Freesat BBC/ITV Quick Query

philtaylor

Needs some boards experts here,


Quick one was in Currys today in Lisburn and they had the Freesat BBC/ITV HD Boxes.

Any ideas when the recorder one is out?

Also to runs this off a standard sky dish with sky and freesat, do I just need this ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-QUAD-LNB-COMPATIBLE-WITH-SKY-RRP-39-99_W0QQitemZ170226982072QQihZ007QQcategoryZ60838QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Thanks

culabula

philtaylor wrote: »

Needs some boards experts here,


Quick one was in Currys today in Lisburn and they had the Freesat BBC/ITV HD Boxes.

Any ideas when the recorder one is out?

Also to runs this off a standard sky dish with sky and freesat, do I just need this ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-QUAD-LNB-COMPATIBLE-WITH-SKY-RRP-39-99_W0QQitemZ170226982072QQihZ007QQcategoryZ60838QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



Thanks

Apparently the Humax recorder is out in July.

I just connected mine to my existing Sky dish and I was in business. BBC HD is superb.

philtaylor

cheers, do you have sky and freesat working simultaneously now or just one of them?

culabula

philtaylor wrote: »

cheers, do you have sky and freesat working simultaneously now or just one of them?

Both, just connected my incoming feed to a splitter.

slegs

Recorder will use two lnb's for the two tuners. So with a quad you could have the PVR and Sky with one lnb to spare running off the same dish. I currently have a Humax Foxsat HD, Sky+ and a regular Sky box all running off the dish but I am getting rid of my multiroom and reducing my Sky+ package to the minimum. When the PVR comes out I will replace my current Humax with that and keep Sky+ for RTE recording etc until digital terrestrial is available. I will not pay Sky the huge costs for Sky HD so freesat suits me fine.

The HD for Euro 2008 is very impressive. Wimbledon, Olympics, FA Cup (ITV), Match of the Day, Six Nations all in HD in coming months.

Sam Radford

You can't run two Digiboxes via a split LNB feed without compromise because

1. The signal gets split 50/50 causing problems in bad weather.
2. Both digiboxes fight for control of the LNB.

Best to fit a quad-output LNB. Details here:
http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/page10.htm

Sam Radford

slegs wrote: »

Recorder will use two lnb's for the two tuners.

No, it uses two outputs from one LNB.

culabula

To get ITV 1 HD you will need to put in a British postcode as UTV does not carry the HD content.

I used the House of Lords.

culabula

Incidentally, the Humax can be put into non-Freesat mode giving me hundreds of channels, including just about all (as far as I can see) that I get from FreeSat. There's a extra HD channel called Luxe. All four RTÉ radio channels are available in this way.

slegs

Sam Radford wrote: »

No, it uses two outputs from one LNB.

OK...its what I meant...Quad output LNB

Mossy Monk

culabula wrote: »

To get ITV 1 HD you will need to put in a British postcode as UTV does not carry the HD content.

Is there a reason for that? Can't imagine many in Northern Ireland will use a NI post code.

slegs

ITV HD is not available to Scottish STV or NI UTV viewers. It is something to do with UTV and STV not being part of ITV plc.

The best alternative is to put in an English postcode (I used BBC HQ London). You can then put BBC 1 NI and BBC 2 NI as the 101 and 102 via customisable channels on the setup menu. You will have ITV London at 103 and you can get ITV HD when available via red button. You also get the added benefit of not having to look at the Julian gimp for the continuity bits.

SteM

culabula wrote: »

Apparently the Humax recorder is out in July.

No one from Humax has verified this date. Most of the people on DS reckon it could be August or September.

culabula

SteM wrote: »

No one from Humax has verified this date. Most of the people on DS reckon it could be August or September.

Yes indeed, he said sheepishly, as someone from Humax has since denied the July release.

culabula

slegs wrote: »

ITV HD is not available to Scottish STV or NI UTV viewers. It is something to do with UTV and STV not being part of ITV plc.

The best alternative is to put in an English postcode (I used BBC HQ London). You can then put BBC 1 NI and BBC 2 NI as the 101 and 102 via customisable channels on the setup menu. You will have ITV London at 103 and you can get ITV HD when available via red button. You also get the added benefit of not having to look at the Julian gimp for the continuity bits.

Ach, leave Julian alone. But at least you don't get Scene around Six or whatever it's called now and that daft bint's talk show on Monday nights.

culabula

Mossy Monk wrote: »

Is there a reason for that? Can't imagine many in Northern Ireland will use a NI post code.

UTV, having spent 10p branding their u.tv theme, logo and 'atmos' refused to join the ITV 1 party.

mburke

slegs wrote: »

ITV HD is not available to Scottish STV or NI UTV viewers. It is something to do with UTV and STV not being part of ITV plc.

The best alternative is to put in an English postcode (I used BBC HQ London). You can then put BBC 1 NI and BBC 2 NI as the 101 and 102 via customisable channels on the setup menu. You will have ITV London at 103 and you can get ITV HD when available via red button. You also get the added benefit of not having to look at the Julian gimp for the continuity bits.

Just wondering are you asked your postcode when purchasing the HD receiver from a shop like currys in Northern Ireland ? Are you asked anything else ?

kylemore

another quickie,does the Humax freesat box have full teletext?
Kylemore

leex

Re: version of ITV one gets. What drives this? Is postcode entered into box or or is supplied to retailer?

mburke

From looking at the web the Humax HD Freesat box is very popular but has anyone tried the Goodmans GFSAT200HD freesat box ?

Mossy Monk

leex wrote: »

Re: version of ITV one gets. What drives this? Is postcode entered into box or or is supplied to retailer?

Postcode so there should be no reason for anyone to have that god awful UTV on the EPG.

leex

Thanks Mossy. I understood it was postcode. Is this supplied to retailer or can one change it themselves on the box?

maxg

leex wrote: »

Thanks Mossy. I understood it was postcode. Is this supplied to retailer or can one change it themselves on the box?

Its your decision which postcode you type at the initial set up and if you don't like the selected region anymore you simply do an fresh channel scan and overwrite the postcode.

trap4

I'm just a tad confused by the LNB issue as regards the PVRs. My only experience of sat kit is/was installing my own Lidl kit two years ago so my question is - will it be a simple matter of replacing my existing SL-55 box with a Freesat PVR? Or do I need to get a second LNB? And run a second cable?

Mossy Monk

You will need an lnb that has at least 2 outputs. They are very cheap to buy.

watty

Buy a Quad (not Quattro).

trap4

"You will need an lnb that has at least 2 outputs"

Even if I only ever want to record stuff while I'm not looking at TV? That is, not trying to watch another channel while recording?

And if I do need an LNG with two outputs is there a way to combine both those outputs into a single cable?

Thanks for the help.

Mossy Monk

trap4 wrote: »

"You will need an lnb that has at least 2 outputs"

Even if I only ever want to record stuff while I'm not looking at TV? That is, not trying to watch another channel while recording?

Nobody said otherwise. 2 outputs are required if you want to use the PVR properly. Quad lnb can be gotten for 20 euro.

slegs

mburke wrote: »

Just wondering are you asked your postcode when purchasing the HD receiver from a shop like currys in Northern Ireland ? Are you asked anything else ?

No, you are asked for "a" postcode on setup not "your" postcode

[EDIT]
Just to clarify for people. This is a non subscription service unlike Sky. The retailers have no interest in who you are and will not ask for postcode on sale (if they do it is just a standard sales procedure and nothing specific to freesat).

The postcode when setting up the box is just for the regional channels in the EPG. There is no phone line and hence no way of verifying if you are in the UK or not - nor do freesat seem to care. In fact the retailers do not seem to have received any instruction on selling (or not) to ROI.

copacetic

sorry for bringing this thread back to life, but from above if I have ITV1 london on the epg, this means at 7.30 tonight I'll get a red button option to switch to HD?

RuggieBear

if you have an hd box...yes would be my understanding

copacetic

cool, yes HD box. not doing Sue Barker any favours I tells ya!

copacetic

was worried there for a while, option to go to HD didn't come on until after the anthems, but seems ok now..

leex

was worried there for a while, option to go to HD didn't come on until after the anthems, but seems ok now..

Much of an improvement over SD?

copacetic

yep, massively better than SD, not quite as good as BBC HD imo though.