Sky Gnome.

Irulan

Just wondering if anyone has got one of these?. Whats the sound like?. Would the sound be as good as a standard radio?. I am thinkig about buying one.,but I would like to be sure the sound is at least reasonable and not tinny .

Charles Slane

As far as I know, it's not available in Ireland yet.

Drag00n79

A few on eBay usually going for around the £85 mark (incl postage).

BBV

Got one through a relative in the UK last week. But its going back because it doesn't work.

Got the sound going for 4.5 mins at a time before the base station would shutdown. Sound quality seemed reasonable for a small portable radio - which is what I want for listening to football/cricket commentaries.

Problem seemed to be between the base station and digibox, got sound ok for 4.5 mins after the basestation was plugged in, but no program info on the Gnome and couldn't switch channels from the Gnome. I tried with my Sky+ Irish sub and UK FTV box so its not an issue with the Irish sub or my sky boxes.

Seems this problem is not uncommon looking at some UK boards.

byte

Not a good start for the Gnome then.

I wonder if it'll ever be released in Ireland.

Mossy Monk

if it doesnt work theres no point in releasing it here

byte

Mossy Monk wrote:

if it doesnt work theres no point in releasing it here

Yup, true enough. I'm still curious though, and would like to see one, though if they're that dodgy, I won't be buying one!

BBV

BBV wrote:

Got one through a relative in the UK last week. But its going back because it doesn't work.

Got the sound going for 4.5 mins at a time before the base station would shutdown. Sound quality seemed reasonable for a small portable radio - which is what I want for listening to football/cricket commentaries.

Problem seemed to be between the base station and digibox, got sound ok for 4.5 mins after the basestation was plugged in, but no program info on the Gnome and couldn't switch channels from the Gnome. I tried with my Sky+ Irish sub and UK FTV box so its not an issue with the Irish sub or my sky boxes.

Seems this problem is not uncommon looking at some UK boards.

Just to update - got my replacement Gnome yesterday and its working fine. Fairly impressed with the sound considering its such a small box. Handy little gadget, but could do with a battery meter on the display.

pH

I'm presuming that the reason Sky aren't selling them here is either a legal problem with the transmitter or just they can't be arsed as a business setting it up for the Irish market, rather than them "not working" over here in a technical sense.

Can the Gnome unit be plugged into a main socket or does it have to run off batteries?

BBV

No legal reason as far as I'm aware - it uses 433mhz which is standard for a lot of wireless stuff. I suspect its more to do with them expecting problems and wanting to only ship in and out around the UK. I heard somewwhere that the plan is that you will able to buy them in shops at some point.

Adaptors are supplied for the base station and Gnome - The gnome has a rechargable battery and you can run it from that or the mains.

ShaneOC

Most annoying thing about the gnome would be the lack of availability of the BBC radio channels on it. I'm assuming you can't change channels withing other channels (i.e. go from 5 live to 5 live sports extra without running back to the main box).

BBV

Yes, you can only switch to channels on the EPG from the Gnome. Not a problem for me as I have a FTV card.

watty

ShaneOC wrote:

Most annoying thing about the gnome would be the lack of availability of the BBC radio channels on it. I'm assuming you can't change channels withing other channels (i.e. go from 5 live to 5 live sports extra without running back to the main box).

Do the "upside down card while on Sky news while in Interactive" trick. The UK EPG minus C4 and Five loads. All BBC Radio work on EPG then.

ShaneOC

I have a FTV card on a seperate box so this is not too big of an issue however it does mean that you can't listen to the subscription music channels.

It really would be so much better if we could get the BBC radio channels on the Irish EPG. The Irish radio channels are on the UK EPG.

440Hz

Got my Dad a Gnome for Christmas and now I am def. going to buy one too. Im totally addicted. He actually went to get a second sky box so that he could use his *other* card and now has all his fav international radio stations on all day, and we can still watch TV. Sound is great, and we had it working within 5 mins out of the box. Its great, now I never have to miss anything I wanna watch/hear... Like listening to the audio of your fav prog in the bath or something!

440Hz

ShaneOC wrote:

It really would be so much better if we could get the BBC radio channels on the Irish EPG. The Irish radio channels are on the UK EPG.

There are *ways* around this.

Mossy Monk

of course there are ways but it would be nice to be able to have them without changing cards

watty

Maybe the Watty auto UK EPG adaptor is called for.

Plug it into card slot and plug Irish card in. A suitable signal then simulates the "upside down card". I need to see what a Gnome sends back. Or perhaps if you press TV button on Sky Remote (SCART is then 0V).

Drag00n79

Just got one from eBay this week. Very impressed with it so far. Great to listen to the UK radio stations around the house.