Do I need a separate free sat receiver and if so please recommend one?

grey squirrel

After spending hours on phone to Chorus and two no shows from technichians, my MMDS service is finished.

I'm thinking about free to air satellite

I also need to buy a new TV and am thinking about a series 4 or series 5 Samsung LCD

Do I actually need a receiver at all if there's a digital tuner on the TV??
What type of digital tuner does it need to be on the TV?

If I do need a receiver please recommend a good black one. (ie I hate silver equipment)

watty

You are best with a separate receiver and regarding modern TVs as monitors, the visual equivalent of nice speakers on a separates HiFi system.

I hate Silver too

If all else fails use masking tape and car spray paint. Remove case if easy to do so!

There are 3 options:
1) Get a minimum Sky sub. It is decent gear and the susbsidy and free install is good. You own the gear from day1 unlike Chorus. It does all the free channels. Still does them when you cancel. While you have a sub, you get the 4 Irish channels.

2) A UK Freesat box works fine here and much better than a generic receiver. Has text/interactive/Program guide, though a different system to Sky. You need a TV aerial for the 4 Irish Channels. They are Sky sub only.

3) A generic F.T.A. Satellite receiver. It won't do program guide or Interactive or BBC/Sky text. It won't tune /retune automatically. From time to time you need to enter settings and scan. You need a TV aerial for the 4 Irish Channels. They are Sky sub only.

There are several sub options:

Dual Tuner PVR. Record/pause live etc. Replay is identical to live quality. Sky+ or Freesat is best as otherwise no schedule to record automatically from. Sadly the Sky version does not record without a subscription, just a regular receiver then.

HD receiver (or HD + PVR). There are free (BBC, C4, ITV, LUXE) and Pay (Sky1, Sky Sport, Nat Geo, Discovery, Sky Movie) HD channels. The good Freesat HD PVR is not out till Novemeber. There are generic FTA HD PVRs and Freeview or Generic FTA HD only (no PVR feature) The SkyHD has all the Sky+ "PVR" recording features.

There *are* TVs with built in Satellite tuners, but most are Digital Terrestrial, and not recommended yet for Ireland as the Terrestrial service does not launch till next year.

grey squirrel

Thanks, you've really cleared that up for me. I already have the loft aerial for the 4 IE channels

I'd go for the Freesat HD + PVR. Please tell me more about the box due in November and possible alternatives in the meantime. I would wait for something really good

Also, I've also come across transparent dishes. I think I'd need to put a dish in a very conspicuous location so do the transparent dishes work well?

grey squirrel

I've recently acquired and set up the Humax Freesat PVR and am very pleased with it. Thanks for the help

byte

grey squirrel wrote: »

I've recently acquired and set up the Humax Freesat PVR and am very pleased with it. Thanks for the help

I think you made a good choice. Congrats on getting your hands on one!

elswhere

Grey squirrel i've read so much on the boards about the Humax PVR can you give me more details on them.
Do you need a card? is there a subscription? is there an epg. sorry for all the question but i have to say i know nothing about them.

joolsveer

I bought one recently from http://www.satellitesuperstore.co.uk/. I am very happy with its performance. It receives all the ITV channels ITV1, 2, 3 and 4. When ITV1 is in HD it shows the HD version. It also receives BBC1, 2, 3 and 4 and BBC HD. I get Channel 4 and 5 and the Channel 4 variants but not Channel 4 HD. There are many other channels also like Film 4. The recording quality is excellent and on the SD stations it is possible to archive programs to a USB drive. There is no need for a subscription or a card.

grey squirrel

I got it at the same store as joolsveer. I was waiting about three weeks for stock to arrive. It cost £340 including delivery to Ireland.

When setting up you enter a UK postcode and the regional channel variants are selected based on that. You have the option to remove any unwanted channels from the list. Quality is excellent. On Saturday I could switch between HD and SD for the England / Italy game and the difference was incredible on my "HD ready" set so it would have been much better on a full HD set.