freesat boxes in ROI

TheDriver

Just spotted over on ds and checked it myself but freesat.ie seems to have humax hd box for sale and only 200 euro which seems regular price compared to 150 stg quoted officially. Wonder will other suppliers start getting them here now? I notice that satellite.ie is stating freesat packages but a regular fta box being given, think the freesat name being peddled everywhere.

P.S. Never dealt with freesat.ie etc but only mentioning them because they seem to have them for sale.

watty

It's inevitable as they become more available.

I'm waiting for the Humax dual tuner PVR HD box (August?).

IT Loser

There was a guy on Ebay selling a Triax Freesat box for €85 and €10 for delivery. He was in Kerry, I let it slide as I am a Setanta head.

€95 all in, not bad, not bad.

TheDriver

Indeed I too expected them to become available but 200 euro is very competitive. Good to see them coming along

Tony

TheDriver wrote: »

J notice that satellite.ie is stating freesat packages but a regular fta box being given, think the freesat name being peddled everywhere.

You are right it is being used widely but maybe because the term "free satellite" had been abbreviated to freesat long before the current offering came along. I took a look at a bush freesat box in armstrongs today and apart from the 7 day listing it seems not much better than a regular FTA box, I thought at least it would have had "genres" in the same way as a sky box.

L1011

IT Loser wrote: »

There was a guy on Ebay selling a Triax Freesat box for €85 and €10 for delivery. He was in Kerry, I let it slide as I am a Setanta head.

€95 all in, not bad, not bad.

Thats an FTA box - Triax don't make Freesat boxes

And thats bloody expensive for an eBay jobbie!

bittihuduga

now - what is the difference between FTA box and Freesat box?

Tony

Well by Freesat box its meant to carry the Freesat logo and access the Freesat epg. Confusing I know as the FTA box can view all the channels of Freesat and a few more besides.I would also expect that a Freesat box would update transponder info automatically, a FTA box you have to do this yourself if a broadcaster changes frequency.

bittihuduga wrote: »

now - what is the difference between FTA box and Freesat box?

Myxomatosis

bittihuduga wrote: »

now - what is the difference between FTA box and Freesat box?

Freesat boxes will be slightly more advanced than your normal FTA box, things like interactive content, pressing the red button and all that will work on a Freesat box, not like manually going to BBCi channels on a FTA box.

I think all Freesat boxes do HD as well.

IT Loser

MYOB wrote: »

Thats an FTA box - Triax don't make Freesat boxes

And thats bloody expensive for an eBay jobbie!

Ahhh.....I done well to avoid the bollix!!!

Yes...to confirm what others have said...a FREESAT box has its own EPG and its own Symbol.

A freesat box is NOT a freesat unless it has this symbol on it:-



FREESAT is a service provided by the BBC/ITV as a joint venture.

Thanks for spotting my mistake MYOB

Tony

Myxomatosis wrote: »

I think all Freesat boxes do HD as well.

No only HD freesat boxes such as the Humax do HD although a FTA HD box will allowing viewing of HD services too from Astra 2.

TheDriver

You also don't have to keep doing rescans everytime pids change and a channel guide would be nice, especially when price is same as regular fta boxes.

slegs

IT Loser wrote: »

There was a guy on Ebay selling a Triax Freesat box for €85 and €10 for delivery. He was in Kerry, I let it slide as I am a Setanta head.

€95 all in, not bad, not bad.

Triax dont make a freesat box. Only Humax, Bush, Goodmans and Grundig do. As stated earlier freesat and FTA are being used by retailers as the same thing but there are clear differences.

See www.freesat.co.uk for detail on the products.

Not advertising services but for transparency I am retailing freesat boxes and installation also.

Tony

slegs wrote: »

Not advertising services but for transparency I am retailing freesat boxes and installation also.

You should get yourself listed in the supplier sticky thread, the more the merrier

The_Dave

Forgive my ignorance; but where is this "Supplier" sticky thread, I've looked in the Stickys, but no luck

TheDriver

Welcome Slegs, good to see more professional retailers here, Tony has been a great asset along with Watty and Byte and others. Hope you put input into our forums.

Tony

The_Dave wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance; but where is this "Supplier" sticky thread, I've looked in the Stickys, but no luck

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714

The_Dave

Tony wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714

Oops, I'd been there, but still kept looking for a sticky with "Suppliers" in it:o, thanks sir

Tony

The_Dave wrote: »

Oops, I'd been there, but still kept looking for a sticky with "Suppliers" in it:o, thanks sir

My mistake, I call it the suppler sticky but its "shops bricks mortar etc"

The_Dave

Tony wrote: »

My mistake, I call it the suppler sticky but its "shops bricks mortar etc"

I'm not being a lazy ar*e, but I've been reading all the threads and am still not much wiser as to what Satellite dish and receiver I should get (looking for Free to Air), any suggestions?

Tony

The_Dave wrote: »

I'm not being a lazy ar*e, but I've been reading all the threads and am still not much wiser as to what Satellite dish and receiver I should get (looking for Free to Air), any suggestions?

Is it just the English stuff from Astra 2 you need or something more?

givecredit

Tony wrote: »

I took a look at a bush freesat box in armstrongs today and apart from the 7 day listing it seems not much better than a regular FTA box, I thought at least it would have had "genres" in the same way as a sky box.

The Humax foxsat box has genres, similar to Sky's. My understanding is all the other manufacturers will have genres soon by means of a firmware upgrade. Apparently it is a spec of freesat.

byte

The_Dave wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance; but where is this "Supplier" sticky thread, I've looked in the Stickys, but no luck

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=155714

slegs

TheDriver wrote: »

Welcome Slegs, good to see more professional retailers here, Tony has been a great asset along with Watty and Byte and others. Hope you put input into our forums.

Thanks TheDriver

channelsurfer

been looking at sky hd boxes on ebay but it seems that they are useless without a valid subscription to use the PVR. while I would like to have the upcoming freesat hd pvr I would loose about 15 fta/ftv channels if I switched to freesat.
does anyone think in the short time sky will allow the HD to be used as a pvr without subscription?
I did ring sky last night to find out about special offers on their HD like half price for a year etc and they told me it only applies to mulit-room but they do plan to do a HD offer soon...

slegs

channelsurfer wrote: »

been looking at sky hd boxes on ebay but it seems that they are useless without a valid subscription to use the PVR. while I would like to have the upcoming freesat hd pvr I would loose about 15 fta/ftv channels if I switched to freesat.
does anyone think in the short time sky will allow the HD to be used as a pvr without subscription?
I did ring sky last night to find out about special offers on their HD like half price for a year etc and they told me it only applies to mulit-room but they do plan to do a HD offer soon...

With the Humax (who will be making the PVR) you can add any FTA channel manually to the EPG. It all then depends how they implement recording on the FTA channels that dont have EPG info.

For FTV channels, 5 and its sister channels are expected to join the platform shortly (though no confirmation yet). Dave and UKGold have also been rumored but thats as far as its gone. The onyl FTV channels that most likely wont end up there are the Sky owned channels.

Most of this is rumor and speculation though and depends on the success of the platform I'd say.

coffee to go

Hey lads,

Just thought I'd chime in here - I've just got a Humax HD Freesat box up and running here in Newbridge. If anyone has any specific questions about the workings of the box, the EPG or the Freesat lineup, I'll do my best to see if I can help. (I know most of it will be covered on digitalspy, but ye never know).

Overall, I'm really impressed with it - The OSD is much easier on the eye than our previous FTA box, and BBC HD looks fab (nice to be finally able to see what our TV can actually do...).

G

TheDriver

DS has reported that component out becomes disabled during certain programmes on HD which basically means that you can't record them using the humax HD box.

stephene

Thought this link might be of interest to those who want to see what the Humax FOXSAT screens looks like.

Patience is not one of my virtues, but I really must try exercise some restraint and hold off for the PVR version.

Stephen.

TheDriver

The_Dave wrote: »

I'm not being a lazy ar*e, but I've been reading all the threads and am still not much wiser as to what Satellite dish and receiver I should get (looking for Free to Air), any suggestions?

If its normal channels you want, get a triax 78 dish and a freesat box (proper freesat box, not just a fta box, humax seems best and if you have an lcd, get a hd box as your at it. Satellite.ie have triax dishes but freesat.ie have the proper freesat boxes in stock.

slegs

The_Dave wrote: »

I'm not being a lazy ar*e, but I've been reading all the threads and am still not much wiser as to what Satellite dish and receiver I should get (looking for Free to Air), any suggestions?

See www.freesat.co.uk for details on compatible hardware and then do a search! Any mid sized Satellite dish and universal LNB pointing at Astra 28.2E will do.

EDIT:

here are the compatible receiver listings

Standard Definition
http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Products&type_id=1

High Definition
http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Products&type_id=2

PVR (Rumored available August)
http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Products&type_id=3

Integrated receiver in Television - Panasonic (Estimaetd Available July in UK)
http://www.freesat.co.uk/index.php?page=products.Products&type_id=4

RuggieBear

decided to jump from the NTL ship and get the freesat.ie standard package.
I'm assuming i'll just be able to purchase a HD PVR when available and plug it in down the line and i'Ll get whatever HD channels are available. I was also thinking of just buying a PC dvb-s/s2 card. That will get HD too won't it?

The_Dave

Thanks for that lads:)

pat 1964

went on to google found site selling receiver with biult in p.v.r and multi cam and installed for 249 what do u think site is called www.esbi-ltd.com
?

pH

It's a real pity that the standard boxes aren't upgradeable to PVRs using USB2.0/firewire/eSATA external drives, would allow lots of choice but perhaps it would be a support nightmare.

Roll on august, bye bye Sky, I just couldn't live without PVR since Sky+, and HD is great too.

went on to google found site selling receiver with biult in p.v.r and multi cam and installed for 249 what do u think site is called www.esbi-ltd.com
?

These have been available for some time, but you won't get an EPG and interactive services like you will on the freesat PVR boxes. TBH a PVR without an EPG is a pain in the ass, various solutions do exist to get EPGs for UK sat TV up onto some of these but they're really more a hobbyist solution, if you're not interested in playing with the tech and want a simple out of the box sat TV solution then Sky+ or wait until August for freesat PVRs

bk

slegs wrote: »

For FTV channels, 5 and its sister channels are expected to join the platform shortly (though no confirmation yet). Dave and UKGold have also been rumored but thats as far as its gone. The onyl FTV channels that most likely wont end up there are the Sky owned channels.

Well given that they currently have 80 channels and expect to have 200 by Christmas, it would seem that most of the UK channels (other then Sky obviously) will make their way to FreeSat, unless they are counting foreign language channels in the 200.

So I'd expect C5 channels, UKTV/Dave channels (half owned by the BBC anyway), most of the music and kids channels.

It'll be interesting to see what Virgin 1 (bravo, trouble, etc.) do and what Discovery do.

watty

Discovery is pay TV everywhere.
Virgin is no Sky lover but pay TV.

bk

watty wrote: »

Discovery is pay TV everywhere.
Virgin is no Sky lover but pay TV.

Yes, Discovery unfortunately unlikely, unless it really takes off big. Virgin 1 at least is possible as it is already on Freeview.

syboit

RuggieBear wrote: »

decided to jump from the NTL ship and get the freesat.ie standard package.
I'm assuming i'll just be able to purchase a HD PVR when available and plug it in down the line and i'Ll get whatever HD channels are available. I was also thinking of just buying a PC dvb-s/s2 card. That will get HD too won't it?

Yup, just plug in a pvr later. And yes to the dvb-s2 card aswell, have a look at the other thread in this section about sat cards and freesat (some good info)

SteM

bk wrote: »

Well given that they currently have 80 channels and expect to have 200 by Christmas, it would seem that most of the UK channels (other then Sky obviously) will make their way to FreeSat, unless they are counting foreign language channels in the 200.

So I'd expect C5 channels, UKTV/Dave channels (half owned by the BBC anyway), most of the music and kids channels.

It'll be interesting to see what Virgin 1 (bravo, trouble, etc.) do and what Discovery do.

I'd expect tons of shopping, religious and soft porn channels.

channelsurfer

how easy would it be to remove the dual lnb i have and put in a quad lnb along with the connectors and wiring myself to prepare for the freesat pvr? is it a delicate task getting the quad lnb to line up correctly without a sat finder or does it just go straight back on if the dish isnt moved?

MartyM

channelsurfer wrote: »

how easy would it be to remove the dual lnb i have and put in a quad lnb along with the connectors and wiring myself to prepare for the freesat pvr? is it a delicate task getting the quad lnb to line up correctly without a sat finder or does it just go straight back on if the dish isnt moved?

if it works like Sky+, is the dual LNB not enough? providing you only want to connect to one box...

channelsurfer

sorry forgot to say I have a second box connected for the dual lnb so would have to replace it with a quad lnb to utilise to pvr on my original box.

TheDriver

channelsurfer wrote: »

how easy would it be to remove the dual lnb i have and put in a quad lnb along with the connectors and wiring myself to prepare for the freesat pvr? is it a delicate task getting the quad lnb to line up correctly without a sat finder or does it just go straight back on if the dish isnt moved?

Just replaces the dual, no movement of dish

Tony

Might be worthwhile getting an extra cable and twin/quad lnb in for twin tuner at this point,would be cheaper than doing it later unless of course you can do it yourself.

RuggieBear wrote: »

decided to jump from the NTL ship and get the freesat.ie standard package.
I'm assuming i'll just be able to purchase a HD PVR when available and plug it in down the line and i'Ll get whatever HD channels are available. I was also thinking of just buying a PC dvb-s/s2 card. That will get HD too won't it?

Tony

If the dish is aligned correctly you just swap the lnb's over as Driver mentions.

channelsurfer wrote: »

sorry forgot to say I have a second box connected for the dual lnb so would have to replace it with a quad lnb to utilise to pvr on my original box.

RuggieBear

Tony wrote: »

Might be worthwhile getting an extra cable and twin/quad lnb in for twin tuner at this point,would be cheaper than doing it later unless of course you can do it yourself.

ah...well the plan was to get two SD boxes and three rooms cabled. So when/if i did get a HD box I could just move a SD box to the third room. does that mean i'll have to get the room where i want to have the HDPVR another cable....? If so how much extra does that cost?

1stimpressions

coffee to go wrote: »

Hey lads,

Just thought I'd chime in here - I've just got a Humax HD Freesat box up and running here in Newbridge. If anyone has any specific questions about the workings of the box, the EPG or the Freesat lineup, I'll do my best to see if I can help. (I know most of it will be covered on digitalspy, but ye never know).

Overall, I'm really impressed with it - The OSD is much easier on the eye than our previous FTA box, and BBC HD looks fab (nice to be finally able to see what our TV can actually do...).

G

sorry for being clueless but can you now get the freeview channels from the uk e.g E4 on these boxes or just the normal fta channels?

slegs

1stimpressions wrote: »

sorry for being clueless but can you now get the freeview channels from the uk e.g E4 on these boxes or just the normal fta channels?

Channel4, E4, More4, Film4 are all now Free To Air as of about a month or two ago

Tony

RuggieBear wrote: »

does that mean i'll have to get the room where i want to have the HDPVR another cable....? If so how much extra does that cost?

Yes and how much depends on your installers opinion of the extra work involved.

RuggieBear

Tony wrote: »

Yes and how much depends on your installers opinion of the extra work involved.

cheers. Thanks for heads up.