FTA General questions

briwal

General questions

I would like to buy a set up for my TV that gives me....

... free to air (once off payment) with the Irish channels and whatever is available (BBCs, ITVs, etc..).

.. the ability to record programmes from the various channels while viewing other channels.

.. the ability to block certain inappropriate channels from my kids.

I would like some reputable company/individual (preferably in the Galway area) to install this for me.

My understanding so far is that I will need a terrestrial aerial, a satellite dish and a satellite receiver. I do not know what is the most appropriate receiver (Ferguson, Dreambox?, Skybox,...) that will give the functionality that I require.

Can anybody out there simplify this for me or even better recommend an installer that can provide what I am looking for?

Thanks in advance....

TheDriver

I'd say wait for the bbc freesat to launch as there will be pvrs on sale then and you can benefit from epgs and no doubt they will have parental stuff in place also.

Trevord

Whatever solution you decide on it would be worth your while investing some time in getting to know the basics of how to set your dish up.

The high winds we get on the west coast are liable to knock your dish out of line and if you are going for an fta option you may not find it easy to get some one out to sort it.

As Dish. box + terrestrial antennae will set you back at least 400 I think with installation, I'd agree with previous poster that waiting for new BBC free set up (due quite soon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat) is probably best option.

Suggest you have the dish locate the dish at step ladder height if possible for reasons set out above.

Hotblack Desiato

briwal wrote: »

... free to air (once off payment) with the Irish channels and whatever is available (BBCs, ITVs, etc..)

The Irish channels are only available on satellite through a Sky subscription. The only alternative is a terrestrial aerial.

vbboardie

ninja900 wrote: »

The Irish channels are only available on satellite through a Sky subscription. The only alternative is a terrestrial aerial.

what would be the best aerial to go for but not the most expensive?

watty

Depends where you live (Which transmitter, how far away).

cpslane

I was on here a few weeks back asking about a company selling a FTA system for €175 and got great advice. since then i have got to know the installer quite well and bought some other stuff from him.
he was telling me about the new system his company will be launching.
some of the details of the system are.
Built in multicam, softcam can bu updated via rs232, usb for recording, PIP, zoom,. rf input and out put, some other stuff i cant remember. they plan selling the system installed for €199. or motorized for €299.
i asked him to get in touch with watty and he said he will soon.

me1724

on other older threads there are post which say if you get the sky package for a year and then cancel your subscription that you will be left with the free to air channels, bbc 1, itv, film 4 etc...
does anyone know if this is still the case??? and if it does work what excally are the chanels you would be left with??

the free to air package i got last week cost 260 euro with "250 channels"...the only thing is there is prob only 10 of these channels worth watching bbc, itv, film 4, sky news....so if i could get a cheap sky package for a year for and then have the free to air channels after the year it would prob be a much better deal...

steveon

You will get the same channels for free on a sky box but they are all scattered around and cannot be moved. With an FTA box you can move the channels to any order you choose. There should be more than ten decent channels though such as Film4, True movies, Sky news, bbc and itv channels to name but a few..