Sat4Free/Freesat in Ireland

watty

There is no start date for an Irish DTT service yet.

NO-ONE can reliably "get it".

Currys, Marks& sparks, Tesco, Homebase, B&Q etc are all UK, any surpise they sell UK models? (DAB, Freeview etc at various times before we even had current DAB & DTT tests).

Tony

JB72 wrote: »

This would just mean switching between inputs on the tv remote, wouldnt it?

Yes thats correct

Barr

Could someone advise if I bought this item I could pick up the HD free sat channels in Ireland ?
I have freeview at the moment through a skybox , is it just a matter of replacing the below Bush for my freeview box ?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5321564/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C14419512/c_2/2%7Ccat_14419512%7CDigital+boxes+and+services%7C14419633/c_3/3%7Ccat_14419633%7CFreesat+digital+set+top+boxes%7C14419634.htm

Thanks

Kotek Besar

Barr wrote: »

Could someone advise if I bought this item I could pick up the HD free sat channels in Ireland ?
I have freeview at the moment through a skybox , is it just a matter of replacing the below Bush for my freeview box ?

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5321564/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7CHome+entertainment+and+sat+nav%7C14419512/c_2/2%7Ccat_14419512%7CDigital+boxes+and+services%7C14419633/c_3/3%7Ccat_14419633%7CFreesat+digital+set+top+boxes%7C14419634.htm

Thanks

Yes and yes.

Pal

yes .

you will get BBC HD and ITV HD


ITV has only a few programs in HD

Barr

Sweet , is the Bush in Argos the best price or are there better HD Freesat optins out there ?

Pal

Barr wrote: »

Sweet , is the Bush in Argos the best price or are there better HD Freesat optins out there ?

I dont know about "better"
Youre hardly spending a fortune so not a lot of downside.
BBC HD is worth the £67 on its own IMO.


you could go for a TV with Freesat built in.
With this you dont need a box at all

Nowso

Humax hd box 160euro in ireland Built in recorder verson 320. .

Get a quad lnb and you can add extra tvs around the house

The_Conductor

Nowso wrote: »

Humax hd box 160euro in ireland Built in recorder verson 320. .

Get a quad lnb and you can add extra tvs around the house

Along with extra boxes......

Rick_

If you are close to the border or if you just fancy a day trip up north, PC World and Curry's are selling the Goodmans Freesat HD STB's for £24.99 to clear all stock. Might be worth a look for those who don't want UTV as their ITV region and would like the oppertunity to change it, (something I understand you can't do on a Sat4Free STB).

FungiWalsh

Quick question for ye, lads. I just moved in to a new apartment, which has a free-to-air box already installed. I have an LG 32LH7000 LCDTV, which has a "Freeview" tuner built-in. If I run a cable directly from the cable port in the wall to the TV, will I be able to view the FTA channels without needing to route it through the box?

Thanks!

The_Conductor

FungiWalsh wrote: »

Quick question for ye, lads. I just moved in to a new apartment, which has a free-to-air box already installed. I have an LG 32LH7000 LCDTV, which has a "Freeview" tuner built-in. If I run a cable directly from the cable port in the wall to the TV, will I be able to view the FTA channels without needing to route it through the box?

Thanks!

No. Freeview- is the UK digital terrestrial broadcaster, whereas your Free-to-air box is a satellite box- you are comparing a digital terrestrial broadcast with a satellite service. Unless your TV has a builtin Satellite decoder (there are models out there with Freesat decoders built in), running the cable from the Free-to-view box into the TV is pointless.

evilivor

FungiWalsh wrote: »

Quick question for ye, lads. I just moved in to a new apartment, which has a free-to-air box already installed. I have an LG 32LH7000 LCDTV, which has a "Freeview" tuner built-in. If I run a cable directly from the cable port in the wall to the TV, will I be able to view the FTA channels without needing to route it through the box?

Thanks!

Nope. Freeview is digital terrestrial tv and Freesat is satellite so you will still need to use the free-to-air box.

FungiWalsh

evilivor wrote: »

Nope. Freeview is digital terrestrial tv and Freesat is satellite so you will still need to use the free-to-air box.

Gah! I was hoping I wouldn't have to, as it will make the cabling a lot messier. Ah well, thanks for the quick answer!

Barr

Nowso wrote: »

Humax hd box 160euro in ireland Built in recorder verson 320. .

Get a quad lnb and you can add extra tvs around the house

A built in recorder would be handy - where are they for sale at €160 ?

Martin_F

i think he meant 160 for the basic box, 320 for the recorder.

Hot Blonde

Were abouts on boards does it telll u in detail how to get free channels with a lidls satellite? Please

Tony

That would be the sticky thread that says Lidl satellite in the title

Hot Blonde wrote: »

Were abouts on boards does it telll u in detail how to get free channels with a lidls satellite? Please

John mac

Tony wrote: »

That would be the sticky thread that says Lidl satellite in the title

Hot Blonde

RandomName2

Pal wrote: »

yes .

you will get BBC HD and ITV HD


ITV has only a few programs in HD

Can't seem to get ITV HD on FTA (BBC HD is working fine). Any help?

Barr

Martin_F wrote: »

i think he meant 160 for the basic box, 320 for the recorder.

Thats twice the price of the bush in Argos that does the same job, bit of a rip off to fair

The_Conductor

Barr wrote: »

Thats twice the price of the bush in Argos that does the same job, bit of a rip off to fair

If you know your receivers at all- you'll know that the Bush and the Humax are leagues apart. They may perform the same function- but they are incomparable otherwise.

Barr

smccarrick wrote: »

If you know your receivers at all- you'll know that the Bush and the Humax are leagues apart. They may perform the same function- but they are incomparable otherwise.

I cant say I know that much about them , but if they both offer the same channels , what exactly is the price premium for ?

Martin_F

The Humax boxes are much more polished on the User Interface. Also the Humax box has better connectivity @ the rear panel.

I've 2 Bush SD boxes, 1 Humax HD and a Humax PVR.

I'd say the Humax is worth a few extra quid vs the Bush HD. However, @ £67 the Bush HD box does look very good value, the Humax is at least £120 and in some cases £150 again now.

If it was for my main TV I'd still lean towards the Humax - but for a 2nd TV - or instead of an SD box - @ that price the Bush HD has to be worth a punt.

The_Conductor

I bought two of the Humax HD boxes as a primary and a secondary box (one on adverts here, the other from ebay from the UK). I had originally had a Bush HD (that I picked up in Argos in Belfast).

I flashed the Humax's back to factory settings- and then ran the software updates on them.

While the Bush may provide the same function- as alluded to above- the software/interface and indeed hardware of the Humax is a league apart. Its sort of like comparing a Swatch watch to a Breitling.

Picture quality from the Humax is better- and you get a signal lock with a lower signal strength/higher noise ratio- than the Bush can handle. Changing channels is faster- and the software interface is very polished.

The Bush (part of the Grundig/Goodmans family) is functional, rather than elegant- it will do the job- but once you see a Humax working- you'll want to replace the Bush as soon as possible........

Barr

OK ye have me tempted by the Humax I have a pace box at the moment which Im using for free to air -would the interface be better than what I have at present ?

mjsmyth

Martin_F wrote: »

The Humax boxes are much more polished on the User Interface. Also the Humax box has better connectivity @ the rear panel

I have the Bush HD and whilst it is true that the Humax does have a few extra ports on the back of the box when compared to the Bush HD, for the normal user, they are of little value.

If one purchases a HD box, it is highly unlikely that they will need the Composite Video output. Also, the USB port is of little value and for the standard user, so is the second LNB input (is it even active, something in the back of my mind tells me it is not).

Don't get me wrong, the humax is a fine bit of kit, but for £69, the Bush HD box is very hard value to beat and the picture quality is quite good too. As for the menu, emm.. well I can't see what the problem could be. You hit the guid button and take it from there!!!

Anyway, just my thoughts.

mj

mjsmyth

smccarrick wrote: »

Picture quality from the Humax is better- and you get a signal lock with a lower signal strength/higher noise ratio- than the Bush can handle.

Is that in your experience? The reason I ask is that I have read posts that suggest the Alba boxes seem to be the best for weak signals.

Just curious, that's all.

mj

The_Conductor

mjsmyth wrote: »

Is that in your experience? The reason I ask is that I have read posts that suggest the Alba boxes seem to be the best for weak signals.

Just curious, that's all.

mj

I've used both. I got a signal lock with lower signal strength on Astra 2D (in Portugal) with the Humax (but difficulty getting the EPG down from Eurobird). The Bush wouldn't lock at all- until we got a larger dish.

Picture quality- was sharper and more defined on the Humax- and it was far faster at changing channels- there was a definite lag with the Bush.

Also- I was one of the original ones with an active LSB feedthrough port on the Bush- I spent weeks onto their technicians trying to sort the problems associated with it- before giving up.

I do use the digital outputs on the Humax- but the HDMI sound implementation on the Humax is superior to that on the Bush (its a different chipset).

The Bush will work- but if its not a substantially larger sum- the Humax is a far nicer product.

golfdiva

I was reading the spec on the Humax box and it says it only does up to 1080i - does this mean it does now show the channels in full HD ?

They also appear to have MPEG-4 , does this mean that you would be able to watch the Irish digital channels even if the TV doesen't have the mpeg-4 tuner(hope that makes since)