that..


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    #20
    Mayo Yid
    Closed Accounts Posts: 366 ✭✭Mayo Yid


    Bishop22 wrote: »
    Jees Mayo Yid, that's not exactly what I was hoping to hear :-)
    RF may be well established however coax isn't outdated as far as signal transmission is concerned?

    I really couldn't have 4 x STB's cluttering up the house. Eco friendly + Wife and all that..

    Only hotels use digital rf systems, it's big money. You can get satellite and combo boxes these days that are so small they will fit behind a wall mounted flat screen TV, check out the Amiko mini range


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    #21
    The Cush
    Registered Users Posts: 15,478 ✭✭✭✭The Cush


    Bishop22 wrote: »
    There's no possibility of rewiring the house at this stage, to run HDMI cables or CAT5 to each of the TV's.

    Anyone got any ideas or suggestions, convertors, wireless solutions etc. that would solve the problem?? Here's hoping

    Because you cannot upgrade the cabling you're stuck with the co-ax to each TV point so the easiest option is use this to carry a combined raw satellite and Saorview signal to a STB as suggested above or combi Saorview/satellite TVs (no extra STBs required). These options will give you best picture quality with flexibility to view different programming on the various TVs.

    I installed one of these small units for satellite TV at my sisters place behind a small bedroom TV.


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    #22
    Technofobe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 474 ✭✭Technofobe


    FrankGrimes wrote: »
    Thanks. Have ordered it and will collect it today/tomorrow, looking forward to getting to play around with it. I think the threads on the Terrestial forum are probably best place to start on how to install the relevant image?

    The NAS point is intriguing....would my Windows Home Server work in the same manner (i.e. have the AA2 record over the ethernet network to my WHS)?
    This is the up to date thread for AA2 with enigma 2 os
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057246289

    This is the thread for AA2 with the original spark os
    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057246284
    These boxes are dual boot so you can usewhichever image suits your needs most people seem to prefer enigma2

    been using mine withe hyperion 4 for about 6 months very happy


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